4 Celebrities Who Lashed Out At Their Own Fans
Celebrities and fans are like clownfish and sea anemones -- they have a symbiotic relationship. To keep from upsetting this balance, most artists, athletes, and the like choose their words carefully when it comes to talking about their fans in public, no matter what they may actually think about them. Sometimes, though, we get some amazing moments of blunt honesty. Look at how ...
Dan Harmon Went Full Rick On Rick And Morty Fans
Creators usually know that a certain percentage of their fans are awful, and they generally just kind of pretend such fans don't exist. They're still fans, right? And who wants to make a bunch of horrible people angry? Well, Rick And Morty co-creator Dan Harmon, for one.
In Season 3, the show brought some female writers into a staff that was previously all male. The second and third episodes of the season were credited to female writers, and for a certain segment of fans, that automatically meant the show had begun a free-fall decline. They harassed those writers on Twitter, and even whipped out a doxxing campaign.
Those actions prompted Dan Harmon to unleash his inner Rick Sanchez, in a way that only he can:
"These knobs, that want to protect the content they think they own -- and somehow combine that with their need to be proud of something they have, which is often only their race or gender. It's offensive to me as someone who was born male and white ... that there's some white male trying to further some creepy agenda by 'protecting' my work. I've made no bones about the fact that I loathe these people."
He went on to point out that these trolls also understood nothing about how episodes are written. The process is intensely collaborative, and often a credit is handed to the person who does the outlining, or "grunt work," of an episode as a reward. "I want to scream at my computer: 'You idiots, we all write the show together!'" This defuses one of internet fandom's favorite and most destructive hobbies, which is identifying a single behind-the-scenes villain to hate when a show/movie/game disappoints them. That's not how it works!
If any of this caused those fans to abandon the show, it appears to have gotten along just fine without them -- like with Captain Marvel. Similarly ...
Related: 6 Celebrities Who Are Surprisingly Angry On Twitter
Eminem Tells His Trump-Loving Fans That He Doesn't Want Their Support
It's hard to imagine Eminem and Dan Harmon having a whole lot to talk about if they were to, say, wind up on a long flight together, but they definitely have this in common. Eminem's war against an unwanted segment of fans began in 2016, when he unleashed a savage, nine-minute freestyle against President Trump with the kind of vitriol normally reserved for his mom. He's since apologized to her, but don't expect him to do the same to Trump or his supporters.
Then in 2017, at the BET Hip Hop Awards, Eminem drew a line for his fanbase with "The Storm," which included this slam:
And any fan of mine who's a supporter of his, I'm drawing in the sand a line, you're either for or against, and if you can't decide who you like more and you're split on who you should stand beside, I'll do it for it for you with this. Fuck you.
He then raised his middle finger for probably the 50th time that day. As expected, the Trump-voting sector of Eminem's fanbase reacted poorly:
Eminem addressed the fallout, presumably with both middle fingers now extended: "At the end of the day, if I did lose half my fan base, then so be it, because I feel like I stood up for what was right and I'm on the right side of this. I don't see how somebody could be middle class, busting their ass every single day, paycheck to paycheck, who thinks that that fucking billionaire is gonna help you."
For anybody who felt time might dull his anti-Trump edge, there's the "Cloraseptic remix," in which he targets mumble rappers:
Then I took a stand / Went at tan-face and practically cut my motherfuckin' fan base in half / And still outsold you.
It does seem a little implausible that literally half of Eminem's fanbase were Trump supporters, but still, it was definitely some of them. Actually, it's kind of weird that there wasn't a direct response from Trump on this, considering the man responds to seemingly every perceived slight.
Related: 5 Destructive Sides Of Celebrity Culture No One Talks About
Chicago Cubs Manager Lee Elia Went Nuclear On The Team's Disgruntled Fans
The Cubs have it pretty good these days. They routinely sell out the newly refurbished Wrigley Field, they've won over 90 games the last three seasons, and they took the World Series in 2016. But it wasn't so rosy for the previous century or so before that. For example, back in 1983, the Cubs only played day baseball (there weren't lights in Wrigley Field until 1988), and they didn't play it very well. Often, only around 6,000 diehard fans would show up for games. And following a tough 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, which put the Cubs' record at 5-14 to start the season, some of those fans started doing what bitter, day-drinking sports fans do.
Players Keith Moreland and Larry Bowa had to be restrained from going into to the stands after being showered with insults and taunts as they made their way to the locker room. Manager Lee Elia kept the situation from escalating into something more horrible, but he had a very bad taste in his mouth about it later, and decided to express his disappointment during an eloquent three-minute tirade:
"Fuck those fuckin' fans who come out here and say they're Cub fans that are supposed to be behind you, rippin' every fuckin' thing you do. I'll tell you one fuckin' thing, I hope we get fuckin' hotter than shit, just to stuff it up them 3,000 fuckin' people that show up every fuckin' day, because if they're the real Chicago fuckin' fans, they can kiss my fuckin' ass right downtown and PRINT IT."
As he calmed down, Elia rephrased, calling the fans "nickel dime people" who "ought to get a fuckin' job and find out what it's like to go out and earn a fuckin' living. Eighty-five percent of the fuckin' world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here. A fuckin' playground for the cocksuckers." For those keeping track, he unleashed an expletive every 3.8 seconds.
Elia apologized to manager Dallas Green in the immediate aftermath, and the Cubs fanbase later that night for his epic meltdown. He was fired later that year, but remains a hero to every coach or manager who's had those exact thoughts but never dared to express them out loud.
Maynard James Keenan Of Tool Keeps Going Off On Fans
Tool is a band, and its name is a joke (it's right in the logo). Tool's fans have also garnered a reputation as being among the most obsessive in music, or at least that's true of the swarms of them who turn up on message boards. This dynamic between band and fandom has apparently been a great source of angst for lead singer Maynard James Keenan. In reference to the band's humor, he says, "Yeah, it's there. But people miss it because they're so focused on the other bullshit." He went on to call them "Insufferable people ... It's just ridiculous, retards. I'm sorry. Can't help them. Way too serious. Too much. Lighten up."
Keenan also really doesn't like it when fans ask when the next Tool album is coming. "I think those 'When's the fucking album' -- those things are so much a larger symptom in our culture that goes way beyond that question and that specific band. Just the entitlement and that you are owed something." He has decided over time that obnoxious fans are just a symptom of an entire species that has lost its way, and which has thus become vulnerable to predators and other environmental dangers:
"You can put a post up that has all the information is in the photo and in the post and someone will ask you the question about it. Didn't you just read what was in front of you? They didn't read it, they didn't look, they just want you to hand them the answer. And you are going to be food, sir, you are going to be food for something. For some thing you are going to be food because you can't puzzle, you can't figure these things out that are right in front of you."
He suggested that mankind needs some kind of metaphorical "meteor" or threat to awaken us to what's really important. That or, you know, he could just turn off his social media notifications.
A previous version of this article contained information that appears to be from an unreliable source, that entry has been removed.
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