Black Panther star Letitia Wright slammed after tweeting anti-vaccine video
Black Panther star Letitia Wright has taken down a tweet and said her "intention was not to hurt anyone" after coming under fire for posting an anti-vaccine YouTube video.
Wright, who's best known for playing T'Challa's sister Shuri in Black Panther, on Thursday night tweeted out a YouTube video to her more than 350,000 followers called "COVID-19 VACCINE, SHOULD WE TAKE IT." In it, a speaker from Light London Church "questions the legitimacy of" COVID-19 vaccination, Variety reports. He also describes himself as a "skeptic" of vaccines in general and says "I don't know if I'm going to take" a COVID-19 vaccine. The claims in the video "echo those of others who have baselessly criticized vaccine use," NBC News writes.
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After a COVID-19 vaccine was approved in the U.K., and as two companies await approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their COVID-19 vaccines, health experts have expressed concerns over whether enough people will ultimately get vaccinated against the coronavirus, and numerous public figures including former presidents have volunteered to get a COVID-19 vaccine on camera in order to reassure the public that it's safe.
Writer Roxane Gay joined those blasting Wright for the tweets, writing, "Promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and shrouding it in intellectual curiosity is asinine. And dangerous." Wright's Marvel co-star Don Cheadle also described the video as "crazy" and said he "would never defend anybody posting this."
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