Bill Hader Stopped Signing Merch After A 'F—ed Up' Encounter With Star Wars Fan
Bill Hader has shared his dislike for signing merchandise when he meets fans. Hader, 44, was a guest on a recent episode of the "Happy, Sad, Confused" podcast, where he revealed the reason why he does not sign any merchandise at conventions or fan interaction.
Hader is known to many fans as the voice of BB-8 in the "Star Wars" film "The Force Awakens." The actor-comedian shared that he frequently gets requested to autograph pictures or memorabilia. The "Barry" star recounted a distasteful late-night encounter in 2015 with a fan, which made him stop giving out autographs.
"You know what it was? I used to sign stuff, and then one time I saw somebody and they had their kid come up to me to sign a BB-8 thing and it was three in the morning," he said. "I was leaving the 'Inside Out' premiere and then we went to an after-party thing and it was super late and this guy kept his kid up all night. [He] was like, 'Go over there so he'll sign it so I can sell it online.'" After he overheard the man, the "It" star was stunned. He remembered, "I was like, 'That's f—ed up.' So now, I just kind of blanket, like, I'm not signing any of this s—."
Although Abrams credited Bill with helping to bring BB-8 to life, the comedian doesn't feel he earned credit for the same.
"It's very sweet that J.J. Abrams put my name on it, but I came in and did voice stuff for it that didn't work," Hader said. "Then, he brought me in later and said, 'Hey, do you want to do this?' It was like a talk box thing and then I did that. And the reason he hasn't had me come back is because anybody can do that. It's like a machine that you can operate. I did some voice stuff that just didn't work, so I'm not really sure what Ben [Schwartz] did, but I just know that was my experience doing it."
Hader is an alumnus of "Saturday Night Live" from 2005 to 2013, where he played several fan-favorite characters. During a recent interview with The Independent, Hader named the one SNL character he won't play again after "offending" a viewer and backtracked on his suggestion that he would retire the role of gay nightclub guide, Stefon. Hader seemed to be referencing the discussion that gay characters should be played by gay actors.
Hader said, "An Italian woman told me she was offended by it, and I was like, 'All I'm trying to do is the old comic staple, you know, gibberish and everything.' And she was like, 'Right, but my father spoke like that and he actually spoke Italian.'" He continued, "Your sensibility changes when you get older. I don't think I would do that again."
Hader presently stars in the HBO series "Barry."
