Yesterday, I had some back and forth on Twitter when someone sent me a link to a “statement” attributed to Tom Hardy. As we discussed on earlier this week, Drew McWeeny at HitFix went HAM on Tom Hardy via Twitter. McWeeny claimed that Tom made reporters wait four hours for interviews, and then didn’t even deign to sit down with several outlets. McWeeny also said that this is a regular thing for Hardy during junkets and promotional tours, that he’s consistently rude, not just to journalists but to studio people, publicists, handlers, etc. Lainey pretty much confirmed that Tom is really That Guy, the celebrity who acts like a pissy, bratty baby all the time.
Anyway, back to my story – there was a claim that Tom had responded to McWeeny by writing an open letter, which Tom then handed off to his “official” fansite to publish. This… is not the way to handle the situation. It’s so odd that I honestly didn’t even believe that it was real. What movie star/actor writes out a statement and gives it to a fansite to publish? But at this point, JustJared, Dlisted, Vulture and other sites are running with it, so here’s the alleged open letter that Tom wrote to Drew McWeeny (I made some minor edits because swear words):
Dear Drew,
Thank you for your email offering to retract your misdirected anger. I apologise for any part of you having to wait for an interview and then not get one. The truth is we (as I was paired for all interviews that day) were unaware that ANYBODY was waiting. Or even went without a TV interview. Someone somewhere must have thought putting it on me was a lot easier than losing their journalist relations for the ongoing junkets and multiple movies that are pending. I wish I would have napped to be honest.
One note to make is that per Fox, they said they “never actually told (you) that the interview was cancelled, simply that they were running behind schedule.” They also said that “Drew chose not to wait and left. Had he stayed, he would have gotten his interview as planned.”
F–k.. Plot thickens … Who knows what to trust my friend, but I do know the cancellation was definitely not made by myself.
Resisting the urge to dare you to say what you “rant tweeted” so publicly, to my face next time we meet, which I doubt you have the balls to do; I want to apologise regardless on behalf of those that misled the both of us. That isn’t cool. At all. Neither were your tweets. But that’s by the by.
I appreciate your apology of sorts in your emails to and fro which I am happy to openly post. Also as I hope you understand now and which you’ve made very clear in our emails back and forth, your legitimate frustration lies with those who organised the junket; who fed you and I misinformation; not me.
Again apologies for the clusterfk. And it’s knock on effect to your personal life. I appreciate it is a busy time of year for you and your time shouldn’t have been wasted. I never had any intention of causing you any inconveniences at all.
Best regards and thanks for calling me an a–hole a lot
Tommy xxx
[From Tom Hardy’s fan-run Tumblr]
Passive-aggressive much? There’s nothing like screaming “NUH UH SAY IT TO MY FACE” to prove that you’re a well-adjusted adult. So, Drew McWeeny confirmed, in a tweet, that Tom did write the open letter. McWeeny was tweeting extensively about it on Wednesday, actually, and then he ended up writing a lengthy blog post about the incident on HitFix. Here are some of assorted tweets:
Here’s some truth for you: I have never exchanged any e-mails with Tom Hardy. Hmmmm. Guess we can keep those plot twists coming, huh?
— DrewAtHitFix (@DrewAtHitFix) December 23, 2015
You want to believe what you want to believe. I’m not going to stop you. And I don’t need anyone to pick sides. You’re being very silly.
— DrewAtHitFix (@DrewAtHitFix) December 23, 2015
The whole world is a schoolyard, and most of you, deep down at heart, side with the bullies.
— DrewAtHitFix (@DrewAtHitFix) December 23, 2015
Amidst all of this, I named “Mad Max: Fury Road” my second favorite film of the year. “Revenant” is in my Runners-up. Boy, I hold a grudge.
— DrewAtHitFix (@DrewAtHitFix) December 23, 2015
While some sites have run this story like Tom Hardy got the better of a slimy journalist, my immediate reaction is to still be Team Drew. I believed his original story, and I still believe it. I also think he’s being quite professional about the sh-t-ton of grief he’s probably gotten from Tom’s fans and from the studio. You can read Drew’s HitFix post about the incident here. He says, again, that he and Tom did not exchange phone calls or emails. He offers a more detailed account of how Tom was a pissy baby on this junket, and in previous junkets. Drew is also telling hard truths about the long-standing rumors of Tom’s unprofessional behavior on and off set, how his bad attitude costs a lot of people time and money. The whole piece is definitely worth a read. And yes, I’m still Team Drew.
