William H. Macy’s SAG Awards Lament: ‘It’s Hard to Be a Man These Days’

William H. Macy is catching flack for his speech at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which focused on how men should approach the ongoing conversations surrounding sexual misconduct.

Macy won the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series award for his role as Frank Gallagher in Shameless and talked to press backstage about the Time’s Up movement in the industry

“It’s hard to be a man these days,” Macy said. “I think a lot of us feel like we’re under attack and that we need to apologize, and perhaps we do. … We had a meeting. A bunch of guys got together under the auspices of Time’s Up. That’s good for men. Men don’t talk enough (to each other). And we talked.”

“In what we do for a living, we’ve got to be free to speak the unspeakable and try things. So I don’t want it to throw a wet blanket on things, and I don’t feel that it will, because half the business is women and they’re smart and they’re hip,” he continued.

He applauded the changes that have already been made in the industry, and then pushed for equal pay throughout Hollywood.

“It’s a good time to be a girl. I’m proud of this business, because such things as safety in the workplace, that’s done. We’re not going back. It’s changed. It changed in an instant and it’s not going back. When it comes to equality in pay, it’s inevitable. It’s going to happen and it’s going to happen quickly. My hat’s off to our business,” Macy said.

While his intentions may have been good, many online after the SAG Awards criticized certain statements in it. The most singled-out statement was the “It’s hard to be a man these days” line, which many saw as ill-worded.

Numerous Twitter users lashed out at the Shameless star including actress Amber Tamblyn, who has been a major advocate to the movement.

“It’s hard to be a woman all days, William,” she wrote.

Macy has not yet responded to the criticisms.

Photo Credit: Showtime / Brian Bowen