While many celebrities who backed Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential run lament her loss to Donald Trump, actor Chris Pratt has remained fairly quiet after calling Americans to unity prior to the election. Writing for his mother-in-law, Maria Shriver’s, Sunday Paper, he avoided endorsing either candidate. “Like so many of us, I’ve been doomscrolling my way through this election season. And I see things from both sides,” he wrote. “I understand that people’s lives and rights are on the line. I also see that there are millions of people who feel overlooked and invisible to our government and are desperate for something to change.”

Pratt pointed to his own upbringing as a poor kid growing up in small-town America. “Yet even though my life has drastically changed, I’m trying to make sense of the election through the eyes of Americans on both sides.” He turned his focus to how the country could move forward after the election. He recalled his own devastation after losing a wrestling game and how one day he realized that losing was just as much a part of life as winning. “I feel as though we live in a time now when so many people have yet to learn that lesson. Sometimes your team doesn’t win. The 2024 presidential election is three days away as I write this. The biggest game of all time approaches.” He stated he realized there were differences between a sports game and an election, but that Americans still had to find a way to connect to each other. “How do we become a nation of honorable winners and graceful losers?” he asked. “It starts with remembering no matter who wins or loses, there are still going to be people who need help in this country. Find them. Be of service.”

Pratt’s letter was a break from his Avengers co-stars, who appeared in an ad to support Harris. It’s also a break from his own family, with both Shriver and Pratt’s father-in-law, Arnold Schwarzenegger, having previously voiced support for Harris. Pratt received criticism for the op-ed, with his critics calling the op-ed “banal.” “Pratt is trying to make it seem like this is any other election. Like Obama vs Romney, for instance. But it’s actually the most critical election of my lifetime. What we do in this moment, over the next 24 hours, matters very much,” said one critic. Another took issue with his “both sides” approach. “While he does not endorse either candidate, and the site is from a former Democrat (now independent) Maria Shriver, it upsets me to see Chris Pratt play ‘both sides have good ideas’ with what is at stake for me.” Pratt has not responded directly to the criticism, though some sources have said he was “surprised.”