I couldn’t imagine what it’s like to be a celebrity. Sure, the money would be nice, but the complete loss of personal privacy would be too much for me.
Sometimes, you just want to buy a pint of ice cream at the supermarket in your pjs, you know?
RELATED STORIES
Sure, most fans are respectful.
They might just want to say hi, maybe get a selfie or a hug, but then they go away.
But sometimes fans go too far and then it’s up to the celebrity to decide how to react.
Depending on the scale of the incident, it may just be a matter of laughing it off.
Getting angry may seem reasonable, but with social media being what it is, that can often backfire for the celebrity more than the fan.
And what about when the incident gets violent?
That’s the situation Arnold Schwarzenegger had to deal with this weekend, when he was assaulted.
Just after Arnold finished filming a Snapchat for his fans, a man ran up behind him and drop-kicked him with both feet, directly into his back.
It was caught on video and quickly went viral.
Now, it’s clearly assault. A dude drop-kicked a 71-year-old man from behind, but as you can see, Arnold was barely fazed.
It would totally be understandable for Arnold to have been angry, but his response was totally classy — and kind of hilarious.
Not only did he only register the kick as a “jostle,” but his main concern was that the guy didn’t interrupt his Snapchat.
But besides that, Arnold just didn’t want one idiot’s stunt to distract from the event.
The incident happened during the Arnold Sports Festival Africa, which is being held in Johannesburg. It’s a yearly event and one of six Arnold Sports Festivals held around the world each year.
In an official statement, the event organizers addressed the event.
The culprit was taken into custody and Arnold was completely unharmed.
Apparently, the guy is known to local police as a maker of mischief.
However, officials also said, “None of us could have foreseen that something like this could have taken place.”
It’s pretty insane how strong the man still is, even in his 70s.
I mean, a dude kicked him with both feet, the entire strength of the kick directly into the man’s back and he barely even noticed.
That’s one classy Terminator.
Meanwhile, Arnold is just busy being a good dude.
Today, he posted a picture with a man named Ephraim, who was featured on Humans of New York a few months ago.
In it, Ephraim had explained that he has memory issues that prevented him from excelling in school.
A run-in with Arnold at a previous event resulted in him telling his whole story , but Arnold wouldn’t let him hate himself for his difficulties.
He told Ephraim:
“You are a very strong man. You can’t hate yourself for the rest of your life. It is time for you to move on.’”
Word of the story even reached Arnold, who left a lovely comment on the Facebook post.
Knowing that he’d be back in South Africa this weekend, Arnold reached out to Humans of New York and reconnected with Ephraim.
Arnold has also posted another update regarding the incident.
He says that he doesn’t intend to press charges and hopes the man learns from this incident.
Meanwhile, Arnold wants to put it behind him and focus on the real reason he’s in South Africa: to celebrate people like Ephraim and cheer on thousands of amazing athletes.
