Marvel Studios is facing another public relations nightmare after Ant-Man star Evangeline Lilly participated in an anti-vax rally in Washington D.C. over the weekend.
The latest Marvel controversy follows Black Panther actress Letitia Wright's anti-vax stance, which sparked an online campaign for her firing.
Lilly, who plays Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp in Ant-Man, said she attended the D.C. protest "to support bodily sovereignty while Canadian truckers were rallying for their cross-country, peaceful convoy in support of the same thing."
The trucker convoy she referred to was headed towards Ontario and was a separate protest against the vaccination mandate for truckers crossing the Canada-U.S. border.
The Canadian-born actress continued:
"I believe nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will, under threat of violent attack, arrest or detention without trial, loss of employment, homelessness, starvation, loss of education, alienation from loved ones, ex-communication from society...under any threat whatsoever."
She added:
"This is not the way. This is not safe. This is not healthy. This is not love. I understand the world is in fear, but I don’t believe that answering fear with force will fix our problems."
You can see her full post, here.
The Daily Beast confirmed that none of the threats in her rant were accurate, and they claimed her post “carries a whole host of misleading implications.”
It remains unclear whether or not the actress has been vaccinated.
But the opinion of fans regarding her position against vaccine mandates remained resolute.
Earlier in the pandemic back in March 2020, Lilly received flak for another post in which she said she refused to self-isolate, despite the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) advising people to refrain from being in close contact with others and stay home if they have been exposed.
"Some people value their lives over freedom, some people value freedom over their lives. We all make choices," she wrote, before later apologizing with:
"I can see now that I was projecting my own fears into an already fearful and traumatic situation."
The D.C. rally was also attended by known anti-vaccine propagandist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who as the event's speaker slammed vaccine mandates and made comments saying anti-vaxxers have it worse than Anne Frank.
“Even in Hitler’s Germany, you [could] cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic, like Anne Frank did," said RFK Jr.
The nephew of President John F. Kennedy has since issued an apology after backlash for his comment, saying his "intention was to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control."
Lilly's position against vaccine mandates prompted comparisons to Black Panther star Letitia Wright, who faced backlash for tweeting a video featuring anti-vaccine and anti-transgender commentary.
The Hollywood Reporter also alleged she shared anti-vax views on the set of the Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever.
Her anti-vax stance sparked a campaign by fans to replace the British actress' role as Shuri, the sister of Black Panther T'Challa who was played by the late Chadwick Boseman
Wright has since resumed filming for the sequel after production halted so she could recover from an on-set shoulder injury that occurred on August 25, 2021.
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