'I Am Legend' did not show vaccine turning people into zombies: Screenwriter clears the air on misinformation meme fest
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Conspiracy theorists are claiming that we will meet the fate of humans in the Will Smith starrer 'I Am Legend' in which apocalypse strikes the world, killing most and turning survivors into zombies. They claim that the COVID vaccine will do the same to us. Now, a writer of 'I am Legend' has come forward to dispel these rumours
Apparently there’s a notion that what was shown in the Will Smith starrer ‘I Am Legend’ is what the world is going through in 2021 as we face a new Delta variant of the coronavirus that has put the world to a stop.
'I Am Legend' screenwriter Akiva Goldsman took to Twitter to quash a conspiracy theory that Covid vaccines are causing mutation of the virus leading to newer variants and thus vaccines are not to be taken.
He tweeted, “Oh. My. God. It’s a movie,” and added, “I made that up. It’s. Not. Real.”
Oh. My. God. It’s a movie. I made that up. It’s. Not. Real.
— Akiva Goldsman (@AkivaGoldsman) August 9, 2021
The theory claims that COVID-19 blowup in the world is thanks to the vaccines that the governments around the world are urging people to take. It claims that the COVID-19 vaccines created its mutant pandemic.
Akiva Goldsman took to social media after writer-podcaster Marc Bernardin tweeted a post and wrote, “We. Are. All. Going. To. Die. Sooner. Than. We. Should.”
His comment was in reference to an August 6 New York Times article ‘Inside One Company’s Struggle to Get All Its Employees Vaccinated’ wherein an employee refused to get vaccine because of her belief in this conspiracy theory that the pandemic is the story of 'I Am Legend' repeating in real life.
We. Are. All. Going. To. Die.
— Marc Bernardin (@marcbernardin) August 9, 2021
Sooner. Than. We. Should. https://t.co/DqMKTkSxbr
Taking cue for the conspiracy theory, lot of people are now making excuses to not get the vaccine while some are making memes of those who believe in it. Check for yourself:
People using I Am Legend as an excuse not to get vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/nTOUkjUTxz
— gabriel (@gvbreal) August 9, 2021
It’s insane to base your vaccine skepticism on the movie I Am Legend, but even if you tried, it was the virus itself that caused the movie’s pandemic, not a vaccine
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) August 9, 2021
Also, the hero of the movie is literally a virologist who found a cure—like the experts anti-vaxxers attack. https://t.co/tkxIsW6Dv0
‘I Am Legend’ centered on Robert Neville (Will Smith), a US 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.
The plague in the film was brought on by a genetically reprogrammed virus, rather than any vaccine.
The Will Smith film was directed by Francis Lawrence and was based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name. Goldsman wrote the script with Mark Protosevich.