Yahoo Movies Letitia Wright on Handling Controversy: 'Have to Keep Going Strong with What You Believe In'
Dave Benett/Getty Images Letitia Wright
Letitia Wright is reflecting on what she has learned during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Variety spoke with the 28-year-old Black Panther: Wakanda Forever actress Sunday at Kering's Women in Motion dinner during the Cannes Film Festival, asking her about her October 2021 return to Instagram after an almost year-long break.
Wright's last post on the platform was Nov. 30, 2020, before she went on hiatus until October the following year. She took her break from social media shortly after retweeting an anti-vaccination video.
In her Sunday comments to Variety — the outlet didn't directly ask the actress about the anti-vaccine video — Wright said, "I've learned that in life, you just have to keep going strong with what you believe in, in terms of your talent, in terms of your desire to impact the world with your art."
"And that's exactly what I'm doing and I'm so proud of myself and the movie that's coming out this year. I'm so proud of it," she added.
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Letitia Wright reveals what she learned during pandemic, "In life you just have to keep going, strong with what you believe in in terms of your talent, in terms of your desire to impact the world with your art.” pic.twitter.com/4mF2BbUvTX
— Variety (@Variety) May 22, 2022
Wright — who was reportedly injured on the set of Wakanda Forever in August 2021, and returned to filming this past January — retweeted a video from the YouTube channel On The Table, which expressed anti-vaccination viewpoints, in December 2020. In the clip, host Tomi Arayomi voiced unsubstantiated claims about the dangers of receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
Following her tweet of the video, which Wright has since deleted, many on social media took issue with her post. "This is a frustratingly irresponsible use of a platform," one user tweeted as another added, "That was filled with hyperbole and zero evidence for his hot takes."
Responding to the discourse surrounding her post, Wright tweeted, "If you don't conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself ... you get cancelled 😂."
In a follow-up tweet, 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."
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In Wright's first post as she returned to Instagram, she shared a Bible verse that read, "Weapons made to attack you won't be successful; words spoken against you won't hurt at all."
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens Nov. 11.
Multiple large-scale studies have found that vaccines are safe. There is no scientific link between vaccines and autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
