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Social media calls to cancel 'Black Panther' actress after she questions vaccines
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Social media calls to cancel 'Black Panther' actress after she questions vaccines

What just happened here?

Much of social media came out in full force against "Black Panther" actress Letitia Wright after she appeared to question the efficacy of vaccines on Thursday.

What are the details?

Wright, 27, shared — and later appeared to have deleted — what many people perceived to be an anti-vaccination video to Twitter on Thursday.

As a result, many social media users said that Marvel should recast Wright's character in the upcoming "Black Panther" sequel, "Black Panther 2."

The actress portrayed Shuri in the blockbuster film, sister of King T'Challa, portrayed by the late actor Chadwick Boseman.

According to Newsweek, the video, content from Invazion Media Network's "On The Table," "questioned the value of vaccinations" and Wright "accompanied the tweet with the hands in prayer emoji which is typically used to denote praise."

At one point during the video, the presenter, Tomi Arayomi, can be heard saying, "I don't understand vaccines medically, but I've always been a little bit of a skeptic of them."

Arayomi went on to insist that he isn't sure a vaccine for COVID-19 will be effective, and said that those who do get the vaccine should "hope to God it doesn't make extra limbs grow."

According to Variety, Wright's tweet was deleted, and YouTube removed the video for "violating YouTube's terms of service."

Following the initial outcry, Wright defended herself and wrote, "[I]f you don't conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself....you get cancelled."

What was the response?

The outlet pointed out one user who suggested that a recast might be "necessary."

"You know, maybe recasting for Black Panther is necessary, I'm thinking Kiki Layne, Lovie Simone, whataboutyall?"

Another user wrote, "[T]his isn't the [S]huri we deserve."

"Letitia gone keep tweeting and we gone see Amandla Stenberg as Shuri in Black Panther 2," another user added.

Newsweek reported that Wright even "liked" a tweet calling for her to be recast in the hit franchise, which read, "Yeah y'all can go ahead and recast her @Marvel."

Author Roxane Gay — who penned spin-off comic book "Black Panther: World of Wakanda" — added, "Thinking for yourself doesn't mean you're right. And you aren't cancelled. But damn. Promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and shrouding it in intellectual curiosity is asinine. And dangerous."

What else?

Wright herself responded to the controversy after the incident went viral.

Variety reported that Wright responded, "[M]y 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. Nothing else."

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