Christian Celebs Be Normal Challenge: Impossible

Zachary Levi and his Christian celeb peers are being the wrong kind of weirdos.

I can’t get into Zachary Levi’s head. The man is weeks away from the debut of a very big movie. His entire life revolves around doing press for it. Right now, his sunrise to sunset schedule is pretty much plugging Shazam 2: War of the Gods to any audience that will pay attention at home or abroad. His co-stars are counting on him. The fans are hanging onto his every utterance. A historic and tumultuous film studio has bet millions on him. And it was all going more or less according to plan. And then, this: 

Zachary Levi @ZacharyLevi

Hardcore agree. 😐

Lyndon Wood ✌️👽🙏 @Lyndonx

Do you agree or not, that Pfizer is a real danger to the world?

Zachary Levi! What are you doing? This? Now? Here? On Greta Thunberg’s internet? Are you shazammed in the head? 

Obviously, Levi quickly tried to backpedal into making the post about some sort of big pharma takedown but, come on. Unlike Shazam, we are not children stuck in the bodies of adults. We are actual adults. We know what he meant. 

Now, it seems like whatever era of the DC Universe this was is going to die the way it lived: bad vibes and sloppy damage control. But I think this is just one example of a deeper trend around our Christian celebrities and how weird and, frequently, dark their takes can get. I want to examine why that is and then offer an alternative vision that I think would be pretty cool, but it will take all of us. 

First, let me clear a few things up. I’m not generally one to get too upset about the bad takes of celebrities. My strong suspicion is that most celebrities are living very strange lives which makes them liable to have very strange opinions and the best you can hope for is that they have the good sense to keep those thoughts to themselves. I assume most famous people have bad politics, dumb opinions and dark secrets until proven otherwise. I had a blast at Top Gun: Maverick, but it’s pretty wild to watch the whole cast prance around from awards show to awards show and wonder who among them actually know what happened to Shelly Miscavige and who has just agreed not to ask any questions. 

Everyone has to decide for themselves how much to let this interrupt their enjoyment of these celeb’s creative work. That’s not my concern. What I find interesting is that Levi, who has done very well for himself in an intensely PR-conscious industry, didn’t have the presence of mind to decide that now is not the time to take aim at Pfizer. 

And what I find doubly interesting is how, if you are paying any attention to Christian celebrities, this is more the rule than the exception! Christian celebs going out of pocket on social media is more and more of a when thing than an if thing. Let’s take a few recent examples. M.I.A. also came out against vaccines, comparing celebrities who endorsed them to Alex Jones. Letitia Wright posted (and subsequently deleted) her own anti-vaccine conspiracy video. Some Christian celebs have only gotten a little cringe, which, lucky for me, isn’t a crime (Chris Pratt and Mark “9/11 wouldn’t have gone down like it did if I’d been there” Wahlberg). But some Christian celebs have gotten very dark, like Mel Gibson’s long history of misogyny and antisemitism, Jim Caviezel’s QAnon brainworms and whatever the hell is going on with Kanye.