Monday, April 13, 2009

Well. That was Awkward....

I'm not really sure if you can comment two paragraphs on this. But what the hell do you think was going on here?


27 comments:

Richard V. Shields III said...

What's the purpose of any band with a new record going on radio or television? Publicity.

Billy Bob Thornton has built his career on the image of the southern bad boy and controversy. It's made him famous and I see no reason to expect him to change a formula that has proven to work.
Did he or the band ask that music be the exclusive focus of the interview? Who cares? Obviously, if Thornton had not been able to pick a fight over this subject, he would have found something else. He surely didn't perform this argumentative bit to be popular. He did it to be noticed.

One has to suspect that if the host had confined his questions to the new album, Thornton may have assailed him for not recognizing that his career was bigger than just music. We shouldn't take these guys too seriously. They take care of that themselves.

brob09 said...

I agree with Richard on this one. Billy Bob is known to be a Southern bad ass. I think the entire interview accomplished what is was supposed to do and that is get publicity. Was he out of line with the dj, sure he was. Did it get the message across that he wanted to send, sure he did.

Now after watching that clip, how many people do you think will go out and buy his cds? I would venture to say he will sell more from that clip that he normally would have sold.

I do believe that the host knew what he could ask and Billy Bob was just being her usually jerky self. I believe that was should not read a lot into this. Maybe he just isn't a morning person. He could have been a lot worse than he was.

tvan09 said...

I do agree with the first two posts.One would expect him to attempt to be different from other entertainers.

Or, it could have been that he had a hangover from the night before and really "did not know anything." Or, he may just have not gotten up at 6am in a very long time.

Terry VanLandingham

Who knows. Personally, I think he should stick to acting!

Juliet said...

That was funny. Billy Bob should just say no to drugs. He is nuts. What type of questions does Billy Bob think the disc jockey should be asking anyway? The only reason this band is on this radio program is because of his fame. His modesty comes across as stupidity.
His ego is way too big.

D Douglas said...

Incredibly weird interaction here! Wasn't this interview intended to drum up some pub for their band and tour? I guess Billy Bob felt acting a total ass woud help his band and the tour their on. Not being very familiar with his past acts of southern tough guy, I lack a reference point other than his past movies I have viewed. If publicity was the desired result of his actions, I can only assume that he has been successful with his efforts, we are discussing this strange interaction.

I have heard that celebrities often have the interviewers onformed concerning certain topics that are off limits before the actual interview. Strange to imagine that a band would want music to be an off limit topic, but any publicity is good publicity I assume. The exchange is so weird, I have actually had friends to view it, thewy were speechless as I was after watching the clip. I can only conclude that, Billy Bob is some marketing genius, or simply some mega star who treats people like dirt simply because he can.

JVJ1 said...

Well that was awkward.......
I dispise nothing more than famous people hating attention that they get because they are famous. Billy Bob is a jacka**. He has no talent and we as a public society "give him " our hard earned dollars everytime we support one of his films/music endeavors. We forget that we have the power to take these "stars" out of their multi million dollar mansions by simply not supporting their art. Put the money into your own pocket and make your self wealthy they support the likes of Bill Bob!


Oh and by the way he had to be on drugs. Look at his demeanor and how he had issues understanding quesitons. This is not art it is a waste of time and the other members of the team would not have even been there if it would not have been for BB and his acting career.

The job of every band/actor is to build demand for their product and in doing so you have to leverage every possible avenue along the way. If that means using your name and recognition to this use then do so.

Thanks for letting me vent.

JVJ1

Dr. Kevin D. Williams said...

just wanted to follow up on something. for all of those saying his behavior is just trying to promote his band, the band "unexpectedly" left the tour with willie nelson and are no longer on the canadian leg of the tour. wonder how happy the other band members are with Billy Bob.

Leb23 said...

When I look at celebrities, I would like for them to have a little class. They have been given a talent, and a position in society that is looked at more crucially than other positions. Their behavior should positively reflect the position they hold in society. Therefore Billy Bob Thorton should have represented himself better. He thinks that he can get away with anything because of his celebrity status. His behavior was unacceptable during the interview.

When a band goes on a radio broadcast, they are suppose to promote the album that they are trying to sell or the tour that they are on. This interview did neither one of those things. Instead, I think it caused people to not want to buy the album. I agree with what some of the post said. Thorton should just stick to acting. I think it is ridiculous when actors try to become singers. To me, musically, they are not very talented and just do it because they can.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I am really so disgusted that I don't even know where to start!
1st off-He made a complete ass of himself talking to the dj the way he did. There was no reason for him to fly off the handle the way he did.

2nd-What the heck was he even talking about. The question was about music, not a contest.

3rd-Why was he acting like he did not know how long the band had been together, etc? He acted like he didn't know anything.

It almost seemed like he was doing it on purpose just to be an ass about it. I assume he has done way too many drugs. I would not go and get that CD if I was paid to. I also don't know that I will ever watch another movie with him in it again either because I can not justify supporting someone's hollywood lifestyle when they act as stupid as he just did. I don't know how those guys can even stand to be around him. I would be completely embarrassed to say that he was a part of my band! I have to wonder what was and still is going through their minds!!

Stacey Perkins said...

That was certainly a strange interview. I had several thoughts about what might have been going on. First I thought that Billy Bob was just intoxicated. Or perhaps he was just trying to be funny in a dry sort of way. Perhaps he was simply suffering from some type of mental illness. At one point I thought that maybe the radio station simply overdubbed the questions to make Billy Bob seem this way, but it appeared that this probably wasn’t the case as the interview progressed. I almost got the impression that Billy Bob is really only a member of the band in name only, but I don’t really know about that since I’ve never heard the band or seen them in concert. I thought it was strange that he didn’t play drums when the band played. But I think the most likely thing that happened was that Billy Bob was upset about his acting career being mentioned so he sabotaged the interview.

Dee Lewis said...

I am at lost for words.

Instead of being a bad boy or whatever he was known for way back then, he seemed like a senile old man who was losing his mind before our very eyes. I didn't think "Ooo, I need to go buy Boxmaster's CD." I thought someone needs to "put Billy Bob Thorton in a home." What does monsters have to do with his music?

I think it was a poor way to get publicity, but hey, it may have worked. If he would have had a normal interview, then it would have been boring and no one would have been interested in purchasing the CD. No one probably would have known about the interview or even cared to watch it.

When he was typical Billy Bob, he received worldwide attention and thousands tuned in to see him act dumb and "blow up." It's classic press agentry. He wanted publicity and didn't care how he got it. Well, he got what he wanted. I want to see how well this CD sells.

Dee Lewis said...

I just read the follow up. Did you see how shocked his other members looked? It seemed like they didn't know Billy Bob was going to behave like that. They looked embarassed and mortified. During the interview, Billy Bob made it seem like it was nothing to play for Willie Nelson, when his members were excited.

It may have been his ego, big mouth, attitude, or whatever else that makes up Billy Bob's persona that caused them to leave the tour.

-Dominique Lyle

Unknown said...

Billy Boob is the master of publicity. Remember when he was dating Jolie and they came out of the limo half dressed and probably high. It was stunt to promote his movie Sling Blade. Which was a great and disturbing movie. I know i spelled his name wrong on purpose because he acted like a boob. Nirvana did the same stuff on MTV and come to find out Cobain was high on heroin. Heart-shaped Box sold 3 million copies the next week. Its all about getting people to wonder what the hell kind of music they play. If they wonder then they will buy. For me, I'm not a big country fan and for cosmic country i really dont care. There's one sale gone bad.

mic g said...

Ha.. Yeah Billy Bob is for sure out there. a lot of the actors do stuff like this for promotion movies, or record sales or whatever. Im sure he had a motive for what he was doing. Or maybe he was still hungover from the previous night or still messed on pills or whatever.
Didnt Jaquine Phoneix do something similar of Late Night with David Letterman..? I think Mr. Phoniex is crazier than Billy Bob..
I doubt Billy Bobs career as a musician will go to far. im sure he is staring in some movie and wanted to get a buzz going before it comes out..
Hell almost all of hollywood is crazy....

Michael greene

Kenny Hardin said...

I thought this was just Billy Bob giving his normal act of being an ass. They were there to promote their band not his career and obviously Billy Bob wanted nothing to do with promoting himself as an actor, but I believe he was blitzed out of his mind. He was not the least bit coherent until the end of the interview when the discussion about the fan base of Willy Nelson was discussed.

amandakthrash said...

I think Billy Bob Thornton was acting pissy because he had specifically asked that the attention be put on his band and their music instead of the focus on him as an actor. No one can discount the success that he has had in film. Nor can anyone forget the things that happened when he was with Angelina Jolie. He has always had the reputation of surliness and recklessness.

Some of you other guys may be right that he was just looking for controversy one way or the other. Obviously this stunt or behavior attracted attention to his band. If that was the plan, it worked. If he wanted to come across as a prick, it worked. If he was genuinely pissed off, then it showed. Whatever he was trying to accomplish, I think he pulled it off.

Amanda

rcp20 said...

No one can know with any certainty exactly what was going on in his mind that lead him to act that way. I think the reason he did not want any questions asked regarding his movie career is because he wants to be seen as a serious musician now.

As for the way he got mad at the DJ, I think he simply got offended because the DJ asked questions he specifically asked him not to. I mean how dare the DJ blatantly disobey him? This is typical narcissistic celebrity behavior.

Robert Purvis

tiffany said...

Well what I heard was Billy Bob was offended when the talk show host commented on his acting career. Billy Bob, for some odd reason, fell apart and staring going crazy about mentioning his acting career. I think this was stupid and I am wondering if Billy Bob was on something for the moment. I heard he also canceled his Canadian tour. I would have been happy not to see him after his ranting on the talk show. I believe he should appreciate anyone asking about his career. I mean that is what got him into the place he is now. Crazy man.

Caroline said...

Well, my first thought was that He deffinatly had been on Willie's buss and smoking some of Willie's Weed! He made a complete - - - of himself andthe other band members if you ask me. I would have been ashamed to be in a band, interview or anything with him at that point. If that's what it takes to get publicity then I don't want any. That was just plain aweful. I am thinking I wouldn't want to associate or buy any products from someone that acted that way. He looked stupid and drugged. The other band members seemed at first to cover for him then seemed annoyed at him and then I thought in the end they even sorta acted goofey when they were asked to perform. And who goes to an interview about their music career and doesn't bring their instrument that they use to perform? How stupid was that?

Caroline said...

Carolyn Stevens

Unknown said...

I am not really sure how to react to this interview. At first Thornton seemed like he didn't know the answers to any of the quesions he was being asked. It made me wonder if he even knew where he was or what he was doing. I think it was ridiculous that he refused to talk about his acting accomplishments. His reaction to the question was rude as well. He acted like a huge jerk.
The whole interview seemed really awkward as well. The other band members seemed really uneasy whenever Thornton was talking. The other members also looked really confused whenever he answered. I just don't understand why Thornton acted the way he did either. It was just really odd. I am not really sure what was going on during the interview though.
-Nicole Elizabeth

Unknown said...

Billy Bob Thorton – What else do you need to say? He has earned his living and reputation as being a bad ass with a bad attitude. He crosses the line on a daily basis of what is appropriate or not. I think he felt like he was on a crappy Canadian radio show, didn’t care who the listeners were, and just wanted to be an ass. If the radio host had of confined his questions to only the band; then Bill Bob would have found something else to confront him with.
The best thing that reporter did was to keep his cool and continue with the interview making Billy Bob look like an ass. If the interviewer had in any way lashed out at Billy Bob this story would be twice as big and Billy Bob would have achieved what he want notoriety for a radio talk show host causing issues with him, his behavior would have been dismissed and the radio host probably would have been blamed for it all and lost his credibility and job.

Melissa Doty

Deb said...

Akward...is the first thing I wrote down on my notepad while watching this! I mean was he acting? What in the world was he talking about? His answers were completely off and the other guys were pretty boring too! This to me made him look like a a**! I guess he could have done it for publicity or just because he is a jerk with nothing to lose...too bad for the rest of the band. Yay, Billy Bob way to take one for the team....

Radka F. said...

I personally think that one option is that he is not normal (most likely on drugs), saying nonsense and not even realizing it. Looking at his face when talking, I would not be surprised if this would be the truth. Most of the time he looked kind of confused, especially while talking about Monster Magazine. It was like he would have some flashbacks as mentally challenged people have.

Another option is that he chose to play a "game" to get attention, confuse the host and listeners and to be "funny". Looking at the faces of the other members of his group, he was probably the only one who thought it was funny, interesting and helpful in promoting a good group image.

I had fun observing his stupidity! Honestly, just whatever...

Radka

Unknown said...

I really have no idea what the hell happened here. I am not sure if he really is insane or that is just his unusual personality. Or maybe both.
Most people who just have out of the ordinary personalities do not usually go off on random tangents and start confrontations. This makes me think that he may seriously have something wrong with him.
If he has not mental issues, he is at least just a huge jerk. I think that the host of the show did an excellent job of not saying "what the hell is wrong with you?"
I do not agree that this interview accomplished anything except making me think that Bill Bob is still an ass. I think that it created bad publicity and I really do not think it is going to attracted good attention to the band. I think his band members need to kick his ass into gear. No one likes a jerk.

Unknown said...

Everytime I watch Billy Bob in the movies, or see him in the media, he's always doing something ridiculous. He's great at drawing attention to himself, sometimes doing the most unusual things. This incident with the radio interview is no different.

While other people would be considered rude for this type of behavior, I've accepted this as a standard "Billy Bob" act. He's an actor, so this is just another normal day for him. I guess he doesn't really care what people think about him. Whether you like him or not, his "stuff" draws a crowd and pays the bills. Thats all that matters to him.