David Cook Hates His Fans
If I were David Cook, I would be probably doing everything I could do try and stay relevant in the music world. Part of that would be making sure I didn't do anything to irritate whatever fan base he has remaining. When I listen to the radio I'm not hearing a lot of David Cook music. I also expect that with a new Idol winner and lots of other Idol contestants doing better than he does, that he will be joining the Soul Patrol and Taylor Hicks tour and giving away free tickets to anyone who wants to see them.
Taylor, if you will remember, won American Idol just a few years ago and has fallen so far that for his show in LA last week he had to give away tickets for free in order to get anyone to come.
Anyway, the point of all this is that David Cook went on his MySpace page and blasted his fans for trying to get on his bus or in his hotel room, and putting signs on his bus. Ummm. Isn't that what being a rock star is all about? It is very easy to make sure they don't know where you are. This is all part of the game. Can you imagine someone from the Rolling Stones in their heyday saying this? Hell, not just them, but any musician. It shows you have made it. Now, David could be upset because they are all underage or all over the age of 80. Who knows.
"This relationship only works when it remains healthy for both parties," he says, "and should this behavior continue, the only thing we can do is take more preventative measures to maintain our privacy, which in turn makes us less accessible to you."
He concludes: "I hope this doesn't come off as harsh. I merely want to nip this in the bud so we can continue to have a great experience with all of you at the shows we have coming up."
So, basically what he is saying, is come to the shows and spend your money, and then leave us alone and don't bother us unless you are paying for the privilege. Even if you have had a stalker or something, which he hasn't, then you just increase your security, you don't go on your MySpace and lecture your fans on fan etiquette. If I were one of his fans, I would tell him off.
As usual, I have linked to the page so you can read the comments. This was the best one I saw.
I don't even know who the hell this guy is. Someone told me to read this. This guy's a douche. You wouldn't last two freaking seconds in the music world I live in. Piss off.
Nicely said sir.
21 comments:
wow, who knew he could be so anal?
looks like little david needs some perspective mixed in w/ a heaping spoonful of reality check.
moron.
It'll all be gone soon enough, David. Don't worry.
Wow David did you not learn anything from Kelly Clarkson? She was the biggest seller of all the American Idol winners and even she learned how to eat humble pie.
Taylor Hicks's win is still considered controversial as Kat McPhee was favored to win.
As far as Cookie goes, I'm sure the reason why he's upset at the groupies is because they're female. If he was being approached by male groupies, there would be no issue.
This was probably his idea of being cordial and "fair". What he didn't realize was that you can't say it at all. AT ALL.
Ugh...this story is being so blown out of proportion. In the interest of disclosure, I am a DC fan. I think he's very talented and understand that "winning" AI is a huge hurdle to jump to get people to take him seriously. Having said that, I know 90% of the events that transpired which then caused him (or someone in his camp) to post that blog. Certain behavior from a small percentage of his fans has escalated to extremely inappropriate levels.
I only know a small portion of what happened at his two shows over the weekend, so I am guessing there is still a lot that went on behind the scenes to prompt that message. The events that led to that blog post are being omitted by the major news media picking up the story (or else they genuinely don't know). David really is a talented musician and a great guy, and if you can get past the AI stigma, give him a chance. This is not diva behavior or anal retentiveness. It's a message that was really meant for a small group of people...I don't necessarily agree with the method of delivery, and I'm sure David never expected it to get picked up as "news"...hopefully it will get straightened out.
redfishbluefish-- what happened?
Um..."us"? He's using the Royal We in a message to his fans?
Whatever that "light on" song sucks anyway. No worries, David-give it a year and you won't have a semblance of this problem.
Exactly juicy...WTF are you on about redfish? How about telling us "what you know" and what "the media is not reporting"?
I,too, think this is being blown out of proportion. I think some things went on that made him uncomfortable and he just wanted to address the issue. Think about it. I live in Tulsa and know many people who know David (I don't...I'll just say that up front) and think he's always been a great guy. I think he thought he was handling a bad situation in the best possible manner and it got twisted.
And the "we" means he's speaking for all the people on the tour...not sure that was a good idea, but I understand where he's coming from. If you travel at all for business and have been forced to travel in groups, as I have, there's always someone in the group that no one wants to room with or hang with in the off times because it's a royal pain in the ass. Maybe some things are happening that are making some of the people he's touring with irritated, too. Who knows. I just think it's a non-issue.
idletard.com and topidol.wordpress.com are where I got the story. Basically, a group of fans are stalking David and his band to the point where everywhere they go these girls show up. There is a rumor the girls (I hate to call them women, because they're all acting 12) put some sort of GPS on his bus so they could follow him more easily. There was an episode where they basically drove David out of a bar by yelling at him and such.
David D - He's talking about his band, too. David's been playing with two of the four guys since his college bar band days. One of them (his guitar player) has become the target of a lot of this crazy behavior as well.
juicy - I'm still piecing it all together, but they played at a casino in Atlantic City over the weekend. Some groups of fans were running up and down the hallways of every floor, knocking on all the doors and screaming out the band's names. They were calling every room trying to find their rooms, and I have heard, although can't verify, that rooms were broken into and personal items were stolen (don't know if they were rooms of the band or not). At the shows, a group (unknown at this time if the 'group' is all the same people) were disruptive and rude to other people sitting around them. And by disruptive I don't mean normal concert-going behavior...I mean things that would cause the band to nearly have to stop mid-song. These people are also throwing things onstage and other boorish behavior that in general is causing a bad experience for everyone. I know many of you will say "big deal...shit like that happens at concerts all the time", and I agree. But that's the point - it's become *so* bad that I think David, or someone close to him, perhaps thought a nice "hey, cut it out" directly from him might reach this small percentage of people doing this stuff. Also, David has always done autograph signing and meet& greets after his shows. But again a "group" (same or not unknown) is causing major disruptions and doing things that threaten the safety of other fans waiting and/or the band themselves. There are also reports, which I personally can't verify yet, that have a few individuals actually managing to attach a GPS device to the band's tour bus and following them to a local restaurant.
I don't disagree with some of you that David has a long way to go to prove himself, and I am guessing that if you don't know the guy, and someone gave you a free ticket and you said "what the hell, I'll check him out" and then you were surrounded by the kind of crap that's been happening (I've seen some of it) you might wonder what the hell kind of batshit crazy fan group you wandered into and never again listen to a song by him.
He really is just a normal 20-something guy who loves music and wants to play. He isn't someone who just wanted to become famous and the music is secondary. Some of the excessively zealous fans are crossing lines that *anyone* would want respected. It's not necessary to like him or his music to understand that, hopefully!
WTF with the fans? Get a life. I like David Cook.
Personally, I think going on line and saying "cut it out" is less douchy than having a bunch of goon body guards roughing people up, or having them arrested for disturbing the peace (knocking on hotel doors and screaming in the hallways) and prosecuted for stalking. I say cut him some slack - he's giving them a break.
omg grow the fuck up David.
seriously what a load of shit, who tells their fans to knock it off?
i mean he probbaly only has like 15 tops, couldn't he just email them directly???
douchebag.
I will start this post by saying that my fiance and I are David Cook fans and I was at the first Atlantic City show. I took my fiance to the show for his birthday. I was sitting right behind the overweight middle aged women with bunny ears calling themselves the David Cook bunnies. They made all these signs and he did not look happy to see them. After reading about what happened afterwards I don't blame him.
The full crazy story is here: http://www.idletard.com/blog/archives/category/david-cook
The point of my post is, the day after his first show on Saturday afternoon, I went to H&M to kill some time before catching the bus back to New York. Out of the corner of my eye I spot a guy just doing some shopping wearing a hat. Very low key. I recognize him as David Cook and seeing as I saw him the night before, I discreetly approached him to say hello and let him know I thought the show was great. He was incredibly nice and we started talking about the show and what not. My fiance came over and I let David know that he was a big fan and it was his birthday and asked him if he would he mind taking a picture. David happily obliged, wished my fiance happy birthday, then asked us where we were from and was genuinely really kind towards us. As we were saying good bye, I noticed that some women were hovering and a crowd was gathering. The picture taking called attention to him. I felt horrible for blowing up his spot and started apologizing for getting him recognized. He brushed it off and said it wasn't a problem at all and not to worry. Then he went over to the group of women waiting and started signing autographs and taking pictures with them, all the while being super nice and talking to them.
I hate to say "I've met a lot of celebrities" but I have and David Cook was genuinely nice and humble. He thanked us and all the other people around for being fans.
When I first read this story I hoped I wasn't the cause of it! But after reading the background on this story I knew it must have been pretty bad for David to react like this when he was so sweet and not bothered by being approached when I met him.
Just because he is an artist and won American Idol doesn't mean he is obligated to deal with super crazy fans. I know I interrupted his private shopping time and I did feel bad for that, but he was so cool about it that I know these other "fans" definitely took it to a whole other level. And considering that these disruptive fans sound pretty obnoxious, I agree with Bryn that he put the word out in a far less douchy way then say, making an announcement that he is done signing autographs a la Ringo...
What is really messed up is "David Cook Hates Fans" is a much better story than revealing the whole truth.
redfishbluefish and mamao said pretty much what I would have.
Cook's mistake was not in addressing the issue, but in still trying to remain super nice. When I first saw this my immediate thought was something MUST have happened, but the statement was too vague and I wish he would have said what. There'd be a lot less of this "OMG he's such a douche" going on if he had flat out said, "Look, putting a GPS on my bus is totally not cool...I love my fans but y'all are taking it too far to the point where it's actually a danger to my and my crew's safety and you're going to be the only fans I have left if you keep ruining my shows by acting like total jackasses. Do you plan on paying my fucking rent for the rest of my life? If not I suggest you cool it so I can continue to sell some tickets." You can't just pull out one ball when you do this kind of thing, you have to pull out both or else you get crucified when it wasn't even your fault.
Something stupid had happened during the Idols tour too but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. I just remember that three or four people (not including David) on that season ended up addressing the fans about it it via blog so it was pretty serious.
AI is such a double edged sword. You get an assload of exposure but I kid you not, EVERY year there is at least one male contestant who ends up inheriting the same retarded fans. They've been around since season 2 and it's like they go in each year just looking for some poor sap to latch onto and obsess over and literally act like they OWN the guy. They're probably the same ones who were Claymates in season two and harassed radio dj's so much to play his music, that the dj's got fed up refused to play his music at all. I know all celebs have to do with crazy but I'm convinced these AI fans are a whole other level of WTFness.
And it's a shame b/c no one outside of Idol fandom gives a shit that much, you know? These guys are just trying to make that jump from random AI winner to a legitimate artist, and their fans end up ruining their image for them. Maybe DC will fare better than Clay though.
It seems the female winners tend to be better off in part b/c they don't end up with that kind of crazy following...if fans were to follow Kelly or Carrie around like that they'd definitely be arrested for aggravated stalking and harrassment. Sexism has its slight advantages sometimes.
oh wtf, i didn't mean to say that much. sorry :-/
Gayla, as far as I'm concerned you can talk as long as you want if you keep saying stuff like this:
"You can't just pull out one ball when you do this kind of thing..."
David has a perfect right to ask his fans to respect his privacy. There is a BIG difference between a fan and a pack of crazed animals intent on invading someone's space and stalking them. I would hesitate to call these people fans. They are more like gangs of thugs who steal and destroy. He gives 100% at his shows and deserves at the very least to feel safe. I hope David is around for a long time. He is talented, intelligent, good looking. I hear a lot of jealousy from you guys. Any time I hear someone call another person "gay", I know he or she has the mentality of a 13 year old.
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