Hundreds of thousands of people sign petition to re-hire Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn

James Gunn has been fired as director of Guardians of the Galaxy 3 because of old tweets that recently emerged where he joked about subjects like paedophilia and rape. Photo / AP

Selma Blair has urged fans to sign a petition in support of James Gunn.

The 51-year-old filmmaker - who wrote and directed the first two installments of the Guardians of the Galaxy film series - has been booted from the helm of the upcoming third movie by Walt Disney studios after offensive social media posts he had made in the past resurfaced online.

The Cruel Intentions star has lent her support to the director by sharing a link to a Change.org petition.

She tweeted: "Marvel: RE-HIRE JAMES GUNN - Sign the Petition!  via @Change. Because if people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving? This man is one of the good ones.(sic)"

The petition has already attracted over 22,000 signatures.

The petition started, Chandler Edwards said he doubts there's one human on the planet who hasn't made a bad joke at some stage of their life.

"I agree with most, including Gunn himself that the jokes were sh**** and un-funny but they were still jokes, it wasn't an opinion or a statement, it was just a bad attempt at being funny," Edwards said.

Meanwhile, a number of Guardians of the Galaxy stars have also voiced their support for the ousted director.

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters. Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.”

JAMES 1:19
🙏♥️

— chris pratt (@prattprattpratt) July 22, 2018

It’s been a challenging weekend I’m not gonna lie. I’m pausing myself to take everything in before I speak out of term. I just want everyone to know I love ALL members of my GOTG family. Always will.

— Zoe Saldana (@zoesaldana) July 22, 2018

What will you do when the #cybernazis attack you? Who will stand by you? Who will cowardly distance themselves from you? Who will punish you for horrible JOKES in the past instead of defending you for INSPIRING millions? MILLIONS!!! #Redemption #injustice @JamesGunn

— Shadow Person Dave Bautista (@DaveBautista) July 22, 2018