John Mayer Defends James Cameron's Verbal Scuffle with 'Fan'

By PopEater Staff Posted Dec 29th 2009 06:43AM

John Mayer is insisting that James Cameron was wronged by the man seeking his autograph on an 'Avatar' poster at LAX. After TMZ posted a video of an alleged "fan" being snubbed by the famous director, Mayer wrote a nearly 1,000-word essay on his blog titled 'The Anatomy of a Smear: How The Reigning King of Special Effects Got Caught in One,' which defended Cameron's actions. According to the video, Cameron is seen telling a man, "I don't owe you a f---ing signature ... just get out of my f--king personal space." But Mayer says it was misinterpreted as Cameron being rude to a fan when really the "fan" was a pushy, media savvy "Obnoxious E-bay Poster Guy" who felt entitled to make money off the Oscar winner.

Mayer writes, ""The fact that passenger lists are not available to the general public means that anyone waiting at the airport with any more than the CD from the passenger seat of their car has gotten word of which celebrities will be traveling through the terminal in the same way the paparazzi do."

"In some cases, these 'fans' are working in concert with them. After all, it's a great way to get a celebrity to interact with you on video if you can ask them impolite questions while they're stopping to sign a few items for someone. If they decline, it's time to switch to plan B: paint them as shallow Hollywood types that only care about the "little people" when it best serves them..."

He continues to explain the hoard of media that swarm celebrities from the second they get off their flight. "They walk alongside you. They bark requests at you, trying to get your pulse to quicken. If you give in and sign, the guy with the poster gets to sell it and make a few bucks. If you don't give in, as it gets harder to acquiesce with each successive yelp, then the stench of cash really starts to waft in as Video Camera Guy gets the goods while you explain in no uncertain terms to Obnoxious E-bay Poster Guy that he's not going to get what he's asking for tonight."

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John Mayer

NEW YORK - DECEMBER 10: Musician John Mayer performs during Vh1 Storytellers at Steiner Studios on December 10, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images For Vh1) *** Local Caption *** John Mayer

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John Mayer Snapshots

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NEW YORK - DECEMBER 10: Musician John Mayer (L) performs during Vh1 Storytellers at Steiner Studios on December 10, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images For Vh1) *** Local Caption *** John Mayer

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"The end of the video is the most telling: when Cameron gets into his car, the man with the tiny hat abandons his 'average man, son of a farmer' story and begins to shout insults at the director, tufts of sheep's wool falling to the ground as the wolf finally appears. This should validate every last word chosen by Cameron..."

"Movie stars know how this game is played, and therefore sign a few items they know will end up in the bootleg ether in exchange for not getting caught in the snares of being called ungrateful (the worst thing you can call a grateful human being) and that's why you don't see this type of video all that often."

"But James Cameron is not a movie star. He directs them, but he doesn't think like them, and he's not supposed to. He's working off the logical, the quantifiable math of a situation. He doesn't have media training, and he should never seek it. ... Even in live action, two-dimensional 640x480 VGA standard definition web video, I'm willing to bet that James Cameron's reality was the only believable one that evening."

Tags: Avatar, james cameron, JamesCameron, john mayer, JohnMayer