Social media has given celebrities a platform to share their personal opinions, resulting in praise, cancellations, and controversy in equal measure.
Over the weekend, Shazam! Fury of the Gods star Zachary Levi came under fire in a big way on Twitter. The actor shared a Tweet from a British TV host whose bio brags about being called "anti-vax" and "transphobic" that asked who else agrees Pfizer - one of the pharmaceutical companies that produce COVID-19 vaccines - is a danger to the world.
Levi said he "Hardcore [agrees]," and went on to share a 2009 press release about Pfizer being punished for misbranding an anti-inflammatory drug.
During a recent Q&A with select members of the press, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn was asked for his thoughts on Levi's Tweets amid speculation about whether actors and characters from the existing DCEU will exist within the new DCU.
"Actors and filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with and things that I don't agree with," Gunn stated (via Variety). "And that's going to happen. I don't have a list of things that somebody should say because of what I think. And you know, I can't be changing my plans all the time because an actor says something that I don't agree with."
"By the same token, if somebody's doing something morally reprehensible then that's a different story. We have to take all that stuff into account. It's a balance. It's a modern world and it's a different place."
Gunn is no doubt thinking back to how Disney fired him after some offensive jokes he shared on Twitter resurfaced years later. Ultimately, Levi is entitled to his opinion, though he may want to tread carefully as others who have arguably gone too far with their anti-vax views - The Mandalorian's Gina Carano, for example - have found themselves ostracised from Hollywood.
However, with Shazam! franchise producer Peter Safran serving as DC Studios' co-CEO, we're guessing this version of the Big Red Cheese has a future in the DCU!
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.