Entertainment

Are Letitia Wright’s Vaccine Skepticism Tweets Creating a Teachable Moment?

Published

3 years ago

December 12, 2020

Kiki

Letitia Wright, Wikipedia

In February 2018, the world was introduced to Letitia Wright’s rendition of “Shuri” in “Black Panther.” With her witty one-liners, she instantly catapulted into global fame.

Wright recently shared a YouTube video from a channel named “On The Table.” In a now-deleted tweet, the “Mangrove” actress simply accompanied the link with a prayer-hand emoji, clearly indicating support of the content.

The Hollywood Reporter provides more background:

The “Black Panther” star tweeted a video from “On The Table,” a YouTube discussion channel, where the presenter opined at length about the efficacy of vaccines, the dangers of taking them and the supposed origins of the ingredients of a COVID-19 vaccine.

“I don’t understand vaccines medically, but I’ve always been a little bit of a skeptic of them,” the presenter Tomi Arayomi said toward the beginning of his fact-free monologue, which was full of personal anecdotes and his own general feelings on vaccines.

After Wright had posted the video to Twitter with the prayer hands emoji, she quickly became embroiled in arguments with users taking her to task for using her platform to spread misinformation on vaccines.

The British actress, who is currently starring in Steve McQueen’s acclaimed “Small Axe” anthology series, countered that she wasn’t against vaccines but thought it was important to “ask questions.” “I think it’s valid and fair to simply ask what’s in it,” she replied to one user.

Naturally, her tweets caused quite the reaction on Twitter.

What fueled the fire even further is that Wright leaned into defensive mode, replying to several of the tweets in kind.

“If you don’t conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself….you get canceled,” Wright tweeted with a laugh-crying emoji. Unfortunately, the “think for yourself” type of phrasing sounds familiar as it has become typical to attempt to dodge any type of accountability—the continuous dodging only leading to an increasingly downward spiral.

In addition to the dangerous and factually unsubstantiated rhetoric, many Twitter users expressed concern for transphobic aspects of the video, as well—concerns which were also brought to Wright’s attention.

Even her Marvel peer Don Cheadle chimed in. Initially, he quote-tweeted Wright with “Bye Letitia,” then later backtracked a bit admitting he wasn’t fully knowledgeable about the situation (or hadn’t seemingly watched the actual video) before commenting.

After several fans explained why her tweets were harmful, Cheadle followed up with more tweets.

“If she went transphobe, fire away,” Cheadle tweeted. “But I’ll personally take it to her if she said something crazy. not to twitter. That’s how I do it with friends and how I hope they do it with me if I [%&$*] up. trying to find it now.”

“Jesus…just scrolled through,” he added. “Hot garbage. Every time I stopped and listened, he and everything he said sounded crazy and [$%&*] up. I would never defend anybody posting this. But I still won’t throw her away over it. The rest, I’ll take off Twitter. Had no idea.”

Other fans speculated on how Wright’s tweets may factor in her potential role in “Black Panther 2,” which has already been a source of speculation following Chadwick Boseman’s death.

It’s been nearly 50 years since the grotesque “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male,” (also referred to as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study) came to an end, a historical travesty which understandably left generations of Black people skeptical about any sort of experimental medical procedures.

As Wright is British, it’s important to note that the United Kingdom has become the first country to authorize Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, with the first shots rolling out next week.

According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report updated just four days ago, Black, African-American non-Hispanic people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 at 1.4 times the rate of their white counterparts; have been hospitalized for the novel coronavirus at 3.7 times the rate of white non-Hispanic people and have died at 2.8 times the frequency.

It’s one thing to be open and honest about processing those valid feelings in a historical context, then follow that up with an earnest desire for education backed by facts; it’s entirely different to promote unfounded conspiracy theories about a significant and much-needed treatment for a deadly disease—especially when the very disease in question is disproportionately harming and killing Black people.

That isn’t healthy skepticism, that’s just another side of a dangerous coin.

In what may be Wright’s final say before an official statement comes out, she wrote: “My 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.”

The Root has reached out to Wright’s team for comment on this matter and will update if they respond.

I have a feeling this isn’t over, but we’ll see if this results in an actual teachable moment for Wright. After all, if you have “questions,” you should be fully open to the factual answers. Only time will tell…

Tonja Renée Stidhum is a staff writer for Entertainment at The Root.

Kiki

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Entertainment

O.J. Simpson, 76, Dies of Prostate Cancer

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson. Wikipedia photo

By Post Staff

Born and raised in San Francisco, the Galileo High School graduate was recruited by the University of Southern California after he was on a winning Junior College All-American team.

At USC, he gained wide acclaim as a running back leading to him becoming the No. 1 pick in the AFL-NFL draft in 1969 and joining the Buffalo Bills, where he had demanded – and received — the largest contract in professional sports history: $650,000 over five years. In 1978, the Bills traded Simpson to his hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers, retiring from the game in 1979.

Simpson’s acting career had begun before his pro football career with small parts in 1960s TV (“Dragnet”) before “Roots” and film (“The Klansman,” “The Towering Inferno,” Capricorn One”).

He was also a commentator for “Monday Night Football,” and “The NFL on NBC,” and in the mid-1970s Simpson’s good looks and amiability made him, according to People magazine, “the first b\Black athlete to become a bona fide lovable media superstar.”

The Hertz rent-a-car commercials raised his recognition factor while raising Hertz’s profit by than 50%, making him critical to the company’s bottom line.

It could be said that even more than his success as a football star, the commercials of his running through airports endeared him to the Black community at a time when it was still unusual for a Black person to represent a national, mainstream company.

He remained on Hertz team into the 1990s while also getting income endorsing Pioneer Chicken, Honey Baked Ham and Calistoga water company products and running O.J. Simpson Enterprises, which owned hotels and restaurants.

He married childhood sweetheart Marguerite Whitley when he was 19 and became the father of three children. Before he divorced in 1979, he met waitress and beauty queen Nicole Brown, who he would marry in 1985. A stormy relationship before, during and after their marriage ended, it would lead to a highway car chase as police sought to arrest Simpson for the murder by stabbing of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.

The pursuit, arrest, and trial of Simpson were among the most widely publicized events in American history, Wikipedia reported.

Characterized as the “Trial of the Century,” he was acquitted by a jury in 1995 but found liable in the amount of $33 million in a civil action filed by the victims’ families three years later.

Simpson would be ensnared in the criminal justice system 12 years later when he was arrested after forcing his way into a Las Vegas hotel room to recover sports memorabilia he believed belonged to him.

In 2008, he received a sentence of 33 years and was paroled nine years later in 2017.

When his death was announced, Simpson’s accomplishments and downfalls were acknowledged.

Sports analyst Christine Brennan said: “… Even if you didn’t love football, you knew O.J. because of his ability to transcend sports and of course become the businessman and the pitchman that he was.

“And then the trial, and the civil trial, the civil case he lost, and the fall from grace that was extraordinary and well-deserved, absolutely self-induced, and a man that would never be seen the same again,” she added.

“OJ Simpson played an important role in exposing the racial divisions in America,” attorney Alan Dershowitz, an adviser on Simpson’s legal “dream team” told the Associated Press by telephone. “His trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department. He will leave a mixed legacy. Great athlete. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent.”

“Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson’s children … and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time,” Magic Johnson said on X.

“I feel that the system failed Nicole Brown Simpson and failed battered women everywhere,” attorney Gloria Allred, who once represented Nicole’s family, told ABC News. “I don’t mourn for O.J. Simpson. I do mourn for Nicole Brown Simpson and her family, and they should be remembered.”

Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year ago and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, according to Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter. He died in his Las Vegas, Nevada, home with his family at his side.

He is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason from his first marriage and Sydney and Justin from his second marriage. He was predeceased son, Aaren, who drowned in a family swimming pool in 1979.

Sources for this report include Wikipedia, ABC News, Associated Press, and X.