GQ has a big long cover story on Idris Elba in their October issue and you should really read it because (a) he’s an interesting guy and the interview is refreshingly candid, and (b) it intersperses his life story with large sections about him DJing three parties in Ibiza in one night, the last of which didn’t even start until like 3 a.m., because of course the actor responsible for bringing both Stringer Bell and John Luther to life also DJs all-night parties in Ibiza on the regular. How’s your life going?
But I digress.
Elba also discusses his recent scuffle with Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher at the NME Awards, and minces very few words in the process. We pick up the story in an Ibiza nightclub, mid-party:
And then he throws on “Wonderwall,” by Oasis, which is curious, because even though the mostly British crowd is howling the song back at him, Elba has been in the tabloids recently for an altercation with Liam Gallagher after this year’s NME Awards; the younger Gallagher brother removed Elba’s wool cap in an apparently disrespectful manner. Elba took issue; the two men got into it. So it seems suspicious, Elba playing Gallagher’s song, and the next day, when we meet up again, I ask him about it.
“Wonderwall” last night—were you taking a shot?
“No! F*ck that idiot. No.”
Basically, Elba says, he just gave Liam a hug and an affectionate rub on the head.
“Didn’t like that. Don’t touch his hair, apparently. F*ck off. Next time walk with a f*cking hairdresser, then.”
Laughter.
“Well, ‘I’m a popular rock singer, so I’m going to be mean and f*cking horrible to people just because they messed up my look.’ F*ck off. I played his song because his song’s a classic. I couldn’t—I don’t even know what his songs are about now or what band he’s in now. No one gives a f*ck, yeah? He was popular when he was in Oasis.”
I’m willing to bet every single dollar I will ever have that this isn’t the only hair-related feud that Liam Gallagher is currently involved in.
