Barrett Wilbert Weed from Mean Girls stage door incident

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 10:02am

Not sure if anyone saw it or it was discussed here and I missed but on her Instagram story she had some issues with a man waiting with a ton of stuff for her to sign and being an overall creep, apparently not the first time, and then some girl ran up and hugged her.

Since this man has done this a few times now I was curious if theatres would ever supply some sort of security to make sure she got home safely. She shouldn't need to do this obviously but it would certainly beat the alternative of this creep trying to corner her in the future

The only thing I disagreed with is that it painted stage dooring into one gigantic horrible experience for everyone involved. Don't get me wrong some people absolutely shouldn't be allowed to stage door with how they behave and some of the stories I've read on here but all my experiences have been nothing but excellent. I never once thought I had scared anyone like she mentions that when she was a younger kid she could tell the actors were scared of her friends.

I've only stage doored a bunch of times but it's always been a quick I really enjoyed the show, a signed playbill and a quick picture if they were doing such a thing. The only time I ever skipped stage dooring when I wanted to was when I saw the first show of Lazarus after Bowie had passed away because it just didn't seem appropriate to bother Michael C Hall for an autograph that night and even more so because I've met him a few times after each of his Broadway shows and he's always been absolutely wonderful. Figured I'd just bring it with me after his next show here and get it signed since he's my favorite actor.

I know this topic has been sorta beaten to death but I think there's nothing wrong with actors skipping stage dooring if they aren't comfortable with it and at the same time there's nothing wrong with it if people are respectful and respect boundaries that should be obvious.

Updated On: 3/7/20 at 10:02 AM

[VotePeron]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:29am

I admire her so much, and agree with everything she said. I also don’t understand the stage door, and always feel extremely uncomfortable for the actors being forced to interact with people who come to the line multiple times a week just because they think they’re friends. If you love an actor, write them a letter. Send them flowers. Don’t hold them hostage on the street.

[hork]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:33am

I'm fully on her side except where she said "women don't get to have boundaries." This isn't a gender issue at all. It could have easily happened to a man and probably does very often. She should have said "actors don't get to have boundaries," which is absolutely true. Please don't stage door, people. Even if you think you're being polite about it, it's still a disgusting, reprehensible practice of objectification derived from literal stalking. I've never understood what people get out of it.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:39am

Remember when everyone hated her for being on Cameo and now they love her again?

Good times.

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:43am

Jordan Catalano said: "Remember when everyone hated her for being on Cameo and now they love her again?

Good times. "

What's that story all about? I don't know much about her, I just came across people talking about what had happened and what she said about this. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:55am

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 11:57am

And apparently last night, a grown woman went to Jordan Fisher’s car and kicked it over the fact he didn’t stage door.

People are whack. That’s so scary for Barrett and I was horrified reading that story.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 12:02pm

I agree with the first part and I have an idea of who the guy is. The girl was just wrong and her dad was too.

I disagree with it being a woman thing. Men go through it more with ladies at the stagedoor touching them or trying to touch them.

I also disagree with her painting the whole stagedoor experience as a horrible experience for everyone. Through my years of going to the stagedoor I've made friends through it with fellow fans and actors alike. I've also witnessed the horrible people as like one Barrett described that have 50 things to get signed and just run after them.

[DoTheDood]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 12:02pm

hork said: "I'm fully on her side except where she said "women don't get to have boundaries." This isn't a gender issue at all. It could have easily happened to a man and probably does very often. She should have said "actors don't get to have boundaries," which is absolutely true."

Exactly, a great example that came to mind was what happened to Ethan Slater in 2018

[windowwaving]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 12:42pm

While men are subject to the same craziness of fans, I think that if a man said "not right now" people may more likely hold back and not think anything of it, but if a woman said the same thing it comes off as unexpected and rude, and would more likely get called names. 

Yes, it's not true of everyone and I'm sure there are tons of examples of it happening to men too, but I think there seems to be a bit of a societal expectation for a woman to smile and say "yes" to anything, while a man is seen simply exerting his masculinity. 

[FlyHigh523]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 1:25pm

hork said: "I'm fully on her side except where she said "women don't get to have boundaries." This isn't a gender issue at all. It could have easily happened to a man and probably does very often. She should have said "actors don't get to have boundaries," which is absolutely true. Please don't stage door, people. Even if you think you're being polite about it, it's still a disgusting, reprehensible practice of objectification derived from literal stalking. I've never understood what people get out of it."

Y’all are acting like the actors are forced to stage door. Some of them LOVE coming out and meeting their fans and having conversations. Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t go to the stage door. 
Barrett is absolutely in the right for being disgusted and furious. I would be too; what those people did to her is disgusting. However, painting fans as villains because they want to meet people they look up to, is wrong of her. She should speak for her experience and ONLY hers. 

[SweetLips22]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 1:50pm

As I said[now deleted] in another thread---this 'pesky virus' has cured this problem---at least for a month !

Updated On: 3/7/20 at 01:50 PM

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/7/20 at 3:10pm

While men are subject to the same craziness of fans, I think that if a man said "not right now" people may more likely hold back and not think anything of it, but if a woman said the same thing it comes off as unexpected and rude, and would more likely get called names. 

24/7/365

[copathetiic]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 12:26am

DoTheDood said: "hork said: "I'm fully on her side except where she said "women don't get to have boundaries." This isn't a gender issue at all. It could have easily happened to a man and probably does very often. She should have said "actors don't get to have boundaries," which is absolutely true."

Exactly, a great example that came to mind was what happened to Ethan Slater in 2018"

Wait, I missed something. What happens to Ethan Slater?

[7thbighero]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 10:50am

What happened to Barrett is distasteful at the very least, and we have forgotten our public manners. And if she doesn’t want to do the stage door thing, that’s her prerogative. However, whenever the stage door issue comes up, especially after seeing some of these comments in this thread, I think of These comments from Michelle Visage (3:50)

granted it’s different for broadway doing 8 shows a week but the principal still stands 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 11:50am

Whenever anyone brings Visage up, I will always retell this story.
At the stage door for “Jamie” a year or so ago, she was out there and this kid next to me tells her he just recently started drag and asked for some advice. In my head I’m thinking she’s gonna tell him “don’t give up and do your best” or something like that. No. She asks to see pictures and if he’s on Instagram. She pulls it up on her phone and that woman stood there going picture by picture zooming in and telling him what he should do differently with his makeup and and his styling for each photo she looked at and then said that if he has more questions to contact her. When she moved on he was shaking and crying and I can’t even begin to tell you how she obviously changed his life that night.

She’s the real deal and I will forever be in awe of her after that evening.

 

Also a few months ago at that same stage door, Bianca Del Rio was out there for an hour signing and doing picture with any and everyone. I asked if he’d mind signing a few things for friends and he said “I’ll sign as many things as you want as long as they aren’t checks!”

Updated On: 3/8/20 at 11:50 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 12:36pm

Actually, stage-dooring has been required for a couple actors over the past few years as a way to promote their shows.

[hork]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 12:42pm

7thbighero said: "What happened to Barrett is distasteful at the very least, and we have forgotten our public manners. And if she doesn’t want to do the stage door thing, that’s her prerogative. However, whenever the stage door issue comes up, especially after seeing some of these comments in this thread, I think of These comments from Michelle Visage(3:50)

granted it’s different for broadway doing 8 shows a week but the principal still stands"

That woman <<edited by BWW staff>> obviously doesn't understand things like privacy, personal space, introversion, social obligations and boundaries. Plus she's talking about drag queens signing autographs which is quite a different thing. Applying her "How dare you?!" to Broadway actors is not only inappropriate but harmful and is the exact reason why stage dooring engenders a toxic sense of entitlement. So no, the "principal" doesn't stand, and neither does the principle.

Updated On: 3/8/20 at 12:42 PM

[DoTheDood]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 1:42pm

copathetiic said: "Wait, I missed something. What happens to Ethan Slater?"

Crazy stalker followed him on the train to where he lives, among other toxic things. If you look up "SpongeBob stalker slater", you will find some boards talking about it

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 1:57pm

Sounds like she should have just called an uber to drive her home. 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 2:52pm

It's hell to be an introvert in this world of extraverts.

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 3:40pm

As Jordan said, some actors have it in their contact to do the whole stage door thing as a promo tool. Now, I don’t know if this has changed, but, Disney strongly encourages their actors to sign. On their shows websites, they encourage the audience to do it as a way of continuing the “magic” experiment of going to a Broadway show.

Now, I have worked at some shows with a very heavy fan base such as Beetlejuice. And, one of the comments I hear time and time again is that an actor is rude, or even going so far as to say they aren’t good people for brushing the audience away at the stage door. If any actor in a show wishes to leave via the stage door, there is zero obligation for them to stop and sign. It’s like folks thing that they are entitled to autographs in addition to seeing the show, just like the woman who kicked Fishers car because he didn’t sign. People have gone overboard with the waiting at the stage door thing.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 4:17pm

That's awful, I'm so glad they are not stage dooring right now, people need to stop with the entitlement and thinking it's part of a price of purchasing a ticket. 

[WestEndGal]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 7:39pm

From what I’ve seen, no one has an issue with the fact that BWW doesn’t like to stagedoor. That’s her choice and it’s obviously something that has had a negative impact on her mental health. I think fans are more upset with how she worded her stories and the fact that she practically said that she thinks stagedooring is wrong and that actors don’t enjoy it and are scared of fans. Obvi that’s her take on it but I don’t think she should suggest that’s what other actors think also. Clearly a lot of actors do enjoy stagedooring, or don’t mind doing it, or they wouldn’t do it. I think 95% of fans know their boundaries and are respectful to the actors. Those that aren’t sadly spoil it for everyone.

[EthelMae]

Posted: 3/8/20 at 9:54pm

Irv Kupcinet (Kup’s Show, in Chicago) Yes, but Betty you do belong to the public.

 

Lauren Bacall: No we don’t belong to the public. Why do you think we belong to the public?

 

Kup: Well, your name is in the press and your publicity depends...

 

Lauren Bacall: But that has nothing to do with my private life. My private life belongs to me. When I decided to be an actress, I did not sign a piece of paper relinquishing my rights to privacy. When people follow me down the street or see where I live, I mean I think that’s disgusting and it’s a very prevalent problem we have.

 

-1984