# Undeniably talented artists/performers who are also, undeniably, horrible people. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283 "2014-12-27T16:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/21 "2014-12-27T17:03:29Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > What’s wrong with Eminem? Seconded. ?? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/22 "2014-12-27T17:04:31Z")
Oh, and Michael Minkler. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/23 "2014-12-27T17:12:18Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Stephen Stills - a horrendous douchebag (walked up to McCartney in the late '60’s, telling Paul to play a “real bass” instead of the Hofner violin bass Macca was known for…) What’s weird about that story is that by the late '60s Paul wasn’t using the Hofner much anyway. By the time the Beatles stopped touring, he had switched to the Rickenbacker almost exclusively for studio work. He did break out the Hofner for the rooftop concert. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/24 "2014-12-27T17:14:26Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Stan Getz…Did a brilliant collaboration with married musicians Joao and Astrud Gilberto, then slept with the wife. I’m assuming there were at least two willing and conscious people in that bed. Dalí wasn’t hard to work with in the douchebag sense, but part of his work was being Dalí; he could be hard to follow. A flippin’ angel compared with the already-mentioned Picasso, mind you. He met his wife while she was married to another man (the poet Paul Éluard), but again, it’s not like he robbed her from Éluard at gunpoint. Goya’s nickname is _el sordo de Fuendetodos_, “the deaf man from Fuendetodos”. In his later years, he was made a very difficult person by the combination of deafness and disenchantment with the Enlightment (possible depression, too); you know, your typical “geroff my lawn, my country and my sight” kind of old man (wonder if we can get Dir… err… Clint Eastwood to do a biopic). The Spanish branch of the Napoleonic wars didn’t sit well with him, and he’d previously been what we call an _afrancesado_, in love with the ideas of the Enlightment. Comparing his work pre- and post- May 2nd (the date of the uprising of Madrid against the French) is an interesting psychological exercise. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/25 "2014-12-27T17:20:44Z")
Joe DiMaggio was a self-centered, controlling jerk. Among many other things, he had an outspoken loathing for Simon and Garfunkel because of the line in “Mrs. Robinson,” which he took as a dismissal of him and his career. It was very late in his life that someone finally convinced him it was a mournful longing for the days when he was the greatest player in the game. I have heard that Christopher Reeve was a real jerk to everyone who served him in any way, or was “beneath” him on the pecking order. He only became a saint after his accident. Tobey Maguire turned into an egotistical snot when he got the lead in Spiderman - too good to acknowledge fans or give autographs, even in appropriate settings. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/26 "2014-12-27T17:25:27Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > I would put Kanye in the “eccentric genius” category (along with Prince) rather than horrible person. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![callander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@callander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/callander)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/27 "2014-12-27T17:27:50Z")
J D Salinger. I understand some of his work will be released between 2015 and 2020. He seemed to be a horrible husband and father, and have an odd like for girls 14 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Idilia\_Dubb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@Idilia\_Dubb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idilia_Dubb)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/28 "2014-12-27T17:31:10Z")
Mozart was an immature jerk with a scatology fetish. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/29 "2014-12-27T17:31:39Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > What’s wrong with Eminem? To me, the level of misogyny and homophobia he’s expressed puts him firmly in the “asshole” category. YMMV, of course. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/30 "2014-12-27T17:35:04Z")
Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Stewart, and Dennis Miller. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/31 "2014-12-27T17:39:57Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’m assuming there were at least two willing and conscious people in that bed. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t a prick. He was married to possibly two other women at the time of the affair, one of whom he married in Sweden while on the run from a narcotics addiction after attempting to rob a pharmacy for morphine. It’s not clear if he ever divorced his first wife. Zoot Sims once called him “a nice bunch of guys”, meaning that his moods were all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/32 "2014-12-27T17:41:39Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > To me, the level of misogyny and homophobia he’s expressed puts him firmly in the “asshole” category. YMMV, of course. But he’s just being an _entertainer_, you know. It’s all a _put on_. You weren’t supposed to take it _seriously_. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/33 "2014-12-27T17:47:25Z")
Alton Brown is reportedly a massive jerk and there are reports of him being [a racist and homophone](https://cleanplatter.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/the-taste-of-disillusionment/) as well. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/34 "2014-12-27T17:50:56Z")
Tupac Beenie Man ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/35 "2014-12-27T18:00:25Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > What’s weird about that story is that by the late '60s Paul wasn’t using the Hofner much anyway. By the time the Beatles stopped touring, he had switched to the Rickenbacker almost exclusively for studio work. He did break out the Hofner for the rooftop concert. What’s weird about that story is that the go-to anecdote about how terrible Stephen Stills is, is a time he criticized a guitar. Is that the worst thing he did? Because it sounds like small change compared to the company in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/36 "2014-12-27T18:04:12Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Alton Brown is reportedly a massive jerk and there are reports of him being [a racist and homophone](https://cleanplatter.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/the-taste-of-disillusionment/) as well. A homophone? That sounds familiar. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/37 "2014-12-27T18:17:45Z")
> [@Idilia\_Dubb](#): > > Mozart was an immature jerk with a scatology fetish. That doesn’t sound _horrible_… sounds kind of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Idilia\_Dubb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c2a13f/32.png) [@Idilia\_Dubb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idilia_Dubb)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/38 "2014-12-27T18:18:36Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Alton Brown is reportedly a massive jerk and there are reports of him being [a racist and homophone](https://cleanplatter.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/the-taste-of-disillusionment/) as well. > [@mhendo](#): > > A homophone? That sounds familiar. Then there’s _this_ guy, who’s a phoney homo: [Homophobic Christian pretends to be gay for a year, writes book about experiment – New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/homophobic-christian-pretends-gay-year-writes-book-experiment-article-1.1096307) ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/39 "2014-12-27T18:21:56Z")
Add a couple of author to the list: Orson Scott Card is on record as hoping that the government will come to its sense and round up gay people in concentration camps. John C Wright is likewise an utter ass. He’s even worse than Card in his rampant homophobia and racism. Sadly, both have written decent-to-excellent books in the fantasy/sci-fi genre, and some of the books don’t reveal the author’s prejudices. As a note, if you buy books secondhand from local or indie bookstores, the author does not benefit, and the data is less likely to be mined as it is on Amazon/B&N. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283/40 "2014-12-27T18:23:39Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > What’s weird about that story is that the go-to anecdote about how terrible Stephen Stills is, is a time he criticized a guitar. Is that the worst thing he did? Because it sounds like small change compared to the company in this thread. Based (heh heh) on what I’ve heard, before he had it rebuilt in the nineties, the Hofner was a pretty crappy instrument. Wouldn’t play in tune past the third fret. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/undeniably-talented-artists-performers-who-are-also-undeniably-horrible-people/708283.md?page=3)