DC Studios Boss James Gunn Responds To SHAZAM! Star Zachary Levi's Controversial Anti-Pfizer Tweets

DC Studios Boss James Gunn Responds To SHAZAM! Star Zachary Levi's Controversial Anti-Pfizer Tweets

DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has responded to Shazam! Fury of the Gods star Zachary Levi's recent controversial Tweets while fielding questions about actors from the DCEU making the leap to the DCU...

By JoshWilding - Feb 01, 2023 05:02 AM EST
Source: Variety

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. 

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bobevanz
bobevanz - 2/1/2023, 5:23 AM
So basically, talk shit get hit lol
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 2/1/2023, 6:20 AM
@bobevanz - Unless you happen to be Ezra Miller. 🙄
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 2/1/2023, 7:06 AM
@SuperiorHeckler - it’s a pronoun game.
OptimusCrime
OptimusCrime - 2/1/2023, 5:25 AM
That makes sense.

Ezra though...
Urubrodi
Urubrodi - 2/1/2023, 5:34 AM
@OptimusCrime - Yeah, I'd say he falls under the "doing something morally reprehensible" category.
OptimusCrime
OptimusCrime - 2/1/2023, 3:17 PM
@Urubrodi - 100%
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/1/2023, 5:41 AM
levi should just shut the [frick] up
SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 2/1/2023, 6:23 AM
@Superheromoviefan - Perhaps you should consider changing your handle to "HeWhoControlsWhatOthersMayThinkAndSay"... 🧐
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/1/2023, 6:52 AM
@SuperiorHeckler -
dude, everybody is like that, im pretty sure even you do that, or are you a "free speech absolutist"
TabbiKat1331
TabbiKat1331 - 2/1/2023, 8:17 AM
@Superheromoviefan - I'm a free speech absolutist, why do you say that like its a bad thing? I'm also a gender fluid queer marine combat vet... so there goes your stereotypes
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/1/2023, 8:43 AM
@Twiz1331 -
oh, really? would you be fine with someone who advocate for pedophilia and gain support and popularity?
people who tend to be "free speech" are almost always free speech with what they like
TabbiKat1331
TabbiKat1331 - 2/1/2023, 9:07 AM
@Superheromoviefan - yes, they can advocate for that if they want. Free speech is free speech. doesn't mean I agree with what they are saying.
Webster614
Webster614 - 2/1/2023, 9:10 AM
@Superheromoviefan - Maybe you should heed your own advice?
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/1/2023, 10:27 AM
@Twiz1331 -
even if bc of their popularity and support peophilia becames more normal? if you truly believe that its great, but i dont believe you. every time someones says it they go back, just like with elon musk
TabbiKat1331
TabbiKat1331 - 2/1/2023, 10:48 AM
@Superheromoviefan - the only way deviant behaviors such as pedophilia is normalized is if an opposing view is silienced, so as long as people are free to share their views and opinions in opposition I doubt it would become normalized.

Take Nazism we can all agree that is terrible, it was only when opposing voices were silenced that it was able to flourish. We have learned our lesson and will not sit silently and let that happen again.
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/1/2023, 11:16 AM
@Twiz1331 - lol, what? dude, nick fuentes had dinner with the previous US president
TabbiKat1331
TabbiKat1331 - 2/1/2023, 12:26 PM
@Superheromoviefan - who had no idea who he was, I still not sure who he is, most people don't. You act like they are BFF's. Our current president Eulogizes a former grand master of the KKK...
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/1/2023, 12:41 PM
@Twiz1331 -
lol, first he was former, he expressed regret. second, he was a member, but not a grand master.
lastly you might not know who it is, but his ideas are pretty prevalent on the right, like that the deep state is run by jews or more commonly the elites

TabbiKat1331
TabbiKat1331 - 2/2/2023, 8:30 AM
@Superheromoviefan - dude as someone from the right let me be the first to tell you, no his ideas are not prevalent. Y'all have all these ideas about what we on the right think or believe and you couldn't be more wrong. Because you need us to be these horrible monsters to justify your hate. Maybe get to know a normal conservsative person and listen to what they have to say without projecting your expectations on them
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/2/2023, 1:56 PM
@Twiz1331 -
really, so you dont think deep state is run by jews or more commonly the elites?
TabbiKat1331
TabbiKat1331 - 2/2/2023, 4:28 PM
@Superheromoviefan - I don't know about jews, but yes its all run by rich elites, they only provide an illusion of choice in parties but they all serve the same masters. and they all lie to us to keep us fighting each other so we don't notice what they are doing.
Superheromoviefan
Superheromoviefan - 2/2/2023, 5:47 PM
@Twiz1331 -
just as i said
Corruptor
Corruptor - 2/1/2023, 5:42 AM
A little boy in a man's body.
Fogs
Fogs - 2/1/2023, 5:43 AM
God forbid attacking the corporate lords and saviors.

He was talking about the company. And yeah, most big companies are mercenaries, so what?
Webster614
Webster614 - 2/1/2023, 9:12 AM
@Fogs - Funny thing is... most of the people upset with him taking aim at Pfizer are the same people that argue against large corporations... or used to anyway.
Spawnnn
Spawnnn - 2/1/2023, 5:54 AM
The obsession with cancelling everything and everyone that has a slightly different view on a topic is just dumb af. I mean there are boundaries, of course, but this laughable shit? Common people. Get a grip.
mpk1988
mpk1988 - 2/1/2023, 5:58 AM
Levi said nothing wrong - pharma , especially American is a monster
elgaz
elgaz - 2/1/2023, 6:03 AM
Levi is welcome to say whatever he wants, free speech is still a thing. However, bit rich for Gunn to say "if somebody's doing something morally reprehensible then that's a different story" and ignore the elephant in the room that is Ezra Miller, who has been accused of assault, coercion, abuse and more.
JackRussoff3
JackRussoff3 - 2/1/2023, 6:04 AM
Anyone defending Pfizer and shaming anyone for questioning them or calling them out is a piece of shit.



And Gunn has zero room to talk when it comes to things like this

End of line


Kadara
Kadara - 2/1/2023, 10:37 AM
@JackRussoff3 - Did you read what Gunn said? Basically he's saying he's not going to censor what people say or do, whether he agrees with them or not. I don't see how that's a bad thing.
JackRussoff3
JackRussoff3 - 2/1/2023, 12:37 PM
@Kadara - I did. I couldn't care less.

He said that because of his own past. Don't want to appear hypocritical do we?

My initial statement was more important
KWilly
KWilly - 2/1/2023, 6:06 AM
The Levi thing is really not that big of a deal. It's Ezra that should be facing actual consequences. Not just a freakin 500 dollar fine.
Supercat6376
Supercat6376 - 2/1/2023, 6:45 AM
Cant question the shibboleth of the vaccine. Peoples heads can’t handle it. They think they’ve done the right thing, their moral obligation to do right by others; but in reality the vax was a load of crap .
Webster614
Webster614 - 2/1/2023, 9:16 AM
@Supercat6376 - It's crazy what the fight over the vax has done. These people crying about Levi criticizing Pfizer are the same people that 3 years ago were so anti large corporations, "big pharma", etc. But that plays to your point... They feel they have done what was right, or their moral obligation so now they will defend it. No matter how sill it looks because Pfizer like a lot of Pharma companies are shady AF.
Supercat6376
Supercat6376 - 2/1/2023, 2:00 PM
@Webster614 - there is no data you can give to them that would get them to change their minds. They are so locked in. You are absolutely correct. They’ve become pro crony capitalism babies.
Radders
Radders - 2/1/2023, 6:48 AM
All you can do is laugh at this and whisper Ezra Miller lol
CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 2/1/2023, 6:52 AM
Can't imagine why people give a shit and care about what an actor says about something outside of their area of expertise. What's his opinion on drywall repair? Or stock portfolios? Who gives a shit what you think Zachary. And shame on people who give a shit what an actor thinks or a truck driver thinks about the vaccine.
Fares
Fares - 2/1/2023, 8:04 AM
@CAPTAINPINKEYE - Whoever came up with the notion that actors, or successful people in general, need to act like role models (however you define that) in all areas of life made life unnecessarily harder for both us and them.
CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 2/1/2023, 8:34 AM
@Fares - yup
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 2/1/2023, 6:54 AM
''if somebody's doing something morally reprehensible then that's a different story''

So, Ezra Miller? What's up with that then?

Really hope Gunn goes with Wally West as the next Flash though. Regardless of Miller, I always like Wally West more than Barry Allen.
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