'Heels' Showrunner Reveals What He Said to Stephen Amell After the Actor's Comments on SAG-AFTRA Strike

Stephen Amell angered a lot of people when he made comments about the SAG-AFTRA strike that seemed to imply that he didn’t support the strike.

Now, the actor’s Heels showrunner Mike O’Malley is opening up about what he said to Stephen in a private phone call after the comments went viral.

Stephen spoke out at a fan convention in July and said that while he supports “my union, I do, and I stand with them but I do not support striking, I don’t.”

“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 [Heels], that premiered last night, I think it’s myopic,” he added.

Stephen later clarified his comments and explained point-by-point what he said and what he meant by it.

So, what did Mike say in his phone call with Stephen?

Keep reading to find out more…

“Well, I called Stephen and I spoke to him about it. What he was trying to talk about is that he loved the show, and he had an incredible pride in the show. We knew that [his comments] were going to distract from the hard work that the people in both the WGA, of which I’m a member, and SAG-AFTRA, were doing. And I knew that immediately because I had been on the picket line. When I heard and I called him up, I said, ‘Stephen, man, we all got to stand together.’ He got it immediately,” Mike told Entertainment Weekly.

He continued, “I just think it was an unfortunate moment; I genuinely think that he put his foot in his mouth. He felt bad about it. My initial reaction was just like, ‘Ah man, I know how this is going to play, and I’ve got to talk to him about it because I don’t think he meant it to come across the way that it did.’ I think he was basically saying was what a lot of people were saying, which was that they were frustrated that they couldn’t work. But I know where his heart is, and his heart is standing with his union, as he said.”

Stephen ended up joining the picket line a couple weeks after making the comments.