Summary
- Vernon Kay criticized Jack Black's behavior in interviews, calling him "rude" and "arrogant".
- Black faced challenges in his teenage years related to drug addiction, turmoil, and conflict.
- Despite controversies, Black remains a beloved star with immense popularity in the 2020s.
Jack Black is an entertainer who needs no introduction. A comedy icon, Black has starred in some of the most beloved films of the 2000s, 2010s, and the 2020s including School of Rock, The Holiday, Nacho Libre, Kung Fu Panda, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. While Black is loved by his fans and his work is celebrated, his personal life is not immune to controversy.
In 2020, British host Vernon Kay, who interviewed Black on multiple occasions, publicly shared his harsh and shocking feelings towards the actor. To many fans' surprise, Black was painted in an extremely negative light. Perhaps there is truth in the saying never meet your heroes. In this article, we will touch on what Vernon Kay has said about Jack Black, and what other controversies surround Black.
Vernon Kay Shared Negative Experiences With Jack Black, Harming His Reputation
British TV host Vernon Kay, known for T4, and All Star Family Fortunes, among other TV programs, has had the privilege to interview many different celebrities throughout his career. Kay, who is respected in the British entertainment scene, got the opportunity to interview Jack Black multiple times for different film publicity media tours.
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Unfortunately for Kay, he had a bad experience every time he spoke with Black, according to Digital Spy. Kay did try to give him the benefit of the doubt at first, however. "I don't know whether he'd had a hangover or whether it was because I was either the first or last interview of the day, but he was horrible", Kay said of an early encounter with Black.
Vernon Kay would later interview Black again and again, and his behavior did not change. "He was just a [expletive]. I interviewed him three or four times for various films. I interviewed him for Gulliver's Travels, for School of Rock, for Shallow Hal and a couple of others, and he was just the same every time", Kay said in a The Sun interview.
Furthermore, Kay admitted that he was early in his career when he frequently interviewed Black and was nervous. The legendary actor did not make him feel welcome or at ease at all. "When you're so rude, arrogant, and pig-faced to a young TV presenter, who's so nervous and trying to hone his skills, and you're so arrogant to dismiss that, it's just not on."
In a brutally honest fashion, Kay used multiple expletives to describe Black's personality. After harshly commenting on Black's behavior, Kay articulated that ,"I hope he reads it, and let this be a lesson to Jack Black."
As of February 2024, there is no evidence suggesting that Jack Black publicly responded to Vernon Kay's comments. It cannot be determined with certainty if they have spoken privately about Kay's revealing The Sun interview. Maybe Black quietly apologized. Hopefully, Kay's honesty did demonstrate to Black that maybe some of his behavior was uncalled for. Black's public persona is often seen as fun, quirky, energetic, and welcoming, and Kay's comments showed a completely different side of Black. A side fans would not like at all.
Inside Jack Black's Secret Scandals
Vernon Kay's interview is not the only controversy attached to Jack Black. The entertainer reportedly had a drug addiction as a teenager, among other tidbits the actor tries to keep down low. According to Black, he was a troubled youth.
In a Parade interview, he shared that he began "hanging out with some pretty rough characters" and started to consume alcohol around the age of 13. Furthermore, he began to develop a dependence on other substances. Black eventually stopped spending time with the "characters" and felt threatened by them. So much so, he stopped attending classes in fear. Looking back on his teenage years in a The Guardian interview, Black elaborated that "I should have been put in jail."
A friend of Black's even had Black use his mother's credit card to purchase an illegal substance, according to Looper. This proved to be too much for Black's conscience to handle, and he eventually decided to speak to a therapist at his school. "I spilled my guts, telling him I felt guilty about stealing from my mom to get money for cocaine... I left feeling euphoric like an enormous weight had been lifted from me. It changed me."
- Black would later change schools
- He began to attend an arts-based private school
- This experience allowed him to explore acting
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Black also reportedly had a challenging time filming the controversial movie, Tropic Thunder. Most of his difficulties stemmed from the actual shooting of the movie and the locations in which it was filmed. According to an interview Black gave for GQ, "...it was hard. Comedy is supposed to be super easy, but dude, the locations were remote...But every day, dude, we had to get in a weird Jeep and drive over hill and dale. Like, really intense landscapes, mud spraying. For like an hour and a half to two hours, every morning."
Black elaborated and shared that the heat was terrible and that he got badly sunburned on the first day of production. Even more scary, Black got kicked off a water buffalo during the filming of a scene!
Despite Vernon Kay's harsh 2020 comments about him, Black continues to be adored by fans. Jack Black shows no signs of slowing down, and has been enjoying immense popularity in the 2020s. The wild success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie demonstrated Black's ability to stay relevant. Furthermore, it solidified that he is one of Hollywood's most in-demand stars.
Black's wild and charismatic personality is so infectious, and fans can only hope that he allows his welcoming persona to shine more when giving interviews. As Kay suggested, there is no reason to be rude.
