Celebrity jerks?

[Mola Rob]

I talked with Tony Todd for awhile about football. He's a huge Raiders fan and he wanted to make a bet on the Raiders game but I was not going to be around to collect when they lost. I should have made the bet then I could tell people Candyman owes me $20.00. Really nice guy. He sighed an autograph and wrote "Raiders Forever".

Sorry I realize this is a celebrity jerks thread but everyone I've met have been nice.

 

[JiminSTLouis]

I haven't met many celebs but did meet the LIS cast at a con in Cleveland. They were all very cool, especially Mark Goddard. He actually met a bunch of us fans in one of our hotel rooms and was watching LIS episodes with us. It was a blast. He even displayed my J2 model at his booth and signed the lid for no charge. A real regular guy! June Lockhart was a bit stand-off'ish and really didn't seem to like interacting with the fans past the bare minimum required.

 

[nightwind1]

@funkie, I too would have been a little taken back by someone giving me a free wiener hahahahha

That's what SHE said...


Sorry, couldn't resist. :rolleyes

 

[EvilRocketeer]

Biggest ****** bag.........ADAM WEST....

 

[superDrool]

Best experience was undoubtably meeting Peter Steele lead singer and Bass player for Type O Negative. Met him backstage at Castle Donnington monsters of rock. I knew he was big but nothing prepared me for when he walked into the signing tent. I was just dumbstruck, probably stupid to say but it was like being in the presence of a superman. I think he could tell I was a little unnerved but straight away he tried to put me at ease. I was wearing a t-shirt with an infamous occult personality on it and he spotted it straight away and said "I want that shirt". Only thing I could think to say was "what to wear as a glove?" Don't think I've ever heard someone with such a deep yet at the same time filled with warmth laugh since then. I'll stop now 'cause I'm getting a bit emotional.

You are one lucky SOB.

 

[superDrool]

i'd heard a lot about tom savini , but met him last year at a make up fx convention in london. the guy was awsome. gave me and my fx partner a signed watercolour print and we talked make up for a while and got pics. a real gent. also met linda Blair a few years ago in milton keynes at another con. she was a darlin !! pure class. a year or so earlier i'd been asked to mould and cast some pazzuzu relics for eileen dietz for an excorcist anniversary thing so they could be gven to some cast and crew. Linda had one and loved it plus gave me some personalised signed pics. got a signed excorcist poster in the post from dick smith too. the make up artist on the movie... thought that was very very kind.

He's a personal hero of mine. I lived across the street from his son, and only realized it when he sold me some stuff when he was moving. :eek
I saw his t-shirt that has his father's image on it and geeked out immediately and he casually stated that was his dad. I was floored and saddened at the same time. I briefly mentioned the make up FX courses at the local college I was interest in that his father founded in PA and as soon as our conversation ended I ran into the house to verify his story and sure as hell, his son was up on Tom Savin's official site with the man across my street...moving away. :confused

 

[superDrool]

the ***** in ***** tonk man is honk y but i guess ***** is a black listed word....:lol

Wait...you can't say the word honkie? since when? who is that suppose to offend? I'm lost here, and I'm pretty damn white. :confused

 

[bwayne64]

*****, *****, *****, *****, Darn I guess you can't say it, LOL

 

[jason1976]

He's a personal hero of mine. I lived across the street from his son, and only realized it when he sold me some stuff when he was moving.
I saw his t-shirt that has his father's image on it and geeked out immediately and he casually stated that was his dad. I was floored and saddened at the same time. I briefly mentioned the make up FX courses at the local college I was interest in that his father founded in PA and as soon as our conversation ended I ran into the house to verify his story and sure as hell, his son was up on Tom Savin's official site with the man across my street...moving away.

Don't feel bad. Over the years, I have found out that no less then 3 local celebrities lived in my part of town, only as they were moving away. (2 of them lived down the street from me) One of them I met at their moving/yard sale. :lol They weren't huge celebrities, but still.


I hate to post this here, but since some nice things have been said here, I'll post it here anyways. Has anyone met Nicholas Brendon (from buffy the vampire slayer.) He is going to be in town this weekend, at a signing, and I wanted to know what to expect.

 

[Monteburns]

When it comes to back stage meet n' greets most bands tend to put on a happy face.

James was evil the two times that I met him.:confused
Lars & Kirk were both awesome & super friendly.

I will try again when he is town on the next tour but I was stunned that he was being such a jerk.

I've met James several times in person. While he's a quiet person, he's always been quite friendly - now granted, I met him in very hospitable conditions - at backstage meet and greets ...and also with mutual friends (at the band hotel).

 

[Frosteon]

I can now say that I can add three more Trek actors to my list (only met Walter Koenig at Adventure con. nice enough guy)

Met Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, and Jonathan Frakes at Mega Con this past march.
Marina was great, very talkative with the fans, she was the only one who didn't charge me extra for my picture with her, and... she said I was handsome. I don't know if she was just being nice or what, yet I took it as a compliment anyway. Great woman.

Michael Dorn, wasn't too talkative, yet he was still nice. Me and him are nearly the same height. He's maybe just an inch taller than me.

Jonathan Frakes, quiet yet friendly. says he enjoyed directing First contact the most.

 

[firesprite]

I hate to post this here, but since some nice things have been said here, I'll post it here anyways. Has anyone met Nicholas Brendon (from buffy the vampire slayer.) He is going to be in town this weekend, at a signing, and I wanted to know what to expect.

He was at ECCC in March and was absolutely HORRID to the volunteer who was working as his handler. He decided that it was better to call her an expletive beginning with 't' rather than her name and was so mean to her that she broke down in tears.

He also walked out on his panel on Sunday because the crowd wasn't big enough for his liking. Guess he failed to take into account the massive amount of room his unwarranted ego required. :angry

 

[TheStig]

My best: Robert Llewellyn, Kryten from Red Dwarf. Met him at D*Con, talked about Red Dwarf for a while. I got a picture with him. As I was leaving the autograph room. He stopped me and asked how the photo turned out.

Jewel Staite, one of the sweetest people I've ever met.

Aaron Douglas (as well as his brother), both hilarious and great to hang out with.

Pierre Bernard, met him while walking to a panel at D*Con. We talked about Conan and Stargate. A really nice guy.

I don't really have any bad ones besides my twitter feud with Adam Baldwin that ending in me beating him in an argument and him blocking me. I don't think that counts.

 

[Satxer]

Nice In Person:

-Milla Jovovich- really down to earth & even waited for me to get my camera to work properly.:thumbsup

Great...I am jealous of you...

 

[metrosonus]

I've always suspected that if you approach a celeb and talk about their REALLY old stuff or stuff that they'd figure NOBODY knew they were in, they'd appreciate it because it'd demonstrate that you're not just a fairweather fan. Plus, you know, talking to them like a human being and being polite with them rather than demanding something from them (as asking for an autograph might seem -- however innocuous it might seem from our side of the transaction).

That's the #1 thing to do, that is if you're a fan that does his / her homework. I'm one of those uber nerds that way though. I can usually name directors, music people, actors and what not at the drop of a hat. Not to mention I love 60's, 70's, 80's tv and movies.

I think I was about 15 at the time I met George Takei at a convention. I was polite but enthusiastic in wanting to know how it was working on Mission Impossible and with John Wayne in The Green Berets and other stuff. The look of shock on his face was priceless. :lol

My best and most touching memory was with James Doohan. I think he lived in Atlanta for a while and he was a pretty common fixture at conventions throughout the SE during that time. I've met him about three separate times, but the second time I actually caught him in the hall and had my picture taken with him (I had my TOS engineering uniform on at the time) and he was very gratuitous about it. A year or so later I brought the same photo to another convention with him and had him sign it, still in my TOS uniform. I kid you not, he had a tear in the corner of his eye. Of course, he's passed away now, and after that the photo went into a box of stuff I stored at my dad's warehouse on a move from college and the ass hats out there threw it out. Between moments of being pissed as hell, I actually cried.

Our local PBS station caught Sylvester McCoy on his way down to Miami for one of those celeb themed cruises. I used to do a lot of work there supporting Doctor Who on our local station. Anyway, the station provided a commemorative letter head that you could get his autograph on. Obviously, the whole gig was thrown together and the letter head thing was a bit cheap. McCoy was really nice, but he was kinda like "sure.. whatever". I didn't blame him :lol Anyway, I had a mint 1986 DWM from England with a publicity photo of him on the cover that I had him sign. That about made his day.

Anyway.. you have to give celebs a bit of credit, especially the ones that work the con circuit. It's probably a good part of their income. There's good days and bad days.. Take the most lame job you've ever had, the worst day you had there and then multiply it by 100. I'm sure that's close to how it feels.

People that make a habit out of being jerks are probably just jerks though and some stars let the fame go to their heads. However, all in all, there's a huge swath of people right in the middle where at the end of the day, it's just a job.

 

[JD]

I'm curious to where we're making judgements that celebrity's are "jerks." Are we invading their privacy and then calling them names because we invaded their privacy? Or are we meeting them on their terms?

I've been pretty lucky - I've worked for a pretty major rock band and have met quite a few rock types due to that. But, I also understand what they go through be - being mobbed and recognized isn't necessarily an easy thing. Some of them relish the role of being spotted - others see it somewhat as a burden... not everyone's job entails such recognizability. ...and yes, part of being an actor, rockstar or other celeb is the recognition, the fame and being recognized.

 

[jason1976]

I'm curious to where we're making judgements that celebrity's are "jerks." Are we invading their privacy and then calling them names because we invaded their privacy? Or are we meeting them on their terms?

Well this thread is about "celebrity jerks" Witch to me means, when all respect has been shown to them, THEY have behaved badly. (though I'm glad we have included stories of good celebs in this thread too. )

However, there should be a whole other thread to discuss Fan jerks, because OMG there are a lot of them. I have seen far too many awful fans. Folks that would literally stab you in the back, to get your place in line, just to talk down to a star, or humiliate them in front of other fans.

So many guys walking up to lady celebs, and holding up the line, try to hit on them, wall the ladies clearly don't want it. Plus it's never tasteful, it's always stuff like "Hey babe", Or "Your so hot, do you know what I would do to you", Or "Can I get a picture with you, I want to tell my friends we dated", or "are there any naked pics of you out there." (I kid you not, I have heard all of these. ) Or, how about those that ask "Who are you again?", Or "What would I know you from?", or "you used to be so good looking", or "I remember you, what happened to you man?". Or one of my favorites, asking a question, and when the celeb say they don't recall, or that they don't want to talk about it, and then the fan brings the whole place to a grinding stop, by pressing, and pressing, and pressing the point, instead of just moving along. God some fans suck so bad.

There really needs to be classes in Faniquette (fan-etiquette) We shouldn't need such a thing, but obviously we do.

 

[Solo4114]

I'd figure what qualifies someone as a jerk is a situation where:

A) the celeb WILLINGLY placed themselves in the position of being accosted by fans (IE: a con) and was rude to people

B) the celeb was in a private setting, but their degree of irritation at the fan intrusion is WAY over the mark (IE: that story about Ryan Reynolds throwing someone's sharpie on the ground and bitching them out for asking for an autograph)

or

C) when the celeb is crappy and rude to people who are trying to facilitate their job (IE: the stories about Julie Benz being rude to convention workers who are just trying to be helpful)


Situation A there's just no excuse for. You're there at a con, being paid, and making money via autographs and photos, probably. Put on your ****ing party hat and at least ACT happy. Hell, you're an ACTOR, so start ACTING.

Situation B is a bit trickier. I mean, on the one hand, you're just a human being who probably would like their privacy. On the other hand, you also signed up to be a celebrity, so get used to dealing with "the public." If someone politely requests an autograph, there's no need to freak out on them. The amount of energy it just took you to flip out was probably more than just putting on a fake smile, signing the friggin' photo and going on about your business. Now, if you're SO famous that you'll get MOBBED as soon as you sign for one fan, I can understand, but in just about all of these stories, the stars haven't been so big that suddenly they'd be completely surrounded by screaming hordes of fans. Regardless, a simple "Sorry, I really don't have time" or "Not today, sorry" and a smile may be enough. If the person keeps pushing, ok, I can see getting less polite, but at least START polite and go from there instead of just going from zero to jerk in 6 seconds flat.

Situation C there is, again, NO excuse for. If you're crappy to the crew on your show/film, or the people working the con or whathaveyou when they're just doing their jobs (IE: NOT what happened in the Chris Lloyd story), you'd better have a DAMN good reason. Personally, I though Christian Bale had a legit reason to give the grip some grief when he helped kill the mood of an intense scene....albeit not to the degree we heard on the tape. So again, there's a question of degree and the crewperson's conduct. But that said, to treat people like peons...not cool. Not excusable, and it definitely makes you a jerk if you do that.

 

[firesprite]

And Solo hits the nail squarely on the head...

 

[Wes R]

A big problem is celebrities (most of them don't have enough talent to be called actors let alone stars) don't have the respect for fans nor any sense of tact that older ones did. I'm sure the actors of the past hated the attention but they dealt with it as it was the price paid for being in their position and they realized if not for fans they'd be living in boxes in an alley begging for cash.

I'd personally love to meet Milla Jovovich. Just don't get her last name wrong as it tends to annoy her lol. She always seems so cool on commentaries and interviews.