“Arrow” and “Heels” star Stephen Amell hit the picket lines alongside his fellow SAG-AFTRA members, after previously condemning the strike as “myopic.”
On Friday, cameras captured Amell in New York City wearing a black shirt reading “SAG-AFTRA STRONG” while toting a picket sign and walking with East Coast actors. His picketing comes after he made comments seen as slamming the strike during a July appearance at Galaxycon in Raleigh, N.C.
He referred to the SAG-AFTRA strike as “incredibly frustrating” and said it was a “reductive negotiating tactic.” SAG had joined the WGA in striking shortly before the release of Season 2 of the Amell-starring “Heels,” preventing Amell from directly promoting it.
“I support my union, I do, and I stand with them, but I do not support striking, I don’t,” the actor said at the time. “I think it is a reductive negotiating tactic, and I find the entire thing incredibly frustrating. And I think the thinking as it pertains to shows like the show that I’m on, that premiered last night, I think it’s myopic.”
Nevertheless, it appeared Amell sang a different tune while out at the pickets. Images show him with his wife Cassandra Jean, who is also an actress, among dozens of others marching.
Some of his Arrowverse co-stars also came together in protest Los Angeles as part of an “Arrow” picket line reunion. Katie Cassidy, Willa Holland, Katrina Law, Caity Lotz, Kirk Acevedo and Juliana Harkavy took a photo of their group in front of the Warner Bros. lots in Burbank.
Acevedo shared his own post, which was also re-posted by “Arrow” and “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim.
Amell had also previously added more nuance to his comments on the strike in a long social media post. Among other comments, he wrote, “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.”
