Action Stars Who Went Too Far

Action stars may play larger-than-life characters on screen, but they're still people. Acting is just a job and doesn't make them invulnerable — they're capable of having the same problems as the rest of us. Some misspeak, some react in anger, and others just don't understand the world around them. Occasionally they act out of malice, and big personalities can even explode into outright violence.

Doing backflips and karate chops on screen won't stop human problems like addiction or interpersonal conflict. Being big stars, however, means that indiscretions have more public impact. Often these issues have palpable consequences, not just a mild chastising from a publicist. Jobs are put in jeopardy, careers are thrown curveballs, legacies are tarnished. No rescue missions for these action stars — they made their bed, and they have to sleep in it.

To get to the point, sometimes action stars go too far. Here are some notable cases.

Wesley Snipes' action stardom is beyond dispute. He has blackbelts in two different martial arts schools, he founded his own movie studio, and he keeps us safe from vampires as Blade. We're starting to think it may not just be an act — given how much he tweets about vampires, he might be saving us from real life bloodsuckers, too. 

He's also almost as famous for dodging taxes as he is for being an action star. Between 1999 and 2001, Snipes dodged about $7 million in taxes. He did this by listening to an anti-tax accountant who convinced him that he legally did not need to file taxes. In 2006, after getting indicted, he wrote a 600-page declaration stating that he had no ill will but claimed the government had no authority to impose sanctions on him. This, obviously, did not work.

He was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to three years in prison. He took his case to appeals court, which upheld the sentence in 2010. Snipes spent the next few years in federal prison and under house arrest. He's since returned to Hollywood, and is hopefully a little more careful who he trusts. Vampires aren't his only threat.

In December of 2017, Matt Damon weighed in on the burgeoning Me Too movement in the wake of Harvey Weinstein's long history of sexual misconduct coming to light. Damon stated that there's a continuum of behavior and that certain people like Louis C.K. weren't as big a threat because they learned their lesson after being held accountable. 

Many female celebrities expressed disappointment if not anger. Minnie Driver, who co-starred with Damon in Good Will Hunting, responded with frustration. She pointed out that Damon didn't experience harassment on a day-to-day basis like many women in Hollywood. Alyssa Milano said "it's the micro that makes the macro" and that "[t]here are different stages of cancer. Some more treatable than others. But it's still cancer."

Damon apologized for his comments in January of 2018. "I really wish I'd listened a lot more before I weighed in on this," he said. "A lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they're doing... but I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while."

The 2012 Republican National Convention faced a fair bit of criticism for being over scripted. Modern political conventions aren't just for formally nominating candidates, they're for spectacle and showing off your vision of America to a primetime television audience. The GOP addressed this by throwing out the script and bringing in a surprise guest: action legend Clint Eastwood. They quickly realized they should have kept that script.

In what was originally pegged as a five-minute prime time speech, Eastwood spoke for 12 unscripted minutes. He spent much of it addressing an empty chair which he claimed held President Barack Obama. The speech was described as rambling at best and disconnected from reality at worst.

Several of his attacks were nonsensical. This included blaming Obama for starting the war in Afghanistan (which was declared when he was a state legislator) and saying that Romney was a better candidate because he was a businessman instead of a lawyer (despite having a JD from Harvard).

Some saw the speech as a publicity stunt. Others saw an old man who lost touch with reality. Members of his own party cringed. A meme was even born — Eastwooding — in which people addressed empty chairs. Eastwood later regretted the speech, saying he wished he phrased it differently. It was too far for many, though, and it's changed the way his work has been viewed since.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's career arc is a matter of public record but still fundamentally bizarre when written out: 1) world's greatest bodybuilder, 2) youngest ever Mr. Olympia, 3) world famous action star, 4) governor of the most populous state in the union, 5) world famous action star.

Schwarzenegger entered office after the famous California recall election of 2003. He left office with an approval rating of 23% and more than a few accusations of mismanagement. There were also plenty of times he acted outside of his normal boundaries. Of course, governing a state is complicated, and determining "too far" for a politician is subjective — unless, say, a superior court judge says so.

In October of 2008, college student Luis Santos was fatally stabbed. One of the men convicted of the stabbing was Esteban Nunez, son of California Assembly Speaker of the House Fabian Nunez. Esteban plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter in May of 2010, with a sentence of 16 years in prison. On Schwarzenegger's last day as governor, as his last act in office, he commuted Esteban's sentence from 16 years to seven. This breached protocol — neither the victim's family or the San Diego County's prosecutor's office were informed, and only found out via a reporter. Both parties sued the state, stating that the governor violated the victim's family's rights by not notifying them. Schwarzenegger's only public comment on the matter indicates that he commuted the sentence to "help a friend" — namely Fabian.

The judge called the commutation "an abuse of discretion" and "repugnant." However, the court ruled that the commutation was legal, even if distasteful. Jerry Brown, who succeeded Schwarzenegger as governor, signed a bill later to stop similar situations, all because Schwarzenegger took the powers of his office too far. Schwarzenegger later wrote a letter to Santos' family apologizing, which they did not accept.

Mel Gibson was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1980s and '90s. He was omnipresent, his movies made bank at the box office, he was acclaimed by the critics, and he was People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive. But it's impossible to tell his story without mentioning the 2006 arrest that saw all of that come crashing down... for a while.

Gibson long had issues with alcohol, once stating that alcoholism runs in his family. On July 28, 2006, Gibson was pulled over in Malibu by a police officer, found to be intoxicated and arrested for DUI. During the arrest, he became belligerent. This culminated with him making sexist remarks towards a female police officer before going on a vicious antisemitic rant. Gibson offered two apologies via his publicist, claiming his comments were "blurted out of a moment of insanity." He apologized to the Jewish community and the Malibu police.

Gibson's The Passion of the Christ had been released not long before this, which itself was controversial for (among other things) its depiction of Jewish people, with the Anti-Defamation League claiming it made them look "bloodthirsty and evil." The arrest caused people to revisit these claims.

Nobody bought his apology. Gibson was more or less blacklisted from Hollywood for nearly a decade, with few prominent roles and no directorial opportunities. He made a directorial comeback in 2016 with Hacksaw Ridge, which started a thaw in his relationship with the movie business.

These days, Dave Bautista is one of the top action stars in the business. His roles in Guardians of the Galaxy and Spectre vaulted him past "former wrestler" and into straight-up "movie star" territory. He's also an advocate for positive masculinity, saying that "it's okay to be nice" and that violence isn't always necessary. This would be a shock to Batista, the character he played in the WWE, who once got into a legit backstage fight for being arrogant and disrespectful.

By this point, Batista was arguably in the prime of his wrestling career. He was a main eventer, closed out Wrestlemania 21, and held the World Heavyweight Title for almost 300 days before getting injured. He also had an attitude backstage that rubbed people the wrong way, especially veterans. One such veteran was Booker T, who confronted Batista during a photoshoot for SummerSlam 2006 about his attitude. The result was a real life, unscripted fight between the two men. They exchanged real blows before getting separated.

Accounts differ as to who won the scuffle. Booker said that Batista "took a good beating, but he's a man." Most dirt sheets indicate that Booker won, or at least put up a more impressive showing. Backstage producer Fit Finlay said Batista had the better of Booker until they got separated, but he did no-sell a kick to the groin by Booker's wife Sharmell.

Years later, Booker said the fight was mostly the result of a testosterone-fueled disagreement. Outside his wrestling personality, Bautista acknowledged that he hadn't showed the proper respect to Booker and regretted it. They've since made up, and both parties admit they went too far, even if it felt necessary.