Wil Wheaton Clarifies Controversial Texas Shooting Comments

The Big Bang Theory actor Wil Wheaton had to clarify his controversial comments after the Texas church shooting. In his original response, Wheaton called House Speaker Paul Ryan a “sack of s**t.”

“The murdered victims were in a church. If prayers did anything, they’d still be alive, you worthless sack of s**t,” the 45-year-old Wheaton tweeted. He included Ryan’s tweet, which read, “Reports out of Texas are devastating. The people of Sutherland Springs need our prayers right now.”

Some Twitter users took that as an attack on religion, which Wheaton tried to clarify on Twitter. He also apologized to those who took his initial statement as an insult.

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“I’m not talking about religion or faith at all. I am talking about the speaker of the house who does nothing to address gun violence,” he wrote. “Hey, real and actual people of faith: I hear you. I apologise for insulting you, in my rage at Paul Ryan’s refusal to address gun violence. Your faith is your business, and people like Paul Ryan exploit it while they hide behind words without deeds, and people continue to die.”

Wheaton continued, “Because I want to be sure sincere people of Faith see this: I spoke in anger, and I apologize to you.”

Wheaton then took to his blog, where he published an essay called “Point of Clarification” after noticing how his comments were being taken by the conservative media. He does not want to be embraced by the “professional atheists out there who are endlessly cruel, condescending, and dismissive toward people of Faith,” he wrote.

“Fox News and its allies are working really hard to deflect attention and anger away from the role that unfettered access to weapons of mass murder played in the latest incidence of mass murder in America,” Wheaton wrote. “Fox News and its allies want you to be angry at something they mislead you into believing I said, so you will take the anger and sorrow and desire for action you feel after a mass shooting, and aim it at me, instead of holding the people in power who could prevent this to account. Fox News, Paul Ryan, and their allies are counting on their ability to fool you into believing their lies, so they can continue to do nothing until the next mass shooting, when they’ll offer thoughts and prayers but no action.”

The former Star Trek: The Next Generation actor added, “Once again, to people of Faith who find comfort and strength in prayer: I am not mocking or belittling or attacking you or your relationship with God, and if you felt that I was, I hope you will accept this apology.

“I will not apologize for being angry at Paul Ryan and people like him who have words but no deeds, and I hope that people of Faith will hold him to account.”

Wheaton’s comments followed the Sunday shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Twenty-six people, whose ages ranged from 18 months to 77 years old, were killed.