If you’re a high-profile filmmaker that likes to use social media to interact with fans and share your beliefs, then be on alert. Especially if your beliefs tend to fall on the wrong side of those dreaded Internet trolls. As witnessed by Disney firing James Gunn last week, no one is safe. Apparently, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” filmmaker Rian Johnson has read the writing on the wall and has taken matters into his own hands.
Yesterday, Twitter was abuzz with people speculating about Rian Johnson deleting 20,000 tweets from his history, leaving only most of his 2018 posts. What was that for? Is he hiding something…scandalous? Maybe if you go back to 2008, you can see that Johnson made a terrible joke and now, he must go! Or maybe, Disney unleashed new rules for their filmmakers telling them to delete their Twitter history? Needless to say, speculation ruled the day.
Well, Johnson is here to clear it up, and sadly, the truth isn’t nearly as exciting as you might have expected. The director went to Twitter, naturally, to clear up any confusion. He tweeted, “No official directive at all, and I don’t think I’ve ever tweeted anything that bad. But it’s nine years of stuff written largely off the cuff as ephemera, if trolls scrutinizing it for ammunition is the new normal, this seems like a ‘why not?’ move.”
One can assume that many of the creative folks that work at large corporations will heed Johnson’s advice, and James Gunn’s example, and do the same. Rian Johnson is currently working on developing the next major “Star Wars” trilogy (trolls be damned), and the last thing he needs is for his career to be derailed by some persistent Twitter users who are willing to screenshot anything and everything that might be deemed “offensive.”
However, as anyone with a tiny bit of Internet knowledge can tell you, nothing is deleted forever. And even though Johnson took the preemptive approach to the problem, there are still ways for people to find his history, if they are so inclined. That being said, it’s not a bad first step.
No official directive at all, and I don’t think I’ve ever tweeted anything that bad. But it’s nine years of stuff written largely off the cuff as ephemera, if trolls scrutinizing it for ammunition is the new normal, this seems like a “why not?” move.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) July 25, 2018