2009 may not have been good for much, but it was definitely all-surpassing when it came to celebrity feuds. Whether it was Jamie Foxx vs. Miley Cyrus, Seth Rogen vs. Entourage creator Doug Ellin, or Kiefer Sutherland's head vs. Jack McCullough, it seemed that everywhere you looked, someone was using his power, fame, and influence to take down someone else's. Can 2010 compare? It can, if Kevin Smith has something to say about it -- and he does, about Neil Patrick Harris.
Things started innocently enough as several of Smith's Twitter followers asked him to lend support to Neil Patrick Harris, who was on a crusade to win AfterElton.com's Man of the Decade contest. However, Smith revealed that he is far from an NPH fan -- in fact, the jean-shorted auteur still remembers this 2008 exchange Harris had with Ain't it Cool to promote the Harold & Kumar sequel:
Neil Patrick Harris: They were smart for actually hiring two actors that were actual actors playing parts, instead of hiring two sort of dudes that were those guys. They didn't hire like Jason Mewes and the other dude... Silent Bob... What is that movie Jay and Silent Bob, like what's Jay's name?
Quint: Jason Mewes, you were right.
Neil Patrick Harris: He was this drugged out mess of a guy that was his friend and so he just cast him in the movie and filmed him doing crazy shit.
"I mean, why say something like that?" Smith tweeted. "S'not true OR respectful of a fellow performer. Dude essentially said Mewes isn't an actor. Wow...It's a snobby, reductive diss." The director has continued to defend Mewes and lay into Harris over the last twelve hours of nonstop Twittering, writing that Harris's accusation "is not only untrue, it minimizes Mewes' contributions as AN ACTOR. It's a narrow-minded, ignorantly reductive sentiment, patched together from quasi-facts that aren't even related. It's akin to me knowing NPH is gay & knowing he's on [How I Met Your Mother], and then somehow coming to the conclusion that his process must include a dick in his mouth right before each take... & THEN EXPRESSING THAT SAME BAFFLING IGNORANCE IN AN INTERVIEW."
Might Smith's last-minute lobbying sway votes from Harris, or will the Jay & Silent Bob director's influence fail to dent Harris's shiny, internet-beloved exterior? Even Smith seems saddened by his incipient feud, tweeting one addendum: "P.S.? Big DOOGIE fan." In war, there are no winners.
UPDATED: Harris responds!
UPDATE 2: Smith gives his approval of the apology, accidentally types "right" instead of "write."