# What famous figures were you most surprised to discover were huge assholes? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109 "2009-04-06T05:46:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/61 "2009-04-06T19:59:11Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I don’t know if anybody’s surprised, but Glenn Beck’s a huge asshole. Beck appears to be so crazy that I’m not sure words like asshole even apply. But it’ll do in a pinch. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/62 "2009-04-06T20:04:13Z")
I dunno if it qualifies him as an “asshole”, but I was very unhappy when I realized that G.K. Chesterton, who wrote a favorite book of mine (_The Man Who Was Thursday_), was an anti-semite. ---
**Author:** ![imfloating](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bc79bd/32.png) [@imfloating](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imfloating)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/63 "2009-04-06T20:05:43Z")
Robert Moses. He had a hand in building bridges, parks and expressways all around the New York area. He lived in Gilgo Beach on Long Island. Most of the bridges he was involved with that spanned from New York City to Long Island have no walkways or train traffic. That was to keep the lower classes who could not afford cars, from getting to his beloved Gilgo Beach. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/64 "2009-04-06T20:06:12Z")
Frank Lloyd Wright Steve Jobs ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/65 "2009-04-06T20:17:39Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Nice guy [Charles Kuralt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kuralt#Posthumous_controversy) had a whole second family that nobody knew about until after he died. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I live in Englewood, New Jersey where Anne Morrow grew up and the Lindberg kidnapping took place. I’ve read several of Anne Morrow Lindberg’s books. > I’ve never heard about Charles Lindberg’s other [children](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh#Children_from_other_relationships) until this minute. > > Ignorance fought Lets fight some more. 😉 The kidnapping took place at the Lindbergh house in East Amwell (Hunterdon County) but most reports said it was in Hopewell (Mercer County). The trial took place in the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/66 "2009-04-06T20:18:26Z")
I had nothing against Anita Bryant prior to 1977 and nothing against O J Simpson prior to 1994. Now their names are synonamous with “huge asshole.” ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/67 "2009-04-06T20:20:44Z")
> [@Mr.Slant](#): > > Google could have told you that he’s less than wholly pleasant: > Results 1 - 10 of about 7,810 for harlan ellison asshole. (0.25 seconds) I don’t think Googling “person’s name asshole” is a reliable way of determining whether that person is in fact an asshole. You only got 7,800 hits, but if you Google: “mother teresa asshole” - 31,500 hits “mahatma ghandi asshole” - 26,600 hits “barack obama asshole” - 871,000 hits “barney the dinosaur asshole” - 108,000 hits ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/68 "2009-04-06T20:33:16Z")
What about “Mahatma Gandhi”? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/69 "2009-04-06T20:39:05Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > What about “Mahatma Gandhi”? Only 10,300 hits (with “asshole”). Apparently the combination is more popular with the semiliterate. And for his actual name, Mohandas Gandhi (in combination with “asshole”): 12,700. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/70 "2009-04-06T20:47:16Z")
Anita Bryant asshole yields 7740 hits. O J Simpson asshole yields 90,600 hits! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/71 "2009-04-06T20:50:33Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Anita Bryant asshole yields 7740 hits. Try “Anita Bryant bitch”. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/72 "2009-04-06T20:55:49Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Andrew Jackson. No surprise for me, this is how he was originally presented to me. I was lucky enough to have an awesome teacher for AP American History (junior year of high school) who taught us straight-up that Jackson was a humongeous asshole. “If I could go back in time, I would go meet Andrew Jackson, and punch him in the face!” I’d second the nominations of: Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Ford and Orson Scott Card. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/73 "2009-04-06T21:19:21Z")
> [@Plynck](#): > > Martin Luther wasn’t shot. > > He was nailed to the door of Wittenberg Castle Church. > > By Harlan Ellison. Ok, my brain just went down Perv Driven with this one. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/74 "2009-04-06T21:22:30Z")
I had nothing against Tom Cruise until he state that he (a high school dropout Scientologist) knew more about psychiatry than Brooke Shields (a Princeton cum laude graduate under psychiatric care). At that point, I screamed ASSHOLE!!! Tom Cruise asshole yields _225,000_ hits. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/75 "2009-04-06T22:13:35Z")
The Goatse guy? ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/76 "2009-04-06T22:29:44Z")
I thought Alex Rodriguez seemed nice until about 1998. It may just have been that Griffey’s assholishness overshadowed A-Rod’s, and I didn’t notice him. Every year since he’s turned in to a bigger and bigger douche. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/77 "2009-04-06T22:39:13Z")
Christopher Reeve. Broke, my heart when I heard all the rumors about him. [QUOTE=Sampiro] Bugs Bunny. [/QUOTE] Daffy Duck, OTOH, was a decorated Marine sniper in Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/78 "2009-04-06T22:42:19Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I had nothing against Anita Bryant prior to 1977 and nothing against O J Simpson prior to 1994. > > Now their names are synonamous with “huge asshole.” I dunno. When I think O.J., I think more “huge pain in the neck” than “huge asshole.” ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/79 "2009-04-06T22:54:08Z")
Most great men (and women) of history have been assholes. Comes with the territory. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Batman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109/80 "2009-04-06T22:55:43Z")
I agree. They say Rosa Parks might not have refused to give up her seat if she wasn’t a difficult woman to begin with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-figures-were-you-most-surprised-to-discover-were-huge-assholes/492109.md?page=5)