# Which celebrities do you loathe for their real personalities (as opposed to their media roles) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175 "2009-06-27T15:20:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/41 "2009-06-29T15:54:22Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > I have absolutely no time for Rob Thomas, the singer from Matchbox 20, either. Why? I heard an interview with him recently and thought he sounded quite nice. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/42 "2009-06-29T16:28:33Z")
It may be stretching things to call Jenny McCarthy a celebrity based on her B-movie career and centerfoldish stuff, but her antivaccinationist stoopidity and fearmongering (accompanied by potty-mouthed rantings in such forums as Newsweek) put her at the top of the list. Her blindly enamored SO (stupid other), Jim Carrey gets recognition for echoing her and funding her destructive campaigns against immunization. Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise and Billy Bob seem like world-class jerks, but I still might pay money to see a movie in which the latter two had a role. ---
**Author:** ![beckwall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@beckwall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beckwall)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/43 "2009-06-29T17:01:29Z")
Tom Cruise, definitely. Tom Hanks and wife - tries way too hard to be Joe Average when in fact he has 2 Oscars/200 million in the bank/socializes with the “in crowd” of Steven Spielberg (yech) and Ron Howard (double yech). I don’t know who made the comment about Michael Jackson being mentally ill and “passing” as a ‘normal’ guy but from the opinion of one who has a mental illness (me, bipolar type 2) let me just say that this “passing” is how we cope with a world full of people who mock us and turn us into pariahs. You would be surprised how many celebrities have legitimate mental illness and are able to “pass”. It just sounded like a judgement and a put-down to me so I had to respond. I think MJ’s bigger problems were drug-induced. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/44 "2009-06-29T17:01:55Z")
I’ve read in so many places about how much of a jerk Deepak Chopra is that I just can’t stand listening to him anymore. And now he’s being trotted out on all the news shows as a “personal friend” of Michael Jackson who for some time has been “concerned” about his health, etc. It strikes me as opportunistic and pathetic–I can’t believe a word he says. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/45 "2009-06-29T18:28:11Z")
Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson for all the reasons mentioned here. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/46 "2009-06-29T18:40:52Z")
> [@beckwall](#): > > Tom Hanks and wife - tries way too hard to be Joe Average when in fact he has 2 Oscars/200 million in the bank/socializes with the “in crowd” of Steven Spielberg (yech) and Ron Howard (double yech). “Tries too hard”? Everyone says that’s Hanks being Hanks; he was the same way when he was an unknown. All who know him say he’s a genuinely nice guy. What should he do – become an asshole in order to make you happy? And what of it if he socializes with the “in crowd”? They’re people he knows professionally and works with and it’s no different that you hanging out with your friends from work. I dislike Cory Doctorow for being a hypocrite and for what he’s done to piss on other authors. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/47 "2009-06-29T19:14:53Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#): > > I’ve read in so many places about how much of a jerk Deepak Chopra is that I just can’t stand listening to him anymore. > > And now he’s being trotted out on all the news shows as a “personal friend” of Michael Jackson who for some time has been “concerned” about his health, etc. It strikes me as opportunistic and pathetic–I can’t believe a word he says. Let me co-sign to this. His face was on CNN all weekend long, lamenting and “angry” about MJ’s suspected prescription drug abuse. Well, dick, if he asked you for a scrip, and you realized he was abusing them, why didn’t you do something? The way he tells it, he was MJ’s best bud. If I was that close to somebody I would do something - tell the cops to bust him for getting fake scrips, stage an intervention, something. There’s no telling that anything would work, but what good does it do for you to go on TV and say “I knew this was going to happen?” I am not saying that he could have done much. But his protests after his death and his lack of action when he was alive suggests that he might want to STFU. But Chopra never met a camera he didn’t like. I also have heard dozens of people who have met him remark what an unbelievable ass and prima donna he is in real life. And fuck his Windows commercial, too. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/48 "2009-06-29T19:51:21Z")
Judging by the interviews and post mortem tributes, Michael Jackson’s “close personal intimate friends” would evidently fill a good sized football stadium. (Thank Og there weren’t multiple 24/7 news channels when Elvis died.) ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/49 "2009-06-29T22:50:32Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > I also can’t stand Robin Williams,the ex?cocaine user who feels that being a comedy actor gives him the right to preach to us ordinary mortals on matters moraL. He’s also the biggest material thief in the history of showbiz. Making him about as low as it gets professionally. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/50 "2009-06-29T23:11:38Z")
> [@beckwall](#): > > Tom Hanks and wife - tries way too hard to be Joe Average when in fact he has 2 Oscars/200 million in the bank/socializes with the “in crowd” of Steven Spielberg (yech) and Ron Howard (double yech). Wait, so you don’t like him because he has a lot of money, is successful in his career, is friends with famous directors and yet still behaves like a regular guy and has not let fame get to his head? 😕 Wow, that has got to be one of the most bizarre reasons for disliking someone I have ever heard. “He’s richer than me and is a nice guy! What a tool.” ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/51 "2009-06-29T23:22:31Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It may be stretching things to call Jenny McCarthy a celebrity based on her B-movie career and centerfoldish stuff, but her antivaccinationist stoopidity and fearmongering (accompanied by potty-mouthed rantings in such forums as Newsweek) put her at the top of the list. Her blindly enamored SO (stupid other), Jim Carrey gets recognition for echoing her and funding her destructive campaigns against immunization. > > Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise and Billy Bob seem like world-class jerks, but I still might pay money to see a movie in which the latter two had a role. I’d forgotten about Jenny. Yeah, she’s on my list, too. It’s not just dislike her of her personality. I think that she’s caused so much harm to other people that she should never get any airtime ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/52 "2009-06-29T23:35:24Z")
Jim Carrey Rosie O’Donald Bette Midler ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/53 "2009-06-30T00:14:32Z")
So out of all of the people mentioned here, for all of their various reasons I was called out on Oprah??? The hell?? And the fact that “because her views are different than mine” was almost completely out of the blue. If anything I would figure that would be typed about the liberals I mentioned, but it was tagged about the big O. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![ashman165](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/54 "2009-06-30T00:17:03Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > So out of all of the people mentioned here, for all of their various reasons I was called out on Oprah??? The hell?? > > And the fact that “because her views are different than mine” was almost completely out of the blue. If anything I would figure that would be typed about the liberals I mentioned, but it was tagged about the big O. Weird. Well, I’m glad to see you’re keeping up. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/55 "2009-06-30T00:37:16Z")
> [@beckwall](#): > > I don’t know who made the comment about Michael Jackson being mentally ill and “passing” as a ‘normal’ guy but from the opinion of one who has a mental illness (me, bipolar type 2) let me just say that this “passing” is how we cope with a world full of people who mock us and turn us into pariahs. You would be surprised how many celebrities have legitimate mental illness and are able to “pass”. It just sounded like a judgement and a put-down to me so I had to respond. I think MJ’s bigger problems were drug-induced. I believe that was me and I did not say he “passed as a normal guy” I said he got a pass (otherwise known as being called “eccentric”) because of his wealth and fame. The Jacko needed some intense therapy and meds, IMO. I have no idea what was truly wrong with him mentally, but I think we can all agree he had some issues. I highly doubt his troubles were drug induced–drugs may well have exacerbated his already severe problems. It was neither a judgment nor a put down, but you are free to interpret it any way you like. Re the vitiligo, **Sampiro** : I have vitiligo and rival Casper the Ghost in fairness even prior to getting it. 2 of my 3 dermatolgists (one retired, one moved away) have recommended ME bleaching my skin to even out the tone. That is one standard approach to treatment. Hard as it is to believe, matching skin tones for the amount of body surface area needed can be difficult and very hard to keep up. Wash your hands once and you need to redo your makeup… Even self-tanners don’t do all that much, and they’re not really an option of most dark complected African-Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/56 "2009-06-30T01:38:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The way he was ‘bouncing’ Blanket in the Bashir interview was even more disturbing to me than the dangling incident, or the freaky way he screamed “ow ow ow” when Bashir tried to take off the baby’s veil (and that’s another thing). > > He was also a pathological liar. He claimed he’d only had a couple of plastic surgeries and both were necessary, that he took his daughter home from the hospital as soon as she was born as soon as the cord was cut and before the nurse even wiped her off [either a complete lie or severe child endangerment], and he insisted even to people who were there that Quincy Jones didn’t deserve any awards or mention for _Thriller_ or other albums he’d produced because “he didn’t do a single thing, I did everything”. (By ALL accounts Jones spent 18 hours in the studio several days a week for months and worked his ass off on the albums; Jones isn’t a living legend because he randomly comes in and signs off on other people’s work.) > > While I’ve no idea if Jackson really had vitiligo I think he was definitely trying to be as ‘non-black’ as possible (though God knows what ethnicity or even species he was going for). Vitiligo- if he had it- _might_ explain why he colored his skin, but not > > 1. He chose to go recolor it as white instead of his natural color [with theatrical make-up it’s just as easy or even much easier go darker than lighter] > 2- Why he made his nose look as non-African American as possible (back when he had a nose) > 2. Why he had his hair straightened > > Also it’s easy to think of someone $400 million in debt as being a problem only for megacorps and Arab sheiks and UK billionaires (all of whom he owed truckloads of money to), but he completely screwed a lot of ‘little people’ as well including housekeepers and groundskeepers at his estates who didn’t get paid for months at a time or roadies and vendors who didn’t get paid when he cancelled tour dates with little or no notice. > > He used the fact he had a horrible childhood as an excuse for freaking everything. Here the record seems to bear him out- he really does seem to have been robbed of a normal youth- but… not to be totally insensitive, too bad-so sad. LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of people had horrible childhoods- not in the same way he had it, but some had childhoods that made his look like the missing Walton, and they didn’t end up having improper relations with children (which while the pedophilia allegations were never proven, nobody can deny that the relations with children were improper) or for refusing to seek professional help that may have enabled him to cope and not force everything to fit his warped imaginings. He was at least as much sinning as sinned against, and the “wonderful beautiful person” eulogies have been sickening. BRILLIANT ARTIST- undeniable, but it’s not a synonym for great person. Samp, you’re on target. I told my friends long ago, that Jacko was crazy. I can’t believe that some folks don’t see how damaged he was. G reat artist? Maybe…I can’t deny his success. Pedophile. Well, maybe…hell, probably…but he was acquitted. I can’t prove anything. None of us can. Bad childhood? Heck, I’m betting that a good nummber of people here on the dope may have had shitty childhoods. We all know a lot of people in general have. In the coming days a lot of crap from MJ’s closet will probably come out. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/57 "2009-06-30T07:30:20Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I was a fan of Ted Nugent’s music when I was a teenager, and I can still enjoy listening to him. His bullying political ranting has made it so I can’t stand the sight of him personally. Holy shit – **you** said something I agree with _ **completely** _! What’s next, a tree-climbing cow or something? Yeah. Fuckin’ Nooge – he can play the sweet, rivetted hell out of an electric guitar, but just about every time he opens that big hairy yap of his in public, you realize he really ought to be taken out and shot in the head. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/58 "2009-06-30T08:54:15Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Why? I heard an interview with him recently and thought he sounded quite nice. Yes, and he’s been hailed recently for taking the oh-so-brave stance that it’s time for marriage equality, as if he’s the first person, or even the first rock star or even the first white hetero man to say so. I don’t even get that. But back in March, I personally had a protracted (several hour) back and forth with the man on Twitter after I politely pointed out to him, after he used it four times in the span of an hour, that the word “tranny” is a pejorative and insulting term and not something that cool people say, especially not in the cavalier manner in which he was using it. He defended his use on the basis that “Eddie Izzard is a transvestite” but someone whose efforts at wearing women’s clothing (I don’t think he’d put the “tranny” label on the reverse behavior) are not aesthetically pleasing _to Rob’s personal satisfaction_ don’t deserve a respectful and appropriate label, they’re just trannies. I pointed out that by that “if X pleases me I respect it, if X displeases me I will insult it” justification, if I, as a black person did not act/dress/speak the way Rob wanted me to, then it would be okay for him to call me a nigger. He _really_ didn’t like having the direct parallel between his transphobic perspective and a racist perspective being so clearly laid out for him. Hence my dislike. If he’d said, at any point, okay, that word’s not cool, sorry, I’ve learned, all would be well. But he embraced and defended his ignorance and hurtful choices, and that’s not cool. So yeah, Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20 in my world? Persona non grata. I’m sure he’s all broken up about it, but I feel justified. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/59 "2009-06-30T09:14:08Z")
> [@beckwall](#): > > Tom Hanks and wife - tries way too hard to be Joe Average when in fact he has 2 Oscars/200 million in the bank/socializes with the “in crowd” of Steven Spielberg (yech) and Ron Howard (double yech). > [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Tries too hard”? Everyone says that’s Hanks being Hanks; he was the same way when he was an unknown. All who know him say he’s a genuinely nice guy. What should he do – become an asshole in order to make you happy? And what of it if he socializes with the “in crowd”? They’re people he knows professionally and works with and it’s no different that you hanging out with your friends from work. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Wait, so you don’t like him because he has a lot of money, is successful in his career, is friends with famous directors and yet still behaves like a regular guy and has not let fame get to his head? 😕 > > Wow, that has got to be one of the most bizarre reasons for disliking someone I have ever heard. “He’s richer than me and is a nice guy! What a tool.” Seriously. Even if he’s trying too hard, it’s an attempt to try to be pretty normal and this is a reason for loathing? That’s bizarre. And whatever you think of their work, you don’t hear many bad things about Ron Howard or Spielberg personally. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175/60 "2009-06-30T09:30:02Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > He defended his use on the basis that “Eddie Izzard is a transvestite” \*Executive \*transvestite. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-celebrities-do-you-loathe-for-their-real-personalities-as-opposed-to-their-media-roles/501175.md?page=4)