Hundreds of thousands of people sign petition to re-hire 'Guardians of the Galaxy' director James Gunn

Selma Blair has urged fans to sign a petition in support of James Gunn.

The 51-year-old filmmaker - who wrote and directed the first two installments of the Guardians of the Galaxy film series - has been booted from the helm of the upcoming third movie by Walt Disney studios after offensive social media posts he had made in the past resurfaced online.

The Cruel Intentions star has lent her support to the director by sharing a link to a Change.org petition.

She tweeted: "Marvel: RE-HIRE JAMES GUNN - Sign the Petition!  via @Change. Because if people are punished despite changing, then what does that teach people about owning mistakes and evolving? This man is one of the good ones.(sic)"

The petition has already attracted over 22,000 signatures.

The petition started, Chandler Edwards said he doubts there's one human on the planet who hasn't made a bad joke at some stage of their life.

"I agree with most, including Gunn himself that the jokes were sh**** and un-funny but they were still jokes, it wasn't an opinion or a statement, it was just a bad attempt at being funny," Edwards said.

Meanwhile, a number of Guardians of the Galaxy stars have also voiced their support for the ousted director.

This article was first published on BANG Showbiz and is republished here with permission.