TVSquad

They should have asked about his jeri curl in Coming to America which, to me, will always be his defining moment.

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Interesting...if you read that comment as if he is saying it matter-of-factly...it's not unreasonable or bitchy at all, really.

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I can't tell the tone, of course, just from print, but his answers sound fairly gracious considering the circumstances. It's not like he screamed, 'No ER questions!' and stormed off.

LaSalle and the other actors are there to try and promote their recent work which was what the event was supposed to about. A few off topic questions sure, but to pepper them with unrelated stuff is a wasting their time.

And saying, 'Ha! You're not as successful as Clooney!' is kind of bush league.

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I don't see the problem with what Eriq said either. He wants to talk about his current projects, not what he did years ago, and that is all he said. Very respectfully.

This is almost like when the media was talking about how Clinton "flew off the handle" with reporters when his face got red and he pointed his finger at them. (All while keeping his voice perfectly level and normal).

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First off, I have to agree with commenter 2 and especially 3.

Secondly, I can only guess that you, Allison, once asked him about ER and he gave a less than forthcoming answer, right? That's the only reason I can think of for the aggressive condescension in your final paragraph. Maybe, rather than telling him he should be grateful that you are deigning to ask him about a project that he hasn't been involved with for 6 years, you should think about it from his perspective: Imagine if, for the rest of your life, you were only every asked about what you wrote in college and even if you asked people to focus on your current book, they kept bringing up your college thesis. Sure, you're glad that you wrote the thesis and that it allowed you to graduate cum laude, but surely you would want to talk about other things eventually...

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Wow, they let any hack write for TV Squad

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"To this day, Eriq, ER is your claim to fame."

HEY! He was in Biker Boyz with Laurence Fishburne. :D

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I've got to agree with the general consensus of the previous comments. The quotes from LaSalle sound very calm and restrained, not angry at all. This is a welcome departure from a lot of prima-donna actors and I think he handled the situation with relative grace.

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I agree with everyone else. It's been years since he was on ER, there just isn't any reason to still be asking him about it. If there was really something about ER that only Eriq LaSalle could tell you, you probably could have tracked him down somewhere else in the past six years. And it doesn't sound at all like he was being a jerk, his comments sounded pretty appropriate. And keeping the thing on track was probably appreciated by the people actually paying him for his current work.

Also, he should certainly be remembered more for Coming to America than ER anyway.

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Slow blog day? Must be if petty stuff like this is all you have to write about. Gheeesh.

I have to agree with every one else here. It would appear he was justified and polite in his comments. What's the prob?

"Wow, they let any hack write for TV Squad."
That one made me chuckle.

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Not only do I think Eric was perfectly justified in his comments, but the reporters where down right rude to continue pestering him with questions about ER after he asked for them to stop.

It doesn't matter if Eric hasn't done anything of consequence since ER, what matters is that he is promoting something now and you all were ostensibly there to cover that.

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Allison,
Thank you for allowing for the possible that some of us might interpret LaSalle's comments differently than you do. If you review the comments both here and at the originating article, you'll notice that your opinion is in a very small minority.

To answer your question about Jason Alexander, no I've never heard him diss Seinfeld. But I've never heard LaSalle diss ER either; he certainly did not do so here. What I did see was LaSalle politely, if somewhat pointedly, twice answer the question asked and twice attempt to redirect the conversation to the more pressing matter at hand. I agree that, had an quick question been asked relating to both the actors present and to ER (for example, would any of them be returning to County for the final season), it should have been answered politely. The problem comes from the fact that, having asked ER-related questions and, having had them anwered, the reporters were asked to move on and they did not. Not because LaSalle or his former costars are untapped ER resources but simply because the show is about to enter it's final season.

It sounds like you had a lovely chat with Sharon Gless but it seems, from the way you describe it, that you had a more intimate experience with Gless and that the interview was of a more conversation. LaSalle was in the middle of a press tour, surrouned by his cast mates and answering questions from a gaggle of reporters. The differences are obvious and while it is great that Gless was so forthcoming, your comparison seems inapt.

As to the question of how gracious he, or any actor should have been, whether he should have answered any and all ER-related "questions with a smile," I flat out disagree with you. Having had the pleasure of interacting with, working with, and getting to know a large number of successful actors (one of whom is mentioned in the Courant article), I feel that I can speak with some familiarity about the actors perspective on this subject. On some level, regardless of the role or the success, for many actors (not celebrities, not stars) it is just a job. A job with tremendous perks, one that opens numerous opportunities, but a job nonetheless. All the actors with whom I've spoken wouldn't hesitate to say it was a pleasure, that a successful show allows them to pursue other projects, that they are grateful for the opportunities, etc. However, they all also say that a show is a job, a job that ends. They are constantly pursuing new jobs that are exciting to them and while they understand the need to (at times) discuss old jobs they are excited about their new projects and would rather talk about those.

For LaSalle, the job ER ended 6 years ago. He does admit that it was an important experience. Hell, he goes one better: "it was a defining moment, you know, for a lot of us as artists." What else is he supposed to say, especially when he is there promoting another project. The promotion of the new show, the press tour, is part of his current job!

And I have to apologize, because now I'm just grinding an axe, but I am really disturbed by your attitude that, because you watched them on TV, actors like LaSalle owe you answers to all your questions and smiles to boot. Part of the disconnect comes from the difference between how the audience thinks of actors and how they think of themselves. You call him a star, but LaSalle calls himself an artist. An artist who has been asked the same question 6,000 times since leaving the show. Give him a break.

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"But, you know, the press doesn't like to be told what to do....". That's the most telling - not to mention obnoxious - line in this report.

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