Celebs Who Can't Stand Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio appears to have it all. He's been working full-time since the late '80s; he's starred in some of the most recognizable flicks in the world, including Titanic; he's an Academy Award winner, and he's worth an estimated $260 million. When DiCaprio's not winning fans on-screen, he's living his best life off-screen, enjoying his many homes, a robust dating life, and time with his famous "ride or die squad." In 2015, he even purchased a private island off the coast of Belize for a cool $1.75 million, which he planned to turn into a lavish eco-resort called Blackadore Caye Resort. And while it had yet to open as of mid-2020, DiCaprio really has little to complain about. In fact, at the time of this writing, he's even taking a year off acting in 2020 to catch up on some well-deserved relaxation.
Despite all of his adoring fans and all of the good fortune he's experienced over the years, DiCaprio has managed to make some enemies in the A-list arena (and not just the handful of women who hate him). A handful of celebrities have taken issue with everything from his acting to his lavish lifestyle, and even his sporting abilities. These are the celebs who can't stand Leonardo DiCaprio.
George Clooney thinks the star needs a reality check
George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio are both talented actors who own homes in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and enjoy playing basketball in their downtime, but the similarities end there. While DiCaprio likes talking a big game, Clooney isn't open to BS.
Speaking with Esquire in 2013, the Ocean's Eleven star recalled bumping into DiCaprio in Cabo where they got to talking about basketball and decided to set up a game. While DiCaprio appeared to deliver a subtle threat — "You know, we're pretty serious" — his teammates weren't as covert. "The thing about playing Leo is you have all these guys talking s***," Clooney recalled. "We get there, and there's this guy ... and he comes up to me and says, 'We played once at Chelsea Piers. I kicked your a**.' I said, 'I've only played at Chelsea Piers once in my life and ran the table. So if we played, you didn't kick anybody's a**.'"
While watching them warm up, Clooney soon realized, "they can't play at all. We're all like 50 years old and we beat them three straight: 11–0, 11–0, 11–0," he remembered before throwing some serious shade. "The discrepancy between their game and how they talked about their game made me think of how important it is to have someone in your life to tell you what's what," he said. "I'm not sure if Leo has someone like that." Ouch.
Taylor Swift name-checked him on 'The Man'
One of the most talked-about tracks off Taylor Swift's seventh studio album, Lover, was "The Man" in which she addressed the sexist double standard in work, life... and dating. As she explained to Vogue, the song is "a thought experiment of sorts: 'If I had made all the same choices, all the same mistakes, all the same accomplishments, how would it read?'" she asked.
While aiming to illustrate how her own highly publicized (and sometimes ugly) love life would be perceived differently if she were a man, Swift name-checks none other than Leonardo DiCaprio. In what Teen Vogue described as "the most blatant dig in 'The Man'" and Cosmopolitan dubbed "the most accurate lyric in the entire song," Swift sings: "And they would toast to me, oh, let the players play. I'd be just like Leo in Saint Tropez."
In addition to delivering a clear dig at the actor's penchant for vacationing in France with his various (young) girlfriends, Swift also threw a few more jabs at DiCaprio in the song's music video. While dressed up as a man, Swift not only parties on a yacht surrounded by beautiful women, but she goes as far as to spoof DiCaprio's character in The Wolf of Wall Street. While Swift may not have a straight-out beef with DiCaprio, it's clear that she doesn't approve of the double standard that stems from A-list men acting the way he does.
Mark Wahlberg's career was almost derailed by Leonardo DiCaprio
1995's Basketball Diaries helped Mark Wahlberg shed his Marky Mark persona and put him on the road to becoming a legit actor, but if Leonardo DiCaprio had had his way, Wahlberg wouldn't have landed the role, and his career may have taken a totally different trajectory.
Recalling DiCaprio's reaction to him being considered for the role, Wahlberg told The Hollywood Reporter, "Leonardo was like, 'Over my dead f***ing body. Marky Mark's not going to be in this f***ing movie.' Because we'd had a thing," he continued. Explaining the root of their animosity, he said, "I didn't even realize it, [but] I was a bit of a d*** to him at a charity basketball game. So he was like, 'This f***ing a****** is not going to be in this movie.'"
While the two actors eventually agreed to read lines together and were forced to be cordial once they were both cast in the flick, their mutual dislike wasn't easy to overcome. Speaking at the 2018 LEAP Foundation conference at UCLA, Wahlberg recalled (via The Hollywood Reporter), "We both had to really learn how to respect each other, and we earned it," adding that the experience resulted in the two celebs building "a bond."
Jack Black didn't want Leonardo DiCaprio to win an Oscar
It's hard to believe that Leonardo DiCaprio didn't win his first Oscar until 2016 when the then-41-year-old finally took home the Best Actor award for The Revenant. While his fans and peers were overjoyed, there was one person who wasn't thrilled to see the six-time nominee win: Jack Black.
Speaking with TheFIX [via Daily Mail] while promoting Kung Fu Panda 3, Black revealed that he had rooted for his Panda co-star, Bryan Cranston, to win for Trumbo. When the interviewer noted that "it was Leo's year," Black wasn't having it, proclaiming, "Bryan Cranston is a better actor. You heard it here: Bryan Cranston is better [at] acting than Leo DiCap." He added, "Leo DiCap was like dying a lot, he was like wheezing and coughing blood — that's Oscar. That's what you've got to do."
The shade didn't stop there, however. When the reporter told Black he should have gotten his own Oscar nom for 2011's Bernie, the funnyman quipped, "Why didn't I get an Oscar nomination for that? Oh, you know why? I think Leo DiCap took my spot. Because that was the year he had that really bad movie that got Oscar nominated," he said, referencing J.Edgar. When he was told that DiCaprio didn't receive a nomination for the film, Black didn't let up, saying, "He didn't? Okay. It was a different one that I did, that obviously he shouldn't have got a homage."