Arrow, Heels Star Stephen Amell “Would Have Preferred” Actors’ Strike Comments “Never Became Public”

Stephen Amell (Arrow, Heels) has been in the hot seat for the past 24 hours after he commented on the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, and there has been a lot of talk about said comments. Amell revealed yesterday that he doesn’t actually support the ongoing actor’s strike and that he thinks that it is a “reductive negotiation tactic”. Since then, the actor has clarified his comments in a Facebook post and revealed that he does indeed support his fellow union members. There was also a video from a recent fan event that surfaced where he violated the rules of the strike and spoke about his former series, Arrow. He has since appeared on a new segment of TMZ, where he is once again clarifying his comments and regretting what he said at the recent event.

You can check out his comments below.

“We live in a time right now and I don’t want to wax too poetic here. Where, you know, people want you to vote as long as you’re voting for their candidate. And I can support my union, but there was an authorization vote for a reason,” Amell said. “And listen, it was overwhelmingly in favor of striking. It was 98% and I think that there was a lot of people who frankly it was a vote, but I think that it was just kind of the complete that we were willing to authorize that. I just think that this has been done in a very black and white, all or nothing sort of way and I’m talking about shows and movies that were about to come out before the strike. I’m specifically talking about shows that, you know, I and a bunch of other people pour their heart and soul into that happened to be coming out within a certain window after the strike. I don’t think that some of the consideration that was given to other projects leading up to the strike, and the delay of the strike was given to some other projects that came on the other side, and that’s something that retrospectively, I should have done a better job of taking up in private with the leadership of my union people that I greatly respect and admire.”

“I’m going to take a little bit of a quiet time and try to unplug all little bit. But, I’ll tell you what… I will do anything in my power and if that’s being the first one across the line, no pun intended, if that is going to help this process, then I am more than happy to take those slings and arrows. I don’t consider myself to be a martyr, and frankly, I would have preferred that these comments never been made public, but they did. And here we are and hopefully it can just lead to a broader discussion and we can get people back to work.” The Arrow and Heels star added.

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for more updates on the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike as we learn them!

What do you think about the Stephen Amell situation? Do you agree or disagree with his comments on the ongoing strike? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!

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