Send For The Sandman! 9 Celebs Who Got Rejected Or Booed Off The Apollo Stage Before Making It Big

James Brown

I know what you’re thinking: “Who in the hell boos the king!?” Why the fickle folks who make up the Apollo Theater, of course. Surprisingly enough though, Brown wasn’t booed because he couldn’t sing or was a terrible dancer (we all know that couldn’t have been the case), but because he was dressed very tackalicious. The venue’s ambassador, Billy Mitchell, who started working at the Apollo Theater as a young teenager waaaaay back when recounts the performance gone sour with Spinner:

…the first time he did Amateur Night he was booed. Not because of his performance. He was booed because the audience didn’t like the type of clothes he had on. This guy had just come up from Georgia. When he walked on the stage with those country garments, the crowd laid into him. The next week, James Brown borrowed a pair of pants and a shirt from one of our stagehands. He came back on with his New York shirt and pants, and he won the show.