46 Celebrity Encounters That Were So Bad, It Left A Sour Taste In People’s Mouths

I'm always somewhat wary of "negative" interactions with celebrities. Often the teller leaves out things or takes out context, like they'll say, "I saw X and they refused to chat to me," but leave out that they invaded a private dinner with X's children there and demanded a photo and the person's time just because they were on a TV show.
a) Everyone is entitled to their private time.
b) Everyone is allowed a bad day and to just not be in the mood to be grabbed at, chatted to, or photographed.
c) What is ONE experience for the person is an hourly one for the celebrity.

totallycalledla-a:

I saw a woman on twitter saying Steph Curry had been "so rude" to her and ignored her and her kid. A video from a different pov showed that he was trying to get through a really scary crowd clutching onto his very young children and was just focused on getting to the car. Bizarre people 🥴.

scarlettslegacy:

I remember a clip where Justin Bieber fans were indignant he wouldn't engage with them on a jog. Like, I bet he would have indulged them if they'd been able to keep pace with him, but they wanted him to stop his exercise routine to talk to them. One of you is being rude and it ain't him.

yeroc121:

I agree. Denying pictures, hugs, or a conversation is not rude behavior. If shared instantly, pictures can endanger the celebrity by giving away their location. Working in entertainment is very overstimulating, and it's not difficult for me to imagine most celebrities just wanting to be left alone.
There are obvious nuances, and while some people can be genuinely terrible, I am tired of hearing complaints about something as minor as not being given a photo. To me, the line is how they treat the people they work with + service workers.

I met Emmitt Smith in airport bar.

He said "Dude, I'm not Emmitt smith. First of all, I'm white . Second of all, I'm only 25 years old and finally, I'm like 6'5."

He thought he could trick me, but I knew the truth!

kingeryck:

My coworker sat next to this big dude on a flight back from TX. They chat and talk about football and she says she hates the Cowboys and he laughs and they have a nice flight chatting. She gets off the flight, walking and talking with him and he says bye and she meets her friend in the terminal and shes like O_O do you know who that was? No. EMMIT SMITH OF THE DALLAS COWBOYS! wop wooopppp

I work in the industry and have met plenty of celebrities. About 95% of them are very nice and normal.

The one who I absolutely dislike because of how much of a c*nt she was is Jennifer Lopez. She was super rude and dismissive….and had this attitude that she was better than you. I’m not the only one who’s had a bad experience with her. I have another friend who works at a high end luxury jewelry store, and she too met J.Lo a few times and each time was a bad experience for her.

Double_Strike2704:

I also work in entertainment but was working at a casino when she was taking tips Affleck gave casino workers back. And I warned my bosses that if Ben Affleck tipped me and J. Lo tried to take it I was gonna fight her. Lol.

cowabungalowvera:

One of my best friends used to work as a waitress in LA and she says JLo was by far the worst customer she's had the displeasure of serving. And it wasn't just a one-time thing. Every time JLo ate at their restaurant, she was quite rude and condescending to the staff. Always smelled good tho accdg to my best friend lmao.

Buddy was getting an autograph from Alan Rickman. Rickman asked what his name was/who he should make it out to. Friend says "Joseph - also, can you sign it 'Oh god, you're one of them?'" Rickman realizes it's from Die Hard. Stops signing, hands pen/paper back to him and walks off. Pretty awesome actually.

jlobes:

Should have asked for "By Grabthar's Hammer, by the suns of Worvan, you shall be avenged!"
I'd really like to know if Alan Rickman hates his character as much as that character hates the character that his character played.

Jigitynthejungle:

I truly wonder how many people ask him Galaxy Quest questions. I might.

Harvey Keitel. Bartending at a posh hotel in Palm Springs, he walks up to the bar. I greet him and ask how I can help him. Tells me to "get out of my eyeline." Which apparently means don't make eye contact with me. What an a**s-apple.

On the flip side, Cuba Gooding Jr. was awesome!

_____Matt_____:

Harvey Keitel is a known d***head. It's the reason nobody wanted to work with him outside Tarantino.
There's a fantastic film about making "From Dusk til Dawn" called "Full Tilt Boogie". Everyone did stuff for it. George Clooney was great, did skits and all. Keitel demanded that he not be in the film, and only appeared if Tarantino interviewed him.

I saw Kanye West at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a jerk and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.

He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”

I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.

The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.

When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

Owen Wilson was very rude to staff at a museum I once worked at and was all “do you know who I am”….. and this was an outing with his mom.

FredererPower:

In fairness, he has been trapped in a museum for many years. /s

I was in LA for spring break and I ran into Gordon Ramsay walking with another stern looking guy into his restaurant. I flip flopped so hard over to him just to shake his hand and tell him I loved his work and all that. He was very stifled and curt with me, but cordial of course.

Turns out he was walking in to shut down a restaurant that was in a big mess of lawsuits for a few years. He's on his way to walk into a chic Los Angeles restaurant with the Ramsay name and some dumb kid in a Hawaiian shirt runs up to him to say hi. I felt bad.

TechnoMaestro:

The thing that you see on screen (Especially during a show like Hell's Kitchen) is the French way of teaching how to cook. There is no tolerance for mistakes.
Otherwise? He's always portrayed as a calm and caring individual. Off camera? He's apparently a prankster.

I was a flight attendant and the captain asked me to get William Shatner’s autograph for him. As soon as I said “excuse me sir” he shook his People magazine at me and said “I’m reading!” A few weeks later we had Jim belushi and he was up front with me. A different captain asked me to get the autograph and I told him no because the last time was so embarrassing for me. Jim heard me and busted out laughing and wanted to know who had been rude to me. I wouldn’t tell him but he was happy to give the captain an autograph and was so nice to all of us. One of the von Trapp daughters was also so kind as was her son. Princess Caroline was also very sweet along with her young son.

HorrorSmile3088:

People magazine. It needed his full attention 😂

Chateaudelait:

He’s the most ungrateful rude person on the planet. Shatner earns horse show owner level money from the conventions he deigns to attend and acts like a total dick to everyone. If he hates it so much, stop taking the checks!

msteinka:

He showed horses in the same discipline as me. My trainer made it absolutely clear that we were NEVER to approach him at shows. I think it was an etiquette thing but it was also common knowledge that he was a huge jerk.

I used to wait tables at Planet Hollywood in Orlando. One day Wesley Snipes and his family came in. The manager told me and another waiter to serve just him and his family, no other customers. There was like 10 of them, kids, grandma, etc.... Anyway, we served them for about 2 hours, they got their meal fully comped so they didn't pay anything for the food, and left me and the other waiter a massive tip. Guess how much.... ZERO. Nothing, not one dollar, and they got well over $200 of free food.

casino_night:

He did the same thing to the federal government.

Diana Ross cut in front of me at the airport check-in counter once. LAX doesn’t lack in celebs, but i was a kid and flabbergasted by this big-haired lady who had the guts to sweep in front of us AND touch the gate agent’s computer. It’s been 20 years and i still have beef with her.

My husband met Jerry Springer (he was in the audience for taping of one of his shows). Before it all started, Springer had noticed how he was disabled (he walks with a limp, has no use of his right hand or arm). Springer came over and made sure they seated my husband on the end of a row so he'd be more comfortable (his mom was with him, not me). They shared a chuckle over both having the same first name. He also shook his hand, but did it with his left hand, unprompted.

I met Rihanna while I was stationed in Japan on the US George Washington (aircraft carrier). I was actually assigned to follow her group around, take pictures and provide assistance for anything. She wasn't miserable really, just sort of disinterested and snobby the whole time and blatantly ignored the poor officer who was trying to lead her tour and give her the info on the ship. She didn't even perform for us so I have no idea why she was there. She signed autographs lazily on the mess decks for about 30 minutes and then left. Later she tweeted about how dirty our ship was..

dkl415:

Promo for the movie Battleship?

OP:

I think so.

Bad experience transformed to good.

My dad and I attended an ALS charity dinner hosted by Curt Schilling a few years in a row. He would sign anything you brought but made 0 eye contact, no acknowledgment at all. He was usually talking to someone sitting next to him.

My dad is a life-long baseball fan. He never complained but I was disappointed for him.

One year the event was just after a World of Warcraft expansion came out. I knew that Curt played WOW, so instead of bringing baseball memorabilia for him to sign I brought the expansion user guide.

Curt looks down at the guide, starts laughing, then looks up and is totally shocked to see a girl. We talk for a bit about WOW and as I walk away he yells "For the Horde!" Lots of confused stares. (I played a Tauren Druid at the time. He reported to be Alliance.)

Best part, though, was seeing him have an actual conversation with my dad afterwards.

At a fancy restaurant in Atlanta because we were doing a fancy dress up night, some friends and I step outside to talk and smoke cigs. I don't smoke so I was just talking, but a very attractive but somewhat familiar looking man steps outside of the restaurant too. He checks his pockets for a while and then walks over asks my buddy for a cig. My friend gives him one, light's it for him, and then we continue talking. The guy stayed in our conversation for a bit, not saying too much but he was nice. Finally, he finishes his cig and my friend finally goes, "You know, you remind me of someone famous. You probably get this a lot, but you kinda look like Ryan Gosling." I'm standing there thinking my friend is an idiot and awkward, until the man goes "That's because I am Ryan Gosling. Thanks for the cigarette," then he walks back inside the restaurant.

I once accidentally cut in line in front of Bobby Moynihan in a FedEx on Eleventh avenue in NYC while he was holding a giant box he was probably trying to mail so he in fact had a bad experience encountering me.

lovexfifteenx:

I think 'celebrity' is pushing it, but I was once in a restaurant bathroom (at the shared sinks) and this guy there started chatting to me. I was trying to get out of there but he kept yapping so I politely made conversation. He said he was on a show called 'Celebs go dating' where a celebrity goes on a date with a 'regular' person. I asked him who he got as the celebrity... turns out he was the celebrity lol.
I still have no idea who he is, some YouTuber who was big doing pranks...no idea, but my little nephew was very jealous I met him lol.

About 7–8 years ago, I worked in the guest relations department of a very high-end hotel. Honestly I could write a book about all the celebrities and famous people I met and dealt with, most of them were very positive experiences thankfully. The nicest ones by far were: Nicole Kidman, Billie Lourd, Bill Clinton, Cate Blanchett.

Russell Brand however was the absolute worst. He was rude to everyone and made very inappropriate comments to me, so when all that stuff came out about him i was not surprised lol.

I was reading through these and thinking how I really couldn't think of a bad experience I've had with a celebrity. Even though I've met a lot of them, mostly through work.

And then I remembered one bad encounter. And it was with a guy famous for bad, or at least cringe, encounters: Larry David!

I was on a plane going from LAX to JFK. In row 2 of first class. I'd put one of my carry-ons in the bin above my seat.

Larry David got on at the tail end of boarding. His seat was in row 1. He opened the bin above his seat and saw it was full. He slammed it shut, then opened the one above my seat. Which was also full.

The flight attendant asked if she could help him find a place for his bag. He barked at her that the bins were full because they were letting anybody who wants "put their s**t" in the first class bins. Then he grabbed my bag out of the bin and told her to put it somewhere else.

I calmly said, "I'm sorry, but that's *my* bag." David gave me a long, cold glare. Then made a dismissive noise and slammed the compartment shut. He yanked open the first bin again, grabbed out a bag and loudly asked, "Is THIS someone's bag?" When no one answered, he shoved it at the FA and told her to put it somewhere else. He put his bag in the bin.

These were still the days when they insisted you turn off all devices during takeoff and landing. When we got near JFK, the FA asked him to turn off his phone and he went off on her, saying the airline couldn't make him turn it off and there was no reason to. He was quite loud and unpleasant about it -- exactly like he was trying to play a scene from Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I sat beside a News Anchor from my city on a cross country flight. I don't remember his name but I recognized him from the news. I didn't say anything to him, but the entire flight he complained about everything.

"Why am I stuck back here?" (he was asking someone he was flying with who was on the other aisle seat about 3 rows up - they had a conversation, it was wonderful).

"Can you move me up to first/business class?"
"Why not, don't you know who I am?"
"Can't you ask one of them to move?"

"Hey, why is that guy getting a meal and I have to pay?"
"What do you mean he pre-paid?"
"HEY WHY DIDN'T YOU BUY ME A SANDWICH WHAT GOOD ARE YOU?" (he yelled to the guy he was flying with).

He was basically just a jerk the entire time, and never shut up.

iZacAsimov:

The only people worse than TV stars are local TV stars.

agareo:

I think we should stop calling them stars.

In another thread I shared a couple of positive events from my Hubby’s days as an engineer for The Nashville Network, and these were by far the most common, but there were a few real turds in the soup, too. A big one was Dwight Yoakum.

For shows with live audiences the network brought in tourist buses to fill the audience, which were mostly comprised of seniors/older people. It took from 4-6 hours to shoot these shows, and in between takes the artists would usually continue to perform and interact with the crowd. Yoakum, on the other hand, not only refused to perform outside of live takes, he totally ignored the audience; swore profusely, offending the elders; and referred to them in their hearing as “the rabble” when encouraged to interact. He really was a trash person.

In a totally different situation, Hubby was shooting a show that was to feature Bill Cosby. When the staff member sent to pick Cosby up got him to the venue she was in tears and Cosby was furious, yelling so the entire crew could hear, that he’d been picked up by a fat, ugly underling in her filthy car (she was anything BUT fat and ugly, and she was driving a car from a rental service that supplied cars for VIP’s).
Not a surprise nowadays to learn he’s a trash guy, but back then people were quite shocked.