31 Times Famous People Were Nothing But Rude To "Regular" People And Let Them Down In The Worst Ways Possible
We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the rudest celebrity encounter they've ever had. Here are their juicy stories.
Note: Some submissions were pulled from this Reddit thread by user u/egg_fisting.
Disclaimer: We can't confirm 100% of these stories, but some of these people are supposedly speaking from their own experiences meeting celebrities.
1.John Mayer
"EASILY John Mayer — I met him at an awards show over 10 years ago, and he would not stop quoting a sexist joke from South Park. Everybody around him just laughed awkwardly — every word out of his mouth was a mean and sarcastic joke I was supposed to find funny, but ultimately didn't. I distinctly remember he made another joke that was really off-putting, and I was like, 'Dude...' and he responded with, 'Oh, come on — don't be a butthead.' He called me a butthead because I didn't laugh at his cruel joke."
2.Gwyneth Paltrow
"I worked with Gwyneth Paltrow's children for eight weeks at a camp, and we got paid $5 an hour. Parents usually tip $100 or more at the end, but she didn't tip at all."
3.Oprah
"Oprah didn’t tip me on a $200 lunch — instead, she signed a napkin for me and acted like she was doing me a huge favor. The kicker was when she walked in, they gave away all of my other tables so she didn’t have to wait for anything. So I made $4/hour for two hours for the privilege of serving Oprah, and she went on and on about signing a napkin that I never asked for."
4.Patrick Stewart
"I met Patrick Stewart backstage at a comic book convention when I used to work for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The child and their family had requested to meet Stan Lee, and it was quite the scene when Stan was ever so gracious to this family (he was THE BEST). The other celebrities backstage joined in on the scene and took multiple pictures with the family — I asked Patrick Stewart if he'd mind taking a picture with them as well, and he said, 'Yes, I DO mind' and walked off. I haven’t watched Star Trek: The Next Generation or any X-Men movies he's been in since then."
5.Ja Rule
"I was working security for MTV Beach House in the summer of 2002, where Ja Rule and a group of other people were upstairs in the green room of the beach house. The lifeguard station was converted into the green room, so it had a very small and tight winding staircase. The PA brought up a bottle of generic water to Ja Rule and crew, but it was the 'wrong' water. He yelled at the PA, and when he turned around to go get him the 'right' water, Ja kicked him in the back of the legs and he went down the stairs. I was stationed at the front of the house and heard yelling and a bit of commotion, then a flood of water bottles and a PA came rolling down the stairs."
6.Eliza Dushku
"I met Eliza Dushku in 2014 at a sci-fi convention where I gave her a necklace. I had previously had a few tiny interactions with her on Twitter, and months after I met her, she started private messaging me from an anonymous account (she chatted with me over Skype video so she made sure I knew it was her). We talked partially about how she was an inspiration for me in my addiction recovery, as she's also in recovery.
One day she decided to browse my other social media accounts, and when she found out I had relapsed, she proceeded to block me on all social media platforms and claimed she had no idea what I was talking about (re: her anonymous account). Over a year later, a friend of mine sent me a video of a guest appearance Eliza did on some cooking show where at the end of the segment, she gifted the host the *exact* necklace I bought and gifted her at the sci-fi con in 2014 (the same gift box and everything)."
7.Chevy Chase
"I saw Chevy Chase at a hotel once as a small 9-year-old, and I loved the National Lampoon's Vacation movies. When I asked for his autograph, he verbally went off on me — when my dad came over, he went off on him. He said something fucked-up, which was my dad wasn't 'raising me right.' The dude is a straight-up jerk."
8.William Shatner
"When I was around 10 years old, I was in Hawaii, and William Shatner said he would give me an autograph — he said, 'Let me get a pen,' then ran into his limo and drove off."
9.Neil deGrasse Tyson
"I worked at a bookstore in college and would pick up extra shifts during late night events when I had the time. Neil deGrasse Tyson was giving a speech and held a little meet-and-greet afterwards, and I signed up to run a table selling his books. After his speech, he came into the hall where I had the table set up — he walked over, introduced himself, and asked which of his two books I liked best. 20-year-old me had no idea who he was and didn't read either one of his books, so I replied, 'I actually haven't read them — I'm just here picking up an extra shift for the store.' Well, he started a two-minute rant berating people my age for not being interested in science and for being unaware of who he was — after he finished, I gave him a dumb blank stare, and he walked away. He talked down to me in a way that made me feel like shit."
10.Demi Lovato
"I’m a photographer, and one of my biggest events starting out was the opportunity to photograph the red carpet at Jingle Ball in 2014. I was 19 at the time, had severe health issues, and had also traveled seven hours from home to photograph the show. Among the chaos of a bunch of photographers packed in the area between the barricade and the stage, I had lost my phone and didn’t notice until we were back in the red carpet room. I immediately started to freak out, and I went into the hallway because I started having a panic attack. I didn't realize that was the hallway the performers used to exit the room, and as I leaned against the wall crying, Demi Lovato walked out and proceeded to give me an extremely dirty look. They seemed disgusted and rolled their eyes as they walked by me, as if I was some devoted fan crying over them [instead of experiencing something traumatic]."
11.Ed Westwick
"I met Ed Westwick from Gossip Girl at Coachella. I never watched the show, but I recognized him — he grabbed my slice of pizza, took a bite out of it, and then spit it out and gave it back to me."
12.Lily Allen
"Once I met Mark Ronson at a music festival in the UK — my ex-boyfriend was a huge fan, so he asked for a picture. He was really cool and happy to be chatting with us, but there was someone standing next to him who repeatedly rolled her eyes at the two of us: Lily Allen. She continuously whined, 'Mark, Mark, Mark' while my ex was chatting with him — at one point she actually stomped her foot and gave us the finger when Mark's back was turned around. We had acknowledged her, but she just rolled her eyes at us."
13.Randy Jackson
"Randy Jackson was invited to a telethon hosted by a hospital for children with disabilities (where my little sister lived until she passed away). Whenever the cameras were off, he'd hide in his hotel room and seemed disgusted with the kids — he didn’t want anything to do with them. When the cameras were on, though, he was all smiles and hugs — it was so disheartening and disappointing to witness. It was over 10 years ago, and I still remember it so clearly."
14.Carrie Underwood
"I’ve worked as a maintenance worker at a concert venue for a few summers and have bumped into several celebrities, but Carrie Underwood is the one who sticks out because of how demanding she always was. She refused to use a toilet if someone else had sat on the seat before her — cleaning them was never good enough, so we had to buy new toilet seats every time she came. Considering how much we already had to fix, the last thing we wanted to do was pointlessly replace perfectly good toilet seats. In contrast, Reba McEntire would always eat lunch with the staff and was always super chill."
15.Tyler Perry
"I worked at a publicity firm in Philadelphia while Tyler Perry was on a national press tour promoting Boo! A Madea Halloween in 2016. He flew in private with a 13-person staff, including personal chefs, assistants, trainers, manicurists, and dietitians. His team sat in the back of the plane while he sat alone in the front — he was then privately escorted from the airport while his team handled all of his luggage into a van.
His team sent our local agency a long list of demands and rules in anticipation of his arrival: Tyler wanted to be addressed/referred to as 'Mr. Perry,' we were prohibited to speak to him directly (only to his team), room temperature orange Gatorade had to be in his green room, furniture wasn't allowed in his press interview suite, ALL media/press had to travel to him (Mr. Perry wouldn't leave the hotel), and he wouldn't wait for anyone. I helped out with the local press tour, but I kept my distance from him — his entire team seemed terrified of him."
16.Evel Knievel
"When I was about 7 years old in the '70s, I was at the airport with my mom and her boyfriend and a friend of mine — my mom's boyfriend told us that Evel Knievel was in one of the lounges. He was sitting in a back corner, drinking a glass of some kind of booze, and engulfed in a cloud of cigarette smoke.
My friend and I approached him excitedly, and after he autographed some napkins, he looked at us and said, 'Before I give you these, I'm going to teach you something.' My friend and I looked at each other totally starstruck, and grinned like idiots. Evel proceeded to tap both of us on the arm and asked, 'Does that hurt?' and we both shook our heads no — then he poked us lightly on the chest and asked, 'Does that hurt?' and again, we both said no. Then he made fists out of both of his hands with the middle knuckles sticking out, and brought them down sharply and simultaneously onto both of our heads. 'Does that hurt?' he asked, and neither of us could answer — I was holding back tears from the pain. He waited a few seconds and said, 'That's why you wear a safety helmet,' and then handed us the napkins."
17.Nick Lachey
"I was managing a sandwich shop in college near Nick Lachey's home, and he and his (genuinely really nice) wife would come in from time to time. We'd usually comp his order since the entire shopping plaza would instantly show up and stack a line out the door and around the corner. But he never tipped us — he even elbowed his wife when she tried to — and he never looked at anyone or said hi to them the entire time he was at the restaurant."
18.Idina Menzel
"Idina Menzel was set to perform at the place I worked at in college, which was filled with devoted fans of hers. She came on three hours late, and had very specific food items/demands for her green room — she was also extremely rude to everyone who worked at the facility. This was a huge facility, and a venue that had hosted many more prominent acts than her."
19.Pat Monahan (the lead singer from Train)
"Pat Monahan is from my hometown in Pennsylvania, and whenever he visits, he pisses nearly everyone off. In high school, a friend of mine worked at Cold Stone Creamery, and the rule was whenever a customer tipped an employee, the employee was required to sing a song. Well, when Pat tipped them and they started singing, he told them to shut the fuck up because they were annoying. He also said to the 15-year-old female employees that he was going to 'buy the store and fire all of you c*nts.' He ended up dropping his ice cream on the counter and stormed out."
20.Nicki Minaj
"I’ve worked with Nicki Minaj before and while on a set with her, I was told not to look at her face. She also had people move out of the room before she would come in the room. It was a whole ordeal."
21.Miles Teller
"I met Miles Teller at a bar — he told my friend to buy him a drink, and he still refused to take a picture with him. He ended up smacking my phone out of my hand — I'll never watch another movie with him in it again."
22.Larry King
"One time, my mom and little brother (who was 4 years old at the time) were walking through an airport — Larry King ran into my little brother and knocked him over, and just continued walking without stopping to say sorry. I was 6 years old at the time, so I don’t personally remember this, but my mom told me all about it."
23.Jim Belushi
"Years ago, us kids waited for Jim Belushi and John Candy after they shot Only the Lonely in Chicago. I asked Belushi for an autograph, and he literally called us a bunch of pieces of shit, stupid kids, and to get the F out of there. Then came Candy with a big old smile and cigar hanging out of his mouth, and he spent the next 10 minutes signing autographs and thanking all his fans."
24.Busta Rhymes
"Busta Rhymes came into a jersey shop I managed in Atlanta and got pissed off that I didn’t have a hat in his size. He called me a 'dumb fuck,' which hurt, because I was such a huge fan of his music (going all the way back to the Leaders of the New School days)."
25.Katie Price
26.Vivica A. Fox
"I used to be a bartender at a hotel, and Vivica A. Fox came in with a guy late one night after an event. He ordered a drink for himself and a house red for her, so I turned to her and asked if she preferred cab or merlot. She gave me the DIRTIEST look, like how dare I address her directly, and flounced off to a table without answering. The guy said, 'Just give her red, whatever...' and didn't leave a tip (they ordered four rounds, and no tip each time). They also complained that someone else came in and sat at a table near them and tried to get me to make them move. The other guests didn’t even try to approach her or anything — she was just mad that they dared to sit at a neighboring table."
27.Hugh Grant
"I met a lot of celebrities while working for an airline, one of them being Hugh Grant. One time, he sat in First Class 1A on a 747 (which is right in the nose of the plane), so there was nothing but a wall in front of the seat. It's standard procedure for the cabin manager to go around to every first-class passenger and personally introduce themselves. When my manager got to Hugh, the conversation went something like this: Manager: 'Hello, Mr. Grant, my name is...' Hugh: 'Oh, FUCK OFF.' My manager proceeded to swiftly move on."
28.Tim Duncan
Giphy: @marchmadness / Via giphy.com
"I met Tim Duncan (former basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs) at a Walgreens in San Antonio. I was trying to get batteries, and he was there trying to get batteries too, and was in my way. So, I said to him, 'Excuse me, could I just get through really quick—' and he stopped me mid-sentence to say, 'Nah, I don’t take pictures. Just let me do what I gotta do.' I responded, 'My bad, I’m just trying to—' and he said, 'Hey, look — I don’t want to take pictures right now, so just stop.' He left, and then I finally got my batteries."
29.Alec Baldwin
"One day in the Hamptons, I ran into Alec Baldwin and his wife and their two dogs. I was 6, so I wanted to pet their dogs. Mind you, they left their dogs outside of the store, so I didn’t know they were theirs. They quickly yanked their dogs away from me and yelled at me. I was fucking 6."
30.Maria Bello
"My sister was a cook at a nice resort in Canada — one time, Maria Bello's assistant called in, saying she was coming with a bunch of guests and they wanted a certain type of bread served with their meal. So, the restaurant went out of their way to make her party this certain type of bread [off the menu], only to have them not show up. It was a huge waste of food."
31.And Gene Simmons
"My brother met Gene Simmons backstage at a show he was playing in. Gene complimented my brother highly on his guitar playing, but then said, 'Too bad you'll never make it' and just walked away."
"My dad ran into Gene Simmons at a bar in Baltimore in the late '70s after one of Kiss's shows. My dad wasn't a huge Kiss fan, but he appreciated their music and told Gene something along the lines of, 'Awesome concert, thanks for the show.' Gene looked at my dad and then promptly replied, 'I hope the next time you're sucking ass to impress someone, you pucker up more' and then walked off. My dad was pissed and told his friends it was time to go, and the bartender stopped them on their way out. Before he left, Gene and his entourage told the bartender my dad was paying for their drinks — it cost my dad almost $100 to pay for their alcohol."
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Note: An earlier version of this post included a story about Michael Showalter, which was proven false.
