We know that celebs aren't averse to a social media deleting spree – just a couple of days ago, Pete Davidson completely cleansed his Instagram – and now Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has deleted 20,000 of his tweets.

It's a pretty dramatic move, seeing as he's now lost nine years worth of content, and some have suggested that it was a move recommended by Disney following James Gunn's firing from his directing role on Guardians of the Galaxy's third instalment.

But Johnson has said that it was more of an independent safeguarding measure on his part, blaming "trolls" looking for "ammunition".

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."

And he revealed that it was actually a much easier job than it sounds, saying: "There are apps that do it literally with the flip of a switch."

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Quite a few of Johnson's followers were disappointed to lose so much of his past content, particularly those who have managed to get replies from him in the past.

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But there were others who were more supportive of his choice and they were happy to let him know with a well-chosen GIF:

Johnson could well have been acting in response to Gunn's dismissal, which came about after old tweets that Gunn had posted resurfaced which apparently included jokes about topics such as rape and paedophilia.

A spokesperson for Disney said: "The offensive attitudes and statements discovered on James' Twitter feed are indefensible and inconsistent with our studio's values, and we have severed our business relationship with him."

james gunn and dave bautistapinterest
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Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing.  She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who.  Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine.  Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.