Actor Zachary Levi, best known recently for his starring role in the two Shazam movies, spoke at a Donald Trump rally where he endorsed the former president in November’s presidential election. He explained that one of the biggest things his parents taught him was to not trust the government (via Deadline), before backing the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.
“I grew up in my family that was Christian conservative, that was pretty much the lane that we were in. My parents were Kennedy Democrats that then turned into Reagan Republicans, and they taught me to have a healthy level of distrust for the government and a healthy level of distrust for industry that runs amok.”
Before he endorsed Trump, Levi was vocal about his support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. While the third-party candidate had the Kennedy name recognition, he was never able to become much of a threat and never qualified for a debate. He eventually dropped out of the race and gave his support to Trump, but he remains on the ballot in some states. Michigan, where Levi’s speech took place, is one of those states.
Levi spoke about that past support, explaining that RFK Jr. was everything he looked for in a candidate, but since this isn’t a “perfect world,” he can’t be the president. He then shifted gears and offered his endorsement to Trump.
“We’re here to make sure that we are going to take back this country, we are going to make it great again, we are going to make it healthy again. And so, I stand with Bobby, and I stand with Tulsi, and I stand with everyone else who is standing with President Trump. Because I do believe, of the two choices that we have, and we only have two, Donald Trump, President Trump is the man that can get us there.”
Zachary Levi’s Career Has Been Rocky of Late
While Zachary Levi’s first Shazam movie was successful, it came at a wildly different time in the then-DCEU. The franchise began trending downward shortly after, and the sequel, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, ended up being one of the biggest box office flops of 2023. To be fair, not all of that blame could be put on Levi, since the entire universe suffered a similar fate before being rebooted by James Gunn. Thus, it’s highly unlikely that Levi will reprise the role of the DC superhero, as very few actors have been brought back for the DCU reboot.
Following Shazam, Levi appeared in the latest installment in the Spy Kids franchise, Spy Kids: Armageddon. The film was met with mixed reviews, and there was no box office run to look at as it was released straight to Netflix. He also lent his voice to Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, another release straight on Netflix. Though it did at least receive solid reactions from both critics and audiences. The actor also found himself under fire in 2023 for his negative comments about the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Levi’s lone 2024 release was Harold and the Purple Crayon, an adaptation of the children’s book of the same name. Harold and the Purple Crayon grossed just $28.4 million at the box office with a budget of $40 million, and was hugely divisive among fans and critics. Levi’s next film is The Unbreakable Boy in 2025, and he has another film in production titled Not Without Hope. Time will tell what affect, if any, this endorsement will have on his career.