Zachary Levi Isn’t Backing Down: Actor Says He’s Been ‘Graylisted’ in Hollywood for His Beliefs
Zachary Levi says he’s standing firm in his convictions — even if it costs him opportunities in Hollywood.
The Shazam! star opened up about the professional repercussions he believes he’s faced for expressing his political views, ahead of the release of his new film Sarah’s Oil, which hits theaters Friday.
“I might go so far as to say I was graylisted, I guess,” Levi told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “I’m still getting jobs, and I’m still grateful — very grateful — to be working. And I still have lots of friends in the industry, people who still want to work with me.”
Levi said he’s especially thankful for those colleagues — even ones who don’t share his politics — who continue to support him.
“I’m very grateful for all of those folks — whether or not we’re even on the same side of the political spectrum — people who know my heart and know that I’m a good man who just wants good in this world,” he said. “We might disagree on how to get there, but I genuinely want the best for everyone in this world.”
Still, Levi acknowledged there have been professional consequences.
“There’s definitely been a lot of blowback and pushback,” he said. “There are people in the industry who don’t want to work with me — because I had the audacity to say I didn’t think Kamala Harris was the right choice in our last election and also because I called corporations like Pfizer to account, because I think that we’ve been lied to a lot about everything that’s gone on in the last five, six years.”
At the New York premiere of Lionsgate’s The Unbreakable Boy, Zachary Levi spoke further about his views, emphasizing the importance of accountability and personal freedom.
“And I think there needs to be accountability,” he said. “I am pro-science. I am pro-health. I am pro-human. I’m a libertarian — I’m not even a conservative. I think that all of us ought to have the right to live the life that we choose to live for ourselves, but also recognize that our individual liberty ends where it begins to affect someone else’s. And once it starts impacting another person’s individual liberty, well, then we have a problem.”
Levi went on to say that some political policies, particularly on the left, don’t always account for that balance.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the political policies on the left side of the spectrum don’t take that into account,” he said. “Libertarian values end up seeming more conservative because there’s a greater Venn diagram overlap there.”
Despite the criticism he’s received, Levi said he plans to keep speaking up when he feels it’s necessary.
“I don’t know — I’m just trying to keep moving forward and speaking up when I think we’re being lied to,” he said. “Speak truth in love. That’s all any of us can do: speak what we believe to be true, and speak it in love.”
With his new film Sarah’s Oil hitting theaters Friday, Zachary Levi reflected on how his political views have affected his career — and why this latest project is particularly meaningful to him.
Produced by Amazon Studios and Kingdom Story Company, Sarah’s Oil tells the remarkable true story of Sarah Rector, a young Black girl born in early-1900s Oklahoma Indian Territory who overcame poverty and prejudice to become one of America’s first Black female millionaires — at just 11 years old.
The film has been years in the making, and Levi said every step of the journey has been worth it.
“When I read the script, I was blown away,” Levi told Fox News Digital. “It was an absolutely true story about this young Black girl in turn-of-the-century Tulsa, Oklahoma … who was intelligent and precocious and spirit-filled.”
Levi went on to share more about Rector’s inspiring faith. “She prayed over the land and believed God told her it was full of oil,” he said. “And she was right.”
At the Kansas City special screening of Amazon MGM Studios’ Sarah’s Oil, Zachary Levi reflected on the incredible true story behind the film.
That prayer, Levi explained, led to the discovery of one of the largest and purest oil reserves in North America — a find that catapulted young Sarah Rector to national fame and immense wealth, while also drawing her into fierce legal battles to protect what was rightfully hers.
“I thought, how have I never heard this story before?” Levi said. “Why is it that no one I know has ever heard this story before?”
