Woody Harrelson didn’t know what he was letting himself in for when he agreed to do a Q and A session on Reddit yesterday for promotion of his new film Rampart. He probably thought a group of polite cinema-goers would ask question after question about the film and nothing about his previous work or his personal life.
It didn’t quite work out that way, with the AMA (ask me anything) not only turning into something of a non-event, but actually damaging the actor’s reputation. The Cheers actor answered only fifteen of the thousands of questions asked and his answer to everything - including favourite film and most difficult role - was “Rampart.”
The AMA took a dark turn when a user recounted the story of a young girl at a prom after party which Harrelson had “crashed.” Harrelson allegedly slept with the young girl. He denied the accusation, but still managed to try to turn it back to the film: “First off, its not true, and second off, I don’t want to answer questions about that. Lets focus on the film people.”
If you visit Reddit right now, the front page is absolutely full with Woody Harrelson pictures and jokes, with some users calling it the worst AMA ever. The whole thing certainly didn’t go as the actor (or his publicist) had planned and I can’t imagine he’ll be especially interested in trying again.
I think you missed a few things in the sequence of events. The high school virginity story was posted before woody saw any questions, complete with joke gifs. Not every question was answered Rampart, but I don’t think he understood the format. the point is, he was likely pissed from the moment he stepped in to answer questions. The prom thing was his first answer. His second reply was immediately met with a comment about how he rather be fucking a teen. I think it looked a little different when people only saw it after it was over.
4th February 2012, 4:47 PM - reply - report
The answers I could still see (not sure if some were deleted) were all concerning Rampart. Sometimes he went into more detail, but almost across the board was about Rampart. The only exception that I noticed when somebody asked what he did while he wasn’t filming (spent time with family), which he answered twice.
Other than that, yes, I saw it after it was over, and I apologise for any chronological errors in the news post.
4th February 2012, 4:53 PM - reply - report
I remember what the post looked like before it started: an announcement that the AMA wouldn’t start until 3 PM EST, and a mob already gathering around the top post, which accused him of taking a schoolgirl’s virginity. How did they expect the AMA to pan out?
4th February 2012, 8:06 PM - reply - report
Woody Harrelson didn’t stand a chance. The AMA was posted with a clear message stating that he wouldn’t be answering questions until 3 PM EST, by which time the accusation, along with memes and joke GIFs, was already right at the top, and an angry mob was already forming. The people were sharpening their pitchforks before he even got there; it’s no surprise he wanted to steer things onto a different subject, yet everyone insisted on asking questions based on this single anecdote, and it pretty much drove him off. I can’t see what the people there expected him to do.
4th February 2012, 8:05 PM - reply - report
CB: Exactly. But I can totally see how this looks much worse after the fact. The causality gets switched from the angry lynch mob to Woody if you read it without seeing the chronology of the events. Someone should write a marketing thesis on this.
4th February 2012, 8:25 PM - reply - report