Hellboy star Ron Perlman recently shared a passionate response to an unnamed studio exec whose comments about the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes caused major uproar.
While speaking about the strikes and the studios' gameplan, the individual was quoted as saying: "The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their homes."
Understandably, this did not go over very well, and Perlman's since-deleted Instagram rebuttal did get pretty heated - although the actor insists that his comments were greatly exaggerated in the media.
After telling The Wrap that he "didn't expect" his video to receive such backlash, Perlman noted that the response "exemplified the sensational ability for the press to take somebody who has a strong context… even further out of context.”
“I got back on later that afternoon to express my full intention, which is that none of us should be wishing any of us that kind of harm,” Perlman said. “None of us should be wishing any of our families that we start losing things that we worked a lifetime — worked really, really, really earnestly and loyally and beautifully — to just put a roof over our head. None of us have golden f*cking parachutes.”
Perlman has since shared several follow-up videos, and his perspective and message are well worth hearing.
“We should be loving each other, respecting each other, and dropping all of the posture that you think you need to do in order to point out that you’re better than us and stronger than us and more powerful than us — we don’t need that pointed out to us,” he added. “What we need is throw your arms around us, thank us, and then just if you have a huge success, because you’ve managed to sell something that resonated a million times over, we should join you in that.”
The strikes are still going, and are not expected to end anytime soon.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.