Alan Ritchson, star of Amazon Prime Video’s “Reacher,” says studio executives have repeatedly asked him to stop making political statements in public, an account he offered during a Fan Expo Canada panel earlier this month, as reported by The Christian Post.
“You know how many phone calls I get from studios like, ‘Would you shut the f— up, please? Stop talking in public,'” Ritchson told the crowd. “I mean, but it’s not chaos I’m after. It’s actually the opposite of chaos. I’d like a little — I’m not going to get into it. You don’t want to see my rants starring these g—— f—— politicians everywhere.”
He continued: “I’m not going to do it. Sony told me not to. And I’m not going to say anything. Not today. Not today, [Jeffrey] Epstein.” The audience cheered, and Ritchson fist-bumped the moderators before adding, “Pedos win.”
Separately, Ritchson claimed Amazon Prime Video scrapped a planned “Reacher” storyline drawn from a novel in which the character confronts a White supremacist militia camp. Responding to a fan on Threads who expressed disappointment that the show would not adapt that book, Ritchson wrote: “My favorite book. Fun fact: I had it approved until someone got re-elected,” an apparent reference to President Trump’s return to office.
Fox News Digital said it reached out to Sony and Amazon Prime Video for comment; no response was included in the reporting.
A history of political statements
Ritchson, who has described himself as a Christian, has previously criticized conservative Christians for their support of Trump. In an April 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said: “Trump is a rapist and a con man, and yet the entire Christian church seems to treat him like he’s their poster child, and it’s unreal. I don’t understand it.”
A month later, Ritchson said he had faced backlash for airing these views. “If you want to see violence flee the world, be more generous to everybody! That is the Christian ethic! That is what I don’t see happening. And when I speak up about it in my own ways, I’m met with violence,” he said.
Christian Toto of Hollywood in Toto offered a skeptical take on Ritchson’s account, telling Fox News Digital the actor is “doing all he can to personally sabotage” his own projects. “The actor’s political rants are even worse than what Robert De Niro says on a given day. It’s hysterical blather, and his ‘Reacher’ fans are noticing,” Toto said, questioning whether studios actually pressured Ritchson and, if so, why he continues speaking out anyway.
Gave him the benefit of doubt about what initially said, now it appears that he nothing more than another leftist democrat!