Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star Letitia Wright snapped back at The Hollywood Reporter after the outlet included her alongside other controversial names in the awards race.
Black Panther 2 is currently in the midst of a successful run at the box office, with the film outpacing other super-powered epics from this fall. But it was not at all smooth sailing for the MCU blockbuster to get here.
Not only did the Ryan Coogler-directed sequel have to deal with the death of franchise star Chadwick Boseman, but also became swept in controversy after its star posted a video promoting anti-vax and potentially hateful sentiments online.
Wright has since apologized for her actions, saying she has "moved on" and is sorry "for any hurt" he may have caused. This recent acknowledgment from the actress is the first time she has directly addressed/said sorry for potentially promoting these thoughts, having largely dismissed it any time it came up.
However, the Shuri star has told a journalist to "get a life" after the outlet that brought all this anti-vaccination drama up a year ago posted a story about the MCU star.
Letitia Wright Claps Back at Controversy Report
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's Letitia Wright snapped at The Hollywood Reporter (THR) in her Instagram Stories after the outlet published a story discussing how Wright's anti-vax controversy will hurt her awards chances for her Wakanda Forever performance.
Wright posted a screen grab of THR's headline, written by Scott Feinberg ("How Personal Baggage Will Impact Oscar Chances") with a lengthy caption alongside it, saying that THR has "a personal vendetta towards [her]," after the outlet heavily reported on the actress' supposed anti-vax sentiments late last year.
The Shuri actor called the most recent THR story, which also highlighted Will Smight and Brad Pitt's awards campaign impacts from their off-screen behavior, "incredibly disrespectful" and told the publication to "stop your disgusting behavior:"
"I had to unblock The Hollywood Reporter just to post this. Scott Feinberg and all at this publication. You're all incredibly disrespectful. How dare you. You mentioned my name alongside men who have been accused of abuse & sexual misconduct. This is vile behavior. At this point a personal vendetta towards me. I've done nothing wrong but respectfully refused to do interviews with this publication. Stop your nonsense. I apologised TWO years ago. Remained silent on the topic. You lied and said I continued talking about it with my cast & crew on my set. THIS WAS NOT TRUE. ASK MY PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR. The film was successful. Your agenda towards me is now even more clear. I won't remain silent. Stop your disgusting behavior."
Wright followed this up with another post, telling The Hollywood Reporter's Feinberg to "get a life," remarking that the outlet "clearly [has] nothing to report:"
"This personal agenda with your friends at The Hollywood Reporter is disgusting I’ve remained silent as the world told me to kill myself two years ago for a video I posted and apologised for.I kept my head down and focused on my craft. And now I’m at the other side of it. Here you are, as a so called journalist we are meant to trust, putting my name into this nasty article for what? You lack substance, you clearly have nothing to report. The movie is beautiful, impactful, and breaking box office. I worked my ass off with my cast and crew to dedicate it to my Brother. How dare you. Did my performance rattle you that much? It was that excellent huh? I’m still here, making an impact, still creating projects that touch peoples hearts and it’s not going to stop. Get a life, like for real."
Will This Cause More Letitia Wright Drama at Marvel?
After more than a year of damage control on the part of Marvel Studios, the Black Panther 2 cast & crew, and Letitia Wright herself, this is not the sort of response one wants to see out of the MCU star.
Wright was just named as the franchise's new figurehead and is now out on the internet snapping at journalists who write less-than-favorably about her. Sure, it may not have been in best practice to bring up the anti-vaccination trouble from last year again, but when reporting on the actress it is hard to ignore at this point.
It has been noted that Wright's antics last Fall were a "pain" for Marvel, and while no one who worked on the film or from Marvel Studios will ever go on record about it, the whole thing seemed to cause a schism between the actress and studio that wasn't there before.
Cooler heads did end up prevailing, and that reported ending change for Wakanda Forever did not come to fruition, but it is actions like this that could make a studio have second thoughts about that decision.
At this point, Wright should be doing everything to make sure she stays in Marvel's good books, and going to war with one of the biggest trades in the business might not help in accomplishing that.
The actress clearly has every right to defend herself, and the THR story may be a bit of a low blow in bringing up drama the actress says she already apologized for, but this doesn't feel like the most Marvel superhero way to do it.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters worldwide now.
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