‘The Last Jedi’ director Rian Johnson explained why he deleted tweets

Lucasfilm

• “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson
  recently deleted 20,000 tweets soon after Disney fired James
  Gunn from “Guardians of the Galaxy 3.”
• Johnson explained that it was a preemptive measure and
  a decision he made himself.
• 
  “This seems like a ‘why not?’ move,” he
  tweeted.
  

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“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson recently deleted
20,000 tweets soon after Disney fired James Gunn from directing
“Guardians of the Galaxy 3.” Gunn was fired last week
after conservative personalities resurfaced old tweets in which
Gunn joked about child abuse.

On Wednesday, Johnson explained why he chose to delete all of his tweets from
before January 25. Responding to pop culture website The Mary
Sue on Twitter, Johnson clarified that it was a decision he made
as a preemptive measure. While he didn’t think he’d tweeted
anything “that bad,” he felt he might as well be cautious if
“trolls” are digging through old tweets.

He tweeted: “No official directive at all, and I don’t
think I’ve ever tweeted anything that bad. But it’s nine years of
stuff written largely off the cuff as ephemera, if trolls
scrutinizing it for ammunition is the new normal, this seems like
a ‘why not?’ move.”

It makes sense that Johnson would want to be extra cautious.
Johnson has been the target of online criticism from vocal “Star
Wars” fans who didn’t like “The Last Jedi” and he’s said that he
received death threats after
the movie was released. 

Meanwhile, Gunn’s firing has been scrutinized by celebrities and
fans alike. A Change.org petition currently has
over 300,000 signatures urging Disney to re-hire him for
“Guardians of the Galaxy 3.”