4 Bizarre Celebrity Beefs We Had No Idea About

4 LL Cool J And Jamie Foxx Exchanged Blows While Filming Any Given Sunday

Quite possibly one of the greatest sports movies ever made, Any Given Sunday, was released in 1999 — a time before film set photos and Twitter feuds spread like wildfire on the internet. In fact, if we did have social media back then, everyone would’ve known about that time when, during the filming of Oliver Stone’s movie, LL Cool J slapped the bejeezus out of Jamie Foxx.

During his comedy special “I Might Need Security,” Foxx (kinda) elaborated on what had happened, claiming that LL Cool J was so lost in his character that he ended up punching Foxx and knocking him “into another movie.”

Foxx’s retelling of what went down is, of course, played up for laughs on account of it being a whole stand-up set thing, but it was pretty serious at the time — what with the Miami-Dade Police being called out to the set to take charge of the situation. Apparently, the punch was a product of egos constantly jabbing at each other. Their co-star Dennis Quaid went on the record saying: “I know it was about ego. I don't take sides on anything,” but he did admit he’d love seeing a rematch. Actor Bill Bellamy recounted the events in December 2020, saying it all happened because Foxx was constantly making jokes at the expense of the rapper, and while Bellamy told Foxx to quit it already, Cool J took it out on him in the scene, knocking Foxx’s “line out his head.”

Years later, Cool J would (kinda) give us his side of the story, revealing that Foxx punched him because he was “being a little rough” during the scene, and the two started returning blows, with Cool J reportedly knocking Foxx out cold. The team of football actors then jumped onto Cool J to break up the fight, and someone’s hand got in his mouth, as it does. Man, if only Insta videos existed back then because we’re going to need a replay on that.

Years later, the two made up following a chat at the Oscars. Said Foxx: “We looked at each other like, 'Why we wasting all this time? Let's get together and do some music, do some movies.' … So we started talking about that, did a couple of records together. When you're grown, you don't really have time for all that (beefing). When you're young, it's cool to have your emotions on your chest. But we're grown now.”

To that, we say, sure. Do another sports movie and prove it.

3 There’s No Love Lost Between Martin Freeman And Benedict Cumberbatch

Yes, there’s a wee bit of animosity between Sherlock and his Watson, between Bilbo Baggins and ol’ Smaug. In 2018, Freeman told The Telegraph that he was over fans’ reactions toward the Sherlock show that made its debut in 2010. “Being in that show, it is a mini-Beatles thing. People’s expectations, some of it’s not fun anymore. It’s not a thing to be enjoyed; it’s a thing of: ‘You better f**king do this, otherwise you’re a c**t.’ That’s not fun anymore.” 

Some strong feels there, so it’s no wonder that his co-star Benedict Cumberbatch responded with some powerful feels, too, saying that he thought it was “pretty pathetic” if overzealous fans are ”all it takes to let you not want to take a grip of your reality.” 

Shots fired, although it wasn’t the first time Freeman jabbed at the show and perhaps pushed Cumberbatch’s English knobs the wrong way. Back in 2014, he told EW: ”The trajectory of (Cumberbatch’s rise) is very extreme. It’s deserved in his case because he’s really good. But to that extent? No thanks. I like to be a moving target. I’ve got enough madness in my life without it being there all the time.” Which makes one wonder why Freeman said yes to doing the Hobbit trilogy soon after, but who knows how celebrities reason?

In any case, a year later, when Cumberbatch was about to marry his wife Sophie Hunter, the internet campaigned for Freeman to be his best man (he was not). When told that the people wanted Freeman as his best mate, Cumberbatch said: “I’m sure they do, I’m sure they do. I think we’ll let the internet talk to Martin Freeman.”

That’s not even a British quip. That’s just two people who’d rather not deal with each other.

2 The Brief Beef Between Garbage’s Shirley Manson And J-Lo

Scottish singer and songwriter Shirley Manson went from fronting ‘90s American rock band Garbage to playing a T-1001 Terminator in that 2008 show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. So, pretty on brand for the post-grunge singer. However, what wasn’t so on brand for the feminist icon is how in 2002, she said some, uh, unsavory things about pop megastar and pretty decent actress, Jennifer Lopez. Specifically, she said that J-Lo didn’t deserve her “pop-goddess status” and that she wanted to punch Jenny from the Block in her pretty face. Yikes. 

Manson doubled down on her comment in an interview with The Guardian: “I've met bigger celebrities who conduct themselves with a lot more dignity and grace than she seems capable of. She's an incredible entertainer, she's just very vacuous. She's perfectly happy to be on the front cover of magazines with little to offer except her body. That's her choice.” It seemed that, at least back in the day, Manson couldn’t understand any woman who didn’t feel the need to tell the entire world the color of her pubic hair.

Manson would soon end up eating her mean-girl words when she ran into J-Lo at a Vanity Fair shoot a couple of years later: “I was standing with my back to the main set, and she hadn't arrived on set yet. And then all of a sudden I felt this kind of… all I can say is that the energy changed and I turned around here was J-Lo strutting towards me in all her glory, and I was thinking ‘Oh f**k, here we go. The fly girl is literally going to fight me.' That's what she looked like… like she was going to take me down. And she just thrust out her hand and said ‘Shirley,' and I said ‘Yep,' and she went, ‘Jennifer.’ And I said ‘Hi, Jennifer, ' and I shook her hand, and then, I kid you not, she walked backwards and kept eye contact until I dropped my eyes and looked away. It was so alpha dog, and I had to play submissive dog. And I had so much respect for her after that. I was like, ‘Okay. You took me down. I gotta give it to you.”

Manson has reiterated that she’d changed her mind about Lopez ever since that shivering encounter and that she now thinks the pop star actress is cool. Perhaps she’s afraid that next time, J-Lo’s killer stare might scorch her, uh, hair.

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1 C-3PO And R2-D2 Did Not Get Along In Star Wars

Here follows the story of how the two famous droids — who were arguably the real parents of the silly humans in the Star Wars universe — hated each other's guts in real life. 

Anthony Daniels almost didn’t get to play Metropolis’ Maschinenmensch knockoff, C-3PO. For one, the Shakespearean actor wasn’t a fan of sci-fi back in 1975 when the George Lucas’ Star Wars auditions started rolling out. Daniels had seen Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and walked out of the theater after the first 10 minutes. However, when he read the character and saw the concept drawings of the golden droid with the sardonic temperament, he was sold, and Daniels ended up having to convince Lucas to cast him because the creator originally envisioned C-3PO as sounding more like a fast-talking American car salesman.

Kenny Baker was equally wary of auditioning for Lucas because he didn’t want to be cast in a role solely based on his height. Lucas, however, needed someone like Baker who could fit inside R2-D2’s body and control its heavy machinery, telling Baker to name his price. That is how Daniels and Baker came to play the two fan-favorite droids in the Star Wars franchise … and how they ended up in a mini-war of their own.

According to Baker, no one got along with Daniels, and he was totally convinced that Daniels didn’t like him one bit. In 2015, Baker sounded off about his co-star, saying: “Anthony doesn’t mix at all — he keeps himself to himself. He never wants to have a drink with any of us. Once when I said hello to him, he just turned his back on me and said, ‘Can’t you see I’m having a conversation?’ I was blazing with rage.” 

Daniels, in turn, responded by telling The Mirror: “I never saw him. I mean, R2-D2 doesn't even speak. He might as well be a bucket.”

At one point, Baker wanted to tour with Daniels to make some money, but the actor apparently brushed him off in the rudest manner. “If he just calmed down and socialized with everyone, we could make a fortune touring around making personal appearances. I've asked him four times now, but the last time, he looked down his nose at me like I was a piece of sh*t. He said: 'I don't do many of these conventions – go away little man.' He really degraded me and made me feel small – for want of a better expression.”

Years later, Daniels would refer to all Baker’s shots as hurtful. “Kenny decided that he wanted to say unkind, unpleasant, rude, hurtful things. It got worse and worse. And rather like Mr. Trump, if you say it often enough, people believe you.” He did, however, reiterate how he struggled to work with Baker. “The fact is we didn’t really appear or interact together. He was in a box he couldn’t do anything with. He couldn’t hear me. He never made a sound. I had to work, frankly, very hard to believe that this object (he taps the glass of water on the table) was my best friend.”

Who’d have thought there’d be so much drama between the two droids? Then again, that’s classic parents for you.

Thumbnail: Lucasfilm Ltd., BBC