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Mark Duplass calls his Twitter endorsement of Ben Shapiro 'a disaster on many levels'

“Guardians of the Galaxy” filmmaker James Gunn stepped in to defend fellow filmmaker Mark Duplass after he faced extreme backlash for recommending Ben Shapiro.

In the controversial tweet, Duplass encouraged his "fellow liberals" to "cross the aisle" and follow the conservative commentator and The Daily Wire editor-in-chief Wednesday.

“I don’t agree with him on much but he’s a genuine person who once helped me for no other reason than to be nice,” Duplass said to his 410,000 followers in a now-deleted tweet. “He doesn’t bend the truth. His intentions are good.”

The advice from th  "Togetherness" memoirist instantly sparked outrage online.

Duplass issued an apology after the response, declaring his previous tweet a "disaster on many levels."

“I want to be clear that I in no way endorse hatred, racism, homophobia, xenophobia or any such form of intolerance,” Duplass said in a follow-up tweet Thursday. "My goal has always been to spread unity, understanding and kindness ... And I want to say thank you to those who reached out with constructive criticism. I have genuinely learned so much and wish everyone all the best."

Gunn stepped in to offer his take on the incident.

He encouraged people to “save their outrage” for “traitors & racists in the country today.”

Shapiro didn't appear to be a fan of Gunn's assessment... or his film: "I appreciate the sentiment," he tweeted, "even if you're as wrong about following me as you were in your directorial decisions in 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.'"

Shapiro continued on, criticizing the backlash in a series of tweets saying that "in 24 hours I apparently went from being a person with good intentions to a racist sexist bigot." He added, sarcastically, "Today's Leftist lesson on Twitter: Write a nice tweet about someone with whom you disagree politically, get labeled a racist sexist homophobe."