'I Meant What I Said': Dwayne Johnson Keeps His Messy Feud with Vin Diesel Alive

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | October 12, 2021 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | October 12, 2021 |

The most entertaining feud in Hollywood right now continues to be the one between Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel, primarily because it’s a beef that’s almost entirely harmless. Two of the most popular actors on the planet despise each other, and while they frequently take shots at one another, there’s something almost good-natured and old-fashioned about it.

For the Rock, it always comes down to professionalism, work ethic, and the way that Diesel purportedly treated the crew and others on the set of Fast and Furious movies, the eighth of which Johnson only agreed to appear in if he didn’t have to share any scenes with Diesel. The lack of screentime, however, didn’t stop the feud from busting out in the open when The Rock took to Instagram in 2016 in a now-deleted post and called Diesel “chicken sh*t” and a “Candy Ass.”

Asked in the cover story for Vanity Fair this month what Johnson meant by “candy ass,” he was all too happy to define the term: “A candy ass is something you don’t want to be,” he said. “And the best way that I can describe a candy ass is: Life is so much easier, I have found, when you are not full of shit. And a candy ass is completely full of shit.”

Johnson does say he regrets making his feud with Diesel public, although he’s not taking back anything he’s written or said:

“It caused a firestorm. Yet interestingly enough…[it was] as if every single crew member found their way to me and either quietly thanked me or sent me a note. But, yeah, it wasn’t my best day, sharing that. I shouldn’t have shared that. Because at the end of the day, that goes against my DNA. I don’t share things like that. And I take care of that kind of bullshit away from the public. They don’t need to know that. That’s why I say it wasn’t my best day.”

But, I confirm, he wouldn’t take it back—he just wouldn’t share it publicly?

“No, I meant what I said. For sure. I mean what I say when I say it. But to express it publicly was not the right thing to do.”

Johnson also confirmed that there was a meeting between Diesel and Johnson in Johnson’s trailer (he wants it to be known) where they didn’t clear the air exactly, but they did agree to disagree. “It really became just crystal clear that we are two separate ends of the spectrum. And agreed to leave it there.”

Reminded again of what Diesel said in Men’s Health over the summer — “I could give a lot of tough love. Not Fellini-esque, but I would do anything I’d have to do in order to get performances in anything I’m producing” — Johnson once again reiterated that he “laughed. I laughed hard. We all laughed. And somewhere I’m sure Fellini is laughing too.”

The entire piece is worth reading, if only for the passage about Emily Blunt joking during the promotion of Jungle Cruise that, if he could take only one thing into the jungle with him, The Rock would take “anal beads.”

Source: Vanity Fair