Truth be told, I was never a big fan of Billy Bob Thornton. I always thought that he was more famous for wearing a vile of Angelina Jolie’s blood around his neck than for any work that he had done. Never the less he is taken seriously as an actor and as a singer and he has a following in Canada. Or at least he did have until his interview with the CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi. Apparently Jian Ghomeshi was told in advance not to make mention of Billy Bob’s acting career. During the introduction to the interview, references were made to Billy Bob Thornton’s career as a Hollywood actor, director, and screenwriter. And as they say, that was all she wrote. Billy Bob refused to answer questions and became belligerent. He then made this comment about Canadian audiences. “Canadian audiences seem to be very reserved. We tend to play places where people throw things at each other. Here, they just sort of sit there. And it doesn’t matter what you say to ‘em . . . It’s mashed potatoes but no gravy.” In case you think that this was a little throw away comment that got no air play, over 1.2 million viewers had watched the YouTube video of the interview.

When Billy Bob and his band the Boxmasters walked on stage at Massey Hall he was greeted with boos and catcalls. Then quite mysteriously after the Toronto show they pulled out of the rest of the Canadian tour with Willie Nelson and Ray Price citing the flu, which came on at a most convenient time. Willie Nelson would not make a comment and Billy Bob Thornton says that he loves Canada.