James Gunn seems to be having a hard time finding fans as he’s managed to tick off nearly everyone. Members of the right don’t like him for some really tasteless jokes about pedophilia he told around a decade ago. His (likely) shortsighted elimination of Henry Cavill from the role of Superman had Cavill and DC fans up in arms.

But one thing can be said about Gunn, and it’s one thing that he should be praised for. When it comes to cancel culture, Gunn is willing to take the barbs and vitriol of the mob in defense of his friends or even just people he believes in.

Gunn was at a press event on Monday where he was confronted with a question about “Shazaam” actor Zachary Levi’s future with DC after a controversial tweet.

Levi was asked on Twitter if he thinks Pfizer, the company now caught up in a scandal regarding mutating the COVID-19 virus in order to sell vaccines as exposed via confession to an undercover journalist belonging to Project Veritas, was a “danger to the world.”

“Hardcore agree,” Levi responded.

Hardcore agree. 😐 https://t.co/goeEf5UQ5s

— Zachary Levi (@ZacharyLevi) January 29, 2023

This caused a flurry of outrage from vaccine simps and Pfizer diehards, leaving to the question posed to Gunn about what’s going to happen to Levi now that he’s proven himself to be one of those dastardly people who think for themselves.

As Fox News noted, Gunn took the sensible approach of saying he’s not firing anybody because people are allowed to say things and have opinions he doesn’t necessarily agree with:

In Variety, he said, “Just real simply: Actors and filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with and things that I don’t agree with. And that’s going to happen. I don’t have a list of things that somebody should say because of what I think.”

Gunn also stressed that he’s not willing to alter or reconsider his own filmmaking plans just because someone he works with has different opinions. He added, “And you know, I can’t be changing my plans all the time because an actor says something that I don’t agree with.”

He did add that if someone was doing something morally reprehensible he’d take action, though this does leave some confusion about Ezra Miller who has done morally reprehensible things but is still cast as “The Flash.” Miller is currently in rehab and is making great progress according to Gunn, but commentary on this might require its own article.

Regardless, Gunn’s refusal to play a thought dictator and punish someone for their negative opinion on a very obviously corrupt company does deserve kudos. Moreover, Gunn has demonstrated this kind of refusal to punish independent thinkers in the past.

Christ Pratt is one of the most hated people in Hollywood by the left and despite multiple campaigns to get him canceled, Gunn has furiously defended his colleague and friend on multiple occasions.

That makes Gunn a rare entity in Hollywood circles and one that should be admired, at least in this regard. How he either causes the DC cinematic universe to fail or succeed is, in my opinion, a different matter entirely.