# What's your favorite celebrity rumor (that does not involve Richard Gere or Rod Stewart)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100 "2025-06-25T00:04:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/21 "2025-06-25T13:59:29Z")
The ‘Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a live bat onstage’ story is true, but requires a little explanation. When I was a teen we all thought he brought the live bat himself as a prop, and bit its head off in a remarkable act of heavy metal depravity. That’s the rumor part. The actual story is that someone threw a bat onstage, and Ozzy, thinking it was a rubber toy, bit the head off, getting a nasty surprise and needing a round of rabies shots. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/22 "2025-06-25T14:20:19Z")
For some reason, Mad Magazine always depicted the bat as a chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/23 "2025-06-25T14:44:54Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > That Bob Ross was once a Drill Sergeant! > > Is it a rumor if it’s true? That one is true. > **[Famous Veteran: Bob Ross](https://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/career-advice/military-transition/famous-veteran-bob-ross.html)** > > "I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work." ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/24 "2025-06-25T14:56:03Z")
[Paul is dead](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_is_dead) ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/25 "2025-06-25T15:08:34Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > For some reason, Mad Magazine always depicted the bat as a chicken. That was actually Alice Cooper, and the chicken was thrown into the audience. > **[The Truth Behind Alice Cooper And The Chicken Incident - Grunge](https://www.grunge.com/276059/the-truth-behind-alice-cooper-and-the-chicken-incident/)** > > We're talking about the time Alice Cooper bit the head off of a live chicken in front of his fans. Crazy, right? There's only one problem with that popular tale: It isn't true. But take heart. The real story isn't any less gruesome, and it does... ---
**Author:** ![TheTyrant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thetyrant/32/19111_2.png) [@TheTyrant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTyrant)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/26 "2025-06-25T15:13:26Z")
I think that story sometimes gets conflated with the time he bit the head off a live dove during a meeting with record execs. It’s often reported that the bat was live, but the kid who (purportedly) threw the bat onstage said it was dead. (I always wondered who on earth would carry and throw a live bat, and why the bat wouldn’t just… fly away. Have you ever tried to catch a bat that snuck into your cabin? Not easy.) Now Ozzy also says the bat was alive but… hey, it’s Ozzy–he isn’t exactly a reliable source. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/27 "2025-06-25T15:23:07Z")
Speaking of Walt Disney being frozen.. there is the conspiracy theory that part of the reason The Walt Disney Company made the movie _Frozen_ is so if people search the internet for “Disney” and “frozen” the movie would come up instead rumors about Walt Disney’s corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/28 "2025-06-25T15:25:03Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > That Florence Henderson and Barry Williams of _The Brady Bunch_ had an affair. They were mother and son on the show; she, about 20 years older than he. I thought that one was true. I ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/29 "2025-06-25T15:25:51Z")
For a long time (until I was 19/20) I thought the “frozen Disney” theory was true, because my parents told me about when I was young and I didn’t think they were just repeating rumors. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/30 "2025-06-25T15:26:25Z")
I am fond of the story of that Judo master Gene LeBell choked Steven Seagal and made him crap his pants ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/31 "2025-06-25T15:35:14Z")
Maybe it is.. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/32 "2025-06-25T16:10:11Z")
> [@TheTyrant](#): > > I think that story sometimes gets conflated with the time he bit the head off a live dove during a meeting with record execs. Oh yeah, forgot about that story-- also true, and in that case Ozzy _did_ know it was a real (if not still alive) dove. The story I linked below is not clear- apparently the plan was to release 3 ‘symbolic doves of peace’. But one was dead, and having been hitting the booze pretty hard, he bit the head off it to freak out the execs. Then, the article says, he did it again, with a second dove? It’s not clear-- not sure, if there even was a second dove head bite, whether it was also dead, or still alive. Alcohol is a hell of a drug! At least doves don’t carry rabies. > **[MOJO Time Machine: Ozzy Osbourne Bites The Head Off A Dove!](https://www.mojo4music.com/time-machine/1980s/mojo-time-machine-ozzy-osbourne-bites-the-head-off-a-dove/)** > > March 27th, March 1981 On April 17, 1979, Ozzy Osbourne had been fired from... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/33 "2025-06-25T19:16:47Z")
I grew up in Des Moines, and had graduated from HS the year before. I was not at that concert, but I knew a lot of people who were, and the story is absolutely true. The newspaper article said that some of the younger ER employees “were explaining Ozzy Osbourne” to older staffers who didn’t believe the story. Nowadays, the generations would probably be reversed. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/34 "2025-06-25T21:53:34Z")
Alice Cooper seemed to attract a certain type of celebrity rumor, sort of like Yogi Berra and funny malapropisms. Two that I remember: - Alice Cooper placed a 55-gallon drum at the entrance to the concert venue and asked everyone to spit in it. During the show, the drum was brought to the stage, where he drank it. - Cooper had a standing offer: $50,000 to anyone who could gross him out. A fan jumped up on the stage and took a shit. He thought he’d won the $50,000. But Cooper ate it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/35 "2025-06-25T22:24:32Z")
GG Allin doing those things, I could believe. Not Alice Cooper. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/36 "2025-06-25T23:35:49Z")
LaBell was a badass, and I’ve heard the story repeated as true several times. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/37 "2025-06-26T00:15:52Z")
Nancy Reagan (nee Davis), in her years as a young actress, was renowned in Hollywood for her fellatio skills. > **[Why Are People Tweeting That Nancy Reagan Was the 'Throat Goat?'](https://www.vice.com/en/article/nancy-reagan-throat-goat-mgm-lot-hollywood-blowjobs-twitter/)** > > Rumors about former first lady Nancy Reagan having the best blowjob game in Hollywood's MGM backlot have resurfaced. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/38 "2025-06-26T00:54:46Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > That Florence Henderson and Barry Williams of _The Brady Bunch_ had an affair. They were mother and son on the show; she, about 20 years older than he. > [@Procrustus](#): > > I thought that one was true. IIRC, Henderson said they had dinner together at a restaurant once, and while nothing romantic happened, it was widely reported as a “date,” then inflated into a full-fledged affair. Similar to the rumor that Roger Ebert dated Oprah Winfrey. In fact, the two had a business dinner where they discussed how she could structure a syndication deal for her show that would be more lucrative than the network offers she was getting. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/39 "2025-06-26T01:00:14Z")
Elvis is still alive. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100/40 "2025-06-26T03:46:12Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Cooper had a standing offer: $50,000 to anyone who could gross him out. A fan jumped up on the stage and took a shit. He thought he’d won the $50,000. But Cooper ate it. I’d always heard that one about Frank Zappa. He even addressed it in his book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-celebrity-rumor-that-does-not-involve-richard-gere-or-rod-stewart/1020100.md?page=3)