Stephen Amell is 'deeply ashamed' about being removed from that Delta flight: 'I was an a--hole'
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Former Arrow star Stephen Amell is clearing the air about getting booted from a Delta flight in Austin, Texas, back in June, after a reported argument with his wife, Cassandra Jean Amell.
While appearing on his pal — and fellow (former) CW star — Michael Rosenbaum's podcast, Inside of You, Amell wasted no time in addressing the incident.
"I wanted to have just a slight runway here to talk about this because what happened was — and it's very, very simple — I had too many drinks, and I had too many drinks in a public place. And, I got on a plane," Amell told Rosenbaum.
Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage Stephen Amell
"And the reason that I wanted to talk about it is — and we'll get to it, eventually this will all make sense — is I was pissed off about something else that had nothing to do with Cass, my wife, and I picked a fight," he continued, later noting he doesn't remember what he was "upset" about. "I picked a fight because I wanted to be loud and upset. And it was a fight, as in like, it was not an argument. In order to have an argument, two people have to be talking. My wife said one thing the entire time, which was, 'If you don't lower your voice, they're going to ask you to get off the plane.' That's the only thing that she said the entire time."
The actor, who now stars in the brotherly wrestling drama Heels on Starz, said that he was approached by an airline official while the plane was parked, and told to keep his voice down.
"So, obviously, Cass was 100-percent right there. I was being loud. I was probably dropping a few F-bombs. I've got the noise-canceling -- this is not an excuse — I'm not here to make excuses because this was 100 percent my fault but — and I don't even want to smile while I'm telling this story because I'm actually, frankly, deeply ashamed of it," Amell said (Note: Rosenbaum responded to Amell's headphone reference with an "Ohhhh," which seems to have elicited the near smile the Arrow alum mentioned). "But I was quiet for 10 minutes, a guy came back. Clearly, I had made somebody uncomfortable, and someone had said something, and they just make the decision, 'You've got to get off the plane.'"
He ended up taking another flight home, where the actor said he found himself in a middle seat of row 17. And somewhere along the journey, Amell said he learned that his deplaning story was about to hit the news.
"But then I found out that it was going to come out on TMZ, and when I found that out — and the reason I want to bring that up is because I talked about it, and in my one thing that I said about it on the internet, I referred to it as an argument between my wife and I, and it wasn't," Amell clarified, referencing his June 23 tweet, which read, "My wife and I got into an argument Monday afternoon on a Delta flight from Austin to LA. I was asked to lower my voice and I did. Approximately 10 minutes later I was asked to leave the flight. And I did so immediately. I was not forcibly removed."
"It was not an argument… This is 100 percent my fault," the actor insisted on Rosenbaum's podcast. "Like, I feel like I went the better part of 10 years without being an a--hole in public. I was an a--hole in public."
After getting home, Amell woke up to a text from a friend asking if he was okay.
"It's really, really shameful," the Heels star said. "And it makes you kind of look in the mirror. And I just realized a couple of things: if people are going to recognize you, don't necessarily drink in a public place, but more importantly, don't drink in a public place if you can't handle your s---."
As he reflected on what could have happened when he was asked to depart the aircraft, Amell said one wrong decision could have greatly impacted his life and career.
"If I just casually, flippantly, not being in sound mind and body, if I offer like a quick passive 'f--- off,' and all of a sudden I'm in [police] bracelets, maybe I destroyed my entire life, my entire career," Amell said. "So, I think, ultimately [I'm] very ashamed of it. Trying to make amends for it, specifically with my wife."
It's also made him reflect on celebrity.
"You know, this is a weird experience that we all live in where people just sort of give you whatever you want," the actor added. "And occasionally that leads to just not setting appropriate boundaries in your own life. So [my wife and I are] having conversations about that, about just basic stuff, and it's a good thing, it's a good thing we have those conversations. I'm just happy that I didn't give the tertiary, passive, 'F-- off.' Because then, I'm in jail. In Austin."
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