Zachary Levi has come under fire from members of the Broadway community after a bizarre online rant in which he uses his former co-star Gavin Creel ’s death to promote a conspiracy theory about COVID-19 vaccines. In a video posted Monday to Instagram , the “Shazam!” actor said he believed Creel, with whom he co-starred in the 2016 revival of “ She Loves Me ” on Broadway, “would still be alive” if he hadn’t gotten vaccinated against COVID-19. “I know that this is going to offend some people and make some people mad, and I wish it didn’t,” Levi said.
“So, a few weeks ago, my friend Gavin Creel died. He was 48 years old, and he was one of the healthiest people I knew.” After suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccines were “forced on the American public” despite known side effects including “turbo cancers,” he added: “Without a shadow of a doubt, I believe that Gavin Creel would be alive right now — right fucking now — he would still be alive if that stuff didn’t get put into his body.
” Creel, beloved by theater fans for his performances in “Hello, Dolly!” and “Into the Woods,” among other musicals, died of a rare and aggressive form of cancer last month. The actor’s partner, Alex Temple Ward, told The New York Times in a statement that Creel had received the diagnosis in July. Levi’s video drew a stern rebuke from Tony-winning actor Norbert Leo Butz, best known for portraying Fiyero in the original Broadway production of “Wick.