James Gunn responds to backlash over Shazam star Zachary Levi’s anti-vaccine comment-Aisha Nozari-Entertainment – Metro

James Gunn has shared his thoughts on Zachary Levi’s criticism of Pfizer (Picture: Getty)

James Gunn has responded to comments made by Shazam star Zachary Levi that were perceived as being anti-vax.

On Sunday, the DC actor criticised Pfizer, one of the pharmaceutical companies that makes coronavirus vaccines.

Days later, James, who is a DC Films co-chair, was asked about Zachary’s remarks and said he wasn’t in the business of ‘changing plans whenever an actor says something I don’t agree with’ but did say if talent did something ‘morally reprehensible’ that would be ‘taken into account’.

Actor Zachary’s fans expressed their dismay when the 42-year-old retweeted a questionable hot take from pundit Lyndon Wood that read: ‘Do you agree or not, that Pfizer is a real danger to the world?’

‘Hardcore agree,’ Zachary chimed in before also posting a link to a Department of Justice press release from 2009 that announced Pfizer had been ordered to pay a $2.3 billion settlement for misbranding one of its drugs.

Announcing his plans for the DC Universe at an event over the weekend, James, 56, was asked about Zachary’s remarks and replied: ‘Actors and filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with and things that I don’t agree with.’

James said he wasn’t in the business of ‘changing plans whenever an actor says something I don’t agree with’ (Picture: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

Zachary’s fans expressed their dismay over his tweet (Picture: Michael Kovac/Getty Images for IMDb)

‘And that’s going to happen. I don’t have a list of things that somebody should say because of what I think. And you know, I can’t be changing my plans all the time because an actor says something that I don’t agree with,’ he added, according to Variety.

However, the Guardians of the Galaxy director did note: ‘By the same token, if somebody’s doing something morally reprehensible then that’s a different story.

‘We have to take all that stuff into account. It’s a balance. It’s a modern world and it’s a different place.’

James also spoke about DC’s history at the event, calling it ‘f****d up’.

‘The history of DC is pretty messed up, it was f**ked up. No one was minding the mint, they were just giving away the IP like they were party favours to any creators that smiled at them,’ he said.

‘One of our strategies is to take our diamond characters — which is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman — and we use them to prop up other characters that people don’t know,’ the industry veteran went on.

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Co-CEO Safran added: ‘To build those lesser known properties into the diamond properties of tomorrow.’

Metro.co.uk has approached Zachary’s reps for comment.

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