Noted Hollywood wash-up Zachary Levi (Shazam) went live on Instagram to spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation related to Broadway star and Levi’s former She Loves Me costar, Gavin Creel‘s death. Several Broadway legends then forcefully told Levi where to stick his theory about what caused Creel’s cancer.
Creel died at the age of 48 in September after he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma a few months earlier. Since the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, skeptics like Levi, 44, have contended the vaccines have caused, among other debunked side effects, so-called “turbo cancers,” despite the fact the National Cancer Insitute and the American Cancer Society say there’s no evidence to suggest that’s true.
Still, Levi said, “I believe that if these COVID vaccinations were not forced on the American public, that the theaters weren’t being pushed and leveraged,” Creel would be alive today. (Broadway had an actor and crew vaccine mandate, like many other industries, but dropped the requirement in June 2023, according to The Hollywood Reporter.)
” … This is going to offend some people”
Levi tried to temper his claim that COVID-19 vaccination caused Creel’s cancer, stating at the top, “I know that this is going to offend some people and make some people mad, and I wish it didn’t,” which proved to be true. Creel’s Wicked co-star, Norbert Leo Butz, commented, “Really tried to give you the benefit here. Made it halfway through, which was hard as hell. 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.”
Meanwhile, publicist Lisa Goldberg added, “I’m going to post it bc it seems no one else is willing to comment on this… who do you think you are talking about Gavin Creel like this? To say Gavin (or anyone) got stage 4 cancer and died bc of a vaccine? The absolute disrespect to Gavin’s memory, his friends & family, to science, to medicine, to all of the people struggling w/ diseases including cancer past & present, to all of the people grieving Gavin’s loss, or others grieving losses from all of the people who died from Covid before that vaccine was available??!” Goldberg added in the comments, “Are you kidding me with this absolute garbage?! Go peddle your ignorance elsewhere – it’s disgusting. DISGUSTING.”
At the same time, another Creel Wicked costar, Jenna Leigh Green, shot back, “Gavin deserved better. What has happened to you to have flown so far from decency and sanity? It’s just so sad.” Musical theater composer Bobby Cronin added, “Total POS. Stop using Gavin’s death for attention.”
Others got personal, like Broadway actress Ellyn Marsh, who told Levi, “You were the worst part of She Loves Me.”And finally, “Photographing you in She Loves Me, I just remember you chain-smoking outside the stage door,” photographer Evan Zimmerman wrote, “Your poor cast had to deal not only with you but your stench.” (As for cigarettes, Levi has since said he quit.)
Levi’s other controversies
Levi, no stranger to controversy, unsurprisingly, supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president, who shares Levi’s views on vaccines. Since RFK Jr. announced he supported Trump, Levi has endorsed Trump, too. He’s also retweeted anti-trans and other misinformation that has essentially left him exiled from Hollywood. Now Levi lives in Texas along with Joe Rogan and Elon Musk, a state more sympathetic to Levi’s alt-right bro-science misguided tendencies.
On Levi’s Creel-related comments and his Trump support, playwright Paul Rudnick said, “The repulsive Zachary Levi says, with zero evidence, that the great Gavin Creel died from a COVID vaccine. Levi says Creel was his friend; Levi supports the most homophobic candidate and all his hate. Creel was a passionate gay activist — Levi isn’t his friend.”
On Instagram, Levi claimed Creel was healthy before his cancer diagnosis and that his “turbo cancer” came out of nowhere. CBS News says Creel had a metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma (MPNST). According to the Cleveland Clinic, MPNST affects about 1 in a million people each year and is linked to a genetic predisposition called neurofibromatosis type 1.
Published: Oct 25, 2024 01:31 pm