Yesterday, we discussed a very special blind item from The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. The Rock is wrapping up filming on Fast & Furious 8, and he said many words about how the experience has been incredible and he’s loved every second with his female costars. But! The Rock had harsh words for his “candy ass” male costars, writing: “Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t. The ones that don’t are too chicken sh-t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses.” Many thought he was talking about Scott Eastwood, because Scott just seems like the kind of frat-douche who would piss off a guy like Dwayne Johnson. Not so much, as it turns out.
First, TMZ reported that Dwayne’s comments did not go over too well on-set, and that Dwayne’s costars were “all getting hounded by people who want to know who Rock was putting on blast.” The dudes thought Dwayne was “out of line to talk crap” even though there have been “conflicts” on-set due to “extreme egos” among the “top actors.” Late Tuesday, we finally got the answer to the blind item riddle though… The Rock was talking about VIN DIESEL!
The Rock’s rant about unprofessional male co-stars was targeted at Vin Diesel, TMZ has learned, and the 2 had a secret meeting on the “Fast 8” set Tuesday to hash things out. Production sources tell TMZ … when the Rock went nuts on social media Monday night, claiming certain male co-stars were not stand up guys and too “chicken s***” to confront him … he was referring to Vin.
We’re told The Rock has butted heads with Vin during the production, in part because V.D. is a producer and has made decisions that didn’t sit well with the former wrestling champ.
Our sources say The Rock and Vin had a meeting on the Atlanta set mid-day Tuesday … partly because tensions were running so high it was almost impossible to shoot scenes. We do not know if they resolved their issues.
As we reported, almost the entire cast is angry at Rock for causing a stir just a week and a half before filming ends.
I saw some people theorizing that the late Paul Walker was the glue that held the cast together, that he was easy-going and he got along with everyone, and that his personality helped the other cast members get along and put their egos aside. I’d like to think that’s true, because it would explain this. Vin Diesel causing issues with Dwayne Johnson is no bueno, but neither is offering a blind item about the star/producer of the franchise.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Lol all I want to know is what is a candy ass?
It means weak or cowardly. Unfortunately, I heard it used as an offensive slur against gay men on occasion in the early ’00s (my best friend in high school was gay and that was one of the “favorite” slurs the homophobic jock types used to use against him).
Given all the gay rumors around Vin Diesel referring to him as a candy ass is uncool. Sorry Dwayne. Normally luv ya but this was off-sides.
The Rock has been using the word candy ass since the 90’s when he started his pro wrestling career. It is meant to describe his opponents as week, he didn’t use it as a gay slur. He was the one who popularized the word.
As I said yesterday his tagline was I’m going to lay the smack down on your candy ass.
I meant weak, my think it’s so smart phone went with week.
Candy Ass has been around for more than 50 years. It did not originate with the Rock and IT IS a slur against gay people, particularly men.
Ditto on the definition as he’s used here. A candy ass is a wuss, a wimp. To my knowledge, The Rock has never used the term to hate on any group of people. I know cos I had to “supervise” my kids years ago while they watched WWE. 🙂
It doesn’t matter how one person uses it, if historically it has been used another way. What a stupid thing to defend.
@NeoCleo. I never said it was originated by The Rock. I was just referring to when he started using it and that he didn’t mean it as a gay slur. Why is this an issue?
@Jessica Who is defending it? Just making a comment in the way The Rock uses it. Why must people take issue with every little thing for no reason? Jeez Louise; and no that phrase didn’t originate with me.
When I was in the army it was used to describe soldiers who weren’t tough. For example I, with my frilly undies under my camo and inability to understand basic combat tactics, was decidedly a candy ass. #collegemoney
I would guess it originated as a homophobic slur and probably stems from the word “sweet” which means gay in slang. And since gay men are steretypically effeminate and since feminity equals weakness, candy ass comes to mean weak or cowardly.
Really??? Vin Diesel? Wouldn’t have guessed. Now I want to know what he possibly could’ve done to cause that much anger.
Oh I pretty much knew for sure it was Vin. He’s had a diva reputation for years!! Full tilt diva! The goodwill from the industry towards him will only last as long as Fast and Furious does.
I wouldn’t say he has had a diva attitude most people like working with him. Though I did point out that he and Paul Walker wasn’t getting along so well on the set of FF4.
V4real: i totally forgot Paul (rip) and vin Diesel. I guessed Tyrese and Scott too. So… It makes me think that their issue is not new. When Paul passed away, Duane mentioning beingg upset after a day of shooting (when he joined the franchise) and Paul was the one who went to see if Duane was fine.
Me too.. I swore it was Tyrese Gibson or Scott Eastwood…
Yes I was thinking that too. I wonder what he did? The Rock is usually all puppies and rainbows …
Same here, I’m definitely intrigued. The Rock has never struck me as the type to pull that kind of drama (especially not in a blind item) so the fact that he did has my radar pinging.
Of course, we all know how actors can be if their egos are threatened, so who really knows what’s going on?
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/aug/27/4 Ask to Mathieu Kassovitz ,Babylon AD director for example.
http://www.thesuperficial.com/vin_diesel_dropped_by_publicis-03-2009
http://www.classicalite.com/articles/9033/20140613/fast-furious-7-cast-update-paul-walker-autopsy-alive-crash-vin-diesel.htm
Why do you believe that he only works on his franchises ?
Same reason Jason Statham isn’t doing Shakespeare?
@littlemiss…LOL!
I figured it was Vin Diesel all along. He’s got a reputation for being a diva and I always thought he was a wuss in real life. Dwayne probably shouldn’t have voiced his opinions until after filming but I understand his frustration. It’s damn hard to be a professional and working your ass off when someone you’re working with is playing games and wasting your time. I’m sure Vin is also jealous and resentful of Dwayne, Vin tries to have this image of a tough guy but if push came to shove, I could see Dwayne standing his ground and Vin D running off to hide.
Unpopular opinion. I can easily believe that Vin can be a piece of work. I think it’s more unprofessional though for the Rock to go bitching on social media since this will dog them all during promotions. There really is no excuse for publicly badmouthing someone on social media (even if we all kind of like to see someone dragged) unless someone is sexist, abusive, or racist or you need to defend yourself against an accusation. Also, I don’t blame the rest of the FF guys for getting pissed at the Rock (and I love him most of the time).
I was really shocked that the rock ( rhymes😊) said this, let alone posted it on SM. It wasn’t professional and shouldn’t have been done. BUT, Im really incline to believe him that whoever it was, was totally unbearable. The Rock has been around for a long time and has worked with a decent amount of actors in many films. Why I didn’t know the guy, what I’ve always seen of him in interviews or SM, he always seems fairly decent.
So I’m leading to believe that whoever pissed him off was an arse hat. He probably should have kept this private, but since it’s not his norm behaviour, I’m going with him losing is cool.
*all this is speculation
I agree but also think that it must have been something real bad that got him to go on SM to air the dirt. The Rock is pretty beloved and seems very professional.
Heel Rock is my favorite Rock.
He knows exactly what he’s doing in getting some buzz going again about a movie most people don’t care about. In the WWE any kind of reaction is considered a good one, even if it’s negative. How much free press has FF8 gotten the past 2 days vs the past few weeks?
Exactly.
Vin was my first guess yesterday. It seemed pretty obvious that if the most successful star on a set is clashing with an actor badly enough that he needs to broadcast it, then it has to be someone of equal or greater power. Anybody is capable of ego dramatics, especially two over paid, over feted, over steroided guys. I doubt theres any such thing as a nice guy beyond a certain success level in Hollywood.
I’d say I lost respect for The Rock, but I never had any to begin with. How immature and unprofessional.
Care to explain why you never had respect for him in the first palce?
I knew it wasn’t Scott Eastwood.
Apart from the fact that I don’t think Eastwood would dare tick off any of these guys.
I also thought The Rock would have easily talked to Eastwood face to face without needing cryptic social media posting. Him having to put someone on blast in a roundabout way meant there was a power structure behind it.
Vin Diesel has a rep for this anyway.
It’s common knowledge that Paul Walker and Diesel could not stick each other.
Diesel only came back to the F & F franchise, somewhat bitterly, when his career did not go as planned
The Rock wouldn’t have punched below his weight class like that by calling out Eastwood publicly. Diesel on the other hand? Oh yeah.
My guesses were Eastwood and Tyrese. But your reasoning makes sense.
And, I had completely forgotten about Vin Diesel attempting a real Hollywood career and leaving F&F. Now, I can see him begrudgingly doing these films.
I think Vin Diesel was typecast doing testosterone fueled vehicles. He was decent in Saving Private Ryan, Boiler Room and Knockaround Guys, but he was cast as the macho save the world guy with few lines but looks good with his shirt off role and stayed.
I feel for Scott Eastwood. Yesterday, he had people proudly proclaiming the Rock’s comments were about him because “who else could it be? Scott’s just a douche.” That said, the Rock’s IG post was MAJORLY unprofessional.
Not me, I said it wasn’t him yesterday, but people are so KEEN to lay the blame on people they don’t like without thinking it through. I also think The Rock was unprofessional in this. Why not have it out with Vic if this is where the problem lies?
Yeah, a lot of people here were judgy af yesterday without knowing the full story.
The way its written makes me think that Vin made some decisions and The Rock wanted none of it. Perhaps it is a power struggle thingie.
That post was very middle school of The Rock tbh
Not me either. I never said it was Eastwood. It just didn’t fit. I would think he feels quite intimidated joining a cast that has already done a few films together. I think Scott was just happy to be there. He even said on set he likes to stick around to see how things work after the cameras stop rolling and the other actors returns to their trailers. I didn’t think it was Lucas Black either. These two don’t seem like the type to piss Dwayne off.
Paul and Vin supposedly couldn’t stand each other for a long time but they eventually became friends. I can easily believe, like Kaiser said, that Paul was a mellow person who managed to kind of calm everyone else down on set.
Yep, I said that yesterday.
What I said too yesterday about Paul. Vin is a d-bag, love his movies, but his attitude for years has been diva on set. I miss Paul, won’t be seeing new movie as F&F franchise won’t be the same without him.
You would have thought during the marketing of the last movie that Vin and Walker were these inseparable brothers who were as close as two human beings could possibly be short of being joined at the hip. You mean that is not true? Maybe Vin was selling that to sell tickets?
really – Vin and Walker?
Watch again The FF movies.Walker’s character was less and less interesting at every movie and he was became a supporting character
@Don’t kill me – I actually did notice Walker’s character was slowly fading away in spite of the fact that he was one of the leads, the movies got more Diesel – centric but had no idea about this story. Now it makes sense.
I was pretty pissed about it too, Diesel was portrayed as the head of the family and Walker became just another family member.
This!
I love the F&F movies, but I never considered that Paul and Vin may not have always gotten along. It makes sense that to get Vin to commit to the franchise, they made him a producer and ultimately the main character, l where he then limited Pauls role. Paul was really the main character in the first one and arguably he second one. Although I’m sure Paul was just happy to be acting and making money since his other ventures were flops, so he set it aside (my speculation)
It also makes me re-think Scott’s quotes about everyone going back to their trailer — sounds like there was some major boy beef and no one wanted to stick around set.
@Jegede: Like I said before, I guessed Tyrese and Eastwood. I completely forgot his beef with Paul. Paul’s character was really shoved to the side as the franchise kept going when he was clearly one of the leads in the story.
The power struggle rationale makes total sense. But I think Duane was unprofessional to call him out. Anyway, I hope they sort things out. I also hope Vin stops using Paul’s name to sell the franchise, especially when Paul’s character was shoved int he background movie after movie.
FF7 “for Paul” Is fine. But saying FF8 is from Paul is bs…
Diesel named his daughter Paulina (or Pauline, I forget which) after Paul Walker so they must have had a pretty good relationship.
@ Penelope
Walker himself – tactfully – confirmed their tension in interviews over the years.
But yes, I’m sure the relationship improved for Vin after Paul’s death.
Didn’t see that one coming.
Oh, snap. Not who I expected that to be about
The Rock is one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. To get him mad enough to say something publicly, it must have been bad indeed.
Exactly my thought.
I also think his post was a calculated move, he probably knew it would be controversial and it would bring a lot of attention to himself and the set and he did it anyway. Apart from being a good guy all around, The Rock is also a pretty good business man. I can’t imagine he didn’t calculate every bit of what he was doing.
Maybe he is hoping that the reactions will be in his favor and he’ll be able to negotiate Vin’s exclusion from the franchise and a bigger part, behind the scenes, for himself.
True. But as many people said here very unprofessional. Yet so bitchy it almost seems glorious
I think there is a fine line between being unprofessional and taking a calculated risk when it comes to these situations. The Rock has a clean history by all accounts, he is pretty smart and from the comments here I understand there was difficulty in Diesel’s relationships with Walker also.
I wouldn’t put The Rock in the unprofessional bucket just yet, it’s more to this story than the word ‘unprofessional’. He doesn’t strike me as a Katherine Heigl type.
The Rock is one of the most driven, focused, and professional guys in Hollywood. Not to mention of the most social media savvy. He’s allowed to have an opinion, even if it’s a negative one. Diesel would have to be behaving pretty badly for the Rock to call him out semi-publicly like this.
I’m team rock. He has a great reputation and vint does NOT
Meh. I’ve neeever liked Diesel. I also don’t take Johnson seriously, AT ALL, but he’s grown on me over the years.
You are a much better judge of character than I.
I didn’t like Vin, then my partner convinced me he was a good dude and a nerd and I changed my mind. Should’ve stuck with the gut feeling.
I do love the Rock though.
Yeah, I’m not sure why, but I also got a bad vibe from Vin.
The Rock – I just love how he’s this HUGE dude, and then is just… kind of corny. Like – nobody who takes themselves seriously would EVER be in that tooth fairy movie. He seems like he genuinely can laugh at himself.
That is the exact reason I love The Rock. He doesn’t take himself seriously, but he is confident in his skin. Plus, I love a big man with a tiny dog.
That silly movie with Stifler, The Rundown? Loved him ever since.
He says candy ass often (on Instagram) so maybe he doesn’t think it’s a big deal and Vin Diesel does seem like he could be high maintenance. I’m a fan of The Rock because of his normally positive attitude and drive but he could have handled it differently. It seems they’ll get more attention as the movie wraps up thanks to his comments though… And really, ‘candy ass’ is so stupid it’s funny!
That’s funny. Vin Diesel was the first one that came to mind.. I was going to say Vin Diesel because he’s so extra, so full of himself. And I knew he and Paul Walker had problems in the earlier FFs. But when I was reading on here everyone acted like Rock and Vin Diesel got along and no way it could be Vin Diesel. I hadn’t really kept up with FF, so I figured I must be wrong after reading the comments. So I then went with Tyrese, because I could also see where he could have had problems with Tyrese being another prima donna.
I think this whole situation is ripe for an SNL parody. Hilarious.
The Rock and Vin in dresses and heels hand slapping and banging each other with purses! 👍😁😁😁
My stepbrother dated Vin before he became an actor.
???
more please!
I need to hear more about this!
Vin or his twin brother? It’s been rumored in the gay community for years that Vin is bisexual. No news here. 🙂
If any of you have seen his show on HBO there’s a line where someone aks if he’s Vin. He says “no I’m bigger and better looking”
I did see that and it was hilarious.
How big is the box they put Vin on in the top photo?
Isn’t he close to 5’6″, and he had to be the same height as DJ?
Nah, Vin’s around 5′ 10″ – 5′ 11″. His on-screen height in the F&F movies has crept up since The Rock joined the franchise, though.
Vin and the Rock both have it in their contracts that neither character can lose a fight. This is why when their characters fight each other, there is always someone who breaks it up or interrupts it without a clear winner. Talk about egos on set…
PR people. It’s number 8, after all.
I like Dwayne. I follow him on facebook and he never, EVER post anything negative. It’s always either a talk about motivation, promoting his current work or charity or something. Whenever he mentions his co stars,he often compliments them (especially women). He’s as big as a mountain but seems very humble so I’m quite surprised that he posted the blind item. Someone commented that it was probably a calculated move but imo maybe he just really lost his cool and posted it. He doesn’t seem like someone who would quickly retort with an angry-captioned picture every time someone annoys them *side-eyeing Demi*. It must have been something real big. Idk. Still lol’ed at the candy ass commentary tho 😂
Eh I love the Rock but again airing this out a week to go on set on twitter is a “candy ass” move as well.
I love the Rock. He is a stand up guy. Check out his Instagram..he does a lot with make a wish and is a super positive person. While I do think this was unprofessional, he must have been pretty frustrated to air his dirty laundry like that.
Now I think this is all a setup to boost viewership for their new Fast & Furious movie. It just doesn’t make sense otherwise since these two have always seemed to get along well. The Rock is originally known for his fake wrestling feuds. This is a fake actor feud.
All I can say is LOL at the scene in Ballers where someone confused asks Dwayne Johnson, “Aren’t you Vin Diesel?” His reply is, “No, I’m bigger and better looking.”
I said yesterday that I was sure it wasn’t Scott Eastwood…he’s actually a decent guy. I can see where Vin Diesel, the stud of the franchise, would feel threatened by the Rock and act stupid because of it. However, despite his puppies and kittens image he tries to portray, I have always gotten strong asshole vibes from the Rock…could be that HE’S he real problem…not Vin.