Stephen Amell Under Fire for Controversial Tweet About Stereotyping Texans in Light of Ahmed Mohamed's Arrest

The Arrow star is facing criticism for comparing generalizations about Texas to racial profiling

Photo: Getty

Arrow star Stephen Amell is finding himself under fire after Tweeting on Wednesday that people shouldn’t use Ahmed Mohamed’s arrest earlier this week as an opportunity to criticize the state of Texas as a whole.

“Stereotyping Texas isn’t any better than stereotyping Ahmed. Just so we’re clear,” Amell Tweeted.

Mohamed is the 14-year-old Irving, Texas, resident who was arrested on Monday when a teacher mistook a homemade clock he had brought to school for a bomb. The arrest drew national attention, and has been interpreted by some as an instance of a bright you man behind punished for having a Muslim-sounding name. Since, the hashtag #istandwithahmed has been trending across social media networks.

Many reacting to Amell’s tweet disagreed that generalizations about Texans should be given the same weight as racial profiling.

https://twitter.com/patchciprianos/status/644257326971645952

Amell elaborated on his earlier point with a eight more Tweets that said, among other things, that he regretted using Twitter to comment on the matter, that he did feel generalizations about Texans counted as a form of profiling, that he wasn’t going to apologize for or delete the Tweet, and that his wife is from Texas and he’s found residents of the state to be "wonderful, polite individuals."

Amell, 34, then declared that he would be refraining from Tweeting for the time being.