36 Responses for "Billy Bob Tantrum"

1. Vincent April 9th, 2009 at 10:54 am 1

   What the hell was that? What is it with these people? I mean Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Bob, I’m sure there are countless others…what’s going on in their minds?!

   Does their profession make them so jaded and bitter and odd that they have to carry on like this? I’m an auditioning actor, I face rejection and heart ache all the time, but, I could never imagine behaving like that if I had a fraction of their success!! It’s just cra-cra (crazy). hehe

   -Vincent

2. Noah R. April 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am 2

   I’m always willing to give celebrities the benefit of the doubt. I was an open Devil’s Advocate of Christian Bale’s freak-out, for instance. But this is just inexcusable. What a complete prick.

3. Xander April 9th, 2009 at 11:37 am 3

   Wow, applause to Jian Ghomesh for keeping it so cool. I’d probably try to rip that prick a new one.

4. Tiffany April 9th, 2009 at 11:41 am 4

   I think people are being way too hard on Joaquin Phoenix, he doesn’t
   like interviews anyway…Letterman really knows how to egg on over-the-top hatred and backlash. He definitely wasn’t being accomodating in that interview. Joaquin is not arrogant and I don’t
   think he will quit acting for good. I hope he is able to make a comeback because he actually is a sweet person and a great actor.
   People are so much more harsher now than they used to be.
   In the 90’s, people would laughed off Joaquin’s interview, would
   have found it ridiculously amusing, and then would have moved on.
   People actually have turned against Joaquin because of that. Such
   pettiness while other celebs get away with much worse. They
   are douchebags in real life but they know how to lay on the charm
   and likeability in public.

   Don’t care about BB Thortnon. I always knew he was a jerk but
   he might have just had a bad day. Journalists can be difficult.
   You do a series of interviews with obnoxious interviewers and then
   you explode and act obnoxiously in turn at the wrong time.

5. Niles April 9th, 2009 at 11:44 am 5

   Dude with this actor’s, acting all emo and stuff, first Joaquin, now Billy Bob? F*** quit acting like a little bit**, jeeezz seriously its annoying. I swear those two are preparing for a film or something, because there acting weird, either that or there on drugs or something, which wouldn’t surprise me.

6. Niles April 9th, 2009 at 11:54 am 6

   Correct me if I am wrong but in the interview Billy Bob said he didn’t carry any drum equipment around 6 in the morning, you know what I take that back, he was probably tired, and didn’t give a crap about an interview and he just said what he wanted to say I guess

7. dela April 9th, 2009 at 12:18 pm 7

   To his credit, Jian Ghomeshi was able to reel back in to at least talk about music.

8. HaroldsMaude April 9th, 2009 at 12:47 pm 8

   Ugh. My respect for BillyBob just plummeted to new lows, and in some films I like him. To me, though, this is worse than Phoenix’ interview with Letterman. That was just odd. This was someone knowing exactly what he was doing and being a jerk about it. He didn’t want to do the interview, had a stick up his butt about it, and made everyone’s life hell.

   I wonder if, judging by the glee expressed by the guys in his band, if he’s this much of a tool all the time.

9. niousha April 9th, 2009 at 12:51 pm 9

   Billy Bob is a douche

   I think of the countless bands and groups around the country who are brilliant and never get a chance to make it to a radio station and here this prick is embarrassing not only himself but his poor band members

10. Ryan Adams April 9th, 2009 at 12:52 pm 10

    “Correct me if I am wrong but in the interview Billy Bob said he didn’t carry any drum equipment around 6 in the morning, you know what I take that back, he was probably tired…”

    You’re not wrong that’s what Billy Boob said, Niles.

    But, in fact, that radio program is broadcast live at 10 a.m.

    So BBT is a BSA.

11. Wael April 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm 11

    So this A-hole with a pretty shaky track record at the box office is still working? I don’t freaking get it. I mean sure he is a good actor but he is not the only one and certainly not the best.

    And I am sorry but the excuse that “he could be preparing for a role” is just plain bogus. One can prepare for a role aplenty and still be able to drop out of that preparation temporarily to promote another area of his professional life. This whole: “Oh I am preparing for a role so it consumes my everything to the point where I can’t exist” is largely a cliche. Besides, it didn’t look like he was working from a very challenging character. He was just being a childish little prick because once the DJ “apologized” he was giving answers he claimed he didn’t have earlier. Also, no one forced him to do anything or even show up. If he was indeed preparing then he should have stayed in his cave with the other bears. Screw him. Go make the Astronaut Farmer 2 with your phone’s camera.

12. Nancy Kriparos April 9th, 2009 at 1:54 pm 12

    Kudos to Jian Ghomeshi and his cool intelligence for not letting Billy Bob unnerve him. If it was any other DJ, they would have let Billy Bob get away with this arrogant and bizarre behavior. Are we sure he’s not involved with Casey Afflecks film too? Billy Bob clearly didn’t want to be there and decided to play games….but as the interview continued I am sure he realized that Jian was no chump. I feel sorry for the other guys in the band. And how dare Billy Bob try to criticize Canadians. We’ll remember that next time he want’s show one of his films at TIFF.

13. Alan of Montreal April 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm 13

    It’s been a weird week for Hollywooders in Canada–Britney apparently (though of course unsurprisingly) also just added to her ever-growing list of moments of bizarre behaviour when she walked off the stage in the middle of a concert in Vancouver. If there’s a wacky American in Canuckistan, it must be Wednesday…

14. w.j. April 9th, 2009 at 4:10 pm 14

    Ironically, I had just seen Billy Bob in concert the night before in a small city in Canada. The crowd was very polite, waiting patiently for Willie Nelson, but Billy Bob ran through the concert seemingly disinterested in pulling the crowd into his music, his voice muddied deep in a bad mix. The crowd was completely unfamiliar with his material, and it seemed like nothing more than second rate country rockabilly anyway, although I do remember a song with “shit” in the title. And for that, nobody threw anything at him. I wish now I had taken a few rotten tomatoes.

15. UncleVanya April 9th, 2009 at 4:35 pm 15

    What’s most obscene about this interview is that Thornton compared himself, not once, but twice, to Tom Petty. Billy Boob, you are no Tom Petty!!!!!!

16. Layla April 9th, 2009 at 8:30 pm 16

    Am I seeing something radically different here? Overreacting much? I didn’t find this interview as horrible, bizarre, and off-putting as the rest of you. I wouldn’t even consider it a tantrum. I have seen worst interviews than this with celebs being much more difficult and arrogant. Maybe he has a problem with this DJ, maybe he heard the DJ’S other shows where he was being condescending to his band. You are being way too judgemental about this. I’m not even fan of a Billy Bob, but I don’t comprehend the degree behind these insults. why such outrage and scorn over this interview? Because the media wrote a bunch of articles condemning it? Now there has to be a bandwagon where we insult Billy Bob over this. Some people are just not good at interviews and can’t stand these two-faced journalists who act nice to their face but badmouth them behind their backs. People have odd ways with dealing the stress of doing these interviews. I guess celebs have to behave professional and fake 100% of the time while journalists and DJ’s can behave the way they want? People need to get over the Joaquin Phoenix incident. He got mocked at the Independent Spirit Awards and at the Oscars, for christ’s sake. There have been dozens of articles trashing him. Enough is enough. I feel sorry for the guy. I hope he continues with acting and wins an Oscar to shut people up.

    Yet most of you probably blew off the Bale incident because you worship
    The Dark Knight so much and becaue Bale is an “it guy” who is really sexy
    and talented.

17. Ryan Adams April 9th, 2009 at 8:53 pm 17

    “Maybe he has a problem with this DJ, maybe he heard the DJ’S other shows where he was being condescending to his band.”

    Maybe this DJ kicked Billy Bob’s dog.
    Maybe this DJ has a revolting body odor.
    Maybe this DJ groped Billy Bob when the camera’s were off.

    Maybe Billy Bob ate some bad clams.
    Maybe Billy Bob had a hemorrhoid flare up.
    Maybe Billy Bob has a rude evil twin who tied up the really cool Billy Bob and left him in a van down by the river.

    You’re right Layla, we shoudn’t trust our own eyes and ears when there might be hundreds of ways this video could be fooling us. Probably everybody in Canada is an asshat and Billy Bob just felt uncomfortable being the only sweet, kind, gentle and friendly person north of Chicago.

18. Layla April 9th, 2009 at 9:07 pm 18

    You do know how to overreact and be insulting. I was trying to be more reasonable and look at it from a different perspective. I never made any such outrageous claims or excuses. I didn’t imply anything derogatory about Canadians nor did I hit below the belt with such insults. You seriously need to be more tolerant towards anybody who does not agree with you and have the same over-the-top reaction. I didn’t think Billy Bob’s behavior was okay but the rest of you are being way too harsh and judgemental considering the other celeb interviews I have seen and how journalists are. That DJ did make condescending and belittling remarks toward his band in another segment before that interview. You are an expert at mocking and ridicule. I think you enjoy invoking scorn towards others. I don’t like mob mentalities towards people nor do I label people’s personalities over one isolated episode. I don’t choose to dislike people over the pettiest of reasons. I know people behave
    out of character, people screw up, and there are other situational factors. Grow up. I don’t even like Billy Bob all that much yet you are mocking me as if I am such a big fan. I am just tired of these intense and overinflated reactions.

    I won’t be posting anymore since I can’t deal with people who can be so immature. I can’t compete with you in the snark and insult department. I know how you can cut people down. Just motivate people into reacting strongly and
    into turning against people.

19. Ryan Adams April 9th, 2009 at 10:37 pm 19

    You’re right, Layla. The tone of my response was flippant and misdirected. My intention was to defend the DJ, but the train to Snarkville went right off the rails. I’m actually an admirer of Thorton and I’ve seen him give utterly charming and disarming interviews many times, so I doubt he’s “stressed” by a casual Q&A on radio show where his band is being featured as VIP guests.

    Nope, he was pretty clearly pissed that the DJ didn’t follow his strict instructions to make no mention of his movie career. But guess what? That’s not how it works. Stars — or scientists, or politicians — don’t get to dictate to journalists what’s allowed and what’s forbidden to discuss. The trade off for publicity is a loss of privacy. (It’s not like the DJ was trying to talk about amulets of blood.)

    Billy Bob was throwing a little sulk. It was embarrassing to watch. I felt sorry for everybody in the studio. His fellow bandmembers looked mortified.

    =====

    What impressed me more was how polite and accommodating Jian Ghomeshi appeared to be. He was getting verbally dissed and abused on his own program by a pretentious part-time rock-star wannabe, but Ghomeshi never lost his cool. He tried to patch things up and salvage the interview in the most diplomatic manner imaginable.

    So when you say “maybe” the DJ has a past history of being an ass, that “maybe” is not good enough for me. We have a visible video of Thornton being a dick. Show me a video of Ghomeshi being “condescending and belittling” and I’ll change my mind about him. But I see no reason to imagine scenarios that would make an excuse for the way we see Thornton behaving.

    If you search “Jian Ghomeshi” you’ll find 514 recent articles on Google News. A quick glance through the first 100 or so turns up nothing that says he was condescending or belittling. If you know where to find that info you should post a link, instead of making vague “maybe” assumptions and trying to paint the DJ as possible villain.

    No reason for either of us to be takaing this so personally. On the other hand, yeah, if you want to try to suggest that I “worship” Christian Bale and give him a free pass because he’s “sexy” then, ok, the gloves are off. This topic was about Billy Bob Thornton, but if you want to make it about an imaginary agenda, then I’m ready to defend my position.

    

    Sorry to lash out, and I hope you’re not going to stop commenting just because we disagree on this silly subject. You’ve made half a dozen other contributions in other topics tonight, and I’m not pouncing on you over any of those.

    I’m forming an opinion on the evidence we see in this video. If you want to imagine a hidden backstory that helps exonerate Thornton, that’s fine with me. Just don’t turn me into a Bale-worshipper to make yourself seem objective, ok?

    Meanwhile, somebody should tell Billy Bob that there’s more to being Tom Petty than just being publicly petty.

20. Wael April 9th, 2009 at 10:51 pm 20

    Sorry Layla, there ain’t no other prospective. BBT was being a dick. He is a movie actor so him being asked about how this career relates to that is legit not to mention that pretty early on, the DJ did ask him about his musical influences and how does Senior Thornton respond? BY TALKING ABOUT A MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO MOVIE MONSTERS. I am not saying that this is worse than other celebrity tantrums. They are all bad and they should all get equal flak. It’s simple, you don’t want to be somewhere, don’t go. But don’t show up and then lord your presence over every one like you’re doing them the biggest favor you could possibly do. It’s gauche and classless.

    Also Billy Bob can be as charming and disarming as he wants to be when he is sitting with Leno or Letterman on a big network show promoting the major source of his livelihood. But the true mark of someone’s grace is in how they treat people when they are talking to someone who is not as famous as or more than they are.

21. Tim Chandler April 10th, 2009 at 12:59 am 21

    As someone who catches Jian’s “Q” show at least twice a week as I drive, I can say that he is never condescending or insulting to his guests. Never. He is super-nice and a truly pleasant voice on the otherwise negative radio.

    That said, I can understand Billy Bob getting pissed and can also *maybe* forgive his behaviour. It is obvious that any interview with the band or with just him but *about* the band is preceded by a simple set of instructions. 1. Don’t mention the acting/screenwriting thing. 2. Don’t mention anything about Hollywood or past fame at all. That’s simple. And Jian even mentions that he was given direction to not ask questions relating to the above.

    So what did he do? He skirted around the rules as written and mentioned it all in his intro, in fact a good half of the intro was specifically *about* those not-to-be-named things. So of course Billy Bob was pissed, and rightly so. Jian tarnished the whole interview by leading off with exactly the thing he was asked not to talk about.

    The big problem is, obviously, how Billy Bob handled it. He could have sucked it up, and torn a strip off of Jian or his producer after the segment was over, or alternately he could have politely brought it up in the interview to make a point. But instead he sat there, completely thrown off of his moment, and mumbled his way through an interview he was barely able to pay attention to any more. Why? Because someone did something that upset him greatly. Think about times in your life where someone did something that really upset you. Where you had asked someone to do something that was important to you and they did the exact opposite. That level of upset can make you unable to do anything, to even function at a certain basic level. I’ve felt it. I’ve seen it. And I saw it in Billy Bob’s actions in this clip. The dude shut down. And the band wasn’t lowering their heads to say “oh crap, Billy Bob’s ruining this for us”, I think their reaction was that the interview got derailed because this DJ didn’t follow the rules, and Billy Bob is taking it personally.

    You may scoff, and that’s fine, but if I consider that maybe BB really does consider himself to be some kind of musical scholar, and that he has formed a band of like-minded individuals to bring that old sound back out, then of course he was upset! Because if that is their goal as a band, if they really know their stuff, then to start an interview with Billy Bob’s fame frames everything they say in the interview as the workings of a Hollywood actor’s band. Even if you call it his first love, it still is silently followed by “but he’s made movies instead” which throws the music part right off. Remember, they left a very simple instruction: don’t mention Hollywood. If you do your interview without mentioning it, it lends credence to the band’s work, which is all they want.

    What is unforgivable is that when BB slid into his little funk, that he allowed himself to get a bit ugly. He was rude, he lashed out at Canada, and it all left a bad taste, and frankly I’m disgusted in that nasty side of him. But I put the blame for this at Jian’s feet, even if he is on average a solid interviewer. The band asked one thing of him, and he failed miserably to provide it. After that, what was even the point of trying?

    Thanks
    Tim

22. Tim Chandler April 10th, 2009 at 2:48 am 22

    One more thing. When BB kept asking “would you ask Tom Petty that?” he wasn’t saying that he was on par with the legend. He was saying, along with his comment about “bands of 20-year olds you wouldn’t ask that to” that Jian’s questions sucked because they are questions you would only ask to a non-musician dabbling in music.

    Any interviewer sitting down with Tom Petty who said “so, you’re passionate about music” even just as a segue, would be deemed a moron, because d’uh, it’s Tom Petty, or the Jonas Bros. or whoever. It’s like saying to Chris Rock “so, you’re passionate about comedy.”

    By saying those things, Jian was repeatedly inferring that BB wasn’t a musician, or that if he was that it wasn’t as big a part of his life as it is to Petty etc. Or, exactly what BB was hoping to avoid by asking that Jian not bring the actor stuff up.

    Tim

23. blizzards14 April 10th, 2009 at 5:11 am 23

    @Afrika

    Nobody cares what you think after flaunting that you are a BIG Fan of Beyonce. This blog is about fims, actors, screenplay etc. not big headed popstars and primadonnas.

    Its sad that people like Afrika penetrated this market place of ideas. Worse, he/she is always present in almost all threads slamming the likes of Penelope, Amy Adams and god knows who. This blog has become a fan boy/haters club.

    The likes of Afrika dont even conribute intellectually to this blog. They post comments just to flaunt judgmental and defamatory remarks.

    Am I the only one sick of AFRIKA?

24. Sally in Chicago April 10th, 2009 at 6:30 am 24

    Hmm….now I see why AJ left him.

25. Proman April 10th, 2009 at 9:31 am 25

    “I was an open Devil’s Advocate of Christian Bale’s freak-out, for instance. ”

    That’s it. I stopped reading. I don’t care what else you have to say on the subject.

26. what April 10th, 2009 at 10:02 am 26

    Actors/actresses are overvalued, anyway. To me, they are one of the least important aspects of film making, period. The market is evidence of that. For instance, take out the big money guys, most actors/actresses get paid pennies, rightfully so.

27. HaroldsMaude April 10th, 2009 at 10:15 am 27

    TimC: I appreciate your defense, analysis and explanation of the BBT/Jian G interview, particularly as a regular listener. But I think you’re being too hard on Jian when you state that although the problem was with BB’s attitude and behavior in reaction to the rules violation, it was ultimately Jian’s fault.

    Nope. As adults we are in control of our social behavior, especially when we’re getting paid for it or need it to do something positive for us (like get people out to hear our music). Billy Bob really was a jerk here. If he didn’t like what happened, he could have handled it in a more mature manner (like you say), but he didn’t. He acted out and asserted power first through acting clueless, then by retaliating openly to the DJ.

    Perhaps Jian did break the rules, but his own reasons for his questions made sense to me. Lending listeners context, drawing them into his music from their familiarity with his fame and other talents. Why not? It’s not like he asked what Billy Bob’s next film project was, or how he was doing since his break up with Angie. In what felt like an interminably long interview, his non-music questions seemed minimal. In fact, they seemed to be an attempt to draw Thornton into the interview. His responses were vague and spacey from the start (notice the beginning of the clip – while Jian is introducing his guests, BB demonstrates rather altered behavior).

    Given Billy Bob’s status and exposure as a public figure over the last what? 20 years, I can’t believe he hasn’t suffered through a boat load of incompetent interviewers, far worse than this. It must be the hellish part of celebrity. But part of maintaining popularity whether you’re a politician or an actor (or musician) is keeping a positive image which can be tough at times, but definitely means not acting like a 4 year old with social competence issues.

    On a completely different note, there is a cynical part of me that wonders how much these things are given exposure (perhaps even staged) and that we are duped into conversation. Think of the publicity Billy Bob and his band are getting out of this 15 minutes of infamy? And I’d never heard of this DJ before. I wonder how many people are doing to be listening live online to him now?

28. john April 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pm 28

    You can’t stage this kind of stupidity. It’s foolish to try, because spontenaiety is always so much better than prefab. It’s just that this lovely Internet allows entertainingly stupid mistakes to be broadcast everywhere.

    BBT, Joaquin, and Christian. Grow up, boys!

29. what April 10th, 2009 at 1:09 pm 29

    Not staged. actors are divas: it’s nothing new.

30. Greg April 10th, 2009 at 3:44 pm 30

    Oh, how I wish the DJ said “Well, Petty gave an AMAZING performance in ‘The Postman’.”

31. DaneM April 10th, 2009 at 7:01 pm 31

    The funniest part is that he’s a horrible musician. The only reason he’s been afforded the opportunity the play his music in front of large audiences and do TV/radio interviews about his music is BECAUSE of his success as an actor/director/screenwriter. If I were the DJ, I’d have told him that flat-out.

32. Julian D. April 10th, 2009 at 11:14 pm 32

    The proof of Billy Bob’s arrogance is that when he was clearly asked questions about music throughout the first two-thirds of the interview he chose to ignore the questions, undermind the interview and then discuss a monster book at length. If he truly cared about his group’s music he wouldn’t have wasted those opportunities. To me he clearly was not enamoured with Canadian audiences and that may have coloured his approach with the interview.

    I agree that Jian, who is a class interviewer, should not have asked Billy Bob any questions around his film career, but he really didn’t. He only raised the film connection in the intro which to me only provides more interest in listeners deciding to listen to the interview. We also don’t know if the pre-agreement was to not ask questions around the film connection. That was abided by.

    Despite any minor mistakes Jian may have made, it was Billy Bob that underminded his group’s opportunity to to become a little better known to the Canadian audience.

    Then again, didn’t someone say bad publicity is better than no publicity?

33. Sasha Stone April 11th, 2009 at 10:11 am 33

    “1. Don’t mention the acting/screenwriting thing. 2. Don’t mention anything about Hollywood or past fame at all. That’s simple. And Jian even mentions that he was given direction to not ask questions relating to the above.”

    See, I don’t agree with this at all – the DJ is doing Billy Bob and his band a favor by having them on the show. Why should he, a “normal person” play this dumb game of “hi I’m a celebrity trying to be a musician now and so you all have to play along with this illusion.” Billy Bob is way too used to be coddled by publicists. He should have been gracious — and his poor band, trying to be kind in light of an intolerable hissy fit.

34. Cee April 13th, 2009 at 4:08 am 34

    I’m surprised people would believe BBT’s side of the story after seeing his childish behavior. Even if it was asked of the producer, I doubt they gave their full words agreeing to BBT’s terms (no mentioning whatsoever).

35. cole April 13th, 2009 at 10:41 am 35

    why is everyone lumping in joaquin’s interview with billy bob and christian bale’s bad behavior? i thought it was pretty well known throughout that joaquin is putting on an act for casey affleck’s mockumentary. has everyone just put that off?

36. Just somebody April 15th, 2009 at 9:40 pm 36

    The comment that the DJ was “directed” to not mention Billy Bob’s other career is a red herring. Even his own publicist admits there were no preconditions or agreements. That was just Billy Bob trying to deflect the blame for a situation he probably could see was going downhill fast.

    Those familiar with the CBC know that if he had tried to impose any conditions, the door he would have been shown would have said “Exit”, not “Studio”.