Letitia Wright deactivated her Twitter account after facing backlash for sharing a video that had unsubstantiated claims about the coronavirus vaccine. The Black Panther actress was flooded with criticism from fans after she shared a video from a YouTuber on Thursday (Dec. 3). In the hour-long clip, the YouTube personality was reportedly making baseless claims about the COVID-19 vaccines and expressing concerns about their safety.
The video was from the discussion channel On The Table hosted by Tomi Arayomi in which the host voiced shared backless concerns about the dangers of taking vaccines, adding that he feels that he can’t trust the vaccines. “I don’t understand vaccines medically, but I’ve always been a little bit of a skeptic of them,” Arayomi said, adding “I hope to God it doesn’t make extra limbs grow.”
After some back and forth with fans, the actress deleted the tweet and shared a response to the backlash. “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,” the actress wrote.
She also tweeted: “If you don’t conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself….you get cancelled.”
Other celebrities also commented on her sharing the post including Don Cheadle. “Jesus… just scrolled through. Hot garbage. Every time I stopped and listened, he and everything he said sounded crazy and fkkkd up,” the actor wrote. “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.”
Writer Roxane Gay replied to the post and wrote: “Thinking for yourself doesn’t mean you’re right. And you aren’t cancelled. But damn. Promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and shrouding it in intellectual curiosity is asinine. And dangerous.” Some fans also reacted to the anti-vaccine video and post, with some even calling for the cancelation of Black Panther 2.