‘I am Legend’ screenwriter deb

Image: Via Twitter @CultureCrave and Stock Image from Unsplash

‘I am Legend’ screenwriter debunks anti-vaxxer myths about film

‘I am Legend’ screenwriter Akiva Goldsman responds to an article about an anti-vaxxer who cites the film as a reason to NOT get vaccinated.

‘I am Legend’ screenwriter deb

Image: Via Twitter @CultureCrave and Stock Image from Unsplash

One of the I am Legend co-writers Akiva Goldsman responded to a screenshot of a New York Times article which shows a person citing the film as a reason to not get vaccinated.

ALSO READ: Covid-19 kills anti-vaxxer family in UK: Son loses father, mother, brother

The 2007 flick that stars Will Smith, is about a failed attempt to genetically re-program a virus to cure cancer, the survivors of the infection turn into zombie-like creatures. Some of the anti-vaxxers believe that something similar would happen to people receiving COVID-19 jabs have been circulating on social media.

GOLDSMAN’S RESPONSE TO THE ANTI-VAXXER CLAIM

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman responded to a tweet by Times journalist who took a screenshot of the aforementioned New York Times article on an anti-vaxxer who took the I am Legend plot a bit too seriously.

ALSO READ: ‘Crime against humanity’: Toya Delazy echoes the views of anti-vaxxers

Oh. My. God. It’s a movie. I made that up. It’s. Not. Real, emphasized Goldsman who seems tired of the anti-vaxxers who are using the film as an excuse to not get their jab.

Goldsman’s response came from a quoted tweet by writer Marc Bernardin who said:

We. Are. All. Going. To. Die. Sooner. Than. We. Should.

THE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

The article the above-mentioned writers responded to was about an owner of an eyewear store in the Bronx, New York, who was struggling to persuade some staff members to get a COVID-19 vaccine, with one of them misunderstanding the plot of I Am Legend and using it as a concern.

One employee said she was concerned because she thought a vaccine had caused the characters in the film “I Am Legend” to turn into zombies. People opposed to vaccines have circulated that claim about the movie’s plot widely on social media. But the plague that turned people into zombies in the movie was caused by a genetically reprogrammed virus, not by a vaccine, it says in the article.

One thing that anti-vaxxers who are using the film as an argument to not get vaccinated are getting wrong is that the film was set in 2012 and not 2021. A USA Today article fact checks that the post-apocalyptic film was set in 2012.

The claim that “I Am Legend” was set in 2021 and a vaccine caused a zombie outbreak is FALSE, based on our research. The movie was set in 2012 and a measles virus caused a vampire outbreak, according to a film script and description.

The misinformed memes did the rounds on Twitter early this year and it shows a little bit of research would’ve saved a few Tweeps from embarrasing themselves.