r/whoathatsinteresting • u/eternviking • 4h ago
In 2018, a customer secretly photographed Geoffrey Owens best known for playing Elvin on the Cosby Show working at a Trader Joe's in Clifton, New Jersey, and the images were published online in an attempt to "job-shame" him. Instead, he was able to get more work as an actor because of it.
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u/charchavanni 3h ago
What kinda low-life tries to "job-shame" someone! Man is working to earn his bread.
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u/empire_of_the_moon 3h ago
As someone who worked on the business side of music for most of my career, you would be shocked at how harsh shit like this can be.
In addition, it can actually hurt your perceived value as the shit that gets tossed around is along the lines of “if he was good, or in demand, he wouldn’t need to do this. So why would I want to hire someone whom no one else wants to hire?”
I disagree with that bullshit but it doesn’t make it untrue. So rather than creating opportunities usually it simply makes it even harder to get back to work as an artist.
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u/SargeUnited 3h ago
Was it an attempt to job shame him?
I remember when this happened, and I’m pretty sure it was just like, “Oh wow, remember this guy? I think this guy was in The Cosby Show. That’s crazy”
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u/Absotootely 3h ago
I think it was indirectly a job shame. Like “wow, can you believe where this guy is now?” as though money lasts forever and he should have been wealthy and luxuriating. Man was just doing what he had to do, and I don’t think ever taking a picture of him and posting it would have crossed my mind.
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u/gracecee 3h ago
And he works for Trader Joe's which I think is awesome place to work with their salary and benefits. If you don't work a certain number of projects you lose your health benefits through SAG.
By the way this guy is a good actor and went to Yale. It's just black parts are few and they seem to go to the same actors. Tyler Perry casted him on a show and he's had minor parts
Since this picture. He was in the Pitt!His residuals from the Cosby show of course went down as people did not want to watch the Cosby show after you know all the horrible things bill cosby did.
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u/KaleidoscopePlusPlus 3h ago
its still incredibly rude to take a picture of someone and post online with zero permission
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u/Unlikely-Business-72 3h ago
Honestly we should just leave service workers the fuck alone. Not everyone who's at work wants to be on your shitty social media account of choice.
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u/Alert-Theme1145 2h ago
Do u recall a certain long-past controversy regarding a comedian remarking that women at the gym dress like whores?
Alotta folks on here just took issue with the whore comparison. If your kid wanted to become a stripper instead of something white collar or blue collar, would you not shame them silently or vocally? Just seems like virtue signaling.
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u/RevolTobor 3h ago
I'm reminded of that one Vin Diesel meme a while back. Hol'up, let me post it for anybody who hasn't seen it before.
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u/itspsyikk 2h ago
Okay but that photo of him rubbing his belly is kinda funny.
Like he’s known as this ripped, corona drinking, car racing dude.
If anything it shows the facade of Hollywood is just that.
I certainly wouldn’t shane Vin Diesel because of this, but I do think it should cause people to have a second look at their vanity.
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u/RevolTobor 2h ago
I think the fact that he's doing this means he does not care what we think of him.
Besides, this still doesn't change the fact that we do not have yachts.
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u/MortCrimm 27m ago
and that is been like 23 years since the “ripped corona drinking” days…..
Time gets us all.
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u/almostnothing123 3h ago
He’s on the Pitt now as like a cardiovascular surgeon. Going from straight memory, not sure exactly what his character is.
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u/_lumpyspaceprincess_ 3h ago
I think he’s the one who says that Robbie’s friend Duke should have a stress echo before his aortic aneurysm repair surgery. I remember this because I am an echo technologist and no the fuck he shouldn’t. 😂
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u/Alarmed-Extension289 3h ago
Wait I'm pretty sure this is Donovan McNabb, Don Cheadle or Tiger woods. He for sure gave us a brief speech during an Eagles football try out/s
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u/UnlikelyPriority812 3h ago
I thought that tryout was going to be at the Linc!
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u/Alarmed-Extension289 3h ago
I thought that tryout was going to be at the Linc!
"Oh you think you are gonna be playing on the same field that champions play on?!" lol I love Always Sunny, It's always a treat when Geoffrey Owens returns. Like when he acted along side PepperJack' in that Lethal Weapon remake.
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u/Dirty_Finch1 3h ago
Geoffrey Owens? That's clearly Don Cheadle.
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u/Solid_Signature_7447 2h ago
Nothing wrong with feeding yourself.
Theres no social safety net in the USA.
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u/RecentApplication602 3h ago
Thats awesome, it just goes to show you that Hollywood takes care of it's own!! Vote Hollywood.
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u/Western-Bowl2011 3h ago
Isn't that Tiger Woods?
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u/_-Cleon-_ 2h ago
99% of the actors you see on TV aren't living a much different lifestyle to your own. Being a working actor is a lot of hunting for work and looooong dry spells. Even if you're in a phenomenally successful show, it might be years before you find work again, let alone successful work.
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u/pSphere1 1h ago
After the 2023 Hollywood crash, I worked Amazon DSP delivery with several other actors and fellow below the line movie workers (myself being in VFX with over 20 credits + commercials and music videos).
It was interesting, because we were also delivering to the hills to actual celebrities.
I didn't care 'who' anyone was. Sometime when handing off a package, a person would give off a strange vibe, like I was supposed to recognize them... so I would look up their name and be like "Oh, he was on a Nickelodeon show... also a drunk driver that killed 2 people."
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u/thederevolutions 1h ago
That sounds like a sort of awesome job in a fun gossipy way. No A listers?
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u/pSphere1 56m ago
Delivered to "A listers", yes. Any worked there? no.
When delivering Amazon packages, you work by yourself. Not a lot to gossip about. When returning, some drivers would share who they just talked to. For me, that time was a nightmare. Low pay, and was barely scraping by, almost going homeless. I needed to take my dog to the vet, but couldn't so she died.
Probably why I didn't care who any of them were, I had other priorities.
It's not like they were going to offer higher paying work, even after finding out I was the motherfucker who made their digital transforming suit, made them fly, came up with the idea to put the crocodiles in the pit that they were jumping over... people on set, actors, and post have no direct relation when it comes to getting work (compartmentalized).
Actors are Actors, too. They are paid to lie. If they see a relation and that they could use your services, just be aware 50% are 90% full of shit and it most likely won't happen.
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u/thederevolutions 43m ago
What are you referring to about the crocodiles ?
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u/MortCrimm 29m ago
Sounds like he was VFX. Digitally out crocodiles in a pit. They didn’t have that idea and it was just an empty pit….
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u/Bootmacher 3h ago
This is exactly what happened to Tony Chimel, the former Smackdown announcer. He was spotted working at Trader Joe's, then got a job with AEW.
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u/JakeCheap 3h ago
We need to focus job shaming on people who are in private equity, health insurance, and AI.
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u/SlouchyGuy 3h ago
Yep, those kinds of jobs are maraphons - you act/write/work in a crew, have other jobs between those, and stay in the business al long you have hope that something more will come
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u/blazer560 2h ago
Society: everyone in the entertainment business is a millionaire and part of the 1%. Eat the rich!
Also society: wait, that guy was on TV. Look how stupid he looks working for his money and not making everyone else feel stupid for waking up every day and doing the exact same thing he is. How dare he do what’s needed and put in the work. Shame the 99%!
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u/roasterpig 2h ago
the late Gary Coleman was shamed for working as a security guard...though, Coleman did jump on the hood of the car once he realized he was being filmed
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u/CheerBear2112 1h ago
His Cosby show royalties probably took a nose dive through no fault of his own.
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u/AintNoGodsUpHere 43m ago
You have to be a special kind of degenerate to job-shame someone, for trying to shame someone for having to work. Absolute low level garbage of human being.
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u/turbopro25 4m ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/newjersey/s/60BCSQXWtg this post was earlier today for anyone interested
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u/rfs103181 1m ago
People think everyone on tv is rich. The producers are rich! It’s rare you get a seinfeld, friends actor payday.
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u/_RFAML_ 3h ago
Job shame, only in America
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u/Awingbestwing 3h ago
Right? Don’t have a job, shame. Have a job? Shame, it’s not a good enough job
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u/eternviking 4h ago
More Context: He went on to explain that most actors and indeed most entertainers are gig workers. For every a-lister many other actors work gig to gig and having steady work and a steady income that pays well is really hard because the field is so unpredictable. And many actors including many well know actors and artists have to have a secondary source of regular income between gigs and for most working entertainers it means getting a regular job and taking whatever roles you can get.