The biggest assholes in entertainment

Berkeley linguist Geoffrey Nunberg came out this year with the definitive study of the asshole as a derogatory term, THE ASCENT OF THE A-WORD: ASSHOLISM, THE FIRST SIXTY YEARS. This is one of his central insights: "“Obtuseness is the true measure of the asshole. We calibrate how much of a prick or bastard or fucker someone is by the amount of harm he’s willing to inflict. But we reckon the degree of someone’s assholeness not by the actual hurtfulness of his behavior but by the breadth of his self-delusion, the discrepancy between his perceptions and the reality before his eyes, the energy of his denials and rationalizations.” [italic]Based on this definition,[/italic] who would you say are the biggest assholes in entertaiment past or present? Nunberg thinks Donald Trump basically defines the term, but he also lists Charlie Sheen, Ann Coulter, and Simon Cowell as classic contemporary assholes in the field of contemporary entertainment.

• If it's based on obtuseness and self-delusion (with a strong element of meanness thrown into the mix), then the biggest ones I can think of would be, besides the ones Nunberg mentions: Russell Crowe Gwyneth Paltrow Spike Lee Kevin Spacey Jeremy Renner Kanye West Harvey Weinstein

• Second Kanye West

• Pussy Galore

• Posh (I never smile) Spice/Becks.

• Jack Warner and Harry Cohn.

• Chevy Chase

• I love Nunberg. I have Commentaries on Language and Culture, a collection of his NPR commentary across he years. Very funny and observant.

• Mel Gibson

• Nikki Finke Maks on DWTS Michael Lucas Madonna Paris Hilton

• Justin Beiber redefined the term "asshole" for an entirely new generation.

• Michael Bay owns this thread. He has a huge dick, though.

• That he's never going to stick into you, r11, so what do you care?

• Michael Bay. I've heard nothing but bad things about him. Trump...a given. In the past, Scott Rudin and Joel Silver. Did they change their ways? Something tells me there is something rather weird about George Lucas.

• r9, I think Carrie Inaba's a bigger asshole that Maks. Fly Girl needs to get over herself.

• Mandy Patinkin and John Lithgow.

• Christian Bale Spike Lee Madonnna Jennifer Lopez Bill Cosby

• [quote]Something tells me there is something rather weird about George Lucas. Well, he told me that there is no underwear in space.

  Carrie%20Fisher

• Why is John Lithgow an asshole?

• r12, are you new here? Hotness and/or horse cock excuses a multitude of sins. This is the guy who got his laptop stolen by two local hookers in New Mexico. He apparently is so addle-headed from coke he has to have people on set who follow him around and pick up after him. Assoholicness aside, I'm hoping for dick pics.

• Spike Lee? He's a big mouth sure, but an asshole? I don't see it.

• Are you kidding, R20? He seems like a seething asshole in every interview he gives. Full of hatred.

• "Assholism" always reminds me of Divine.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DrEFKH9KzJEE

• r20, he's a notorious asshole. The Jewison debacle really turned me off him. He uses racism (real or imagined) to stroke his own ego and garner publicity. Then, when his films flop, it's always someone else's fault. If you make movies, you never, ever get exactly what you wanted. It's the nature of the business; there's too much money and there are too many variables.

• What happened, R23?

• Read the definition at the OP once again, r20. Carefully.

• After the 1990 release of Mo' Better Blues, [Spike] Lee was accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League and several film critics. They criticized the characters of the club owners Josh and Moe Flatbush, described as "Shylocks". Lee denied the charge, explaining that he wrote those characters in order to depict how black artists struggled against exploitation. Lee said that Lew Wasserman, Sidney Sheinberg or Tom Pollock, the Jewish heads of MCA and Universal Studios, were unlikely to allow antisemitic content in a film they produced. He said he could not make an anti-Semitic film because Jews run Hollywood, and "that's a fact." In June 2003 Lee sought an injunction against Spike TV to prevent them from using his nickname.Lee claimed that because of his fame, viewers would think he was associated with the new channel. In March 2012, after the shooting of Trayvon Martin, Spike Lee was one of many people who used Twitter to circulate a message which claimed to give the home address of the shooter. The address turned out to be incorrect, causing the occupants to leave home and stay at a hotel.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Lee%23Controversies

• Scott Rudin. Hands, feet, toes, fingers, down one NASTY piece of work.

• f

• He's so successful but so mean, I'm kind of surprised that someone hasn't killed the motherfucker. I thought maybe he had gotten a little nicer with age?

• I've actually heard nice things about John Lithgow, so that one surprises me. From

• Yep. Scott Rudin's assholiness transcends disciplines and started when he was a teenage casting director.

• Madonna, biggest a-hole in the world

• Well, I can speak from experience about Scott Rudin. I worked for him in the mid-90s. Yes, it is ALL true. He took it a *little* easy on me in the beginning because I have a pretty comprehensive knowledge of playwrights and musicals and he, being a fat angry theater queen, thought that that was somewhat impressive - given, as he said, the "shit for brains that work for me who don't know anything." But after two weeks, it was all over. He threw shit at me just like the rest of them. And would call me at odd hours of the night screaming for a variety of reasons. I lasted 4 months. But hey-it kicked open tons of doors for me. Soon, I was working for all the rest of the assholes! Producer Barry Josepheson (second biggest asshole in Hllywd), Nadia Redler at William Morris... Lauren Bacall - total cunt. Oh, and another *giant* asshole - John Cusack. Such an apoplectically angry white man you would think he were a Republican.

• "Spike Lee? He's a big mouth sure, but an asshole? I don't see it." He revealed on the internet the address of an elderly couple who he THOUGHT were the parents of the infamous George Zimmerman. Turns out the address belonged to some old people who had nothing to do with George Zimmerman. What did he hope to accomplish by publicizing the address of who he thought was George Zimmerman's parents? I tend to believe that he hoped that some harm would come to them; maybe destruction of property, vandalism, maybe having their house set on fire...or maybe even more than that. What he did was reprehensible. Even if the old couple WERE the parents of Zimmerman, what in the world did they have to do with anything that Zimmerman did? It really was a vile thing to do. For that alone, Spike Lee is quite an asshole.

• Camp Scientology

• For all the bravado by the South Park boys regarding Hollywood types, they have avoided pimping Scott Rudin. He's ripe for the picking.

• What happened with Cusack R33?

• With this definition, Donald Trump has to be named to the Internationall Hall of Fame for Assholes because no one will ever win if he's still around.

• No, Trump still owns this thread.

• I've worked with John Lithgow and he is one the nicest, most considerate and smartest people in the business. Everyone on the project loved him, he was a great leader. Serious about the work but with a wonderful sense of humor. Whoever said otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.

• [quote]Producer Barry Josepheson (second biggest asshole in Hllywd) Was he the model for Swimming with Sharks?

• John Lithgow is a sweet guy. I have never heard a bad thing about him, quite the opposite.

  Iwouldknow

• Elton John. Used to love him, but he really is an attention junkie and it is getting VERY tiring.

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• [quote]Why is John Lithgow an asshole? He isn't, far from it. Fuck R15

• r33, I think he's calmed down a bit recently. It was reported he had a mysterious 'health scare' at the time of TSN. At first everyone thought it was petulance over Harvey out-bidding him...oops, I mean out-campaigning him for the Oscars. Some sites did think it was legit. I saw a few pics where he looked quite ill. People like Bay who are vile to people everywhere (outside the business, too) when they don't get their way, esp. over petty shit, are much worse to me. Rudin at least produces decent work and doesn't have the taste and entitlement mentality of a teenage momma's boy.

• John Lithgow? Nope, not by a long shot. Polite, friendly, charming, warm, considerate. Don't confuse the man with the characters he plays...

• The Emperor from Star Wars lol

  ICYNDICEY

• Everyone at FoxNews, past and present, except Shepard Smith.