‘I Am Legend’ Scribe Akiva Goldsman Slams Covid Vaccine Conspiracy Theory Centered On Post-Apocalyptic Pic
Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman took to Twitter on Monday to quash a conspiracy theory, centered on his 2007 Warner Bros. film, I Am Legend.
The theory, which has circulated at least since the beginning of this year, says that the fictional thriller is set in 2021, and that Covid-19 vaccines created its mutant epidemic.
“Oh. My. God. It’s a movie,” Goldsman tweeted on Monday. “I made that up. It’s. Not. Real.”
The Oscar winner was specifically responding to writer and podcaster Marc Bernardin, who earlier tweeted that, “We. Are. All. Going. To. Die. Sooner. Than. We. Should.”
Bernardin’s comments came in reference to an August 6 New York Times article—”Inside One Company’s Struggle to Get All Its Employees Vaccinated”—which alluded to an employee at a Bronx eyewear company who bought into the theory.
Fact-checking website Snopes reported on the I Am Legend Covid vaccine conspiracy theory back in January, noting that it is false, in every respect.
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“It’s difficult to find a claim with as many factual errors as this one,” Dan Evon wrote in the post.
I Am Legend centered on Robert Neville (Will Smith), a U.S. Army virologist who believes himself to be the sole survivor in New York City, years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into mutants, struggling valiantly to find a cure.
As Snopes and the New York Times article referenced by Bernardin both noted, the plague in the film was brought on by a genetically reprogrammed virus, rather than any vaccine.
Francis Lawrence directed the film, based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name. Goldsman wrote the script with Mark Protosevich.
Bernardin’s post and Goldsman’s response can be found by clicking below.
We. Are. All. Going. To. Die.
Sooner. Than. We. Should. https://t.co/DqMKTkSxbr
— Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) August 9, 2021
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