Filmmaker Amy Berg Makes Clear She Did Not Start The Chris Pratt Meme; ‘Avengers’ Take On Pratt Bashers – Update

UPDATED Amy Berg, the documentarian behind such acclaimed films as Deliver Us From Evil, West of Memphis and Janis: Little Girl Blue, has absolutely nothing against Chris Pratt, and wants Twitter to know she is not the Amy Berg who inadvertently launched the whole Cancel/Don’t Cancel Chris twitstorm that got so out of hand the Avengers themselves came to their costar’s rescue.

“What a way to wake up,” documentarian Berg tweeted this morning. “This is not me. Hundreds of hate messages on all social media platforms! I strongly disagree with this Amy Berg’s tweet and not a big fan of cancel culture. Thank you. #ChrisPratt”

Even the other Amy Berg, a TV producer and writer (Warrior Nun, Jack Ryan, The Alienist: Angel of Darkness), is saying enough is enough. She has repeatedly said that her post was not intended as anti-Pratt, and in a tweet following the posting of this article referred to the documentarian’s claims as “malicious distortion.”

Yesterday, she tweeted, “We managed to turn a Chris ‘snack’ joke into attacks and threats by right-wingers,” producer Berg tweeted yesterday, adding, “Seriously, enough. This was a play on the ‘one has to go’ Halloween candy meme going around and the responses turned it into a hate-filled shitfest on both sides.”

The “this” referred to by Berg – from here on the “Berg” in this post is the producer unless otherwise noted – was the social media brouhaha over Chris Pratt’s perceived conservative political and social stances. Berg kicked things off on Sunday with an irreverent but seemingly innocuous tweet that showed the pictures of Chris Pratt, Chris Pine, Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans with the message “One has to go,” a take-off on a popular meme about various Halloween candies.

Berg’s tweet soon took on political shade when many responders chose Pratt as Hollywood’s worst Chris due to his reportedly conservative political viewpoints (Pratt himself hasn’t weighed in).

Also resurfacing was a 2019 social media exchange between Pratt and actress Ellen Page, the latter tweeting that Pratt’s church is “infamously anti LGBTQ.”

Pratt reportedly attends mass at Zoe Church in Los Angeles, which has ties to the megachurch Hillsong. In response to Page’s tweet, Pratt posted an Instagram response saying, “It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which ‘hates a certain group of people’ and is ‘infamously anti-LGBTQ.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone.”

(For the record, while Zoe Church notes on its website “Our church is a place where our doors are open to people of all backgrounds,” a 2017 film The Heart of Man, exec produced by Zoe Church founder and pastor Chad Veach depicts people who “have struggled with ‘sexual brokenness’,” a term the film applies to same-sex attraction. The Hillsong church, where Veach worked before founding the offshoot Zoe, includes a 2014 statement on its website from senior pastor Brian Houston attempting to clear up any suggestion that he had spoken in favor of same-sex unions: “Nowhere in my answer did I diminish biblical truth or suggest that I or Hillsong Church supported gay marriage.”)

The latest Chris debate prompted Pratt’s Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy co-stars to publicly tweet-defend their friend. (See the tweets below.)

Mark Ruffalo: “You all, @prattprattpratt is as solid a man there is. I know him personally, and instead of casting aspersions, look at how he lives his life. He is just not overtly political as a rule. This is a distraction. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize, friends. We are so close now.”

Zoe Saldana: “No matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep your head up and handle it. -Tupac.” You got this @prattprattpratt Your family, friends, colleagues & everyone who’s ever crossed paths with you knows your heart and your worth!”

Guardian director James Gunn: “Sorry. Just finding out about this nonsense. @prattprattpratt is the best dude in the world. I’ve spent hours & hours sharing my deepest truths with this man, as he has with me. Please stop assuming what he believes, politically or in any other way, because he’s a Christian.”

Robert Downey Jr.: “What a world… The ‘sinless’ are casting stones at my brother, Chris Pratt… A real Christian who lives by principle, has never demonstrated anything but positivity and gratitude…AND he just married into a family that makes space for civil discourse and (just plain fact) INSISTS on service as the highest value. If you take issue with Chris… I’ve got a novel idea. Delete your social media accounts, sit with your OWN defects of character, work on THEM, then celebrate your humanness…”

Avengers actor Jeremy Renner “liked” Downey’s post, which makes reference to Pratt’s recent marriage to Katherine Schwarzenegger, daughter of Arnold. Katherine also joined in, responding to a media post on the controversy by writing, “Is this really what we need? There’s so much going on in the world and people struggling in so many ways. Being mean is so yesterday. There’s enough room to love all these guys. Love is what we all need not meanness and bullying. Let’s try that.”

The not-the-documentarian Berg – well, both Bergs actually – seem to agree with Schwarzenegger.

“Man, I’ve never had to block this many people with seven numbers in their name,” TV producer Berg tweeted early this morning, apparently referring to hate-bots, while noting in other tweets that she’s received threats and that “The only thing I will say is that I wish all those coming to CP’s defense had showed up for Brie Larson.” (Captain Marvel actress Larson has been the target of heinous, misogynistic online trolling for years.)

Later, Berg the producer responded to a tweet by the FiveThirtyEight polling website ranking the popularity of Halloween candy brands.

“Okay,” she told FiveThirtyEight, “now do guys named Chris. I promise it’ll end well for everyone.”

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