Yesterday I wrote about the growing anger directed toward Ant-Man and The Wasp star Evangeline Lilly regarding her stance on the Coronavirus. The story began earlier in the week when she posted on Instagram that she was not observing social distancing and that life was #businessasusual. That annoyed plenty of people, but annoyance spiraled into white-hot anger when she said that she thought the pandemic was overblown and even that it might be some kind of hoax.
Since then, fans have been demanding that Marvel fire her for spreading dangerous misinformation and potentially contributing to the spread of the deadly virus. Here’s a selection of how it’s going down on social media:
Marvel, fire Evangeline Lilly. That stupid bitch is saying that the virus is a hoax and is putting everyone in danger with that huge lie. Look at her Instagram.
— NCISLAFAN (@McGoozzo) March 20, 2020
so #evangelinelilly thinks #COVID is a hoax. folks r dying by the thousands and this entitled dip stick thinks its fake. plz fire her @Marvel @MarvelStudios @Disney @DisneyStudios https://t.co/1CjsqCOp7u
— CJ360Nation (@npcj3600) March 20, 2020
FIRE @EvangelineLilly NOW. She is spreading misinformation. She deserves to be BLACKLISTED.
ANY PUBLIC FIGURE THAT USES THEIR PLATFORM TO DOWNPLAY THE SERIOUSNESS OF THIS VIRUS SHOULD BE BLACKLISTED. FOR LIFE. FROM WORKING IN ENTERTAINMENT.
PERIOD.
— #BernieorBernitdown (@Darth_Windows) March 20, 2020
@Marvel is gonna fire Evangeline Lilly, right? This is unacceptable and the entire fandom should be mad at this reckless and dangerous behavior. https://t.co/62nQkIMr0d
— The ADRIELorian ?️? (@AdrielLAlgiene) March 19, 2020
And just like that Evangeline Lilly is no longer the Wasp because she values herself over others.
Bye Bye @EvangelineLilly pic.twitter.com/mrlywjMHhZ
— PJ ?️? (@petrinajc) March 19, 2020
Hey @Marvel can I be the new Wasp since y’all better fire @EvangelineLilly
— lily 🙂 (@anotheruglygal) March 20, 2020
Paul Rudd the next time Evangeline Lilly comes hear him: pic.twitter.com/MTkVSAWc7L
— botoxed camel (@mccbumgarner) March 19, 2020
So yeah, people are pretty mad, and I can understand why. After all, almost everyone recognizes that even if you personally are not in a vulnerable group, you could still easily spread it to someone who is. As such, most of us are staying at home for at least the next few weeks. And if we can make sacrifices in our personal lives, a multimillionaire celebrity can certainly do the same.
It’s also difficult to understand why she just couldn’t keep her trap shut. I mean, after her first post garnered so much negativity, why couldn’t she leave it there? Perhaps her social media advisor is self-isolating or something.
At this point, it remains to be seen whether Marvel Studios will actually fire her. Ant-Man 3 is currently scheduled to shoot in early 2021 for a 2022 release, but after this debacle, I suspect Peyton Reed may wonder if the Wasp could have accidentally been swatted sometime after Avengers: Endgame.
This unprecedented situation will no doubt have the public looking for heroes to praise and villains to castigate, so I think the only way for Evangeline Lilly to get out of this jam is to wait for someone to say something even stupider. And given the narcissistic crap that tends to emanate from the mouths of A-listers, it’s surely only a matter of time.
