Axl Rose has said no more to faux fans that are after his autograph for all the wrong reasons.
During AC/DC‘s current European tour Axl Rose has been relentlessly badgered by eBay-ing professionals which he has deemed to be guising as fans seeking him out just to sell his signature for money.
Taking to Twitter recently, Axl, in his own glorious own middle-aged-man-has-discovered-the-internet-words, declared he is fed up and won’t be signing any autographs for a while.
Observe:
Can't take da ebayers so un42nutzly I's won'tz b signing things 4 awhile. Much Love 2 the real fans!!❤️
— Axl Rose (@axlrose) May 31, 2016
Rose has reportedly given plenty of time to his fans throughout this tour in the form of photographs, handshakes and autographs. It now seems that the only way for him to weed out the genuine from the fake is to pull back on fan friendly gestures that can amount to monetary value.
It certainly seems that this is fast becoming a rewarding career choice for savvy autograph hounds. Last year on ABC News it was estimated that this is a “$50 million a year industry,” with some collectors earning “six-figure salaries.” However, backlash among superstars like Mick Jagger and Taylor Swift could very well shut this all down.
As Swift explained in a Wall Street Journal article, signing things is “obsolete” in the age of the selfie. And Mick Jagger apparently barely signs an autograph these days, unless of course “you’re a female and have good looks”, explains Autograph Pro Michael Kasmar.
Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age had a similar experience recently after a show in Detroit. A fan who witnessed the encounter explained:
“Josh wasn’t signing autographs because there were obvious eBay sellers there (multiple items, lying to get stuff signed for their kids, etc), but he said he would take pictures with everybody. Suddenly, the autograph hounds weren’t interested.
“When Josh started taking pictures with people, the autograph hound (who talked about reselling the autographs while we were waiting outside) then said ‘do you know how much we made off you tonight,’ which was a reply to Josh saying that he didn’t want anything ending up on eBay. Taking pictures with fans was generous, and I just thought I’d set the record straight!”
Here is some footage of Axl Rose giving pushy autograph hounders the shove a couple of years back in New York.
