Chris Evans cleared the air on a viral photo showcasing him signing what looks to be like a bomb in his Instagram Stories on Thursday, May 30. “There’s a lot of misinformation surrounding this picture,” noted the 42-year-old.
“This image was taken during a USO tour in 2016. I went with a group of actors, athletes and musicians to show appreciation for our service members. The object I was asked to sign is not a bomb, or a missile, or a weapon of any kind. It’s an inert object used for training or display purposes only. You can read the quote from the Air Force in the next story,” added the Captain America actor.
Chris touched the topic on his social media after he noticed fans claiming that he had signed an Israeli bomb intended to use in Gaza. The snap was taken back in December 2016 while he was in Turkey visiting the Incirlik Air Base sharing holiday joy to the U.S. troops.
He was accompanied by his Avengers pal Scarlett Johansson, former olympian Maya DiRado, retired NBA athlete Ray Allen, and country music singer Craig Cambell.
“The object Chris Evans is signing in the USO tour photo from 2016 is an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) inert training aid. The object is meant to model an artillery shell and is for display and training purposes only,” a spokesperson from the U.S. Air Force said.
The USO also came to Chris’ defense and stated in a post at the time of the event, “While on the ground, the group met with an explosive ordinance disposal team, got to see multiple military aircraft, spoke with operational maintenance crews and a missile brigade and participated in a security forces K-9 demonstration.”
Though the Marvel superhero has clarified the misunderstanding, he has not touched base on the matter of the Israel attacks on Gaza and fans have brought it to his attention. “We urge Chris to speak out against this genocide and use his platform to push for a permanent, lasting ceasefire,” a fan account stated.
“The fact Chris Evans came online to ‘debunk’ a known controversy people have been addressing for years yet is silent about a genocide says so much and mind you he only did this after he started to get compared to Nikki Haley,” another user shared.