It was only recently that internet users were flooding social media with glowing tributes to Anthony Mackie as they celebrated the one-month anniversary of Sam Wilson becoming the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Captain America in the final episode of Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but he’s now become the latest target of cancel culture.
The actor has been labeled as a homophobe by certain sections of the online community for comments he made in regards to the platonic relationship between Sam and Bucky Barnes. Quite how we reached that point is up for debate when Mackie never said anything negative directly about the community, but rather outlined that the implications of homosexuality between the two are both potentially exploitative and indicative of a larger problem in the industry where platonic male friendships struggle to be realized without some sort of overt romantic undertones being hinted at, whether through accident or design.
That being said, it didn’t take long for Twitter to come out all guns blazing and demand that he become the latest addition to a list of canceled MCU stars that numbers…. well, nobody actually, but you get the point, and you can also check out some of the reactions below.
Ppl tryna cancel Anthony mackie for saying Captain America and Bucky aren’t gay is so dumb 🤣 not everything gotta be gay-signed the mf who calls everything gay
— Zye Reid (@reid_zye) June 20, 2021
Y’all really mad at & trying to cancel Anthony Mackie cause he said Sam & Bucky relationship in the MCU is purely platonic and not sexual? What is the world coming too 🤦🏽♂️?
— Jae Williams 👨🏽💻 (@imjaewilliams) June 20, 2021
The MCU fan base is actually so toxic, trying to cancel Anthony Mackie because he doesn't ship Bucky/Sam 🙄🙄
— smythjayde93 (@smythjayde93) June 19, 2021
https://twitter.com/Kojoflames95/status/1405982464615591940
https://twitter.com/blindflower/status/1405962554564882437
https://twitter.com/mmdrvgs/status/1405895332416962568
yall are fr trying to cancel anthony mackie cause he said they have a platonic friendship omg
— madison (@madisondiorss) June 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/peterparker3005/status/1405827835521085446
People want the characters Sam and Bucky to be a romance when its a bromance. Anthony Mackie commented on it and basically said that when playing the role, he didn't intend the friendship to be a romance but people can interpret it in their own way. Now people want to cancel him.
— Account154 (@Account1541) June 18, 2021
Is gay twitter gonna try to cancel anthony mackie aka captain america now? bcz he said to stop pushing the gay thing on male friends. i totally understand where he coming from.
— heaux page 😌 (@elb0rii) June 18, 2021
There’s no malicious intent on Anthony Mackie‘s part, and from a rational perspective you completely understand what he’s getting at, but the way he worded his comments could’ve been better, which has led to them being construed as an attack. Of course, the furors swirling around MCU alumni Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner and even co-star Stan have long since blown over without any repercussions for any of the aforementioned names, and this one will no doubt follow suit.