Ron Perlman clarifies 'heated' remarks warning studio exec about their home amid SAG and WAG strikes

Ron Perlman has clarified recent heated remarks he made about a studio exec amid the strikes initiated by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers' Guild of America (WAG).

The Hellboy actor issued an ominous warning to an anonymous source who told Deadline that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) wants the WGA strike to carry on until union members start losing their homes, with Perlman telling the executive to "be careful" and that "there's a lot of ways to lose your house" in a since-deleted Instagram Live on Friday.

Later that day, Perlman explained in a follow-up Instagram video that he doesn't "wish anybody any harm."

"With the announcement of the actors going out on strike this morning, I took to Instagram Live to give a background of my experience as a guild member and to give some of my reactions to the current events while we find ourselves in this situation," Perlman said. "In the aftermath of that, there has been a lot of reaction, mainly because at one point, admittedly, I got quite heated because I was talking about a quote from one of the executives on the other side of the negations talking about how they planned to not even begin negotiating until writers and actors started losing their houses and their apartments."

He continued, "And so you can imagine my reaction to somebody wishing that kind of harm on people in the very same industry that they call their own would engender a response, so let me make something very clear right now: I don't wish anybody any harm. I hope the a--hole who made that comment also doesn't wish anybody any harm, but when you start going around and saying we're not even going to bargain with these f---ing dickheads until they start f---ing bleeding and their families start bleeding... I mean, if you want to talk about some of the s--- that makes people so cynical and so pissed off with our current climate, I mean this strike is just sort of… it's a symptom of a struggle that's way bigger than the strike itself. It's a symptom of the soullessness of corporate America and how everything has become corporatized in this country."

Perlman went on to explain that corporations "only care about one thing, and that's quarterly profits and their shareholders and their stockholders." As a result, he added, "When you co-opt something that deals in beauty and the human experience like film and television does, like any of the fine arts do, but it's being run by people who only care about one thing and that is money, it makes for some very strange bedfellows."

Still, Perlman called for unity and is looking forward to seeing what both sides of the standoff can bring to the table. "We all must try to get along," he said, "and we must all try to understand you have your value in giving us the resources we need to make content, and we have our value as storytellers because of the effect we have on people when we tell our stories beautifully and properly, on the people that come to see them."

He also encouraged the AMPTP to "maintain a degree of humanity" in negotiations moving forward. "It can't all be about your f---ing Porsche and your f---ing stock prices," he said. "There's got to be dignity if we're going to hold a mirror up and reflect human experiences, which is what we do as actors and writers. And not just us — the drivers, the camera guys, the costume [and] makeup people, the hair people, the electricians, the production designers. You want them to lose their f---ing houses too? Is that what you're after? Just f---ing break everybody? How sad."

"So yeah, I'm being very clear," he continued. "I never mentioned one name, and I don't want anybody to get hurt, but stop with the bulls---, okay? Because all you're doing is you're f---ing killing what's beautiful in this country by putting a price on everything."

He concluded his statement by saying, "That's what this strike is about. It's about human dignity. That's what unions are about. It's about being able to come home to your kids with a smile on your face and say, 'I did this for you today so I got your first two years of college set up.' It's what we're all after. I send you nothing but love. Peace out.'

In his Instagram Live earlier in the day, Perlman called out the "motherf---er who said we're going to keep this going until they start losing their houses and their apartments," telling the exec, "Listen to me, motherf---er. There's a lot of ways to lose your house. Some of it is financial, some of it is karma, and some of it is just figuring out who the f--- said that — and we know who said that — and where he f---ing lives."

He then issued a warning: "There's a lot of ways to lose your house. You wish that on people? You wish that families starve while you make 27 f---ing million dollars a year for creating nothing? Be careful, motherf---er. Be really careful because that's the kind of shit that stirs s--- up. Peace out."

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland announced on Thursday that its national board had voted unanimously to launch the guild's strike after its members were unable to reach a deal with the AMPTP, a group that includes Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, and Warner Bros. Discovery. They have subsequently joined their sister union, the Writers' Guild of America, on the picket line.

The union, which represents more than 160,000 performers, is demanding better working conditions, compensation, and protections for its workers amid huge industry shake-ups like streaming and artificial intelligence.

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