Actress Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri in the “Black Panther” franchise, found herself at the center of a Twitter mob this week when she posted an anti-vaccine video on social media.
According to Fox News, the video that Wright shared originated from “YouTube channel On The Table and the host discussed whether any potential COVID-19 vaccines will be safe and effective.” The presenter, Tomi Arayomi, also explained in the video that he is a “big skeptic of needles and vaccinations in general” while simultaneously admitting that he didn’t “understand vaccines medically.”
Wright’s followers immediately piled on her, accusing her of spreading misinformation and putting the lives of her fans at risk.
“Everyone can have an opinion, but if you want your opinion to raise awareness you have to be properly backed up, smart questioning will and has, improved scientific advances, it’s encouraged by every scientist out there! But you got to be informed 1st to question anything really,” said one follower.
Wright responded by asserting she had a right to question the vaccine. “Totally respect what you are saying here. I’ve also heard from medically qualified doctors who got their articles and videos taken down. Am I still wrong to question what’s going on?” she said.
“You’re sharing an opinion piece and say it has scientific value by ‘asking what’s in it and if it’s right for our bodies’ but refuse to ask the same questions about current vaccines….what information are you possibly trying to spread? stop putting your followers at risk,” a follower shot back.
“These opinions endanger people’s lives and spread misinformation and conspiracy theories during a pandemic…” said another follower.
Even Wright’s fellow Marvel co-star Don Cheadle, who plays War Machine in the comic book series, criticized the actress for posting the video.
“Jesus… just scrolled through. hot garbage. every time i stopped and listened, he and everything he said sounded crazy and fkkkd up. i would never defend anybody posting this. but i still won’t throw her away over it. the rest i’ll take off twitter. had no idea,” he wrote.
After enough backlash, Wright removed the tweet and clarified that she only wanted to ask questions and never meant to hurt anyone.
“My intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies. Nothing else,” she tweeted.
She added, “If you don’t conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself….you get cancelled.”
my intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies.
Nothing else.
— Letitia Wright (@letitiawright) December 4, 2020
if you don’t conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself….you get cancelled 😂
— Letitia Wright (@letitiawright) December 4, 2020
As The Daily Wire reported on Thursday, the social media giant Facebook announced that it will be working to stop the spread of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.
“Given the recent news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts on Facebook and Instagram. This is another way that we are applying our policy to remove misinformation about the virus that could lead to imminent physical harm. This could include false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients, or side effects of the vaccines,” the company said in a blog post.
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