When Bill Murray traumatised a 9-year-old actor for no reason: “I was horrified”
For a long time, people have loved Bill Murray, whose appearances in everything from Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters to Lost in Translation and Fantastic Mr Fox secured his place in Hollywood as a comedic icon who could just as easily take on a more serious part if given the chance.
Yet, over the years, Murray has been accused of some rather questionable behaviour, ranging from being difficult to work with – he had a pretty nasty argument with Lucy Liu on the set of Charlie’s Angels – to sexual harassment. In terms of the latter, a few years ago, he found himself paying off a crew member who alleged that Murray acted inappropriately around her during the production of Being Mortal, reportedly straddling her and kissing her without consent.
These are just a few of the many allegations and documented instances of Murray acting like a truly terrible person, and it makes you wonder how he got so far in his career when he’s seemingly so insufferable to work with.
In fact, even children haven’t been immune to Murray’s rude behaviour, with Seth Green claiming that the actor threw him in a bin once because he was sitting in his seat. Green, who began acting as a child, appeared on the YouTube series Good Mythical Morning in 2022, where he recalled being nine years old when he had a rather traumatic run-in with Murray, which he remembers in great detail.
The Robot Chicken creator explained, “When I was nine years old, I did a spot on Saturday Night Live when Mary Gross was one of the on-the-scene anchor people for the news, and she did a whole thing about what kids think about the Christmas holiday.”
Murray famously worked on SNL in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and he just so happened to be hosting the episode that Green appeared on. You’d think that Murray would want to be nice to the children waiting backstage, who were likely receiving their first taste of Hollywood, but Green remembers the actor being anything but sweet.
He recalled that he “saw me sitting on the arm of this chair and made a big fuss about me being in his seat,” which led him to think, “That is absurd. I am sitting on the arm of this couch. There are several lengths of this sofa. Kindly eff off.” Green’s mother suggested he move, but he couldn’t see what the big deal was. “He was like, ‘That’s my chair.’ Are you this much of a jerk? This rude to tell a nine year old to get out of your chair. What is this power play?”
So, Murray could’ve told the child not to worry, he could have found somewhere else to sit, or perhaps he could’ve had a word with his mother if he was that bothered. But no, the actor decided to do something much more infantile. Like a school bully in the playground, Green recalls how Murray decided to manhandle him instead.
“He picked me up by my ankles. Held me upside down…He dangled me over a trash can and he was like, ‘The trash goes in the trash can.’ And I was screaming, and I swung my arms, flailed wildly, full contact with his balls. He dropped me in the trash can, the trash can falls over. I was horrified. I ran away, hid under the table in my dressing room and just cried.”
What strange behaviour from a grown man.
