One of the funniest celebrity feuds is between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel. It started when the two of them were filming Fast Five together in 2011 and came to a head after Dwayne called Vin a “candy ass” in a 2016 Instagram post. Both sides accused the other of being unprofessional, blah blah blah. Cut to June 2023, when these two macho man babies announced in dual Instagram posts that they had buried the hatchet and that DJ would be returning for Fast 11.
This brings us to this year’s Golden Globes ceremony, when Vin presented the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. When he got up to the microphone, the very first thing he did was give a little, “Hey, Dwayne.” It was clearly one of those random, unscripted moments. Johnson, for his part, gave a smile that slowly faded and VD started his presenter spiel by talking about all of the famous, prestigious directors he’s worked with. You can watch the clip here or below.
Vin Diesel gave a nod to Dwayne Johnson — better known as The Rock — at Sunday’s Golden Globes as he presented the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Before he began reading the nominees, the Guardians of the Galaxy actor stopped and said casually, “Hey Dwayne.” Johnson smiled in return.
Diesel and Johnson harbored a feud for years, after costarring in several movies in the Fast & Furious franchise. Diesel has played Dominic (“Dom”) Toretto, street racer and family man, since the series’ first movie, 2001’s The Fast and the Furious. Jonson’s character, Luke Hobbs, first appeared in Fast Five in 2011, as a federal agent initially out to capture Dom and his team. They later team up.
The offscreen feud became public in August 2016, when Johnson shared a social media post, which has since been deleted, that mentioned that some of his male costars had been unprofessional.
“There’s no other franchise that gets my blood boiling more than this one,” Johnson wrote, per PEOPLE. “My female costars are always amazing and I love’em. My male costars, however, are a different story. Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t.” He called these costars “candy a–es.” When he later thanked some of his male costars by name, Diesel wasn’t among them.
Over the next few years, various reports blamed their issues on unprofessional behavior from Johnson or Diesel, depending on who was speaking.
Diesel said that he used “tough love” with the former WWE wrestler for the sake of their characters, “to assist in getting that performance where it needed to be,” in a June 2021 interview with Men’s Health.
Johnson confirmed the next month that he would not return to the action saga.
He also curtly responded to the “tough love” comment: “One part of me feels like there’s no way I would dignify any of that bull—- with an answer,” Johnson told Vanity Fair for its November 2021 issue.
Needless to say, the Internet is currently divided on whether or not this was Vin making a power play or if it was a harmless “Heyyyy friend” from one frenemy to another. Thoughts? Personally, I have watched the callout part of that clip like 15 times now and it sends me every time. I’ve gone back and forth on whether it was Vin being a petty little B or truly sincere. I think I’ve landed on VD giving a little jab because DJ’s smile looks natural at first, but then it fades into a grimace. We all know that Dwayne wanted to be a more serious movie star, so it’s pretty easy to interpret the “Hey, Dwayne” as Vin’s way to get his attention just before he starts talking about all of the bigwigs he’s worked with. Either way, both have a reputation for being difficult to work with, so good luck to everyone on the set of Fast 11, which is set to start filming soon. I’m sure whatever happens next will probably go public at some point.
Here’s the clip:
Oh yeah… that was a jab that DJ wasn’t prepared for. LOL
Forget the DJ feud; the best part of that speech was hearing Vin expound on acting like he was Marlon Brando. The delusion is strong with this one.
That was my favorite part too, like lolollll
Vin gives me the major ick. And, how petty to be giving an award speech and poke at your rival like a 3 yr old.
It’s petty to be sure, but after the last election cycle and TR’s cowardly AF “not gonna endorse anyone this time” move because he didn’t want to upset the bros… Well, I’m not upset by this at all. Love it anytime someone pokes a hole in his armor.
Yeah, it’s definitely team no-one in this mess.
Both dudes are huge egomaniacs but Vin is such a troll/tool/douchebag.
I can’t stand either of them but I enjoyed watching Dwayne force a fake smile on his bothersism fake face. I cackled out loud when I saw the clip.
He knows how to gin up the hype for whatever fast film is coming next. Off topic, he was real eye candy (to me) 25 years ago and now he looks like a potato … time eventually comes for us all 😭
Years ago Sylvester Stallone had some kind of hissy fit over (I think–could be wrong) seating arrangements at some table with Matt Damon. This blew up due to Hollywood egos clashing. VD looks half asleep and is placing his NY self on a pedestal there. Considering he opens up with all the great directors he had the honor to work with, this was definitely a dig.