In the wake of Hartley Sawyer's firing from The Flash over a series of sexist and racist Tweets, many have begun comparing his case to that of director James Gunn, who was briefly fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 because of the public outcry over his controversial comedic comments. However, while the incidents may seem similar on the surface, there are mitigating circumstances which explain why Gunn was offered a chance at redemption and Sawyer wasn't.
Actor Sawyer was recently sacked from The Flash, where he played the ductile detective Ralph "Elongated Man" Dibny for three seasons. Sawyer's dismissal was the end result of an internal investigation conducted by The CW, Warner Bros. and Berlanti Productions into jokes Sawyer had made on his personal Twitter account from 2012-2014. Their ultimate decision was to end Sawyer's employment, saying that his remarks were "antithetical to our values and polices, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive and productive environment for our workforce."
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Writer/director James Gunn faced a similar scandal in 2018, with Gunn being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 following the publication of an article in The Daily Caller. The article called attention to a series of Tweets that Gunn had made 10 years earlier, where he had made jokes about rape and child molestation. Disney fired Gunn just one day later, but then rehired him in March 2019 after it became clear that the outrage that had been whipped up against him was political retaliation for a number of critical remarks Gunn had made about President Donald Trump. While Gunn and Sawyer did joke about some of the same taboo topics, there's really no basis for comparison. Gunn's firing was the result of a knee-jerk reaction to a contrived public scandal pushed by conservative pundits. Sawyer's dismissal was the end result of an official arbitration process and his comments were not widely reported upon until after his firing was formally announced.
Another notable difference is that James Gunn showed remorse for his past as a self-described provocateur long before his comments were widely covered in the press. Years before the Daily Caller article, there was an effort in 2012 to see Gunn ousted from directing the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. This effort, ironically, was spearhead by left-wing feminist comic book fans because of an article Gunn had written entitled "50 Superheroes You Most Want To Have Sex With." Gunn had apologized for the piece and other jokes he had made on social media well before either effort to have him fired began. By contrast, Hartley Sawyer did not offer an apology for his remarks until he was already facing the consequences of his actions.
James Gunn ultimately won the war, not only being rehired to work on Guardians of the Galaxy 3 but also being hired to helm the upcoming Suicide Squad sequel, due to the overwhelming support that was shown after he was fired from Disney. As for The Flash, it is uncertain if the role of Ralph Dibny will be reacast or if the character will just be written out of the show. While a petition has been started to bring Hartley Sawyer back for Season 7 of The Flash, it seems much less likely to be successful than the efforts that backed Gunn.
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