Broadway star Laura Benanti didn't mince words slamming her former She Loves Me costar Zachary Levi for his baseless claim about their costar Gavin Creel's death.
Creel was known for his work in musical theater, including originating the role of Jimmy Smith in Thoroughly Modern Millie for his Broadway debut in 2002 and winning a Tony award in 2017 for his performance as Cornelius Hackl in Hello, Dolly!
He tragically died on September 30, 2024, two months after receiving his diagnosis of metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He was 48.
The theater community mourned Creel's untimely death and shared poignant remembrances on social media, including his ex-boyfriend Jonathan Groff.
Levi, famous for portraying the titular role in the 2007 action-comedy TV series Chuck, exploited the tragedy to push his right-wing agenda by blaming Creel's death on the COVID-19 vaccine.
In 2016, Levi joined the Roundabout Theatre Company's second Broadway revival of She Loves Me in the lead role of Georg Nowack opposite Benanti as Amalia Balash and Creel as Steven Kodaly.
His unsubstantiated claim regarding his late costar's death received backlash, which was a topic discussed on this week’s episode of That’s a Gay A** Podcast, hosted by Eric Williams.
Benanti tore into Levi and clarified they were not friends
You can view a clip of the interview here.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
When Williams asked Benanti if her memory of Levi changed with the public's critical perception of him recently, the 45-year-old Tony winner recalled her time working with Levi during She Loves Me.
She said:
“I never liked [Levi]. Everyone was like, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not. He’s sucking up all the f***ing energy in this room. He wants to mansplain everybody’s part to them.'"
“He really sucked everybody in with his dance party energy, like, ‘We’re doing a dance party at half-hour.’ I was like, ‘Good luck, have fun.’”
Regarding Levi's claim about Creel's death, Benanti said:
“For him to use Gavin’s memory—a person he was not friends with—to use his memory for his political agenda and to watch him try to make himself cry until he had one single tear, which he did not wipe away, I was like, ‘F*** you forever.’”
Fans and industry colleagues gave the outspoken actor a standing o.
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In recent years, Levi has fallen out of favor with his industry peers after he made comments echoing anti-vaccine sentiment and endorsing President-elect Donald Trump.
While campaigning for Trump during the election, Levi attempted to encourage many "closeted conservatives" to join him in support of MAGA but had little success, leading to him being further ostracized from Hollywood.
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In Instagram video on October 20, Levi stated:
“I know that this is going to offend some people and make some people mad, and I wish it didn’t."
Levi continued:
"A few weeks ago, my friend Gavin Creel died. He was 48 years old, and he was one of the healthiest people I knew."
"You better believe that, with everything in me, I believe that if these COVID vaccinations were not forced on the American public…" he said before trailing off.
Both the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute have debunked claims of cancer being attributed to COVID-19 vaccines.
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