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You may remember DJ Envy walking out of an interview with Desus and Mero after defending his wife’s honor on an episode of The Breakfast Club after he felt the comedic duo disrespected his wife with an inappropriate joke. Well it’s clear that wives are off limits when it comes to the morning show, and in a recent appearance, Power actor Omari Hardwick had some words for a fan who walked 500 miles for a photo with “Ghost”.
Hardwick recently made an appearance on the morning show with co-star Tika Sumpter while promoting their new film Nobody’s Fool. During the interview, DJ Envy brought up an incident that allegedly took place in early October involving a fan who called into the show with some harsh words for the actor after he refused to take a photo with her when she spotted him spending the day with his family. The woman says after he declined saying he was spending time with his family, she politely walked away but the actor proceeded to yell at her anyway accusing her of being inconsiderate:
“He started yelling and screaming at me, ‘Oh! All you care about is Ghost! You didn’t even acknowledge my family.”
The woman says she simply turned around and calmly responded:
“You know what. Now I see that you are really the complete a**hole.”
Hardwick, however had a different version of the story referring to the fan as “disrespectful” and becoming quite defensive of his right to privacy and the need for fans to recognize that their favs are not obligated to take photos with them:
“She sat there and looked at me and said, ‘Really?’ And I said, ‘Really. I’m with my family. God bless you.'”
“I’m like, yeah, ‘Sometimes people say no.’ She wasn’t odd for walking up, whether a 100 miles or 500 miles. You don’t think we’re humbled by that?”
Hardwick went on to say that fans should acknowledge when celebrities are with their spouses or children and take that into consideration when approaching them:
“Just acknowledge our family. N***a, this woman to my right [his wife] has saved my life! You don’t really know the story!”
“N***a, I was broke as f**k! She saved my f*****g life!”
“Chill the f**k out! Just relax and acknowledge her enough — it can be half of a look! You’ve acknowledged that she’s a breathing entity. Motherf*****s is crazy!”
When news of the encounter broke, Hardwick took to his Instagram posting a letter to his children explaining his side of the story after posts on social media accused him of “feeling himself” and celebrities in general thinking they’re superior to their fans.
I’m torn. A few days later, The Breakfast Club hosts asked rapper/singer Tory Lanez a similar question about how he feels when fans approach him for photos and he shared that he sees being a celebrity as a blessing and compared every photo to an album sale. He mentioned that there are people in the world who work a lot harder as far as manual labor, time and energy only to make way less money and if he can get paid millions to take a picture, than some sacrifices in privacy come with the territory of being a celebrity.
However, I understand where Hardwick is coming from, celebrities are regular people and are entitled to spend time with loved ones when they are not working, and working includes catering to their fans. Their families didn’t necessarily choose fame, and if your favorite is not on stage or a set and out just trying to have some coffee and quality time with their kids, your picture may have to wait. So for now, I guess it’s safe to say that if you spot Hardwick out in public with his wife and children, you might want to “get ghost” if you can’t handle him declining a selfie.
You can peep the interview below. Hardwick addresses the photo incident around the 11:30 mark:
