In early 2023, most people (myself included) learned that Zachary Levi is a hardcore Evangelical who is also anti-vaccine. At the time, he was not full MAGA, but last fall, he ended up endorsing Donald Trump, Robert Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard (arguably the three horsemen of the apocalypse). Many people “canceled” Levi back in 2023, but the Trump/Kennedy endorsements really made Levi persona non grata with much of Hollywood. Well, Levi is apparently enjoying the second Trump administration, and he has big plans to build his own “studio” in Austin, Texas. He recently spoke to Variety about all of this and more. Some highlights:
His plans for a Texas studio: He’s about to embark on a risky plan to launch a Hollywood studio in Austin, Texas — incidentally, a mecca for entertainment industry foes of the jab like Joe Rogan and Woody Harrelson. While Rogan is untouchable as Spotify’s golden goose podcaster and Harrelson gets a pass because he only strays from Hollywood orthodoxy on the vaccine issue, Levi is particularly vulnerable; his career was already cooling before he spoke out. And soon, he will have another mouth to feed. As we meet at a Brentwood café in March, Levi is days away from becoming a father for the first time. He has just finished prepping for a home birth at the Ventura, California, abode he shares with his partner, photographer Maggie Keating.
He still has Hollywood representation?? “I know that there are people that would prefer not to work with me now because of my opinions. My team has let me know,” he says as he nods in the direction of Beverly Hills, where his agents at UTA are headquartered. “They haven’t given me any specific names, but there are people who prefer not to work with me at this time. And it’s unfortunate. I knew that was probably going to happen. I didn’t make this decision blindly or casually.”
LA has become the new Detroit: His status as persona non grata in Hollywood hardly matters to him. The town is bleeding amid runaway production, audience apathy and a widening gap between the 1% and the industry’s rank and file. Given that bleak outlook, Levi says, in characteristically impolitic terms, that he’d rather opt out. “AI is about to be the nail in the coffin,” he notes. “And we wonder why L.A. has become the Detroit of the entertainment industry.”
His thoughts on Trump: In 2016, he voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and urged his social media followers to not pull the lever for Trump because he didn’t care “about anything but power.” “I was not a fan of Trump’s Trumpiness,” he explains of the man he’s never met. “I didn’t like a lot of these personal things, the ways that he carries himself a lot of the time. I understand people’s aversion. Do I think the whole package is somehow perfect? No. In fact, most people who voted for Donald Trump recognize a lot of the imperfections in all of it. Nobody was saying, ‘This is the Orange Messiah.’”
The rise of the MAGA cult and the destruction of American ideals have given people like Zachary Levi an inflated sense of their own importance. Levi is positioning himself as someone who ran afoul of Hollywood’s major players, people who cared enough to send Levi packing. Levi was a has-been before all of this anti-vaxx and Trump-supporting sh-t even started – once he revealed his politics, it was easy for most people to shrug and say “yeah, I never cared either way, but now I know that he sucks.” What also sucks is that Levi is legitimately cozying up to people (Trumpers) who will help him get his sh-t off the ground, in a way that no one would have bothered if he was just another has-been actor. Almost as if Levi’s MAGAness is more of a business strategy. As for what he says about the Cheeto… people actually do think and say that Trump is the Orange Messiah.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – DECEMBER 15: American actor Zachary Levi arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Lionsgate’s ‘American Underdog’ held at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on December 15, 2021 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 648227617, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Zachary Levi, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – DECEMBER 15: American actor Zachary Levi arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Lionsgate’s ‘American Underdog’ held at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on December 15, 2021 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 648227624, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Zachary Levi, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Zachary Levi at the Shazam! Fury Of The Gods UK Premiere at Cineworld in Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom on 7 March 2023.,Image: 761287598, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: To licence this image, email [email protected] for more information., Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon
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- Zachary Levi at ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods‘ – UK Special Screening at Cineworld Leicester Square in London, UK. 07 March 2023.,Image: 761580139, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Zachary Levi, Credit line: © Avalon.red / Avalon
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- BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 12: Zachary Levi attends the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California.,Image: 763179839, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Zachary Levi, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
