Hollywood actor Channing Tatum faced backlash for seemingly validating anti-maskers by liking a social media comment tied to a pandemic conspiracy theory.
The actor did a 180 after COIVD-19 safety deniers ruthlessly mocked him for sharing a video of masked actors, including himself and crew members, on the set of the new film, Blink Twice, featuring the directorial debut of his fiancée, Zoë Kravitz.
Tatum and Kravitz began dating in summer 2021 during the casting process for the film, which was formerly titled, Pussy Island. They got engaged in 2023.
Tatum posted an on-set photo and video boasting about Kravitz taking the helm.
"MISS DIRECTOR LADY HERSELF IN ACTION!!" he wrote, adding:
"ABSOLUTELY CRUSHING IT. CAN’T WAIT FOR YALL TO SEE."
The black and white behind-the-scenes video showed Tatum and company wearing face coverings as they were watching the action on the dailies monitor.
You can watch the video in the second slide of this post.
The post-pandemic practice is still in place for the safety of everyone involved in many film and TV productions to prevent risks of costly shutdowns and delays.
However, trolls en masse shamed Tatum in the comments for following safety protocols.
One critic called the film that nobody has seen yet a "woke movie" followed by others who mocked the masked people on set.
@channingtatum/Instagram
@channingtatum/Instagram
@channingtatum/Instagram
@channingtatum/Instagram
But instead of ignoring the taunting, Tatum downplayed the production's safety guidelines with sarcasm and explained:
"Oh the woke police!! Haha thanks."
"They make us wear it for insurance when we made this a year ago."
He added that he never responds to negative comments but made an exception here since it warranted a response.
"This one was a specially stupid," he wrote.
@channingtatum/Instagram
But after calling out some of the comments, Tatum then "liked" one posted by another conspiracy theorist who claimed the "government lied" about the 2020 global pandemic resulting in "suckers" wearing "paper things on their faces."
@channingtatum/Instagram
And the accusations of him being an anti-masker and anti-vaxxer began.
The controversy sparked a Reddit thread putting the Magic Mike actor on blast.
from Fauxmoi
People expressed their disappointment.
r/Fauxmoi/Reddit
r/Fauxmoi/Reddit
r/Fauxmoi/Reddit
r/Fauxmoi/Reddit
r/Fauxmoi/Reddit
Back on Instagram, others advised Tatum not to interact with haters.
@channingtatum/Instagram
@channingtatum/Instagram
There was speculation that Tatum liked the conspiracy theorist's comment by accident, but others wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional either.
Kravitz's mother, Lisa Bonet, is a known anti-vaxxer who opened up about her stance regarding her daughter's health while appearing as a guest on The Phil Donahue Show in 1990.
Bonet said at the time that she refused to vaccinate her daughter, who was then 2, for fear of introducing "alien microorganisms into our children's blood."
It remains unclear whether or not Kravitz eventually got inoculated for any vaccines as an adult.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
@arianagrande/Instagram
@arianagrande/Instagram