Laura Benanti has responded to Zachary Levi‘s unfounded comments about Gavin Creel‘s death.
After starring with both actors in the 2016 Broadway revival of She Loves Me, Benanti shared her honest impression of Levi, who previously implied that Creel’s death at age 48 in September was the result of the COVID vaccine.
“I never liked him. Everyone was like, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not. He’s sucking up all the f—ing energy in this room. He wants to mansplain everybody’s part to them,” said Benanti on That’s a Gay Ass Podcast. “He really sucked everybody in with his dance party energy. Like, ‘We’re doing a dance party at half-hour.’ I was like, ‘Good luck. Have fun.’”
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Although Creel died of a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma, Levi called it a “turbo cancer” that “came out of nowhere” before he speculating that Creel wouldn’t have died “if these COVID vaccinations were not forced on the American public.”
The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute have both denounced theories that the COVID vaccine causes cancer.
Benanti continued, “For [Levi] to use [Creel’s] memory – a person he was not friends with — to use his memory for his political agenda and to watch him try to make himself cry until he had one single tear, which he did not wipe away, I was like, ‘F— you forever.’”
And while Levi’s previous releases Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Harold and the Purple Crayon proved unsuccessful at the box office, Benanti feels Levi will have success with his newfound fanbase after endorsing Donald Trump for president.
“Everyone’s like, ‘It’s career suicide.’ But it’s not career suicide because Christian, faith-based TV and film is huge,” Benanti explained. “He’s going to be a huge f—ing star in that realm. He’s going to make more money than he ever has. It makes me nauseous, but also a little bit, like, ‘I told you, motherf—er.’”
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