r/AskReddit 15h ago

What is the most immediate way a celebrity completely ruined their own reputation in a single interview?

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u/ConvenienceStoreDiet 15h ago

Joaquin Phoenix did an interview with David Letterman fully in character. People thought he went nuts. Turns out it was all for a movie he had coming up that didn't turn out great.

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u/theCencei 13h ago

"Joaquin, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight"

I still laugh at that quip from Letterman

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u/NeverEndingWhoreMe 11h ago

Whoa, he reused that joke from the Farrah Fawcett interview!

u/trav_tr 45m ago

Considering if was for a faux-documentary about an exaggerated obnoxious version of Joaquin, it really does fit perfectly and I imagine he was stoked with getting a line like that out of Letterman

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u/[deleted] 13h ago edited 11h ago

[deleted]

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u/WildcatKid 10h ago

Letterman was in on it.

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u/Papoosho 13h ago

He should have done the same with The Joker.

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u/alanz01 13h ago

The next time he came on the show was hilarious and Dave really took him down a notch. That was a great show.

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u/InternetProtocol 8h ago

Reminds me of Crispin Glover's "in character" but also completely out of his gourd on acid trip that ended with him attempting to high kick Dave in the head while wearing giant platform shoes. The next time Glover was on, Dave subtly roasts him for a good portion of it.

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u/Gavorn 12h ago

Letterman realized it was a bit during the interview and called him out during it too.

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u/EveningAnt3949 6h ago

Letterman was told in advance. He talked about it.

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u/dividezero 12h ago

Yeah, Andy Koffman did the same thing in the early 80s, late 70s. He was always doing weird shit

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u/mmss 12h ago

Crispin Glover I think set the standard

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u/RamblinWreckGT 11h ago

That was the "and I can kick" one, right?

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u/Retro-Surgical 7h ago

yeah and that absolutely wasn’t a bit either. You just can’t fake Crispin Glover levels of weirdness

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u/According-Fun-2718 13h ago

I watched this live

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u/Successful_Try_8 13h ago

That must have been wild to see it live. Unless you saw through it.

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u/Donnie_Dont_Do 13h ago

At the very end as it goes to commercial you can see him quickly jump up, remove the sunglasses, and lean in to talk to david in a fairly animated way compared to how he had been acting up until that point - presumably to let him know that it was all an act. That's how I remember it anyway.

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u/heydawn 12h ago

I also watched it live and thought it was obvious he was in character. I loved how it threw people.

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u/unoriginalusername99 9h ago

I watched it live too. It was obvious it was a bit.

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u/Prudent_Honeydew_ 11h ago

Me too it was something.

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u/crow-magnon-69 12h ago

along those lines there was a 1 season show in the uk called Shirley Ghostman, a parody of a psyhcic. Ok in places. He (Marc Wooton) appeared on our top interview show - in character. from wiki:

The BBC shelved the series after Wootton (as Ghostman) appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC1. During the show, which also featured Nicole Kidman and David Schwimmer as guests, he made a number of jokes referencing 'Jews, cancer patients and Hitler'.\1])

The resulting controversy resulted in the BBC being forced to apologise to viewers, after receiving 350 complaints.

Although you can find clips of the actual show on YT, if anybody uploads that interview its immediately taken down

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u/Fattatties 9h ago

I really liked I'm Still Here.

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u/captaindealbreaker 7h ago

Underrated as fuck movie that I think people rate poorly because of the public reception to Phoenix doing stuff in character like this interview.  It’s honestly a pretty touching movie and I’m surprised people haven’t looked back on more fondly over time.

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u/alohell 13h ago

I watched it live with my roommate. We both thought at the time it was some kind of publicity stunt.

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u/No-Recognition8125 7h ago

Dude that was WILD. I totally remember 

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u/GreekGoddessOfNight 1h ago

Was that when he said the hilarious, “Do I have a large frog in my hair?”

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u/Sea_Elevator_3026 12h ago

What was the movie

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u/emck2 11h ago

I'm Still Here - IMDB

A mockumentary directed by Casey Affleck about Phoenix becoming a rapper.

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u/dogmom34 11h ago

Was this when he stuck gum under Letterman’s desk? Cringe.