James Gunn reacts after the 49-year-old comedian suggested that he lost his role in the upcoming superhero movie due to his comments on the Israel-Palestine war.
- Feb 17, 2024
AceShowbiz - James Gunn has denied Bassem Youssef's claims that he was cut from "Superman: Legacy" due to his comments on the Israel-Palestine war. The director has set things straight after the actor made the allegation public.
On Friday, February 16, the filmmaker re-posted on his Threads account an IGN article that said while Youssef had been in talks to star in the upcoming superhero movie, he was never actually offered the role. "This is accurate," Gunn wrote in the caption.
In a subsequent post, Gunn said he and Youssef had talked it out and they're now on the same page. "There isn't one word against another," he insisted. "[Bassem] and I talked and we're good. I understand how he thought things might be (which he was clear about in his interview), and I told him the whole story."
Gunn addressed the matter after Youssef made the allegation in an interview with Salon which was published on Thursday. He indicated that his "Piers Morgan Uncensored" interview, in which he criticized Israel and spoke out in support of Palestine, cost him the "Superman: Legacy" role.
"I was a little bit bitter about losing the role, and I was kind of very sad… In the United States of America, you can talk about Joe Biden, you can talk about Donald Trump, but you cannot criticize a foreign government, which is kind of, like, very sad, you know?" he said. "And then because of that, I was cast in the movie Superman, and then they told me, 'We changed the script,' after this Piers Morgan interview, and I want to assume good faith."
In the said "Piers Morgan Uncensored" interview itself, the Egytian-born star called out the hypocrisy of Western media. "They said Israel is the only military force in the world that warns civilians before bombing them," he said. "How f**king cute! That is so nice of them because with this logic, if Russian troops started warning Ukrainians before bombing their houses, we're cool with Putin, right?"
Following Youssef's claims, an insider said that Gunn had talked to the 49-year-old star about possibly playing a role that was in the script. However, a formal offer was never made and talks never went further, because the character was dropped from the script before the strikes started. A source close to the production said the changes to the story were made before Hamas' attack in Israel.
It also should be noted that Milly Alcock, who was recently cast as Supergirl in the new DCU, has been vocal about her support for Palestine. AussieTheatre.com reported that the actress signed a letter calling artists to wear "traditional Palestinian scarves" in solidarity with the people of Gaza. However, the "House of the Dragon" star's political stance doesn't seem to affect her DC Studios gig.
