In today’s edition of “log off immediately,†Black Panther star Letitia Wright is facing backlash for sharing and defending an anti-vaccine, transphobic video on Twitter Thursday night. The actress responded with a non-apology Friday morning, stating her “intention was not to hurt anyone.†“My ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies,†she wrote. “Nothing else.†The video in question is from On the Table, a YouTube discussion channel. The host, Tom Arayomi, admits he doesn’t “understand vaccines medically,†but has “always been a little bit of a skeptic,†before going into a transphobic monologue. Wright reposted the video with a prayer hands emoji, effectively endorsing the video and its claims. (The tweet has since been deleted.)
The actress, who currently stars in Steve McQueen’s anthology Small Axe, began arguing with fans disappointed with her for spreading misinformation. She responded by saying she was merely trying to “ask questions.†“If you don’t conform to popular opinions but ask questions and think for yourself….you get cancelled,†she tweeted Thursday night. The answers to the questions she reposted, and other vaccine concerns, can actually be found in medical journals, news reports, and through professionals (not admittedly uneducated YouTubers), but Wright maintained that “it’s not lazy, it’s thinking for myself†in a reply. Her tweets have caught the attention of many, including Roxane Gay, who previously wrote a Black Panther comic series with Ta-Nehisi Coates. “Thinking for yourself doesn’t mean you’re right,†Gay tweeted to Wright. “And you aren’t cancelled. But damn. Promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and shrouding it in intellectual curiosity is asinine. And dangerous.â€