Remember the show Arrow? Well, Stephen Amell, the guy who played Oliver Queen (who very much would not agree with Amell), decided it was time to hate on the WGA and SAG strikes. Why? He thinks that the strike is “myopic.” Amell recently appeared at a convention (which is sort of allowed under strike guidelines) and when asked about the strikes, he not only belittled his audience by saying they probably don’t know about them, but went on to call strikes a “reductive negotiating tactic.” Obviously, there is video evidence of him saying this.
Amell went on to Instagram to share a lengthy apology and explain the reasoning behind his statement and how he didn’t actually mean what he was saying, but I don’t love the tone of it. Mainly because it comes across as Amell talking down to those of us who took his words at face value and didn’t have a running commentary of what Amell was thinking.
Yes, he started his statement by saying that he supports his union but he also said that he doesn’t support striking. Those words came out of his mouth. To act as if they didn’t is actually what’s reductive about this situation.
Rightfully so, people were angry online. How does someone who played Oliver Queen not support strikes? How do you play a character for 10 years and learn nothing? More than that, you cannot support a union and not support a strike that is very much necessary for protecting creatives! What’s even worse is that Amell’s clarification is just making what he said more confusing.
That doesn’t mean what you think it means
After getting yelled at on social media, Amell took to Instagram to make sure that people knew what he meant by saying he doesn’t support strikes. What I guess he meant by that was that he understands the following: “I understand 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.”
Weird, ’cause that’s not what “I don’t support striking” actually means!
Stephen Amell’s clarification is an attempt to gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss his way into staying popular at conventions when Grant Gustin is around. Because how can you say, “Oh, what I actually meant was the complete opposite of the words that came out of my mouth”????
Look, I get it. Conventions are a lot. You have people word-vomiting their love for you at you all day long, and by the end you might not be making a lot of sense. Maybe since this is Amell’s, like, 800th convention this year, he shouldn’t go out of his way to try and answer a question about a very important strike by undermining it.
A simple “It sucks we had to strike but I support my union” would have sufficed, and instead Amell opened his mouth to speak words.
(featured image: Alberto E. Rodriguez / WireImage )
