Seriously, he is. We went to Emerald City Comicon last weekend, and most of the media guests were amazing. But Nick Brendon, wow, what an ass. He came out dressed up as a stereotypical nerd and mocked his fans. Then he decided he wanted a solo panel on Sunday, last minute, and the organizers scrambled to arrange a room and made some announcements about it.
Then he walked out, looked around at 200+ people waiting to see him, and changed his mind. He said something about how he wasn’t feeling up to it, and went back to his signing table so people could pay him money instead.
What a dickbag. Props to John Noble, Jasika Nicole, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, James Marsters, Felicia Day, and all the other guests who were kind, gracious, and charming, even though cons have to be incredibly tedious for them by now. Marsters, in particular was even looking askance at Brendon during their panel. He knows who pays his wages.
He’s had some DUI problems lately. And a divorce. I understand from somebody who saw him at another con he’s not aging gracefully either. Maybe he’s a D-list Sheen. Pity, because I loved him on Buffy.
James Marsters is apparently the next generation of George Takei in the way he deals with his fans. All of my friends who go to cons have pictures with him and all say he’s a super nice guy who sometimes even comes with cropped blonde hair for die hard fans.
Worse than just a DUI actually (not that DUIs aren’t bad). From Wiki:
I know Brendon isn’t A-list, but I honestly believe if I swung my fist at an officer while attempting to flee a drunk & disorderly charge I would probably get a bail higher than $20,000 and a stiffer sentence. I shudder to think what a young black guy would probably get. I wonder if L.A. is just more liberal on this stuff or does his celebrity help.
I’ve heard Artie Lange tell a similar story from earlier in his career, down to the drunkenness and swinging at but missing a cop. He said when they brought him into the station (in L.A.), there was a brief discussion as to whether he went to the celebrity holding room or the standard holding room. Luckily for him one of the cops on duty was a MadTV fan, so he went down the celebrity path.
And I thought his role as a woman beating rapist on Private Practice was gonna hurt his image, looks like he’s been doing plenty of that in real life as well.
I’ve already made plans to go to Toronto Wizard World in a week and a half, and Brendon is one of several Buffy stars scheduled to be there. Julie Benz is on the convention website too, though apparently she might not be able to actually make it.
Hopefully I’ll find a way to have a great weekend, no matter what!
Except Joss had no compunction about snuffing out characters on a whim. That degrades your negotiating position. Oh, you want more money? We could do that. Or, Xander could get hit by a truck.
