James Gunn on Zachary Levi tweet: Plans can't change 'because an actor says something that I don't agree with'

Shazam: Fury of the Gods star Zachary Levi caused a bit of a stir over the weekend.

The actor surprised fans when he quote-tweeted Lyndon Wood (a British TV host and business consultant whose Twitter bio brags about being called "anti-vax" and "transphobic") asking who agrees that Pfizer poses "a real danger to the world." Pfizer is one of the pharmaceutical companies that produces COVID-19 vaccines.

"Hardcore agree," Levi tweeted, a statement that many have interpreted as an expression of anti-vaccine sentiment.

Levi followed up by posting a link to a 2009 press release from the Department of Justice's website announcing a $2.3 billion settlement that Pfizer would pay as punishment for misbranding its anti-inflammatory drug Bextra, but has not otherwise provided any further elaboration for his comment. When DC Films co-chairs James Gunn and Peter Safran presented their plans for the future of the superhero franchise this week, they were asked about it.

Warner Bros. Pictures Zachary Levi in 'Shazam! Fury of the Gods'

"Actors and filmmakers that I work with are going to say things that I agree with and things that I don't agree with," Gunn told journalists at a press event on Monday, according to Variety. "And that's going to happen. I don't have a list of things that somebody should say because of what I think. And you know, I can't be changing my plans all the time because an actor says something that I don't agree with."

Gunn continued, "By the same token, if somebody's doing something morally reprehensible then that's a different story. We have to take all that stuff into account. It's a balance. It's a modern world and it's a different place."

Gunn knows of what he speaks. Years ago, Marvel fired him from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 over controversial jokes he had tweeted years earlier. Though Marvel eventually relented and reinstated him as director to finish his space superhero trilogy (due in theaters later this year), Gunn had already moved over to DC Films, directing The Suicide Squad and now taking a major leadership role in the studio.

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