Gunn has deleted his Twitter account, but before he did, he acknowledged the past behavior and said, \"when I started, I viewed myself as a provocateur.\"

While his Twitter account is down, his Instagram is still up and he recently posted old photos from the first two \"Guardians\" films.

Zoe and I “working hard” at taking goofy photos while the crew is trying to get actual work done! #behindthescenes on #GotG Vol. 1. @zoesaldana #marvel #guardiansofthegalaxy

A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn) on Jul 18, 2018 at 11:22am PDT

\"My words of nearly a decade ago were, at the time, totally failed and unfortunate efforts to be provocative. I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don't reflect the person I am today or have been for some time,\" Gunn said in a statement.

\"Regardless of how much time has passed, I understand and accept the business decisions taken today. Even these many years later, I take full responsibility for the way I conducted myself then. All I can do now, beyond offering my sincere and heartfelt regret, is to be the best human being I can be: accepting, understanding, committed to equality, and far more thoughtful about my public statements and my obligations to our public discourse. To everyone inside my industry and beyond, I again offer my deepest apologies. Love to all.\"

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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