If you're an entertainment reporter, consider this a public service announcement: Samuel L Jackson and Laurence Fishburne are not the same person.
KTLA reporter Sam Rubin appeared to get the two actors confused during an interview with Jackson to promote his new film, 'RoboCop'. Rubin asked Jackson about his recent Super Bowl commercial, seemingly confusing him with Laurence Fishburne, who appeared in a Kia ad during the game.
"I'm not Laurence Fishburne," Jackson responded. "We don't all look alike! We may be all black and famous, but we all don't look alike."
Rubin admitted his mistake, but Jackson wasn't done.
"You're the entertainment reporter? You're the entertainment reporter for this station? And you don't know the difference between me and Laurence Fishburne? There must be a very short line for your job."
Rubin attempted to move the discussion back to 'Robocop', but Jackson wasn't willing to let him off the hook yet.
"Oh, hell no! Really? Really? I'm the other guy ... the other one. 'What's in your wallet?'" Jackson said, referencing his Capital One ads. "There's more than one black guy doing a commercial. I'm the 'What's in your wallet?' black guy. He's the car black guy. Morgan Freeman is the other credit card black guy. You only hear his voice, though, so you probably won't confuse him with Laurence Fishburne.
"There's a heavier-weight black guy [in an ad] that's like putting cash down in the seats in a baseball stadium, but he's also the black guy that turns off the house, the water and the lights when his kid tells him the house is cool. I'm not that guy either."
As Jackson was striking him down with great vengeance and furious anger, Rubin continued to sheepishly apologise and insist the actor was right.
Later, however, Rubin tried to claw back some dignity by explaining that he wasn't referring to Fishburne's Kia commercial, but to the trailer for 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' that aired during the Super Bowl, which Jackson was in. (A clip from the film was shown and Rubin mentioned Jackson "working for Marvel" immediately before asking the question about the Super Bowl ad, so he seems to be telling the truth.)
"I indicated to Samuel that I'd seen him during the Super Bowl, and he thought that I had confused him with the commercial Laurence Fishburne had done for a car company," Rubin explained. "Of course a 'Captain America' ad had also run during the Super Bowl, but I immediately felt so dumb, I didn't bring that up — and he gave me the shellacking that was well deserved.
"I pride myself on the fact that — unlike a lot of people who do this kind of work — more often than not, I really do know what I'm talking about. But I didn't 30 minutes ago, and I'm really embarrassed about it, and I very much apologise to Samuel L Jackson and anyone else who was offended for what was a very amateur mistake."
Rubin's mistake, then, was not being quick enough on his feet when Jackson asked him which Super Bowl commercial he was talking about — that means he's a little slow for a guy working on live television, but he's probably not a racist.
All the same, this was cringeworthy television at its finest.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
