Letitia Wright, the Black Panther star who last year faced backlash for sharing an anti-vaccine video, has reportedly continued to espouse these views on the set of the new sequel.
A Wednesday report in The Hollywood Reporter describes the way Hollywood has been more divided than one might expect over COVID-19 vaccination, with some productions descending into "chaos" due to infections among unvaccinated actors. Wright is one actor who has publicly expressed skepticism over COVID-19 vaccines. "A set source says she has espoused similar views about the COVID-19 vaccines on the Atlanta production" of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the Reporter writes.
Wright plays Shuri, the sister of Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, in Black Panther, and fans have speculated she could become the next Black Panther after Boseman's death. In 2020, she tweeted an anti-vaccine video that was later removed from YouTube, which featured a speaker questioning COVID-19 vaccination. After facing backlash, Wright initially complained that "you get cancelled" if "you don't conform to popular opinions." But she subsequently deleted the tweet, saying her "intention was not to hurt anyone" and that she only wanted to raise "concerns with what the vaccine contains." Wright later left Twitter entirely, and the Reporter says she also parted ways with her entire team of U.S. representatives.
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The Reporter notes that no universal vaccine mandate has been implemented across the film and television industry, leading to some instances in which high-profile unvaccinated actors' positive COVID-19 tests have led to production shutdowns. Black-ish star Anthony Anderson told the Reporter it's "not my place to police anyone" on getting vaccinated, while George Clooney said it's "crazy" and "stupid" that some in the industry won't get their shot. The Mandalorian star Giancarlo Esposito, meanwhile, urged those who aren't vaccinated to go "to a small island and sequester yourself."
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