Alan Ritchson, the titular star of Prime Video’s Reacher series, has been known to share his political opinions despite how they may conflict with those of the show’s conservative fan base. And even though some viewers have threatened to stop watching the popular streamer series in protest of Ritchson’s “woke” comments, he’s doubling down on his message of police accountability in a post to Instagram this week.
The digs aimed at Ritchson were related to an interview he did with The Hollywood Reporter this month, in which he addressed the online stir among Reacher fans after an old photo of him wearing an “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor” tee shirt resurfaced: “Cops get away with murder all the time, and the fact that we can’t really hold them accountable for their improprieties is disturbing to me,” he said in the interview. “We should completely reform the way that we do it. I mean, you shouldn’t have to spend more time getting an education as a hairstylist than as a cop who’s armed with a deadly weapon.”
The National Fraternal Order of Police caught wind of Ritchson’s comments and posted a photo of the actor to its Instagram page, calling him a “useless Hollywood actor” who is “virtue signaling for attention at the expense of brave police officers.” Ritchson responded to the post on Tuesday, calling it a “concerning” display of “emotional immaturity” in his lengthy reply.
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“This kind of emotionally immature response is the epitome of what concerns me about law enforcement today,” he wrote in the post. “If this is how leadership handles a peaceful disagreement, what does life look like for those unseen interactions in the street? How does this shape the character of those police officers looking to management?”
“Do you really want individuals so easily angered and bully[sic] like school children to have a gun and the protection of an untouchable union?” he also said.
Ritchson went on to say that he knows there are “many good and brave cops” but pretending that there aren’t some bad apples indicates “blind allegiance” he called “dangerous” and “fertile ground for fascism.”
“There are rogue or ill-equipped officers who remind us that we need higher barriers to entry and stricter regulations so abuses are relegated to the past,” he continued, “To only seek praise and ignore this need is extremely unwise and endangers those at risk of being ostracized and marginalized.”
Ritchson also took the opportunity to call out Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. “To make matters worse, in Florida, voters perpetuate these issues by continuing to support people like Gov. Desantis who just passed a law making it illegal for anyone other than the police to police themselves,” he wrote, referring to the governor’s recent bill that limits police oversight panels in the state.
“This lack of transparency would be laughable if not so deadly,” he added. “Efforts like these take us further from the world I hope to leave for my children, which is one with extreme prudence when deciding who we arm and a glass house for public institutions. Especially ones with the ability to end lives.”
In the same Hollywood Reporter interview, Ritchson opened up about his own Christian faith and expressed frustration over how conservatives have seemingly co-opted his religion. “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,” he remarked. “I don’t understand it.”
