Star Wars writer says he was fired over profane political tweets

WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — Author Chuck Wendig said Friday he has been fired from two upcoming Star Wars comic book projects by Marvel Comics because of his politically-charged and at times profane social media posts.

“Today I got the call. I’m fired. Because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring. Seriously, that’s what Mark, the editor said,” he tweeted, referring to editor Mark Pannicia. “It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part.”

Marvel announced earlier this month Wendig would be writing the 5-issue “Shadow of Vader” miniseries. He had completed three of them, and the first was scheduled for release in January. It is unclear who will handle the remaining issues.

Wendig said he was also taken off another unannounced Star Wars project.

“Real-talk, I'll be okay, I've got books coming out and some other cool stuff in the works -- comics was (thankfully) a marginal resource for me, though I hope to keep working in comics somehow, if only because I dig it,” he wrote.

Wendig, who has also written Star Wars novels, has often sparred with right-wing pundits and alt-right trolls over political issues, most recently the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“F*** Trump. But he’s just the ugly fake-gold mask they’ve put on this thing. F*** all the GOP, f*** that blubbering, bristling frat boy judge, f*** McConnell, Ryan, Grassley, Collins, every last one of them,” he wrote last Saturday after the Senate voted on Kavanaugh.

Marvel has not yet commented on the firing, but sources told Entertainment Weekly and Vulture the problem was the vulgarity and profanity in Wendig’s tweets, not his political views.

Writer Joe Hill defended Wendig, likening his firing to the removal of wrter-director James Gunn from Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” over old tweets joking about pedophilia and other offensive posts. Gunn has since reportedly been hired to write the sequel to “Suicide Squad,” based on a DC Comics series.

“Hey, @marvel, @WaltDisneyCo, you wanna work with creators who have vision & imagination, better accept they may also express themselves politically (or impolitically!!). When the trolls persuade you to fire a @JamesGunn or @ChuckWendig, they lose, you lose & your audience loses,” he wrote.

Wendig expressed the same concern about the impact of Marvel’s decision.

“It’ll be chilling,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “It’ll make creators with smaller voices than mine be afraid to speak out.”