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Will Smith Feels “I Am Legend” Triggered Coronavirus Myths

By Violet Johnson

20 March 2020   |   12:56 pm

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Hollywood actor, Will Smith has revealed he feels responsible for a lot of the coronavirus myths currently being spread and this guilt is rooted in the fact that he starred in popular film, I Am Legend. The actor made the comments during a special episode of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s talk show, Red Table…

Will Smith | Photo: The Quad City Times

Hollywood actor, Will Smith has revealed he feels responsible for a lot of the coronavirus myths currently being spread and this guilt is rooted in the fact that he starred in popular film, I Am Legend.

The actor made the comments during a special episode of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s talk show, Red Table Talk, calling it an “emergency” family meeting, which aired on Wednesday.

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I Am Legend, released in 2007, tells the story of a virus wiping out most of humanity, turning people into bloodthirsty mutants. Smith plays the character of a virologist named Robert Neville and as one of the rare humans left.

“I wanted to do this because in [2007] I made I am Legend, so I feel responsible for a lot of the misinformation,” he said.

Smith added that while preparing for his role as a virologist, he had a chance to visit the CDC.

“It really changed my life and how I looked at the world,” he said of his preparation.

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Smith further went on to break down the importance of social distancing, using a scenario that could very well happen.

“Imagine that our local hospital can handle 40 respiratory patients at one time. And under normal circumstances, 40 respiratory patients, for that hospital, is a lot. You know, they’ll be at 12 or 15, so they can handle it,” he said.

“The way the virus is moving and the reason why we need to practice social distancing and the idea of flattening the curve is if 50 people show up at that hospital at one time, to get 40 beds, right, now you have 10 people in critical condition that aren’t going to get help.”

Smith explained the virus is “going to move through humanity,” but that we can slow the rate.

Throughout the talk, the family also got facts from Dr. Michael Osterholm, a leading influenza researcher, and also video chats with a 25-year-old girl in Los Angeles who caught the virus and is now recovering at home.

Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus has overtaken China’s, underscoring just how much the outbreak has pivoted towards Europe as well as the US. The Middle East and Africa also are seeing a worrying number of new cases.