Billy Bob Thornton is a petulant man-child!
Wow. Billy Bob Thornton is a petulant child. He recently appeared with his current band The Boxmasters on CBC’s Q with Jian Ghomeshi and revealed to the world that he is a totally spoiled schmuck who has a hilariously overblown estimation of his own musical knowledge and ability. The incident is taking the internet by storm and people are comparing it to Joaquin Phoenix’s odd behaviour as of late --- but it’s not that at all. Phoenix is up to something, mark my words. Thornton is just a jerk.
Here’s a link to the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6qyy7bw
To break it down if you don’t have the 10 minutes to watch it --- Ghomeshi introduces the band at the start, making reference to Billy Bob as an Oscar winning actor/writer. This is called ‘giving the audience context’ and it is what any good host will do. Now, fair enough that Ghomeshi was instructed to keep the interview about music and not ask about acting --- during the interview itself he does just that. But right after the intro, Billy Bob becomes sullen, acting like a little sucky baby, refusing to give a straight answer to any questions.
“How long has the band been together?” asks Ghomeshi.
“I don’t know what you mean,” comes Hillbilly Bob’s answer.
Really? You don’t understand the concept of time? That a band is composed of people who met and decided to start playing music together? And that they would have played in said band for a specific amount of time thus far? Or is that your attempt at biting sarcasm?
Full of class: Jian Ghomeshi
When Ghomeshi presses him further ABOUT HIS MUSIC, he ignores the question and talks about a model building contest he entered as a child. He also indirectly blames Ghomeshi for the smoking rules outside the building.
Eventually, Thornton attacks Ghomeshi directly, all the while comparing himself to (real musician) Tom Petty, and being generally upset that he thinks Ghomeshi is implying that his music career is just a hobby. Ghomeshi is NOT implying that at all. In fact, he went out of his way to give credence to Hillybilly Bob and The Boxmasters.
Thornton also goes on to explain that he’s a music historian and that The Boxmasters are the only rockabilly band that has been in operation for a long time. Given a few minutes to think about it, most of the music geeks I know, myself included, could probably name at least 10 rockabilly bands that have been active in the last five years off the top of our heads. Billy, I’d read a few more books and listen to a few more records instead of living in an alternate fantasy world where you are John Lennon. I know you wrote some really excellent material about Angelina Jolie, so I mean, that’s almost at Beatles level, but come on.
Space cadet: Billy Bob Thornton
After all this --- he didn’t even play! The band got up and did a song without him!!! The word on the street is that he was too famous to carry his drums into the studio at 6 AM. Guess what, guy? Real musicians lug their equipment around (well, the rich ones have a roadie do it, but still...). He sounds more like a walking, talking Hollywood ego and less like a hardworking musician. He also dissed Canadian audiences, saying they were, “mashed potatoes without the gravy.”
At the end of all of this, I want to throw out huge props to Jian Ghomeshi --- I could never distance myself from the fact that he inflicted Moxy Fruvous upon the world. But after watching this interview, I see him in a whole different light. He was calm, composed, and he went toe-to-toe with the petulant little child that is Billy Bob Thornton. He stood his ground while remaining professional. It doesn’t quite make up for the whole Moxy Fruvous thing, but Jian Ghomeshi is a-ok in my book.
And Billy --- you haven’t had made a half-decent movie in 6 years (since 2003’s Bad Santa), so I guess you suck as a musician, you suck as a Hollywood player, and after seeing the way you treat a cordial host who is helping to push your music in this country --- you suck as a person.