Marvel stars Simu Liu and David Dastmalchian have both seemingly spoken out against Ant-Man actress Evangeline Lilly following her recent comments about her attendance at an anti-vaccine mandate rally in Washington, D.C.
On Jan. 27, Lilly took to Instagram to share she had attended the protest in order “to support bodily sovereignty,” claiming that “nobody should ever be forced to inject their body with anything, against their will” out of fear of “violent attacks,” “alienation from loved ones” or “excommunication from society” amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Marvel actress added, “This is not the way. This is not safe. This is not healthy. This is not love. I understand the world is in fear, but I don’t believe that answering fear with force will fix our problems. I was pro choice before COVID and I am still pro choice today.”
Shortly after Lilly, who has 2.2 million Instagram followers, published her post, scores of people responded with either support or condemnation over her words.
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Dastmalchian, who plays Kurt in the Ant-Man films, tweeted, “It’s so unfortunate when people with a large platform use that platform to share irresponsible things.” He did not mention Lilly by name.
Neither did Liu, who portrays the titular role in the 2021 Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, when he tweeted about the coronavirus pandemic on the day Lilly shared her post.
“I lost my grandparents to COVID last year. They were still waiting for their vaccines,” the actor tweeted. “I’m fortunate to have been double-vaccinated and boosted when I got COVID 2 weeks ago. Felt like a cold.”
He also urged the media to stop “spotlighting opinions that are not rooted in facts or science.”
Lilly has not commented on her fellow Marvel stars’ remarks.
This isn’t the first time she has faced backlash for her opinions on the pandemic. In March 2020, after The Hobbit star compared COVID to a “respiratory flu” and said that “where we are right now feels a lot too close to Marshall [sic] Law for my comfort,” she was seemingly slammed by actress Sophie Turner.
“Stay inside, don’t be f–king stupid… even if you count your ‘freedom’ over your… health,” the Game of Thrones alum said on Instagram Live at the time. “I don’t give a f about your freedom, you could be infecting other people, other vulnerable people around you.”
Lilly later apologized for her “arrogant” remarks on Instagram, writing in part, “My direct and special apologies to those most affected by this pandemic. I never meant to hurt you. When I wrote that post 10 days ago, I thought I was infusing calm into the hysteria. I can see now that I was projecting my own fears into an already fearful and traumatic situation.”
