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canada v. timberlake

Looks like I'm not the only one that feels sorry for Justin Timberlake.

The guy lends his time and talent (yes, I said talent) to Toronto in a benefit concert to beef up the city's economy after their bout with SARS.

How do the Toronto fans respond? They pelt him with garbage and hold up degrading signs about him.

The guy is there for the city. He's there for the people. It's a benefit on their behalf, and this is how they greet him.

I don't care what you think about Timberlake or his music, that kind of behavior is despicable. You don't like him? There were plenty of other bands to see. Go wait on line at the bathroom. Go get a soda. Sit on your ass and hold you hands over your ears and shut your eyes. Just don't mock and ridicule an entertainer who came to you out of charity.

Of course, as Magyar points out, the crowd was their for the geriatric stylings of the Stones, The Guess Who and Rush. Would it have killed these classic rock lovers to behave like human beings when Timberlake was on. Guess so.

Keith Richards, bless his zombie soul, tried to help Timberlake out:

The Stones guitarist, Keith Richards, came to his rescue, stepping to the foot of the stage and challenging audience members to throw bottles at him. After quelling the crowd somewhat, he and Mr. Timberlake gave each other a high-five.

You would think that people from the country that brought us Celine Dion and Bryan Adams would have a little more patience with the likes of Justin Timberlake.

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» Save it for the hockey game! from Tiger: Raggin' & Rantin'
michele*, of a small victory, who has not reached the level of recognizing a Tigerific compliment when she sees one, is very upset over how Justin Timberlake was treated by fans in Toronto at a recent benefit concert. I read... [Read More]

Comments

The last line of your post sums it up perfectly. That was just fucked up, especially considering he was doing it for charity. Assfucks.

I really don't like Timberlake--and I don't think he's that terribly talented. Still, that's shitty behavior from Toronto. If I were there, I'd be cheering like a maniac...

Who is Justin Timberlake anyway?

They do the same thing to American athletes at sporting events in Canada. Face it, the Nucks are just faux friends like the Saudis. They don't really give a shit about us, and we should stop giving a shit about them too. Eh?

That is despicable. My question is, how do you know the people throwing stuff were Canadians? There were people from all over North America at that concert.

If they were Canadian, I am saddened. If they weren't, I'm still saddened, because it was a shameful thing to do.

That's the sort of behavior you might expect from Eminem's legions, but seeing it from Canadian Stones fans is kinda difficult to comprehend.

When even the historically placid Canadians start acting like guests on Jerry Springer, it can't be a good sign for Western civilization...

There's no excuse to boo anyone on stage, period. At least that's the way I was raised.

Basic etiquette. I mean, really basic.

What's wrong with people nowadays?

That was sort of mean-spirited, Toronto. I really, really, really dislike Justin Timberlake as an artist and think his music is laughably bad, but there is a real person in there who is taking a huge risk each time he steps out on a stage. It's like I told people who hated my old band (and they were legion), "Okay, fine, YOU get out on stage and I'LL tell you what's wrong with it."

D

Yeah dave, Canadians drive all the way to NYC to act like assholes at games when they're not flying to Britain to impersonate soccer hoodlums. Insert eye roll here.

Michele, Toronto fans suck, period. The city as a whole has the biggest entitlement mentality I have ever seen anywhere....so they get a concert and get pissed because the government won'[ fund it...then they act like SARS just "happened" there like some sort of natural disaster, when the big outbreak didn't happen to the same extent in Vancouver and San Francisco, both cities with huge Asian populations but with better public health processes obviously.

Maybe Justin would like to come to my part of the world where the beef industry has tanked due to one case of mad cow disease and thousands of animals have been and will be slaughtered. I can assure you that Toronto doesn't give a rat's ass about that, either.

End of rant.

just another case of people claiming to be so open-minded and tolerant but only applying it to people who share their interests and opinions. if you are going to be an intolerant asshole be a bonafide one!!

Okay, throwing things at Justin Timberlake was totally rude and uncalled for...but what does it have to do with being Canadian? The concert happened in Toronto, but I'm sure it's not the only time people have behaved badly at a rock concert. Why generalize that all Canadians behave that way (particularly when there are thousands of pre-pubescent Canadian girls with crushes on Justin anyway)?

Also, before we go generalizing about Canadian behaviour at sporting events, I can bring up two events off the top of my head where Americans disrespected the Canadians--at the Olympics, the US Girls hockey team had a Canadian flag trampled in their locker room. And shortly after we Americans started bombing Afghanistan and killed some Canadians in a nasty friendly fire accident, Canadians were booed at a hockey game. Does that mean all Americans are pricks? C'mon, people, just a little less with the over-generalisations. That's all I ask.

You're right about Celine though. Blech.

(Still doesn't mean I'd run out and pelt her with water bottles.)

I hear that there were "messages of love" in those plastic water bottles.
Shitty though. I'm surprised.
I live in Toronto and didn't hear that it was such a big deal. I read that it was a few plastic water bottles with messages in them.

BTW, it wasn't charity...he was paid to perform...not that it makes any difference...I just thought that I should correct whoever it was that stated that he did it for charity. He didn't.

Jane Finch...spoken like a true bitter Westerner with a hate on for Toronto...oh wait...all of the rest of Canada hates Toronto....but you all like the money we generate to pull your asses out of trouble when you need it done.

Nice handle.

Heh. Like Alberta needs Toronto's money. The West as a whole pays its own way, it's Quebec and the Atlantics that suck the money out.

And the east may be po', but at least we don't need the army to come in in order to deal with a freakin' blizzard.

As to the concert incident.... eh. People are jerks. Canadians aren't immune to that, though some like to pretend.

Hey Piscus, you might want to look back a bit farther than that. The Canucks were booing the wings long before we responded. I agree it's silly and childish to say they did it first, but let's be honest about the sequence of events.

Mike R: The day Toronto is a barometer of the status of Western civilization, we're all going to be in far too much trouble to worry about Toronto.

radmila, baby.....how come Toronto screwed up with SARS and whines and cries like a baby that someone else should pay for it? And I love my handle....reminds me of all the chalk outlines at the donut shop they used to show on CITY-TV.

And yeah, what craig said.

Right there with ya, PiscusFiche and Radmila.

Let's not throw stones about the nastiness of fans at big events... Have any of you ever been to a sporting event involving any of Philadelphia's teams? They beat up Santa Claus and get so rowdy that they crash into the penalty box after Tie Domi, for goodness' sakes! I see just as many fights in the stands as I do when the Flyers come to town-- and I know it's not Capitals fans that instigate it 'cause it's not like that during the other games!

While I'm not in favor of pelting musicians with objects and booing them, what makes this so different from booing an athlete or team, or for that matter, throwing hats for a hat trick?

If they were empty bottles, how much could they hurt? If they were full, now that's another story...you only do that to the Flyers!

Jane and Craig,

Well, I'm not going to get into a big argument with you about it, but Mad Cow is going to have to be paid for and you know which money generating province they'll suck it out of.
As for SARS, the media made it a huge deal with photos of people with masks on walking the streets. I work and live in downtown Toronto and didn't see one mask wearer. It was contained to hospitals.

As for the snowstorm....Hey, you only wish you had a colourful Mayor, like we do...ok, he's an asshole, but we're about to vote him out anyway.

About the concert, it wasn't only Torontonians at that concert. And really, for a concert with half a million people in a fairly central part of the city, it went off without any violence...which we're pretty damn proud of.

But, there's nothing I'm going to say to convince westerners about Toronto. You guys need to piss on Ontario to make yourselves feel superior...go right ahead.
You all will still come to Onatari-ari-ari-airi-o for the big bail outs.

I was at the concert in Toronto. I was going to the bathroom during Justin Timberlake's performance (ahem), so I missed the first part of his performance, but while he was up with the Stones I saw some bottles thrown. I felt bad for him, as did most of the people around us.

All the people throwing were in the front rows and it was a hellhouse of manic fans up there. My boyfriend tried to walk up close once to the stage, just to get a look, and had people screaming at him to get out of there spots and threatening violence. I don't think what nationality you are has anything to do with it. I think people who are fucking overzelous fans need to calm down.

Most of the crowd was really good, I had a great time despite being shoved into a piece of land the size of a pancake with half a million other people and wanting to die from the lack of shade. There was actually a really strong feeling of goodwill among the concert goers, except for the stupid fucks in the front. Also lots of pot. I don't think I've ever seen so much in the open before.

Fyi, for those who made comments on Mad Cow disease, the concert was also about that as well. Complete with a corny skit by Dan Ackroyd about how good Canadian beef is, and giant bbq tents boasting only canadian beef. Damn good, too.

Radmila,

"Mad Cow is going to have to be paid for and you know which money generating province they'll suck it out of."

I'm trying to think of something snappy to say back to you, but I'm so pissed off my hands are shaking. Yes, Mad Cow will have to be paid for. Some people will have to kill their entire herds this year, because there is no feed for this winter. Some people will be losing their farms this year. Some of these people are my friends and family. You say westerners have to piss all over Onatari-ari-ari-airi-o to make ourselves feel better. And yet you just smarmily pissed all over me and mine. I don't expect you to claw your hair out in anguish, but I expect some respect for fellow Canadians going through a rough time. As for everybody who had some yummy bbq - thanks!

Regardless of the nationality of the spectators, that crap is weak. At least they were intelligent enough not to throw bottles at Richards... you need to hit the brain to take down the living dead :)

Not a fan of the Justin Timberlake but he rose a few notches when I read his comments in an article at cbc.ca:

"'It's natural. If I came to see AC/DC, I wouldn't want to see me either,' Timberlake said after his performance."

He took it pretty well, I think, though that doesn't excuse the crowd's behaviour in the first place.

I really don't like Justin Timberlake's music, on the other hand I do think he's a sexy beast, so, ya know hehe. But I wouldn't throw stuff at him. Or boo him off stage or anything like that. I think people like that are pricks, Canadian OR American. Hey, things like that have happened in America too. I was at a seafood festival where Billy Ray Cyrus was playing, and he got boos and curses thrown at him, alot of them from the group of people I was with. But he shrugged them off and kept going.

I didn't particularly like Billy Ray Cyrus, but I didn't boo him or throw things at him. Everyone has a right to their own style, despite whether I think it's good or not.

Ermilla...I suppose that's a play on my name?
I do feel for the farmers that have lost...I too feel for those who were affected by SARS. What you don't seem to understand is that if you can piss on Toronto...then I feel free to piss on the west.
How is a national emergency any different because of the geography...because it affects you personally?

You give what you get, where respect is concerned.
We wouldn't even be having this nasty little exchange if you hadn't made those snide remarks about Toronto in the first place.
Frankly, I don't hate the west or east...or even quebec...I do hate it when the city I live in and love is attacked by someone who clearly can't see Toronto for what it is.
A very large culturally diverse north american city...(in fact, for many canadians..it's the "culturally diverse" part that they hate), that is the financial center of the country.

Sorry Ermilla, I was referring to the original comments made by "Jane Finch"
that was what I was responding to.

Interesting....

A concert of a half million people... Mostly non-violent... Lots of pot...

This is all starting to make sense...

1. All-rock headliners aside from Justin.
2. Beer.
3. HEAT.
4. 500,000-ish people.

I don't care where that concert happened, anywhere in North America at least, Justin would have been booed. Not that he SHOULD have been, whether he was to peoples taste or not, but it's a fact.

Also: speaking as a Torontonian, it seems that the general public concensus here is that the 'incident' was pretty lame and juvenile. I think this is another case of a few jackasses making more of an impression then the mostly sane crowds.

I agree with Piscus Fiche. I am a Torontonian and dislike Justin Timberlake. That being said, there was really no excuse for that kind of behavior. Chalk it off to rude people.
I wish people would stop picking on Canadians for awhile. We can find asses in every country without looking very hard.

Datarat: It's not the sequence of events that I'm worried about--it's the fact that BOTH countries have a history of nastiness occuring at sporting events and concerts--nationality has nothing to do with it, that's all. There are idiots and assholes everywhere.

The older I get, the less I like polarisation based on stereotypes and generalisations. They are the result of imprecise thinking.

1. Were they empty or filled with piss?

2. Booing is perfectly acceptable if the performer is not living up to your expectations.

3. Chucking things at the performer is not acceptable.

4. Its part of being a performer.

5. I am sure he is over it by now.

Although if was charity, his placement on the bill was not the wisest thing in the world. If anything, he should have been on earlier in the bill.

On a side note, what music promotion brain trust billed Timberlake with the Stones?? They don't exactly share the same demographic of fans...

I'm with Piscus; it really bothers me to hear unfair generalizations like that. Frankly, at a rock concert with half a million people. I'm surprised that that's the worst that happened.

And to Radmila and everyone else - it bothers me even more when I hear Canadians bashing other parts of Canada. I'm from the West but I go to school in Toronto (and I did see people wearing SARS masks in the streets - only a couple, but they were there) and I really hate to hear regional sniping like that. We're all Canadian, none of us are bad people (some of us elect very bad politicians, I admit), and someone else already said that.

Also, to whoever said that Ontario would be paying for the mad cow scare - uh, Alberta has this little thing called the oil and gas industry which is still making lots of money, It's been devastating for the beef industry, yeah, and I don't think that's not important, but the province will survive without transfer payments.

Oh, I don't know if you can say that about any concert in North America.

I saw the last Lilith Fair. It was a unique experience. Of course it was about 90-95% women. I have NEVER been to a concert where, every single time I was bumped into, someone said, "Oh, excuse me" or "sorry!"

Sandra Bernhardt, who I think completely sucks and has lost any of the humor she once had, did her stand-up between acts. After the first time, my friends and I took off for snacks or bathroom breaks every time she came out. So did most of the rest of the audience, except for her hardcore lesbian fans up front.

She finally noticed it, too, and started asking, "Hey! Where's everybody going? I'm not done yet!"

My friends and I laughed and kept walking. But Bernhardt wasn't booed, or really even disrespected. We just let her do her thing, and we did ours.