With Paul Galvin v Oliver Callan, and Shia LaBeouf playing fisticuffs at a bar in Vancouver, celebrity fights are all the range at the moment. Here are five you might have forgotten about.
By David Deignan
Axl Rose v Tommy Hilfiger
This surreal dustup between the former Guns N’ Roses front man and world famous designer Hilfiger took place at a Manhattan club known as The Plumm back in 2006. The little scuffle broke out when Rose moved the drink of Hilfiger’s girlfriend – now wife – Dee Ocleppo.
“I moved his girlfriend’s drink so that it wouldn’t spill,” said Rose afterwards. “It was the most surreal thing, I think, that’s ever happened to me. He just kept smacking me.”
A ‘foaming at the mouth’ Hilfiger was eventually dragged away kicking and screaming by his own bodyguard.
Rose was there to play a surprise set for Rent actress Rosario Dawson and, in a nice touch, dedicated ‘You’re Crazy’ to his good friend Hilfiger.
And the Winner?
Got to be Hilfiger. Not only did he defend his girlfriend’s honour (surprising enough that a male fashion designer even had one), he also beat up a rock star, which is a story he can tell to his grandchildren. The day Axl Rose got his ass handed to him by Tommy Hilfiger, of all people, was a sad, sad day for music.
Sinead O’Connor v Prince
Another weird and wonderful match-up, the only downside to this one is there’s not a trace of any photographic or video evidence.
Sinead O’Connor … fought the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince
What made these two unlikely opponents want to face off? Well according to O’Connor, it started after she started singing a cover of Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. The purple one had written the song for 80’s funk band ‘The Family’ but it was only in 1990 when O’Connor covered it that it became an international success.
O’Connor explained the incident herself – “At the time he had a lot of female protégés and I had covered his song without having anything to do with him.
“He invited me to his house in Los Angeles and started to give out to me for swearing in interviews. When I told him to go f**k himself he got very upset and became quite threatening, physically. I ended up having to escape. He can pack a punch. A few blows were exchanged. All I could do was spit. I spat on him quite a bit.”
And the Winner?
Prince was clearly the winner – Sinead herself says she had to escape – but despite the fact that he’s knee high to a goblin and could probably be beaten up by most girls, he still doesn’t emerge with much credit.
Chevy Chase v Bill Murray
Chevy Chase is a dick, we all know that. Everybody who’s ever worked with him has relayed that fact to us over and over again.
Bill Murray had never worked with Chevy Chase before a scrap broke out between the two right before an episode of Saturday Night Live.
Murray had replaced Chase as SNL host after he left to pursue his film career, but during the second season somebody thought it’d be a good idea to get Chase back to do the opening monologue of the show.
Tensions simmered between the two all week and then, right before they were supposed to go live, havoc broke out. Witnesses claim Murray started it by pointing out how much everybody hated Chase but Chase retorted by comparing Murray’s acne-pocked skin to the surface of the moon. Go, girls.
Anyway, cast member Laraine Newman recalled, “I know know whether Chevy provoked it or not. But it culminated Billy saying to Chevy, ‘Why don’t you f*** your wife every once in a while? She needs it.’ And I don’t even remember who threw the first punch, Bill or Chevy. It was ugly.”
And the Winner?
Murray. If only for the fact that he managed to call Chase’s lack of talent long before most of the rest of us.
Bill Cosby v Tom Smothers
During a party at the Playbody mansion in 1976, Smothers congratulated Cosby on his latest TV series which, unbeknownst to poor Tom, had been cancelled the previous day.
Cosby shot him a dirty look, so Smothers said “Yeah, well f*** you.”
If Smothers’s account of the incident is anything to go by, Cosby then snuck up on him from behind, using Hugh Hefner as a screen, and sucker-punched him in the back of the head, knocking him over. Smothers lay on the ground stunned as Cosby stood over him screaming that he was going to “kick his ass.”
Just think for a second about how crazy that is.
And the Winner?
Smothers actually. Cosby may have knocked him down but it was a cheap shot. Smothers hasn’t ruled out a rematch though, saying “When we’re seventy-five, he’ll turn around and I’ll give him a blindside. It probably won’t hurt by the time we’ll be hobbling around in our walkers.”
Incidentally, they’re both 75 next year, so we’ll be expecting the rematch.
Jon Lovitz vs Andy Dick
Comedian, actor and musician Jon Lovitz has long blamed Andy Dick (comedian, actor and musician) for the death of Phil Hartman (comedian, actor and … graphic artist). Dick had allegedly re-introduced cocaine to Hartman’s wife Brynn at a 1997 Christmas party after 10 years of sobriety, launching a downward spiral which resulted in the murder-suicide of Hartman by Brynn five months later.
In 2006, Dick approached Lovitz at a club, downed his drink and said “I put the Phil Hartman hex on you” before walking away. Lovitz was furious.
In 2007, the two met again at the LA Laugh Factory. Jon Lovitz demanded an apology but Dick just replied, “You know why I said it? Because you said I killed Phil Hartman,” before asking him to appear in his new film.
Lovitz went absolutely insane. It is hard to tell whether this was down to the Hartman comment or the sheer embarrassment at being linked to an Andy Dick movie. Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada says what happened next was that Lovitz picked Dick up by the head and smashed him into the bar four or five times until he bled.
And the Winner?
Lovitz for sure. The man himself said, “All the comedians are glad I did it because this guy is a total asshole.”
While Lovitz’s career hasn’t shone in recent years, there’s no doubt that kicking Andy Dick’s ass has been the best thing he has done in a long time.
Paul Galvin v Oliver Callan and Shia La Beouf playing fisticuffs at a bar in Vancouver, celebrity fights are all the range at the moment. Here are five you might have forgotten about.
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