Laura Benanti has publicly criticized former castmate, Zachary Levi, revealing long-held tensions from their 2016 collaboration on the stage musical She Loves Me. She condemned his recent controversial statements about a deceased colleague.
Speaking on the Dec. 4 episode of That’s a Gay Ass Podcast with comedian Eric Williams, Benanti expressed her longstanding discomfort with Levi’s on-set behavior. “I never liked him. Everyone was like, ‘He’s so great!’ And I was like, ‘No, he’s not. He’s sucking up all the f—ing energy in this room. He wants to mansplain everybody’s part to them,’” the Tony Award winner stated.
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The 44-year-old actress, known for her work on Broadway and TV’s Life & Beth, particularly took issue with what she described as Levi’s forced enthusiasm during productions. “He really sucked everybody in with his, like, dance party energy. Like, ‘We’re doing a dance party at half-hour.’ I was like, ‘Good luck. Have fun,’” she recalled.
The actress’s criticism intensified when discussing Levi’s recent social media activity. In October, Levi, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, sparked controversy by suggesting that their former castmate Gavin Creel’s death was linked to the COVID-19 vaccine. Creel, 48, actually died of cancer, specifically a rare form of sarcoma, after being diagnosed in July, his publicist confirmed to Entertainment Weekly.
“But for him to use Gavin’s memory, a person he was not friends with, to use his memory for his political agenda and to watch him try to make himself cry until he had one single tear, which he did not wipe away,” Benanti said, “I was like, ‘F— you forever.’”
Benanti also suggested that Levi’s controversial statements might not harm his career prospects. “People say it’s career suicide, but it’s not career suicide. Christian, faith-based TV and film is huge. He’s going to be a huge star in the realm. He’s going to make more money than he ever has. It makes me nauseous.”
The controversy has drawn reactions from other Broadway figures, including Norbert Leo Butz, who responded to Levi’s social media post about Creel. “So incredibly disappointed you would politicize Gavin’s death,” Butz wrote via Entertainment Weekly. “Really tried to give you the benefit here. Made it halfway through, which was hard as hell. But Was utterly heartbroken, as he would have been, that you felt the need to use his life and legacy to promote this awful platform.”
The podcast clip, shared on Williams’ TikTok page on Dec. 6, has garnered a significant response from fans supporting Benanti’s candidness. Representatives for Levi, 45, known for starring in Shazam! and voicing Flynn Rider in Tangled, have not responded to Benanti’s statements.
