George Lazenby discusses landing James Bond role in 2012
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The Bond legend has been on a major The Music of James Bond tour, which includes segments where he regales the audience with anecdotes about his life, particularly his (brief) time as 007. The organisers immediately removed the veteran star following outraged reactions to his performance and then media coverage. Lazenby himself quickly issued messages on social media, expressing his distress that audience members might have been offended by his comments.
Lazenby wrote: “I am sorry and saddened to hear that my stories in Perth on Saturday might have offended some people. It was never my intention to make hurtful or homophobic comments and I am truly sorry if my stories that I have shared many times were taken that way. I only ever wish to share some stories and hopefully entertain some people. I personally have friends within my close circle who are gay and I would never wish to offend anyone. Having been surrounded by strong women all my life, I have always admired and respected women and their wishes.”
However, one caller to a local radio station blasted the actor for “talking about basically his sexual conquests. He was homophobic, he swore, he certainly wasn’t talking about his Bond movies.”
The backlash resulted in Lazenby being summarily fired from the ongoing Australian tour.
The caller added: “It was absolutely unbelievable… At one point he named an Australian cricketer whose daughter he was chasing, and he said he dragged the daughter out of a pub and put her in a car in London, which again is, of course, horrific.
“It wasn’t even charming, it wasn’t even funny. It was creepy, it was offensive… He was disgusting, there’s no two ways about it.”
To add to the backlash, Lazenby also apparently made some ill-advised comments about Queen Elizabeth.
While tributes have been pouring in from all around the world, displaying the staggering global scale of affection and respect for Her Majesty, the caller added that Lazenby also: “downplayed the Queen a day after she died.”
Local newspaper The West Australian featured furious comments from another eyewitness who described “self-interested misogynistic stories of George Lazenby’s sexual prowess, intimate details of diarrhoea and objectification of women. It wasn’t until a brave member of the public shouted, ‘Excuse me, this is offensive’, that the tension was released and George was jeered off stage and music saved the day.”
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