Zachary Levi responds to the reactions to his Dwayne Johnson post in a passionate Instagram live session

In the aftermath of Shazam: Fury of the Gods being released and performing below expectations, it’s been an interesting journey as the filmmakers and stars react to the public perception. Now prepare for Shazam: Fury of the Levi as the titular star talks to the public in an IG Live video session. Zachary Levi addresses his repost about Dwayne Johnson’s interference with the shared universe, and ComicBook.com gives us a look at some particular segments of the video where Levi defends himself for calling Johnson out, as some accuse him of placing blame on Johnson for the movie’s less-than-stellar performance.

Levi starts with, “I may or may not have, you know, reposted something in my stories about a story that I had nothing to do with, that [The Wrap] had reported.” Then, the Shazam star appeared more passionate as he goes into further explanation. “And then I got flack about it, because people were saying, ‘You’re trying to blame this guy because you’re not doing well. You’re trying to blame…’ Listen, I haven’t blamed anybody. There’s not one single person that I have blamed for anything about the way that our movie has performed. If you’re listening to videos, or watching videos of me, or looking at things and you’re getting that idea — you are being fooled. You are being brainwashed. You are looking at propaganda. Those are clips. Those are edited. Those are taken completely out of context. And so, I just encourage you, if you’re out there if you’re hearing this right now — and by the way, this will probably all get chopped up too. The irony.  But I swear to you, I’m not blaming any of you. I’m really not. I have my thoughts about what’s going on, but here’s the thing. The reason I decided to share that was not because I want to blame anybody for anything. It’s because I do not want to be blamed for things that are not on me. And I know, as a leader and I believe a protector of my family, my family and everyone who worked so hard on these movies, and everybody who worked so hard at New Line and Warner Brothers and DC. The hard working wonderful people, and these organizations, and everyone within this Shazam production. For years, we have been doing everything we can to fight for you, the fans.”

Below is a video of another segment where he elaborated on the situation around the planned Justice Society cameo. He does give away some spoilers, but then he shrugs it off as “it’s all online anyway.”

Levi would also plead about how the filmmakers tried to get Henry Cavill for the cameo in the first movie.

It’s an interesting era where filmmakers and actors can connect with fans directly by cutting out the middlemen of media outlets and PR people. James Gunn has been replying to fan questions and statements since the original Guardians of the Galaxy was released, and now that he’s a target for a lot of DC fans, he is finding himself having to dispel rumors himself.