Black Panther star Letitia Wright was heavily criticized earlier this week for sharing a conspiracy theory-filled video that included openly questioning vaccinations in the middle of a pandemic. And now it appears the backlash to that has caused her to leave social media.
Wright, who is likely to see an increased role in the Black Panther sequel following the death of star Chadwick Boseman earlier this year, shared a 75-minute video that spread vaccine conspiracy theories and other wild misinformation. The tweet, which was widely seen as a co-sign on the contents of the video, came the same day a COVID-19 vaccine was given approval for use in the UK. And despite an apology of sorts for being complicit in vaccine disinformation ahead of one of the most important vaccine distributions in more than a century, the backlash proved too much for her to remain active on social media.
As Deadline reported on Saturday, Wright appears to have at least deactivated her account on Twitter and Instagram.
“This account doesn’t exist” and a blank page is what Twitter users will encounter when they try to search Black Panther star Letitia Wright on the social media platform.
The video and its amplification by Wright was widely condemned online. Don Cheadle, another actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was one who criticized Wright for sharing the conspiracy-filled video. But also said he “won’t throw her away” over it.
jesus… just scrolled through. hot garbage. every time i stopped and listened, he and everything he said sounded crazy and fkkkd up. i would never defend anybody posting this. but i still won’t throw her away over it. the rest i’ll take off twitter. had no idea. https://t.co/7uDlP1xwDL
— Don “bruh, you lost” Cheadle (@DonCheadle) December 4, 2020
In a time where confidence in public health policy is more important than ever, the dissemination of misleading or outright incorrect information about mask wearing, vaccines and other health initiatives can have very deadly consequences for tens of thousands of people. Getting pushed off a platform in the face of criticism is never a positive thing, but it’s another lesson that people with large followings online need to take the audience they’ve created seriously and not make what’s already been a difficult year any worse with an errant tweet.