The Media Interview

John Stamos, late of Full House, now of ER, seems to be following in the footsteps of Paula Abdul, or rather, the missteps. On a media tour in Australia earlier this week, he apparently slurred and strangely gesticulated his way through one TV interview, as related by host Olivia Bishop on the blog of WHO magazine:

I knew something was wrong when instead of taking my hand to shake it, former Full House heartthrob John Stamos pulled me into a hug, telling me “you smell nice” when we were introduced before our interview on June 25.

In the country to promote his new role as Dr Tony Gates on medical drama ER, the actor arrived 30 minutes late for his first interview at 11am, because he was (according to a Channel Nine publicist) “napping”.

Unable to keep his eyes open, the actor slurred his way through a 15 minute chat with me, which I cut five minutes short, due to the actor’s erratic behaviour. Struggling to sit up, falling into the cushions perched beside him and constantly rubbing at his face, the 38-year-old attempted to answer my questions…

So what about his bleary-eyed appearance and muddled speech? “I’ve had the worst jet lag,” he said. “ I can’t get over it.” Before asking me: “I wonder if I had beer, would that work?”. We don’t think so…

As the actor arrived in Sydney on Thursday, jet lag seemed an unlikely cause for his demeanour.

Stamos was then taken to task for this performance the next day in The Daily Telegraph by television writer Stephen Downie. Stamos tried damage control on another TV show the next day - including attacking Downie - but did more damage. See what you think:

After this second interview, all of Stamos’s remaining interviews were cancelled and he was on a plane back to the US. According to his publicist:

John has been traveling extensively for the past few weeks in Greece, Egypt and Tokyo and had a difficult time adjusting to the time difference in Australia, which in turn led to many sleepless nights since his arrival. He acknowledges that his behavior was completely out of character during these interviews and apologizes.

Side note: The double-edged publicity sword which we call the internet rears its ugly head again - without YouTube and blogging, this story might have stayed down under, so to speak.