With just four words actor Peter Dinklage made me feel like I was the most terrible person in the world. You'd think meeting a celebrity that you were a fan of would be an awesome experience; but as I learned this week, it can wind up in quite the opposite way.

On our trip back from Ireland my producer and I were at Dublin Airport when we saw the Game of Thrones actor walk right past us. We were both star-struck. Peter Dinklage is a worldwide celebrity, not just for his role as Tyrion on Game of Thrones, but for his breakout role in The Station Agent and the hilarious cameo opposite Will Ferrell in Elf.

We didn't want to pass up the opportunity to meet Peter, so we quickly doubled back to say hi and ask for a quick photo. As we approached Dinklage he looked away and pretended to not notice us, but we were already walking towards him so it would have been awkward if we didn't say anything. I looked him in the face and said "Hi, Peter! We're big fans, do you mind if we take a quick picture together?" Without even looking back at us Dinklage just said "Have a nice day."  At this point I noticed that he was wearing earbuds. Perhaps, I thought, he didn't hear our request for a photo. So I asked again; "Do you mind if we take a quick picture?". Still without even looking at us he said, even louder this time, "I said, 'have a nice day'."

Confused by the response, we awkwardly walked away. I'll admit that for a while after the encounter I felt very guilty about somehow offending Peter Dinklage. For the next few minutes I kept running the scenario through my head. What did we do that could have generated such a cold response? How could it possibly be rude to walk up to someone and tell them that you enjoyed their work?

I ran through a huge list of possible ways I could have screwed this up. Were we interrupting Peter? No, he was all alone standing off to the side of the airport.

Was he afraid of attracting too many people and creating a scene? Impossible. The gate was completely empty, there was no one around to even notice him.

Did he feel threatened by us? I hope not. We're certainly not the scariest looking people in the world. Approaching with a smile and an open hand is usually the universal symbol of friendliness.

Was he just really busy? Again, he was all alone and his flight wasn't leaving for at least another hour.

I'm not sure what the problem was, but Peter just chose to end the conversation before it even started with "Have a nice day"... said in a way that made it clear he really meant "Go away now, I'm not talking to you."

I hate putting someone down without knowing their true intentions, so I won't say that Peter Dinklage is a mean or unfriendly person. I don't know that to be the case. I will say that if he had just said "Thanks, I really don't want to take a photo but I'm glad you're a fan, have a good flight." I would have left him alone all the same, but would have also thought he was a great guy and was appreciative of me being a fan.

Now I just feel like a jerk for wanting to tell someone I enjoyed their work.

I did eventually get that photo, however,.  Here's Peter walking away with his back to us:

A. Boris
A. Boris
loading...

So what do you think? Is it rude to approach a celebrity and say hello or do you think Peter Dinklage handled the situation the wrong way?

 


 

Bonus Video

More From WPDH-WPDA