I like this quote by Bill Murray on the subject{s} of fame and fortune:
What must really suck is being famous without the rich (like so many former child stars or people associated with famous scandals, etc.).
Arrogant celeb: Miss Piggy. I’ve seen her karate chop a chef.
I don’t know if this is arrogant or just weird: a friend of mine was in a TV movie about Rosa Parks starring Angela Bassett. During the production people would come up and address her as Angela or as Miss Bassett and she would ignore them; if it was a member of the crew and they had to have her attention she would look at them and bark “My name is Rosa or Miss Parks!” (Uh, no sugar it’s not, that’s why it’s called acting.)
Sean Fucking Penn.
I don’t really care much about celebs I really don’t. I try not to follow their lives or read stories about them
When someone tries to describe a movie to me in terms of “Oh X stared in it!” I’m clueless because I generally don’t remember their names I remember movie plots.
This guy however is such a screaming little asshole I’m amazed it’s not illegal. My favorite was after that crappy movie The Thin Red Line he threw a tantrum because the movie (one that had been on a shoe string budget from the beginning) producers wouldn’t rent him a private plane to fly to the screening. He then enlisted his wife (apparently some model) to write letters to news papers saying how horribly mistreated he was and how the producers lied about the cost of renting the private jet! After all she personally called the airline and they quoted her a different price.
Gah! And that was way after all the other shit he pulled with Madonna. (at least I think that’s who he was married to a long time ago. I’m sure someone will correct me if it wasn’t)
I’m of two minds about celebrity attitude:
On one hand, yes, a celeb should at least try to be polite and not be a total fucking asshole when people approach him or her. That’s just common courtesy, and as long as someone’s not being totally obnoxious, a smile, a nod, is all that is required. I don’t even believe they should have to give autographs if they don’t want to (some celebs have at times refused autographs after it was found that fans were collecting them and then selling them on eBay for large amounts).
If a fan is being obnoxious-asking you questions when you’re obviously in the middle of something, instead of just being polite and saying “hey-you’re so and so-love your work!” then I think they have a right to be mad.
However, there are times when celebrities have a right to be a dick too-when the papparazzi are following you around in a private setting, snapping photos of your kids (a lot of celebs HATE this, and I agree-you are famous-your children are not), sneaking around your house, harassing you in public.
I hope this seem too arrogant of me, or dick-like, or anything, but we seem to have strayed into random celeb-bashing, which is always fun and fine and all, but not what I was asking for. I maintained (IRL) that while people like to say this or that celeb is just arrogant, supplying anything resembling tangible reasons for that conclusion is rather difficult–usually, people just bitch about this nasty celeb or that scumbag, but can’t really tell you why in very great detail.
Not that some Dopers haven’t answered my OP , or that I’m so special everyone must bow before my radiant presence and comply with my wishes. I just thought I’d clarify why I was asking and what I was asking FOR.
Example: “Diana Ross acts all snooty” is just giving your negative opinion of --uh, Miss Ross. But “Diana Ross makes her entire entourage refer to her as ‘Miss Ross’” is telling why you think she’s arrogant.
“Paris Hilton sucks” is mere vitriol (or maybe it’s a summary of her most notable screen performance). But “Paris Hilton refuses to make eye contact with fellow celebs on her own level, and obviously plain fans below her level of renown, but will condescend to look at a celeb more famous than she is” would be a reason for thinking her arrogant.
WOW!! Was that ever arrogant of me to post without previewing!
“I hope this DOESN’T seem too arrogant of me…”
Well, I kind of thought that most folks were in the spirit of the OP, giving reasons for their nominations. I specifically said that Gene Simmons was obnoxious when interviewed on Fresh Air. Here is a link to a 3rd party transcript of the interview (As I understand it, Mr. Simmons refused to grant permission for Fresh Air to make an official transcript available on their web site): http://www.maniahill.com/funny/Gene_Simmons_Terry_Gross_Fresh_Air_02_04_2002.htm
for those who haven’t read the book. Hope that suffices.
His wife is Robin Wright Penn, an actress probably best known as Jenny in Forest Gump. She also played the title role in The Princess Bride.
(I’m not arguing with the rest of your post, just filling in a detail)
Now that’s interesting, Mayfield. I just read through that Gene Simmons interview, and I didn’t find it arrogant. Maybe you had to hear the tone of voice, but it seemed to me that mostly what he was doing was playing. The game he was playing was rather obnoxious, but I didn’t get the sense that he actually thought himself superior and entitled to special treatment because he was Gene Simmons. He was clearly very proud of KISS’s achievements, but there’s a difference between pride and arrogance. Mostly he was teasing - a lot, or at least that’s how it read to me.
Holy shit, what an obnoxious asshole. After about the third sleazy, sexual come on I wanted Terry Gross to slap the shit out of him. What a transparent inferiority complex too. It was obvious he felt intellectually intimidated by Gross and was trying to compensate by pouring on a lot of sexual bravado. What a complete dick. I wanted a shower after reading that thing.
But don’t they ever have a right to not be “on duty”? Doctors make a good amount of money, too. Are they obligated to answer medical questions from random yahoos when they’re trying to enjoy a meal at a restaurant?
I heard Gross’ interview with Gene Simmons when it first aired and it automatically reminded how another program dealt with him when he also tried to pull his smarmy God’s-gift-to-women routine on a female host. About 15 years ago, Simmons was a guest on Julie Brown’s (not the VJ named Julie Brown but the short, red-haired comedian) comedy show on MTV. Like he was with Terry Gross later, Simmons was his usual sleazy, over-sexed, innuendo-laden self as he demonstrated how to hold a golf club (i.e., your “shaft”). He proved so grating and obnoxious that Brown, after he left, added a couple seconds to the end of the segment where a life-size dummy dressed like Simmons was blown up. Brown, with mock-astonishment, then exclaimed, “Oh my God! Gene Simmons just spontaneously combusted!”
This really creeps me out. Do you have a cite or do you remember the magazine?
ZJ
Certainly they do. I’m not saying celebrities should be fair game at any and all times, and I’m sure they experience every kind of human behavior from their fans, both positive and negative. What I find objectionable is teh attitude that they don’t owe their fans anything but a good performance, and that any contact whatsoever (or at least in the main) is an intrusion. I also find objectionable the scorn many of them express toward their fans idolization of them. The reason for this “celebrity idolization” that many of them are so contemptuous of is what I’ve been trying to address.
Now, in regard to the wishes of the OP I will bow out of expressing further thoughts on the matter as they don’t address arrogance on the part of a specific celebrity. My apologies for the hijack, inadvertant though it was.
I heard it when it first aired, and heard selections when I went to a book signing for Gross’ book recently. And Simmons is being a flaming prick. “Arrogant” doesn’t do justice to the attitude he displays in that interview.
The late, great Susan Sontag. The equally late Chaim Potok. Both were paid speakers who intimated that the gathered listeners were no intellectual match for them.
The latter never did give a reason. The former explained to us that it was because we didn’t live in Sarajevo during the conflict, nor did we stage Beckett there. This made us creatures incapable of understanding her spirit- though perfectly able to buy her latest book.
Conversely, if You want nice guy- Mark Bowden, the guy who wrote ‘Black Hawk Down’ (amongst other titles), is a terribly sweet person.
I have to totally agree wtih Miller’s assessment of this. Yes, what you say is true, that it is some certain “something” that causes us to idolize these stars.
But for PETE SAKE, we’re adults. It’s pathetic that some people don’t have the common sense and self control to understand the difference between being swept away by the stars’ screen presence while in an action thriller or romantic comedy, and that same star shopping for cat food and deserving to be respected and treated like any other person.
I don’t think that a mere showing of human traits such as over exposure to just too many demands on one’s personal space really count as “arrogance”. Snippiness? Crankiness etc, when just one too many has intruded upon your day yeah, but that’s a normal human trait, not arrogance.
Sorry, no cite. I tried to find one before posting but I couldn’t see one online. I think the interview might have been in Penthouse, but I could be wrong about that too. But despite my faltering memory of the context where I read it, I’m pretty certain about the content - it was such an astonishing thing for someone to say it made quite an impression as soon as I read it.
Well, a little more searching and I found a partial cite (safe for work).
It was indeed in Penthouse - the November 1999 issue. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a transcript but the above linked article discusses the interview and says this:
*Bijou Phillips Reflects on Her Wildest Days
Bijou Phillips was New York City’s premier “wild child” during most of the 1990s, her drug and alcohol addictions in full blossom. This month, the 19-year-old Phillips lets her hair down in an interview with Penthouse magazine writer Chaunce Hayden.
Phillips reveals that during the worst period of her substance abuse she “raped some girl with a dildo…I was nuts back then.” She gave no further details on the incident.*
If anyone has the issue, I’d appreciate seeing a fuller excerpt posted.
I was on the set for Friday Night Lights (my nephew was an extra) and Thornton seemed very cool. It was strange. The kids that played the football players seemed more stuck-up and I wouldn’t have known most of them from the extras.