Norbert Leo Butz, a two-time Tony Award-winning Broadway actor who originated the role of Fiyero in Wicked, has little time for Zachary Levi‘s spreading of misinformation when it comes to the theater community’s turbulent times due to COVID-19, and the recent loss of one of its brightest stars.
It’s been a bad few weeks (or years) for actor-turned-conspiracy theorist Levi career-wise. After Levi’s endorsement of Donald Trump for the upcoming 2024 election received major backlash from former fans — and even a few fellow actors — the former Shazam! star only made matters worse this week when he took to Instagram to share his theories on the recent death of former She Loves Me co-star and Broadway legend, Gavin Creel.
Creel and Levi worked together on the Broadway revival musical in 2016, a memory the Tangled voice actor recalled on an hour-long Instagram livestream as one where he was in awe of his co-star, who he claimed was “one of the healthiest people I knew,” avoiding alcohol and maintaining an impressive athletic physique.
Creel died in hospice on September 30th, 2024, at the age of 48, having been diagnosed with a malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, an aggressive form of cancer, in July of that year. Despite the privacy surrounding Creel’s declining health in the weeks before his death, that did not stop Levi from weighing in on the potential cause of his unexpected illness.
Referring to Creel’s cancer battle as “advanced stage 4 sarcoma turbo cancer,” Levi said Creel’s death was “crazy, [it] came out of nowhere.”
Levi went on to make some assumptions about the progression of the disease. “Immediately stage four, there was no gestational period. There was no stage one through four that they could have detected.”
The 44-year-old went on to reveal his theory on how Creel contracted cancer. “You better believe that, with everything in me, I believe that if these COVID vaccinations were not forced on the American public, that [if] the theaters weren’t being pushed and leveraged,” Levi began, referring to the strict rules theaters underwent to adhere to COVID-19 regulations, which often extended to proof of vaccination.
“They knew the cost benefit of these shots, and it was garbage. Guys, it was garbage. They knew that there would be plenty of side effects, including turbo cancers.”
“Without a shadow of a doubt, I believe that Gavin Creel would be alive right now — right f**king now — he would still be alive if that stuff didn’t get put into his body.”
Unsurprisingly, Levi’s remarks failed to win over any fellow Broadway actors and friends of the late Creel — with Norbert Leo Butz among the most noticeable dissenters. Butz commented on Levi’s Instagram post to express his anger and disappointment in his remarks.
“Really tried to give you the benefit here. Made it halfway through, which was hard as hell,” Butz responded. “But Was utterly heartbroken, as [Creel] would have been, that you felt the need to use his life and legacy to promote this awful platform.”
Published: Oct 24, 2024 05:41 pm