Samuel L. Jackson is sick and tired of hearing the word “snakes” whenever he flies on a commercial airliner. “Just drive the damn plane!” he recently told a pilot who made a reference to Jackson’s role in the campy 2006 film “Snakes On A Plane”.
Jackson, 63, was similarly outraged when a movie critic gave his latest film, The Avengers, a bad review. Jackson took to his Twitter.com account on Thursday and urged his 825,000+ followers to help NY Times critic AO Scott find a new job — “One he can ACTUALLY do!”.
The Avengers, which grossed $300 million so far overseas, and is expected to break box office records in the U.S. this weekend, has been panned by critics everywhere. But Jackson took particular offense to Scott’s review of the Joss Whedon-directed Disney film.
“The Avengers is hardly worth raging about, its failures are significant and dispiriting,” Scott wrote in his review.
According to to Deadline.com, Scott also called Jackson’s role as the head of superspy agency S.H.I.E.L.D “more master of ceremonies than mission commander.”
Jackson was not amused — but neither were mainstream journalists and other Twitter users who reminded Jackson of Scott’s constitutional rights to free speech.
@kramercapriati wrote to Jackson, “The critic has a right to his opinion. Just because the movie has made a ton of money does not mean it is a good movie.”
And when @TheFilmNest tweeted: “Disappointed to hear @SamuelLJackson respond irrationally to negative review of #Avengers. People aren’t entitled to their own opinion? 
” — Jackson replied, “That is My Opinion! & what’s irrational about it? They aren’t going to fire his jaundiced ass & You & I Know It!”.
Scott responded calmly to Jackson’s Twitter skirmish, tweeting “…I feel more flattered than threatened.”
