Having once reigned as one of the biggest and most popular comedy stars on the planet, it would be an understatement to say that Mike Myers has drastically reduced his workload over the last decade.
In fact, the actor has made only five live-action feature film appearances in the last 15 years – along with a voice-only role in Russian fantasy blockbuster Last Knight – and none of them have been anything more than glorified cameos. He did attempt to mount something of a comeback in Netflix series The Pentaverate where he played eight roles, but the fact it was widely-panned and hardly made a dent on the streamer’s charts hints that a renewal is unlikely.
Many reasons have been put forth as to why Myers decided to virtually drop off the face of the earth, and one of the most compelling to emerge recently is down to the fact he’s reportedly an asshole. That ball got rolling on Twitter, where a security guard who worked on The Love Guru claimed that he was fired for daring to make direct eye contact with the leading man, which then led to countless others touting their own tales of what working with the Austin Powers favorite was really like.
There’s also the infamous story of how Myers allegedly had someone in his employ during production on The Cat in the Hat who was there to specifically feed him chocolate whenever it was deemed a necessary requirement, but Myers’ representatives have now moved to try and pour water on the claims.
In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, a member of his team claimed that he didn’t even have a bodyguard on The Love Guru, and that “Mike knows nothing about this, not aware of anyone being hired or fired.” Obviously, he wouldn’t admit to it, but it gathered enough traction to dent his reputation on social media at the very least.