Sam Heughan and the Outlander cast managed to do the bulk of the promotion for Outlander’s current season before all hell broke loose in the world. Sam did still have some media obligations last week (for a different project), but they were cancelled and he ended up flying to Hawaii when everyone realized just how bad everything would get. Which… I understand? I mean, if you had to choose a place to spend in isolation for a few months, wouldn’t many people choose Hawaii? But of course, lots of people took issue with Sam’s Hawaiian vacation lockdown:
“Outlander” star Sam Heughan clapped back at Twitter users who criticized him for vacationing in Hawaii while the coronavirus rages. The Scottish actor was answering questions on Twitter for fans in a live Q&A event when he revealed that he was holidaying in Hawaii after a scheduled appearance at PaleyFest to promote his latest project, “Bloodshot,” was canceled.
“I’m in Hawaii,” Heughan noted during the Q&A, “Came here before travel ban. Rather concerned to return to UK. Certainly safer here for now. Hope you’re safe and your family too!”
That response from the 39-year-old actor prompted another fan to ask: “Wait — so you had the vacation you’re currently on booked knowing you were committed to Paley? Or did you book it even though you knew there was a rising global pandemic? Doesn’t add up. People are dying, being quarantined, and many have lost their jobs. This is serious, dude.”
Heughan curtly responded: “Thank you for your concern….Yes people ARE dying. It’s terrifying. For your information, I booked once I knew Paley was cancelled. Is that okay with you?”
“The Spy Who Dumped Me” actor also received flack for choosing Hawaii as the spot to quarantine after David Ige, the state’s governor, announced on March 17th that all visitors, “postpone their vacations for at least the next thirty days” in the hopes of quelling the spread of the coronavirus. Fans called Heughan “irresponsible” and “putting potential added strain” on the island’s medical system. But Heughan angrily responding calling critics “rude or completely disillusional (sic),” noting that he was “self-isolating/taking care” while vacationing.
On Saturday, Hueghan announced the launch of a “30-Day Social-Distancing Challenge” workout through his fitness company, My Peak Challenge, noting that it would be free for all.
Personally, I think attacking Sam in this particular instance was kind of… off-side and nitpicky? He is not a doctor. He’s not a medical professional. People like Sam are being told to stay isolated and out of everyone’s way. Which is what he’s doing. I don’t know how long he’s been in Hawaii, but everything here in America really started to hit the fan about 16 days ago? And it sounds like that was around the time when Sam booked his trip to Hawaii. And of course he’s better off staying in place in Hawaii than trying to get back to the UK in the middle of a pandemic!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.
Jealousy is rampant during this pandemic too. If I wasn’t in health care and I had the funds to go to Hawaii before shit hit the fan, you better believe I would have been on the first flight out.
I think 2 things aren’t clear to me would be bad. 1) flying (even local) after international ban for leisure is selfish because he could have brought it with him, and 2) if he’s in a hotel he’s increasing staffs risks every day as well.
If it was before the ban and he’s staying in a rented house without staff then no big deal. But it sounds like after ban as his work was canceled.
Actually I’m fine with people blasting him for flying off to Hawaii.
Hawaii is isolated from the mainland, yes, which is an advantage in a way, in that it may take covid 19 longer to get there.
That said, it is precisely *because* they are so isolated that it is IRRESPONSIBLE for anyone to fly there. They have extremely limited hospital beds and ventilators, and if the outbreak got bad it would take SO MUCH LONGER to get medical supplies to the islands. Furthermore, if an outbreak occured in Hawaai the only practical way OFF the island is via plane, which increases risk for the flight staff and other passengers.
This one’s personal to me. I have quite a few friends in Hawaii and they are appalled that tourists are still flying in.
Yes! Would i love to be somewhere warm and beautiful instead of dreary weather outside my house? Of course, but that would be extremely selfish of me, and dangerous for others. Stay the F home, Sam. And any other citizens thinking of it, stay the F home.
its already in Hawaii
Does not matter if it’s already in Hawaii Casey. That actually drives my point home. If it’s already there why would people fly in an exacerbate the situation??
It’s also annoying to have it rubbed in our faces that while most of us are terrified by job loss or lost income, rich people can have a VACATION during all this, far from the worst of it.
I agree, Sam should not have gone there, just dumb and self-centred. Does he not have family in Scotland? I would have gone home to isolate to be near family and friends. That is a natural instinct. What a disappointment he is.
From what I hear from people living in Hawaii is that tourists need to get the F out so that they can deal with their pandemic and resources on their own. There may be many native Hawaiians who disagree, and since I am not one, I am completely open to hear from them, but I have read and heard from many who feel this way. So, the backlash is fair, I think. It’s not just about self isolating, Sam, but not taking away limited resources from the “rude” people criticizing you. He doesn’t have to be a doctor to recognize that his decisions are selfish and not the best for Hawaii. For him to respond that way is very privileged and selfish, less of a fan for his decisions and comments.
I am in a state that gets lots of visits from neighboring states for various reasons, and I’d rather they stay home and away because I don’t want to have to deal with more random people in grocery stores and medical centers and work than I need to, especially since it’s so d@mn limited as it is.
I read about this and rolled my eyes. Fans really have to get over the idea that any more than maybe 0.1% of celebrities are smart or selfless. The optics of a white British man running off to be a burden on Hawaii are not pretty, but as you say, he’s just some actor. I doubt he thought about it at all. He’s not malicious, he’s just dumb.
Hawaii is an isolated island, with limited medical capacities, that currently should be reserved for locals, not tourists. Keeping the supply chain across the ocean is also way more complicated and expensive, espescially now. It is inconsiderate to go there to wait this pandemic out. If he brought the virus with him and ends up needing attention and supplies that should go to locals, he will be an undue burden. I have seen photos of locals from Hawaii driving around with signs asking tourist to p!ss off. Not saying he should be cruzified for it, but some criticism is warranted IMO. It’s the same across the world right now, priviledged people are fleeing to nice, safe places (Scottland, Southern Italy, Hawaii) and in the worst case bringing the virus with them, best case they are a drain on local ressources. It’s a shitty thing to do honestly.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Exactly!
We’re in total lockdown in Hawaii through April 30–everything is closed except the bare necessities. All parks are closed–including beach parks. Starting tomorrow, everybody flying in, whether from foreign countries or the mainland, have to go straight to 14-day quarantine. If you’re a resident, that means going straight home. If you’re a visitor, that’s straight to your hotel room. And stay there. It is beyond irresponsible to continue with your vacation plans as though nothing has changed. Everything has changed.
We live on the mainland but my husband works in Hawaii and because of the quarantine he’s staying home and is unable to relieve his co-workers who were due to fly home. He’s very worried about his friends who live there and the lack of resources. We also live in a very rural community that was recently overrun with climbers and hikers looking to get away from the “big city”, thankfully they have been encouraged to leave and most of them have. Like Hawaii, we don’t have the resources to deal with our own population let alone a bunch of tourists.
That header photo does NOT do him justice.
Honestly, I probably would have jetted off to Hawaii for the duration too if I’d thought of it and had the means. It would never have even occurred to me that doing so would endanger Hawaiians or overly tax the hospital system. So I imagine it didn’t occur to him either. People (myself included) tend to be pretty self absorbed and not think of how our actions might negatively impact others. So it does sound like it’s appropriate to educate about the dangers of doing this, but I do feel bad if this guy’s getting all the flack when you know he’s not the only one doing it. Perils of being a public figure I guess.
I agree, there were photos of Pierce Brosnon and his wife in Hawaii recently. Like you said most of us don’t think about how our actions impact others, hopefully this pandemic will help with that.
Pierce and his wife have lived there part time for like 20 years, so a little different in that they may have been there anyway and just stayed put, but still, I agree, don’t overload the infrastructure.
I live in a shore area, and people from NY and Philadelphia have been fleeing here, despite every warning that our little hospital and winter staffed first responders and stores can’t handle it.
This guy shouldn’t have gone, and is an even bigger idiot for broadcasting this to the world.
Harla I heard that Pierce Brosnan has a home on Kauai, but can’t say for certain if that’s true. My husband and I were in Hawaii early February and planned to stay until mid April. By early March I wanted to go home to Canada. Big island of Hawaii has limited medical resources and I have RA and take immunosuppressive meds. We bailed March 16 and are still in self isolation. It’s very scary plus Hawai’i was slow to start testing and still had cruise ships docking with international passengers disembarking and touring up until mid March. Honolulu is a ‘gateway’ from badly affected areas such as China and Korea. It’s going to spike badly there and they aren’t prepared. I understand Sam not wanting to return to UK but I don’t think he chose wisely.
I think you’re probably right, but there have been terrible stories of rich New Yorkers descending on the Hamptons and buying freezers full of food too: ugh!
Holiday destinations often don’t have enough hospital beds etc. for the max number of tourists they can accommodate. It would be a waste of resources during “normal” times. So yeah, don’t be a dick and stay/go home.
And even if someone disagrees with that… how dumb do you have to be to broadcast your beachy getaway in those times??? Is he not that smart?
Here in France 17% of parisians fled to the countryside when the president announced the quarantine. It’s bad because they brought the virus in isolated villages and even without the sanitary danger they are a strain because they need grocery etc. In Italy people from the north fleeing to the south when the north was quarantined is a big reason the virus spread as much. Sam Heughan sounds not well informed at best or dumb at worst and I get he’s well meaning but this was a bad move.
I saw a couple of friends self-isolating in vacation spots. One booked themselves a cabin in the forest and another went to bungalow on a tropical island. Both aren’t sick and said they wanted to do lockdown in a different spot.
The travel and military industry in Hawai’i and the US neocolonial empire are absolutely huge and important topics (I am 100% in support of indigenous self-determination and I lived for seven years on a Pacific island where I supported the movement there in concrete and practical ways as a volunteer) but … Sam Heughan probably just wanted a vacation and was at worst thoughtless and uninformed.
There is not much value in reducing vast historical issues to one prominent person making the wrong choice. The problem is our asinine, incompetent, racist government and our clown president who called this a hoax… the problem is systematic.
He said he went before the travel ban, meaning probably before it was widely understood how serious this was. I am not inclined to lambast him over this.
Also as has been pointed out, at this point he needs to just lock down and quarantine wherever he is, like everyone else.
A co-worker of mine had scheduled a trip to Hawaii a year ago with his family. He was supposed to leave in 2 weeks. He canceled when the call went out not to come. He respected it and stayed where he was.
Sam just wanted to runaway to Paradise. Totally selfish.
It’s clear that he went with the full intention of keeping his ass there once he arrived so I really can’t be bothered to be upset about this, especially as he made this move in the earlier stage when things were being canceled out of caution.
Right. And he’s Scottish, where flights to the US are currently banned. He does not appear to have a full-time residence in LA. He probably wanted to get away but be within the US in case work pops up in the country.
Some of this backlash is definitely resentment of the wealthy who can choose where to isolate. Was he already stateside when all the bans went into effect? It’s not like he flew directly from the UK. Same with snark about Harry and Meghan, isolating in their “ luxury Canadian hideout”,or rich New Yorkers heading to the Hamptons. I personally know of someone who took their family to their vacation home in Wine Country. This is definitely a different angle and tone than articles of American tourists being stranded in Morocco or Peru with no way to get home, and no help from embassy. In abstract, there is nothing wrong with choosing where to isolate, especially in a region not as affected.However, in reality, you can be bringing the disease if exposed, or potentially putting a strain on smaller communities which have limited medical resources. Hope Sam is prepared to take up residence there for several weeks.
Maybe he is staying with friends ? I don’t mind him not going back to the UK – after all, he is probably spending as much time in the US as in the UK these days. If he has friends living in Hawaii and is staying in isolation with them, why not ?
There’s a reason I am in NY and not in the Bahamas. It would be irresponsible for me to potentially overtax the medical system there, especially coming from NY. Had I already been there when this all hit the fan, I would have stayed there and worked in the clinic. But I wasn’t, so it is better for me to be here and not there.
Right, but that’s assuming you have a permanent residence in NY. Does Sam have one in LA? It doesn’t seem like it…