Samuel L Jackson was mistaken for Laurence Fishburne in an agonising television interview that saw KTLA anchor Sam Rubin ask him about a recent Super Bowl commercial that actually starred The Matrix actor.
The incident occurred on live television, and, as you’d expect, Jackson was apoplectic as he informed Rubin about his error.
Rubin began by telling Jackson, “You’re working for Marvel, the Super Bowl commercial; did you get a lot of reaction for that Super Bowl commercial?”
A bemused Jackson, who was conducting the interview in order to promote RoboCop , looked perplexed as he asked, “What Super Bowl commercial?”
Rubin was then clearly informed of his discrepancy as was visibly tongue-tied and laid dormant for a few seconds before uttering, “Oh, my mistake.”
However, Jackson instantly recognised Rubin’s error and he erupted, “See, you’re as crazy as the people on Twitter,” before he explained, “I’m not Laurence Fishburne!”
Rubin immediately sought to apologise, but he stumbled as he proclaimed, “That’s my fault, I know that. That was my fault, my mistake.”
Jackson wasn’t finished with his tirade though, and he argued back, “We don’t all look alike. We might be black and famous but we don’t look alike.”
Rubin then tried to say sorry again, and while another of his presenters tried to joke that Jackson had mistaken Rubin for Bob Dylan, the Pulp Fiction actor felt like he needed to further pick him apart for his heinous gaffe.
“You’re the entertainment reporter for this station?” Jackson asked,”And you don’t know the difference between me and Laurence Fishburne?”
Rubin looked to move beyond his comment as quickly as possible, trying several times to mention Jackson’s involvement in RoboCop, however the 65-year-old actor wasn’t quite done with him.
“Oh hell no, really? I’m the other guy, ‘What’s in your wallet?’” continued Jackson, as he made reference to his work for Capital One. “There’s more than one black actor in a commercial.”
However, despite the awkward inaccuracy, Jackson took it in as about as good a fashion as Rubin could have hoped for. This didn’t stop Jackson from continuing with his ribbing though and he concluded by differentiating himself from Morgan Freeman and Fisburne.
You can check out the entire incident below:
Eventually, Rubin managed to make Jackson talk about RoboCop , but his advertisement for the sci-fi reboot was somewhat overshadowed by the blunder. It could have been worse though. At least Jackson was in Atlanta, and not sat right next to Rubin when the lapse was made. But that’s probably the only solace that he can take.
You can also watch Rubin’s apology:
[Image via JStone & Debby Wong /Shutterstock]
