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Authenticity is Everything
Billie Eilish Booed For Not Signing Autographs
Sickening story on a few levels. Billie Eilish was booed and harassed for not stopping to take pictures and sign autographs (side note, she did actually stop to say "hi" to some genuine fans). I'm hearing the word paparazzi thrown around, but it sounds like the prime offenders were autograph collectors. I don't doubt it. Billie posted some videos on her Instagram Stories. A fan retweeted the series here:
https://twitter.com/gabeawaycar/status/1198096781214670848?s=20
This is a prime reason why I virtually never buy from in-person collectors anymore and why I left in-person collecting groups on Facebook a long time ago. Harassment is harassment, and sleaze is sleaze. If anyone knows any know collectors who were part of this, please call them out here. Trash needs to be outed for what it is.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dan Morris on
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Fully agree, hardly inspires her to ever sign again if that's what she gets! Hopefully, someone can name and shame those responsible.
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she really never signs and has been know not to sign for a long time. that's her usual thing
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Permalink Reply by Paul on
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From her ig story she is obviously a little distressed over the event that took place. Same reason I wont support IP graphers.
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Permalink Reply by James on
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There’s more than one way to look at this situation. No, these people shouldn’t have booed her or called her a b*t*h. She has said she has a problem with people just wanting autographs to sell on eBay. However, I’m guessing that not everyone out there who wanted an autograph was a professional IP grapher. I’ll bet some were real fans, whom she will need for a successful career, that truly simply wanted a chance to get what they know was a real autograph to take home and cherish.
Consider someone like Bono who has always been a generous signer, and just a nice guy in general. I’m sure Bono knows that some of what he signs will be flipped. But, on the other hand, he knows some are just diehard, loyal fans who genuinely want his autograph. So he doesn’t really cause himself angst by worrying about it. He’s a nice guy, and if you ask for his autograph he will give it to you. He’s willing to take the chance that you’re a flipper rather than to turn and walk away.
At the same time, I’ve never booed or called someone a name who didn’t give me an autograph, and I’m not a professional autograph chaser. That’s uncalled for...and she’s only 17. It’s pretty pathetic for grown adults to be calling a kid a name...other than maybe Bart Simpson or Dennis the Menace. ;0)
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Permalink Reply by Crabby Appleton on
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If you watch the video and her instagram reply....you will see that she is willing to interact with her fans, hug, talk, take photos.
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I am a big Billie fan.
i did get a photo signed from when she was in Austin.
i would encourage everyone to view her Instagram post about why she won’t sign autographs.
Even if you’re not a fan.
I read all the in person posts here on this site about guys who show up with guitars, pick guards, photos, stacks of albums.
You guys have ruined it. A fan should be someone who shows up with one item to be personalized and signed.
When these artists see a throng of people who don’t even really know who they are with stacks of photos and stuff...why would they want to provide free product for people to sell at 100% profit?
At one time I looked forward to getting autographs. Now it’s ruined, over.
I read somewhere, maybe here, about a guy who paid people in LA to get Elton John albums signed. He spent over $1000 paying people and wound up with about 20 albums signed.
That’s wrong and its ruined it for everyone.
That’s not a fan, that’s a jerk.
Younger fans would much rather have a selfie than an autograph.
Autographs are more for the male middle aged dinosaur hunters who drool over Led Zeppelin and the Eagles and stand in line for Butch Patrick and Barbara Eden autographs at has been shows
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"Autographs are more for the male middle aged dinosaur hunters who drool over Led Zeppelin and the Eagles " well that's about 98% in here I guess.
One point of paying people to get you autographs is when you live in europe like me and just don't have the opportunity to go see the people yourself. For example I need Ron Blair on my TP and the Heartbreakers record. Chances he is performing here a 0% so I send it to a IP in LA who gets me Blair. Don't know what's wrong about that?
And even if they are here securtiy is often harder then in US. Even bands like Dream Theater that are very easy in US are next to impossible to meet here in germany.
I don't wanna argue about the people calling her names that is a absolute no go.
I always say it would be the easiest if the artists would offer their own signed stuff via their shops.
If she is becoming a 100% no graphs artist she won't be chased that much in the future. Can't imagine someone calling Stevie Nicks a bitch for not signing
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The name you use on this site suddenly makes sense to me now, Crabby. I am one of those middle-aged dinosaur hunters to whom you refer. No, I’m not an IP autograph chaser. But I’ve been collecting autographs since I was a KID. And I guarantee you there are plenty of kids, teens, and twenty-somethings who collect autographs. No doubt they love selfies too. The only big-name celeb I’ve had my picture taken with was Wilt Chamberlain, you know...a has-been...who just happens to be the most dominanting force in NBA history, in 1999 before I ever had a cell phone. I also got his autograph. Which has always been more important to me, graph or pic? Wilt’s autograph, hands-down. And gosh, Wilt the Dinosaur is about two generations older than I. And when I got both the pic and graph, I was NOT middle-aged.
If you’ve ever been to a sports collectibles show or a Star Wars event, there are tons of young people wanting autographs. Probably because they’re intelligent enough to realize that an autograph is likely to have a longer life than a pic on a cell phone...that and the autograph has both sentimental AND monetary value.
If you want to see a lot of young fans pursuing a free autograph from a contemporary celeb...with a just a FEW IP chasers mixed in...go watch a YouTube video of Daisy Ridley signing autographs for many young fans after one of her appearances somewhere. I saw Daisy taking some selfies, but she was actually signing many more autographs, in a back alley, for young Star Wars fans than taking pictures with them.
And Crabby, you sound like someone who doesn’t seem to have respect for icons of the past in your mentioning of Led Zeppelin and the Eagles. What about The Beatles? I collect Beatles autographs even though their music didn’t rise to prominence during my generation, but rather the generation preceding mine. And what about JFK, Babe Ruth, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Jackie Robinson? Not worth your time? That’s too bad because even though as a child I was interested in contemporary stars, I always had respect and interest in what and who came before my generation.
Patrick brings up a good point in that IP chasers do provide a service for people that aren’t able to get to events. And what about people like me? I’m disabled and I really can’t attend attend many events. Well...basically any. It’s extremely painful for me to get out and do things, and if I do leave the house I have to have a wheelchair. So far in 2019, I’ve been out of my house three times with friends other than doctors’ appointments or a monthly trip to the grocery store. (I order a lot of groceries online for delivery now.)
So IP chasers do provide a service, and they do help to connect fans with stars. And this isn’t just beneficial to fans; helping fans stay connected with celebs is also very beneficial for the celebrities themselves. Because if the celebrities lose connection with their fans...they’re in BIG trouble...career-wise. So IP chasers are helpful to people like me because while the IPs can get me an autograph, they haven’t figured out a way to get me a selfie. They just need to be a lot more polite when going about their business.
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Permalink Reply by Mike White on
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So much of what you said is utterly and completely false.
"A fan should be someone who shows up with one item to be personalized and signed."
I'll be honest. I'm a bit amazed at how much wrongness can be contained in such a simple sentence. It's kind of impressive.
1) Fans can be collectors. Being a collector doesn't make one less of a fan. One isn't called a "collector" because they get "one thing".
Just this past weekend, I had a convention where I paid Scout Taylor-Compton $30 each to sign 3 things for me.
2 of those things were the A and B styles of a movie poster for a movie she starred in 10 years ago that is so forgotten/disliked by the general public at large, that, even though it's been 10 years since the movie came out, mine was the first of that style poster (or possibly any poster) for that movie that she's ever signed.
The third was a photo of Scout & I the last time I met her.
I wouldn't be able to sell any of those 3 items for anywhere near close to what I paid for them. I paid that much for those items to be signed specifically because I AM a fan. And I'm a fan getting those 3 items signed when I already had 2 Scout signed 8x10s at home.
2) Personaliizations don't automatically make an item more personal. And, in some cases, they can detract from it. Of the 3 items I had Scout sign this weekend, I only got one of them personalized. The photo. It makes the photo more special, and, aesthetically, the posters look a lot better without.
Not wanting a personalization doesn't mean that a fan isn't a fan. It's as much of an aesthetic decision as anything else. Some items, frankly, look a lot better without. And saying that doesn't make me any less of a fan, because, if I wasn't, I wouldn't spend so much to get them signed.
"When these artists see a throng of people who don’t even really know who they are with stacks of photos and stuff...why would they want to provide free product for people to sell at 100% profit?"
That has absolutely nothing to do with your previous sentence.
And, here's a little tip: inscriptions can be, and are, removed from photos by dealers who ask for them when they get the photo signed."Younger fans would much rather have a selfie than an autograph.
Autographs are more for the male middle aged dinosaur hunters who drool over Led Zeppelin and the Eagles and stand in line for Butch Patrick and Barbara Eden autographs at has been shows"
The number of "younger" people that I saw standing in line to pay for autographs at the 2 conventions that I attended blows this ridiculous crap out of the water.
Not to mention your weird need to throw a dig at Barbara Eden & Butch Patrick.
All that said, though, have to question why you're on this website if you see autograph collecting & autograph collectors as something to be belittled. There are hobbies I think are ridiculous, but I have better things to think about than them and better things to do with my time than ridicule them (let alone join their forums to do it).
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Permalink Reply by Rich on
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I've always had mixed feelings about graphers (per the points raised on this thread), that's more recently tilted toward the negative. I attend concerts fairly regularly, but my personal interaction with in person graphers is quite rare. Part of it is that I tend to go to more concerts at the club level (indies, rising, stars). One of my rare encounters with them was at a Lollapalooza aftershow with Lennon Stella last July. She met fans out back, and was quickly hounded by two Chicago area graphers who had her keep signing and signing their stacks of 8x10s - which she politely did. In all fairness, the graphers were not rude, pushy, etc. BUT, I also noticed that several fans just stayed off to the size, and I'm not sure if they even got what they wanted (and this was not a big group of fans). They seemed to be the opposite of the graphers, calmly standing by - perhaps a bit confused at what was unfolding and not interested in causing any tension. I barely snuck in my own request for a personalized autograph at the end.
I'm less and less sold on the whole argument that these guys provide a valuable service that somehow outweighs any damage they do. The types of people I often seeing graphing in the biggest US markets (i.e. LA and NYC) frequently demonstrate a laundry list of despicable behaviors that hurt celebrities and their fans. If I hired a plumber that did great work but parked on my lawn, punched my mailman and then overcharged me by $500, I'd probably be less enthusiastic about my sink working again.
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Good analogy, Rich! I agree that what happened to Billie was completely UNCALLED FOR!! I too think those type of super-aggressive autograph chasers are ruining things. Those that were so rude to Billie were SCUMBAGS for sure. I don’t know what can be done about them, but something needs to done. I’ve seen tape of many TRUE fans waiting outside hoping to get an autograph from another celeb. Of course they’re yelling the celebrity’s name to his/her attention...but most are polite about it. And if the star doesn’t come their way...yes, they are disappointed, but they understand not everyone is probably going to get an autograph. They are not like the trash that rudely hounds celebs like we now too often see.
Best experience I ever had was with my first of two encounters with Wilt Chamberlain. It was at his return to the University of Kansas after being away for 40 years. He was not planning on signing autographs, but he was so moved by the honor and reception he received from YOUNG fans at a KU game, that KU announced he would sign autographs for a limited time after the game. Wilt ended up staying, seated at a table at center court, for 2+ hours until EVERY fan who wanted an autograph got one! The media estimated that he signed about 2000 autographs that day!
Even though Wilt was from Philadelphia, Kansas is where he played 3 years. Some people think he played two years for Kansas before leaving for one year to play with the Harlem Globetrotters prior to the NBA. However, when Wilt played, freshmen couldn’t play varsity. So Wilt spent one year at Kansas playing with the freshmen and then two with varsity. When I approached Wilt at the table, I said, “Welcome home, Mr. Chamberlain!” Wilt looked up, smiled and said, “Thank you. It’s great to be back home!” It was an awesome day.
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Just recently attended a music festival where they had a tent set up for the artist to sign and m& g the fans. That's the part about obtaining graphs I enjoy ,supporting bands etc..
I definitely do not enjoy buying graphs of dishonest pro graphers with their heads so far up each others backsides its ridiculous!
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