'Heels' Star Stephen Amell Calls Out Body-Shaming Trolls on Social Media
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Stephen Amell posted a shirtless selfie to Instagram over the weekend, showing himself reading Do You Mind If I Cancel? by Gary Janetti in a pair of bright pink swimming shorts. And while plenty of the comments came from fans expressing their unbridled thirst for this kind of content, several others felt the need to share criticisms of the actor's physique, asking questions like "what happened to the Arrow body?" and "where is Oliver Queen's physique?"
Amell is best known for playing Oliver Queen, the shredded lead in the superhero show Arrow which ran on The CW from 2012 to 2020. Since leaving that network's "Arrowverse," Amell has taken on a completely different character, ripped wrestler Jack Spade in the Starz drama series Heels. In both cases, he has maintained a lean, muscular physique—so much so that apparently people are shocked to see him looking anything less than superhuman, even if he is still in great shape by non-Hollywood standards,
Irked by these comments, Amell shared his response on Facebook a few days later, stating that one photo does not necessarily speak to a person's health or fitness.
"Public service announcement: I’m 6’1 inches tall and 208 lbs. I’m in tremendous shape and I’m strong as shit," he wrote. "I’m a 24 hour juice cleanse away from blowing the season 1 poster for Arrow out of the water. We did the photography for that poster a little over 9 years ago. Next time I post a photo in my hot pink skivvies, I’ll try and remember to flex! And if that isn’t good enough, send me your address. I will show up to steal your boyfriend or your girlfriend."
Unfortunately part of being a public figure in the era of social media is that inevitably a certain contingent of people will feel they have the right to comment on your appearance and jump on any perceived imperfection. Teen movie heartthrob Noah Centineo has been a target, as has pop superstar Lady Gaga, who shot back on social media and said she is proud of her body, and advocated for more kindness online.
It's happened to the jacked Aquaman actor Jason Momoa, who was critiqued for having a "dad bod" on vacation (fortunately, he remained entirely unbothered by the whole thing), and NFL GOAT Tom Brady, for having the audacity to be photographed without a six-pack. And perhaps most bizarrely, Kumail Nanjiani was put on blast for being too muscular.
The moral here is pretty simple, but bears repeating: it doesn't hurt to mind your business sometimes.
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