Ringo Starr Cuts Off His Fans
Posted October 14, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After next week, fans of Ringo Starr will have to hide their love away.
In a short, bizarre video posted to his web site, the former Beatles drummer called for an end to fan mail and requests for autographs.
Sporting sunglasses and flashing the peace sign, Starr told supporters, “Please do not send fan mail to any address you have. Nothing will be signed after the 20th of October. If that is the date on the envelope, it’s gonna be tossed.”
He continued, “I’m warning you with peace and love I have too much to do. So no more fan mail…And no objects to be signed. Nothing.”
What might have encouraged fans to flood the musician with letters of devotion? It could be Starr’s appearance in a 1991 Simpsons episode in which he vows to answer every piece of mail he receives.
“They took the time to write to me, and I don’t care if it takes 20 years, I’m going to answer every one of them,” he promises on the show. The ex-pat Brit replies to a letter from Marge Simpson with, “Yes, in England we do have French fries, but we call them chips!”
Starr, 68, is still a huge draw, performing a mix of Beatles hits, solos and other classics on tour with his All-Starr band.
But he has had run-ins with the public before. Earlier this year, vandals beheaded a topiary sculpture of the native Liverpudlian after he told interviewers he doesn’t miss the city.
Die-hard fans who want a piece of Starr will now have to settle for tote bags, hoodies and baby-doll tees available on his web site.
Image credit: ringostarr.com
