(Image source: Warner Bros. Pictures)
Zachary Levi, widely known for his starring roles in the "Shazam!" film series and the TV show "Chuck," has faced a torrent of criticism in recent months for publicly endorsing Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign. The backlash has extended deep into Hollywood circles.
Laura Benanti (pictured right, below), who co-starred with Levi in the Broadway musical "She Loves Me," recently revealed on the "That's a Gay Ass Podcast" that she "never liked" Levi. She recounted, "I never liked him. Everyone was like, 'He's so great!' and I was like, 'No, he's making everyone uncomfortable!' He was trying to mansplain to everyone how to play their roles."
(Image source: The Hollywood Reporter)
Benanti's outrage intensified when Levi, in an apparent effort to spread COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories, allegedly claimed that Tony-nominated actor Gavin Creel (pictured below), who passed away in September of this year and also co-starred in "She Loves Me," died due to vaccine complications. Benanti expressed her fury on the podcast, stating, "He's using Gavin's memory, someone who wasn't even his friend—he's using his memory to further his political agenda. Watching him try to squeeze out a tear, until he barely squeezed one out, and he didn't even wipe it away, I just thought, 'F*** you, go die.'"
(Image source: IMDb)
Given Hollywood's predominantly left-leaning political landscape, openly right-leaning professionals often struggle to secure roles in major productions or prestigious independent films. However, Levi recently appeared on Bill Maher's "Club Random" podcast and insisted that his career has not yet been impacted. He stated, "I haven't seen the ultimate ramifications of any of this stuff. I have a lot of projects that I'm working on, or that are about to be worked on, and none of that has been affected."
Levi continued, "None of my producers, or any of the studios behind any of these projects, have called and said, 'Hey, listen, you're too much, we can't have you on these projects anymore.'" While Levi admitted that no one has refused to work with him yet, he acknowledged he couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen in the future.