Kelly Clarkson Fires Her Guitarist Dwayne On Stage
This is OLD. It’s from Kelly Clarkson’s 2005 Breakway tour, but it’s worth posting because it illustrates what a mother f*cking badass Kelly is when she has to be. I love Kelly, so very very much.
Her guitarist, Dwayne, does something to piss her off and she fires him right on stage, in a most amusing way. The video is poor quality, but the action is easy to follow along, thanks to the helpful annotations added by the videographer.
Once again, thank you Anne Chantal
Enjoy!
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Tags: 69 Responses to “Kelly Clarkson Fires Her Guitarist Dwayne On Stage”
So flipping off an audience is cause for firing? Perhaps he should have told Kelly he was flipping off the people who criticize him and not the actual audience. Might have saved his job. I like Kelly. She’s smart and spunky. But this was completely unprofessional. I’m not surprised that she’s being applauded for this, though, because it now seems that to avoid the tag of being a “boring” artist, one must be uncivil and crude.
I think a lot of young people and children go to many of the Idol concerts.
Sooo, I walk away from reading this to go to the store. There’s Kelly co-hosting on 104.3 FM here in LA. After a little chatter she plays one of her ‘old songs’. Happens to be the same one she’s singing in this video. Yay, Kelly!
I wonder if her ears are burning from all the trashing she’s getting here.
I really want to be a Kris tard and tell you that no really, he is an artist, but I checked out your blog and I can’t argue with your music taste. Instead, I’ll just ask that you give him another chance. He writes and arranges most of his music, and plays several instruments. He’s just new.
Do you watch the takeaway shows? If not, you’d love them.
Also, I do believe that bipolar disorder is not a prerequisite for being an artist. Plus, I know someone who knew her in high school, and some of her friends kept in touch. She has a clean bill of health on that one. I’m certain.
I had no idea Kelly had detractors. I always thought of her as the neutral one that everyone either loved or was ambivalent about. Go figure.
I think he did flip off the audience, but kind of so what? Okay, not cool, but fireable? And the way she did it in front of everyone and everything, was unnecessary and made me uncomfortable. I didn’t like it.
Yes, Kelly has a right to fire whomever she wants any way she wants, but I don’t think this was the right way to go about it.
It doesn’t mean I hate Kelly for all time now. I think she made a lapse in judgement in the heat of the moment and yes, I do think she probaably was having issues with the guitarist before this. At least I would hope so, because that would be more rational. Though still wouldn’t take away the bad taste in my mouth about this.
I still like Kelly, I don’t have to live everything she does to do so. This is definitely not one of those times.
hmm.. Kelly is mofo bitch. Feel bad for that guy.
I don’t think Kelly should be trashed for it, and I don’t think saying her behavior that night was unprofessional is trashing her. I have more of a problem with the idea that firing someone in front of a cheering crowd somehow makes her a bad-ass or admirable. It doesn’t. Not to me at least.
She came across as a total bitch.
The most the guy could’ve done in the time he was off camera was flip the bird!
What if someone in the audience trew something at him or spit on him?
Happens in concerts a lot
Kelly did what she felt she had to do – period. How many of you have had to fire people before? I have had the pleasure and heartache a few times. Some people are just so disrespectful that a public firing is still too good for them.
Without knowing the history of their professional relationship and the issues, I would not pass judgement. Some people think they are above it all and if this is the type of person she was dealing with, then putting her foot down immediately was justifiable in my book.
Reminder:
I just deleted a few posts that I thought were over the top. Please state your opinion without out the finger wagging. I would suggest dialing it back, generally.
one more post from me on this topic; I do agree with MJ, what she did was bad-a$$…. again, I have no idea what else went down between Kelly and the guitarist, but there are men in every industry who think they can walk all over woman. It is quite possible that is the type of person she was dealing with – and in that case; she was bad-a$$!
That’s right! She’s a hardcore and bada$$! Bohemian blood runs through her veins. If you don’t believe that, take a look at the lyrics of one of her songs:
“I’m strong but I break
I’m stubborn and I make plenty of mistakes.
I’m confusing as hell, I’m north and south
And I’ll probably never have it all figured out
But what I know is I wasn’t meant to walk this world”
She’s only staying true to her music, and I respect that.
Are you kidding me? All you ever hear about her is that she’s a diva, most recently at the opening of the AI attraction at Universal Studios when they brought all the winners together.
Whatever, she’s been eclipsed anyway. Carrie passed her. Daughtry probably will in time. It’s not 2005 anymore.
Yeah, I love Kelly C, and own a bunch of her music. For the record though, I’d see this more as “everyone makes mistakes, and this is one of hers” then cool.
Firing someone on stage and whipping up the crowd to get into it?
Not seeing the bad ass. Why would I admire it?
Her right? Sure. Was he a jerk? We don’t know. It’s interesting the people saying “well, she did this to him –therefore he must have deserved it.”
I’ve managed people and had a few who were enraging and needed to *go*, yesterday. It’s still a mark of decency to do it in private.
She’s the boss. She has the money, the contract and the fans. What was tough or admirable about her behavior? I would think a man was a total d*ck if he did this to a woman on stage. Don’t think because it’s a woman firing a guy it makes her hardcore or something. There’s plenty of women executives, as there are guys, who revel in bringing down the hammer on people.
IDK, it’s maybe just me. As has been pointed out, it was 2005, she was young. Interesting discussion about what behavior people admire in entertainers.
The above was my comment just from reading the thread. Now I watched the video, and that was a pathetic display from Kelly.
Fire the guy– immediately if you think it’s warranted– but don’t make a spectacle of it. And, by God, don’t use the occasion as one for self-promotion of yourself as some kind of warped-Christian-champion-of-the-people. Kelly’s a great singer, but most of her music sucks, and it’s also pretty damn laughable that she actually thinks she’s tough.
I love Kelly and I trust that she had a good reason to fire him. Maybe her speech wasn’t the smartest thing, but I doubt that we understand what he did to make her so angry. It’s hard to tell from the video what happened. I’m sure there’s more to the story and she had her reasons. I give her the benefit of the doubt. He must have been a real jerk to get that kind of reaction out of her. I do not think that Kelly is a diva at all. There’s been very little of that kind of talk about her. *everyone* gets a few rumors about being a diva, doesn’t mean it’s true. I could have done without the “jesus” bit, but otherwise, it’s her show, her name, her reputation, and I figure the guy must have fucked with her more than once for this to happen, more than probably meets the eye in this video.
I love kelly even more after seeing that video. That is all.
Well I have watched the video obviously or I wouldn’t be commenting and I really only have a few comments on this matter.
1) Kelly has stated many times that her band is like family to her before and after this incident. Kelly must have felt that whatever he did, flipping the bird or something else, was not something that she wanted her band and ultimately herself to portray.
2) Kelly knows where her fame really comes from, her fans. She has never forgotten that and has always been true to herself and through the ups and downs her fans have stuck by her side. They love her realism i guess you could call it, she doesn’t pretend to be something she’s not and like it or not this is Kelly’s band and her show. This is difficult for any performer because not only do they have to take responsibility for themselves they also have to be responsible for everyone in their band and on their crew. And anything that happens on stage can and will be seen as her views or beliefs if not kept in check.
3) Dwayne may have got caught up in the moment, and this happens to all of us but unfortunately this doesn’t excuse him from accepting the consequences. We don’t know why he did what he did and if he did just flip off the audience, he probably didn’t think it was that big of a deal, like a lot of other people out there. I mean there have been way worse things going on on stage than that in other bands. But even if for one second he forgot that this wasn’t a band that has the liberty to act that way, and this isn’t even an issue of children being present, this has everything to do with Kelly’s beliefs and what she feels is the right way to treat her fans.
4) Kelly was left with no choice, if she didn’t fire him if she didn’t address the problem right at that moment then her fans were going to be free to make assumptions that she condones that behavior.
It just comes down to the fact that him flipping the bird, if that is what happened, is the equivalent of Kelly herself telling the audience to F**K off. The band is an extension of herself when upstage and doing anything to her fans, whom she obviously loves, did and should guarantee removal of the problem including a band member.
“Jive:
01/01/2010 at 2:22 am
one more post from me on this topic; I do agree with MJ, what she did was bad-a$$…. again, I have no idea what else went down between Kelly and the guitarist, but there are men in every industry who think they can walk all over woman. It is quite possible that is the type of person she was dealing with – and in that case; she was bad-a$$!”
What? Just because Kelly was a woman, she could go bitchy and fire anyone? The only one flipping the bird is you toward men! “..bad-a$$…putting her foot down…”, what nonsense…you want to pretend a woman could do no wrong? Women like you will never get why men don’t respect women. You bitch and moan and completely think you are superior as a gender even when history and on day to day basis men are making history and contributing to this world while women like you get all excited when a diva would go against any male. Go back to reading your “Star” magazine.