20 stories of strange and awkward encounters with celebrities (21 photos)

Surprisingly, there is a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from this collection. For example, if someone ever writes a complete set of rules for this life, it should definitely include the clause: “Never say anything about Chuck Norris without making sure that Chuck Norris is not standing behind you at that moment.”





1. “My grandfather had a large electronics store that often rented out concert equipment. Prince's manager walked into the store and immediately demanded to be served, right in front of all the people in line. The manager apparently got so pissed off that the following happened... Manager: “Ugh, is anyone going to help me or not? Grandfather: “There are a lot of people in front of you in line.” Manager: “Yes, but I represent Prince.” Grandfather: “I don’t care who the prince is, I’m the king here.” End of story."



2. “I was at a rally for Obama in August 2007. It was in Florida, in a small gym. We shook Obama's hand and chatted with him for a bit, and ended up following him back behind the barricade, continuing the conversation. He ended up hugging us and everything, but the security didn't really like it, so they asked us to move away. Obama climbed into the stands to pose for a photo with the group. The security pushed me to move to the other side of the barricade (not hard, but it was crowded there), and I fell forward. I reached out to grab something to stop my fall. That something turned out to be Barack Obama's buttock. He laughed."





3. “I swapped spit with Bill Murray. When I was just a little kid, we went to the St. Paul Saints. For some reason Bill Murray was there with a bunch of press, I don't know why. He happened upon my mother holding me and, in typical Bill Murray fashion, he took the pacifier from me and put it in his mouth. The journalists laughed, and I, apparently enraged, tore the pacifier out of his mouth and stuck it back in mine. TA-dah".



4. “I used to work as a manager at a Spencer's Gift store in an upscale shopping center in Pennsylvania. Bam Margera and his team arrived on a deserted weekday. One of his guys asked me to close the store so that no one would pester Bam while he was shopping (without Bam himself hearing). I politely informed the guy that we were not closing the store to anyone. The guy raised his voice and started threatening me to my face that he would call my boss and fire me... and this guy was really very big and intimidating. About 20 seconds into his loud rant, I suddenly see a fist appear out of nowhere and take the guy out. It was Bam. He very calmly told the guy, while he was swearing and trying to get up from the floor, to shut up and wait outside. He then apologized and continued shopping while the rest of his team was having a blast. He bought some shock pens and a couple of T-shirts. That day my opinion of Bam changed dramatically from negative to positive.”



5. “My parents were grocery shopping at a supermarket in Los Angeles when they saw Tim Curry in the checkout line. They were secretly trying to see what he was buying (so they could talk about it later), so my dad casually strolled past his cart, pretending to put cashews back in their place or something. He looked in and all Tim Curry had in his cart was about a dozen boxes of frozen crab cakes. Just crab cakes, nothing else. Dad turned around to report to Mom and accidentally made eye contact with him. Tim Curry just looked down at my dad, not saying anything, just staring at him because he knew what my dad was doing and he was clearly not in a good mood. Then my dad, in a panic, announced loudly, “I love seafood,” and then awkwardly walked back to my mom with the cart. He didn't say another word until they left the store."



6. “I had a staring contest with Mudvayne singer Chad Gray. We were at a bar in Portland, Oregon. I looked at him, he looked at me, and then his eyes opened wide and fixed his gaze on me. I took off my glasses and stared at him with the eyes of a mad dog. He clenched his teeth and I rolled my eyes. Then we both nodded to each other and went back to our drinks."



7. “Many years ago I was at a horror convention where one of the guests was Adam West. As I walked back into the convention center, I noticed him leaving, so I held the door for him. I said, “Good evening, Mr. West!” He turned around, rolled his eyes and snorted, “As you say.” This really pissed me off. So I answered without thinking: “You’re an asshole!” He turned to me and growled in that Adam West voice of his, “Go to hell!” So, yeah, Batman told me to go to hell."



8. “I don’t know how confrontational it was, more just rude, but I met David Hasselhoff on Rendono Beach once when I was about 7-8 years old (so this was at the peak of his career in the mid-90s, plus his noticed my parents ignored pop culture, so that obviously meant this guy was very popular). I asked him for an autograph, and he immediately replied, without looking at me: “I’m playing with my kids, fuck off.” I stood there, not knowing how to react or what to do, and he looked at me and made such a strange face, as if he had just smelled the most rotten smell that could penetrate human nostrils, and yelled: “Fuck off.” , you little brat!” I ran away in horror."



9. “John Williams almost hit me with a car while I was crossing the road to go to a concert he was conducting. It was fucking awesome."



10. “My grandfather once beat up Andy Rooney to ask Judy Garland out on a date. No, really. He shook the soul out of him.”



11. “When I was little, at one event, my dad almost hit John Cena with his car. In this case, he really wasn’t visible...”



12. “Have you ever opened a door just as someone else was about to do the same on the other side, so it hits them in the forehead? My mom did it with Leonard Nimoy."



13. “A couple of years ago I ran into Tom DeLonge from Blink 182 at Starbucks. I recognized him and said, “I used to love you guys so much!” he looked at me and said, “You mean before?” And left. But I really wanted to compliment him. Well".



14. “So, about four years ago (I was sixteen, my sister was the same) my family and I arrived at the airport. We were waiting for a delayed flight, and then this idiot in a suit and with slicked back hair comes up and starts showing off and talking loudly, shouting about all sorts of bullshit with his friends. Here he becomes quiet, and then tries to look into my sister's cleavage. I see this and shout “Hey!”, and he looks at me, shrugs his shoulders and walks away. On the plane I found out it was Shia LaBeouf. What an asshole."



15. “A few weeks ago I was working on a video for Pete Wentz’s crappy new band at his bar in Los Angeles. He decided it would be cool to get drunk on set. Towards the end of an 18-hour day, I started cleaning. I was minding my own business and fishing gum and broken glass out of the standing water in the bar sink. Yes, chewing gum. The theme of the video was chewing gum, and he dumped a 1.5 kg bag of chewing gum on the singer, even though I told him to throw a handful at her and a handful at the audience. Then Pete rolls in, looks at me, looks at the sink, looks at my gloved hands and says, “This beer isn’t fucking cold enough.” And then he pours a whole pint of Corona all over my hands and forearms (I was in such shock that I didn’t think to clean them up right away). I look at him, discouraged. He shrugs and walks away."



16. “When I was sixteen, my first job was at a Cinemark movie theater. I was still pretty green, so I was put to work as a sort of errand boy, meaning my only job was to fill sodas and popcorn. I heard someone nearby say, “Oh my God! Chuck Norris is here! and being the cool teenager I am, I immediately joked, “Chuck Norris? I heard he has a hot wife! I say this and turn to put down the bag of popcorn, and who is standing right in front of me? Chuck. Fucking. Norris. He had this giant satisfied grin on his face. This was before he became an internet meme, and he was still in the middle of filming Cool Walker. I know he heard what I said about his wife, and for a second I think about the fact that he studied with Bruce Lee and held many martial arts titles in his time (I was obsessed with Bruce Lee at the time), and how he could easily hit me over the counter, or drag me over it, or jump over it and beat my ass with the assortment of candies that was underneath me. However, he doesn't say a word to me, just looks me straight in the eyes. And winks. Chuck Norris winked at me because I said he had a sexy wife. He took his popcorn and drink and left, and I stood there, stunned and probably white as a ghost. I haven't aged a day since then, and it's an eternal curse because now I'm stuck in the body of a sixteen-year-old headless idiot."



17. “My friend from out of state was passing through town, so we met in New York for lunch and a few drinks. We're eating at the bar when I see Mike Myers (SNL, Austin Powers, etc.) sitting at the other end of the bar, watching a football game on TV and drinking beer. I'd never met a celebrity before and didn't want to seem like some kind of intrusive jerk. But before I paid the bill, I walked over and said, “Hey Mike, I'm a big fan, can I buy you a beer?” And, without even turning to me, he said: “I can afford alcohol myself, save your money for my next film.” I froze for a second, speechless, then embarrassedly turned around to my seat, my friend and I paid the bill and left without saying a word. I really felt like a jerk haha."



18. “I worked at a kiosk in a shopping center, selling mobile phones. One night a lady came in and asked for a speakerphone. She asked if it would work with a phone from another country (I was in Vancouver at the time). I said, of course. She returned later that night and said the headset didn't work. We had just set up a kiosk and I couldn't get the money back so I sent her (in the rain mind you) to the main store down the street. The next day she breaks into the kiosk. My coworker says, damn, it's the same woman... and she brought Arnie with her! The lady starts yelling at me for making her go out in the rain even though the other store was closed (oops), and meanwhile Arnold Schwarzenegger is standing behind her, looking confused and trying to ask her something in German. It turns out she was his personal shopper. Insanely surreal. This was in the 90s."



19. “I worked as a bike messenger in Philadelphia during the filming of Law Abiding Citizen.” Part of the job was to deliver/pick up documents from City Hall, where most of the filming took place. So one day I got out of the elevator in a huge hurry and came across a crowd of people. I realized it was because Jamie Foxx and his security guards were waiting for the elevator, trying to keep the fans away. So I ended up running into him in a hurry and yelling, “Get out of my way, Jamie Foxx!” Almost everyone who saw it looked at me very awkwardly... it seemed like I took my job very seriously."



20. “My boyfriend once met Keanu Reeves on set. He said "I'm Keanu" but pronounced the name as "Kee-nu." My boyfriend replied: “No, you wanted to say Ke-ya-nu.”