3 Times Ringo Starr Was Downright Rude

Ringo Starr has a reputation for being the approachable, “Funny Beatle,” but some of his fans would describe him as rude. While many people have had pleasant interactions with the former Beatle, others haven’t been so lucky. Here are three times that Starr upset people with his behavior.

Ringo Starr left ‘Live With Regis and Kelly’ in the lurch

While promoting his 2008 album Liverpool 8, Starr was set to appear on Live With Regis and Kelly to perform the titular song and discuss the album. When he heard that he would have to shorten the song by two-and-a-half minutes to fit the show’s time constraints, he walked off less than an hour before his scheduled appearance. 

“We offered to cut back our chat time and asked them to fade or go to commercial,” his publicist said, per the book Ringo: With a Little Help by Michael Seth Starr. “They were not willing to do that and Ringo was not willing to cut it further, so without a compromise we were not able to stay. Ringo left saying, ‘God bless and goodbye. We still love Regis.'”

A spokesperson for the show said that Starr knew he would have to shorten the song long before his appearance, though. She said that producers had been trying to work something out with him for months, but he wouldn’t budge. It seems, then, that his abrupt exit was extremely unfair to the show.

Ringo Starr was rude to a young fan asking for an autograph

In 2012, Starr appeared on the talk show Loose Women and immediately rubbed host Sherri Hewson the wrong way. He came on set seeming angry and irritable, but his behavior toward a young fan shocked Hewson. 

At the end of his interview, Starr told the audience that he wouldn’t be signing autographs, a rule he’d stuck to since 2008. Still, a producer approached him with her daughter afterward and asked if he would make an exception.

“At the end of it, one of the producers came up with one of her little children, who was only four, and said that she knew he didn’t do autographs, but told him that her daughter was only four, and she really loves the Beatles,” Hewson said per Yahoo. “He just said, ‘really?’ And then he said: ‘Did you not hear what I just said? I don’t sign autographs.'”

Residents of Liverpool bristled over ‘rude’ comments Ringo Starr made about his hometown

In 2008, Starr managed to irritate an entire city with one word. When asked if he missed Liverpool, his hometown, Starr said, “Er … no.” 

Though he said he was joking, people complained to the BBC and beheaded a topiary sculpture of Starr at the Liverpool train station. His flippant dismissal of the city deeply upset those who lived there. Starr ultimately apologized, though he seemed to simultaneously roll his eyes at anyone who was upset.

“I apologize to those people [who were offended], as long as they live in Liverpool, not outside,” he said. “No real Scouser took offense, only, I believe, people from the outside.”

Though Starr has had several rocky public appearances and fan encounters, many people who meet him say that he embodies his “Peace and Love” persona.