Stephen Amell Clarifies His 'Misinterpreted' Comments Against Actors Strike

Following the second season premiere of his show Heels, Stephen Amell is clarifying some comments he made about the SAG-AFTRA strike. In a video shared on social media from Galaxycon in Raleigh, North Carolina, the actor spoke out about the ongoing strike, which is nearing its third week. "I support my union, I do, and I stand with them," he said. "But I do not support striking. I don't."

"I think that it is a reductive negotiating tactic, and I find the entire thing incredibly frustrating," Amell continued. "And I think that the thinking as it pertains to shows like the show that I'm on that premiered last night. I think it's myopic." The video has been making its rounds on social media, and people have not been happy, especially since they're pointing out he's basically contradicting himself by saying he supports his union but not the strike.

Amell did recently take to Instagram to clarify his comments, however, saying that he understands "fundamentally why we're here. My off-the-cuff use of the word 'support' is clearly contradictory to my true feelings and my emphatic statement that I stand with my union. Of course, I don't like striking. Nobody does. But we have to do what we have to do."

"I'm an actor, and I was speaking extemporaneously for over an hour," Amell shared. "I emote, but I certainly don't think these issues are simple. Our leadership has an incredibly complicated job, and I am grateful for all that they do. Despite some of my terrible early acting work, I assure you I'm not a robot. From an intellectual perspective, I understand why we are striking, but that doesn't mean it isn't emotionally frustrating on many levels for all involved."

The Arrow alum went on to say that he didn't know what he was thinking at that moment when he was talking but believes it was merely in a different way to shoutout the cast and crew of Heels since he can't necessarily celebrate the show as Season 2 has finally started airing. He also mentioned that after reading some of the comments about his own comments, he knows what people are thinking and hope that when they see him on the picket line, to not "whip any hard fruit" at him.

Many celebrities have been taking to the picket lines and/or social media to show their support for their union, WGA, and the strike. While they aren't able to promote any past, present, or future work or attend award shows, actors are still able to attend fan conventions if it's not being promoted by a major studio, per SAG-AFTRA rules, so long as they don't talk about any of their projects. It seems that with these conventions, actors have been talking more about the strikes, which is what happened at GalaxyCon. Even though many disagreed with what Stephen Amell said, at least he clarified his comments, but hopefully, he will take to a picket line soon to really show his support, even if he doesn't fully agree with it.