Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ Star Letitia Wright Deletes Her Social Media Accounts Following Anti-Vaccine Posts
Marvel star Letitia Wright recently decided to delete her social media pages days after insinuating she was against the COVID-19 vaccine. In December 2020, social media users expressed their concern after Wright shared a video that challenged the vaccine. Following the post, Wright wrote about the backlash on Twitter before she deleted her account.
Letitia Wright accused critics of ‘canceling’ her following her anti-vaccine Twitter post
Wright’s career catapulted when she played Shuri in Marvel’s 2018 film, Black Panther. Her role as King T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) little sister and princess of Wakanda made her a Marvel fan-favorite. After Black Panther, Wright starred in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Guava Island. Most recently, Wright starred in Steve McQueen’s series on Prime Video, Small Axe.
Wright received attention for more than her acting skills on social media. On Friday, December 4, 2020, Wright posted a link to a show called On The Table. According to Deadline, the video questioned the COVID-19 vaccine, which will soon release in Britain. The show’s host, Tomi Arayomi, questioned the vaccine’s legitimacy, even though he doesn’t have any medical knowledge or accolades.
Once Wright saw the critiques, she shared her take on the comments via Twitter. In the deleted post, Wright decided to defend herself and said that she was expressing her opinion.
“If you don’t conform to popular opinions, but ask questions and think for yourself, you get canceled,” Wright wrote.
Letitia Wright apologized to her fans for sharing the anti-vaccine video before deleting her social media accounts
After she shared Arayomi’s video publicly, Wright continued to receive criticism from the public. Actor Don Cheadle, who co-starred with Wright in Avengers: Endgame, bashed the footage after Wright posted it on Twitter. According to NBC News, Cheadle called the video “hot garbage” and tweeted that he would “never defend anybody posting this.”
Wright took to Twitter once again to share precisely why she posted the link on her public page. She said she didn’t intend on offending anyone when she created the post. Wright said she wanted to express her concerns about what is in the vaccine before other people can access it.
“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,” Wright wrote in another since-delete tweet.
Following her two tweets, Wright decided to delete her Twitter and Instagram accounts. While she didn’t share her reason for the social media break, the choice came days after the backlash Wright received.
Although she possibly upset some of her fans, her career and acting jobs don’t seem to be going anywhere. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Wright’s character, Shuri, will have a “more prominent role” in Black Panther 2. The alleged promotion came after Boseman died of colon cancer in August 2020. The outlet reported that Black Panther 2 would start production in July 2021.
