Celebrities in general, but mostly on the left are used to being catered to no matter what they do or say. Accordingly, they always seem shocked when people don't feel exactly the way they do, and that is usually when they throw tantrums.
This was the scene that played out last month when Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer and songwriter John Mellencamp went to Toledo, Ohio, to perform a show.
Well ... part of a show, anyway.
Even though the show happened in March, the clip of his abbreviated 'performance' surfaced on Twitter last night. Watch:
Biden supporter John Cougar Mellencamp throws a tantrum and storms off stage after he learns his audience doesn’t want to be politically lectured and would rather get what they paid for. pic.twitter.com/Ut5VLoFIUj
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) April 16, 2024
At least one media outlet reported that Mellencamp's speech during his show was a promotion of Joe Biden. Others have claimed it was a story about his grandmother. But Mellencamp, by his own admission, has said that his recent shows are intertwined with social and political commentary. So, even if the story he was telling WAS ostensibly about his grandmother, it probably had a strong political angle to it as well.
More importantly, Mellencamp has been performing on stage since the early '80s. Surely he has been heckled before. To use one person telling him to 'shut up and play' as an excuse to walk off stage and cheat people out of the hard-earned money they paid to see him play seems just a LITTLE bit of overkill.
Twitter, unsurprisingly, wasn't very sympathetic to Mellencamp's outburst.
Maybe he left to go suck on a chili dog. 🤷🏻♂️
— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) April 16, 2024
Someone should have told him, 'Oh yeah, the show must go on, long after the thrill of playing is gone.'
Looks like he had a transmission to rebuild anyway
— That One Guy Who Is Always Right. (@RickLazzarini) April 16, 2024
Like Bruce Springsteen, Mellencamp writes a lot about working-class America. So, we're sure his outfit for this show was carefully crafted. But he has been a multi-millionaire for decades. He even owns an island off the coast of South Carolina. It doesn't exactly scream 'car mechanic.'
We all know him. It's not like he hasn't been proving that he, his brand, his songs and his lyrics are all a complete fraud for years.
— 2AJames (@2AJames_) April 16, 2024
He really just needs to sing. When we saw The Eagles last year they just talked about giving everyone a "2 hour vacation."
— Dan Keller (@DanTJMAJWC) April 16, 2024
This is the way. It's not that artists aren't allowed to have their own opinions and express them. Of course, they are. But there is a time and a place. (And we're not totally on the side of the heckler here either. But the man did pay his money, so he has the right to express his disapproval.)
It's also interesting in the clip how the audience started out mostly on Mellencamp's side, cheering as he dressed down the heckler. But then he gets booed when he says he is cutting the show short and booed even harder when he simply stops playing mid-song.
Good. It’s time celebrities find out they and their opinions are not that important to us. Let him storm off the stage like an angry toddler. https://t.co/GCdLooe1D5
— ULTRA Gay Biker DAD (@AnotherHomoCon) April 16, 2024
LMAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOO https://t.co/wn5sFHL8ie
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) April 16, 2024
We feel bad for the people who bought tickets. But as far as visceral enjoyment goes, watching Mellencamp lose his temper just 'hurts so good.'
So much for “fighting authority”!
— jaeger71 (@jaeger71) April 16, 2024
The inability of first-home buyers to enter into the market means no lil' pink houses for you 'n me, Coug https://t.co/S3uNjtb8zv
— MDub, Pete's humanⓂ️ (@emmdub559) April 16, 2024
We see what they did here.
“Since you’ve been so wonderful I’m gonna cut about 10 songs out the show”
— The Trashfather ™ (@TLandshark) April 16, 2024
Lib mentality. “I’m going to punish you with the little bit of power I have.” https://t.co/rcNvx3GPWy
Seriously, what was that part of his hissy fit? Threaten to cut your show short and then abruptly end it? That's just being a brat because you can.
Audience should get a refund.
— Jules! (@sparkly_jules1) April 16, 2024
According to reports, Cougar did come back later to perform a few hit songs, but he definitely did not do a full show and the audience should get refunds, at least partial ones.
“You don’t know me”. He doesn’t know the members of his audience either, but that doesn’t stop him from lecturing them. https://t.co/28MrnPNXto
— Hector Drummond (@hector_drummond) April 16, 2024
Well, that's the mentality. He feels his opinions are more important, so people must hear them. And he can't take it when people don't want to.
(We also think it's kind of funny that he was vaguely threatening the heckler. Because Mellencamp is pretty short and weighs about a buck-fifty soaking wet. But of course, he has armed security.)
Dude is 72 yrs old. He should be thankful folks are still spending their hard earned money to watch him sing.
— Deb-- Redacted Redacted (@debster7301) April 16, 2024
Maybe he can head back to Indiana and yell "Get off my lawn" to nobody. 😏
Imagine having the talent and life of John Mellencamp and still being this miserable https://t.co/w4OwjU3pXh
— 🗽Automated Liberty🗽 (@theeZR0) April 16, 2024
Mellencamp doesn't even deny that he is pretty grumpy most of the time, especially in his later years. We get the feeling that happiness might cause him pain, like Johnny Ringo in Tombstone.
Sad to watch. He can't even enjoy playing music without being political. He could bring divided people together with music & and he choose to act like a toddler
— SOcean 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@SOcean5) April 16, 2024
He acted like a real B.A.B.Y. in the U.S.A.
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