“Yellowstone” actor Forrie J. Smith posted a video this week announcing his intention to skip out on this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards over the event’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“I will not get vaccinated,” asserted Smith, who plays ranch hand Lloyd Pierce on the successful Paramount Network drama.
“I want to apologize to y’all for not being at the Screen Actors Guild Awards — I mean no offense to anyone,” Smith said in a video posted to his Instagram. “I’m not vaccinated, and it’s a requirement to be vaccinated to be at the Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony.”
“I’m not vaccinated. I will not get vaccinated,” he said. “I haven’t been vaccinated since I was a little kid. I don’t vaccinate my dogs; I don’t vaccinate my horses. I’ve never had a flu shot — I never will. I believe they compromise your immunities.”
“I just don’t believe in that stuff,” the actor added.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that the SAG Awards’ COVID requirements read as follow: “All ticketed attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination plus booster shot (if eligible), proof of negative lab-based COVID-19 PCR test within 48 hours of event, and negative antigen (rapid) test the day of the event.”
WATCH:
I’m even a bigger fan of Yellowstone now! pic.twitter.com/mcuNlwVe3X
— Jolly Roga (@RogaJolly) February 16, 2022
Marvel actress Evangeline Lilly last month issued an Instagram post emphasizing her stand against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Lilly, who voiced her support for freedom at the start of the pandemic, said she attended a rally in Washington, D.C. “to support bodily sovereignty.”
The native Canadian wrote in the post that she stands with Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates and “believes nobody should ever be forced to inject their body.”
“I was in DC this weekend to support bodily sovereignty while Canadian truckers were rallying for their cross-country, peaceful convoy in support of the same thing,” Lilly said. “I believe nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will, under threat of: violent attack, arrest or detention without trial, loss of employment, homelessness, starvation, loss of education, alienation from loved ones, excommunication from society … under any threat whatsoever.”
“This is not the way,” the “Ant-Man” actress continued. “This is not safe. This is not healthy. This is not love. I understand the world is in fear, but I don’t believe that answering fear with force will fix our problems.”
“I was pro choice before COVID and I am still pro choice today,” she wrote, adding the hashtags: #medicalchoice #medicalfreedom#bodilyautonomy#bodilysovereighnty #defeatthemandatesdc#canadiantruckers#iamwithyou.
In March 2020, Lilly drew ire from Hollywood when she suggested on Instagram that she values “freedom” over the promise of supposed safety.
“Lilly had previously gone on her own Instagram Live to chat about how life had been going for her and her own endeavors despite the public health crisis,” an InStyle report outlined at the time. “She called her life ‘#businessasusual’ and recounted taking her children to gymnastics camp, after they ‘all washed their hands before going in.’”
“I have two young kids,” Lilly said via Instagram. “Some people value their lives over freedom, some people value freedom over their lives. We all make our choices.”
After backlash to her position from celebrities, like actress Sophia Turner, Lilly issued an apology on the social media platform.