Four years ago, I was promoting one of the Tekken movies, right? That Steven Seagal, this journalist suddenly said, “Hey, what do you think of Steven Seagull saying you don’t know how to punch?” I was like, Steven Seagull, action star, martial arts expert, and Hollywood’s most notorious troublemaker.
While his skills made him a ‘9s icon with hits like Under Siege and The Glimmerman, behind the scenes, Seagull’s reputation is anything but heroic. From bizarre behavior and onset nightmares to shocking allegations and legendary feuds, he’s earned a reputation as one of the most hated figures in Tinsel Town. In this video, we dive deep into the stories and secrets behind the celebrities who just can’t stand Steven Seagull, the shocking reasons why they avoid him, the infamous incidents that sparked outrage, and the jaw-dropping tale of what happened after
he crossed a legendary stunt coordinator. Keep watching to find out. Charize Theren. Charize Theren may look like a supermodel, but she fights like a warrior oncreen and off. So, when Howard Stern asked her about Steven Seagull in 2020, she didn’t hesitate. After watching those infamous clips of Seagull awkwardly shoving stunt performers, she laughed and said, “He’s incredibly overweight and just pushing people.
He can barely fight. It’s ridiculous.” But the real blow came when she spoke about the numerous women accusing Seagull of misconduct. “He’s not very nice to women,” she said, voice sharp. “So I have no problem talking sh about him.” Then she delivered the knockout line straight into the mic. “So f you.” It was one of the rare moments an A-list star publicly obliterated Seagull without a hint of fear. Liam Niss.
Liam Niss’s shot at Seagull was quieter, but far more devastating. On Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Taken star was asked if he’d ever worked with Seagull. Nissan didn’t even blink. I want to know who dyed his hair. Stevie Wonder. The audience exploded, but behind the joke was real irritation.
A journalist once blindsided him by saying, “What do you think of Steven Seagull saying you don’t know how to punch?” Nissan, a former boxer, was stunned. “I know how to punch,” he said, eyes narrowing as he recounted it. Then Kimmel twisted the knife, joking about Seagull’s time in Russia. “I don’t know if he moved there or we sent him there and told him not to come back.
” It was the kind of segment where every punchline landed harder than the last, John Leguisamo. But no one took a harder hit from Seagull, literally, than John Leguisamo. On the very first day of executive decision rehearsals, Seagull strutdded in and announced, “I’m in command. What I say is law.
” Leguisamo laughed out loud. Seagull didn’t. Without warning, he slammed Leguisamo against a brick wall with an iikido elbow that knocked the wind out of him. Gasping on the floor, all Leguisamo could say was, “Why?” Years later, he turned the humiliation into comedy Gold in his Broadway show Ghetto Clown, reenacting Seagull’s flailing arms and famously bizarre running style.
When Seagull heard about the mockery, he reportedly threatened to punch Leguisamo on the red carpet. Leguisamo’s response was as sharp as his comedy. I don’t think he’s invited to a lot of red carpets. Then he delivered the final dagger. How do you start as a workingclass martial arts trainer and end up such an egoomaniacal diva? Juliana Margoulies.
Juliana Margoulies has never forgotten her first and only meeting with Steven Seagal. An encounter so disturbing it shaped the way she navigated Hollywood. Early in her career, while auditioning for Out for Justice, she agreed to meet Seagull in his hotel room, standard practice at the time, or so she thought.
The moment she sat down, she felt something solid beneath the cushion. Seagull casually reached under, pulled out a gun, and set it on the nightstand as if it were nothing. Then he leaned in and told her he wanted to read her palm because he was a healer. With a loaded weapon inches away and the situation growing more bizarre by the second, Marguli’s instincts kicked in.
She bolted from the room, shaken and breathless. Years later, she admitted that this terrifying encounter ended up protecting her. When Harvey Weinstein requested a similar private meeting, she refused. The same setup that lured so many young actresses, she’d already survived once, and she was never going to risk it again.
Porsche Dasi. Porsche Dasi’s experience followed the same disturbing pattern. Early in her career, she walked into what she believed was a legitimate final audition with Seagull. Instead, he sat her down, spoke about off-screen chemistry, and then without hesitation unzipped his leather pants.
Dasi fled the room immediately, horrified. But the shock deepened when she called her agent. Instead of outrage, she was met with a cold, sarcastic remark. Well, I didn’t know if he was your type. That moment exposed a darker truth. This wasn’t just Seagull’s behavior. The system around him enabled it.
Years later, during the height of their me too, Dasi spoke out publicly, and Ellen DeGeneres amplified her voice, saying simply and powerfully, “I’m proud of my wife.” Ronda Rousey. Ronda Rousey’s feud with Seagull has its roots in martial arts history and humiliation. Her uncle, the legendary Gene Lebell, once choked out Seagull on set so completely that the action star allegedly lost control of his bowels.
It became one of Hollywood’s most whispered stories. Rousey never forgot it. When asked, she said even in old age, her uncle could destroy Steven Seagull again. and she delivered her own challenge with chilling confidence. If Seagull ever insulted Lebell in front of her, she would be forced to make him crap his pants a second time.
It wasn’t a joke. It was a warning from someone fully capable of backing it up. Ray Don Chong Ray Don Chong’s story added yet another disturbing layer to the accusations against Steven Seagull. She revealed that in the 1980s, her agency sent her to a late night meeting at the Bair Hotel, only to be told Seagull was waiting in his room, something she instantly recognized as a setup.
Refusing to step inside, she stood at the doorway as Seagull appeared in a robe, walked across the room, and sat with his legs spread so widely she could see everything before he casually covered himself. When he asked if her blouse was silk and whether he could touch it, she shot back, “You know what silk feels like.” and left.
Chong later said bluntly, “I never let him touch me, and I would have fa killed him.” JeanClaude Vanam. The feud between Seagull and JeanClaude Vanam has simmered for decades, built on insults and bravado. Seagull mocked Vanam’s fighting credentials on the Arcenio Hall show, later sneering, “Can I laugh in your face?” when asked if Vanam could beat him in a real fight.
On his own reality show, he bragged that a confrontation would be like squashing an ant. But according to Sylvester Stallone, the truth proved very different. At a 1997 party, Vanam finally snapped after years of Seagull’s jabs and challenged him to fight in Stallone’s backyard. Seagull fled. Vanam later confronted him again at a nightclub.
Seagull vanished a second time. As Stallone put it, “Vanam was too strong. Seagull wanted none of it.” The SNL cast. Steven Seagal’s 1991 appearance on Saturday Night Live is still remembered as one of the worst hosting performances in the show’s history. Cast members described him as humorless, defensive, and impossible to work with.
Tim Meadows recalled Seagull constantly complaining about jokes he didn’t understand. Julius Sweeney called his behavior legendary craziness, especially the moment he locked himself in his dressing room because a sketch suggested Hans and Fr could beat him up. David Spade summed it up simply. He did not want to play along. Even Lauren Michaels took a public shot at him.
When Nicholas Cage joked that viewers might think he was the biggest jerk who’s ever been on the show, Michaels replied, “No, no, that would be Steven Seagull.” DMXDMX’s experience with Steven Seagull was far from the respectful partnership Seagull described. While Seagull publicly called DMX a gentleman, thoughtful, reflective, gentle, the rapper remembered something entirely different.
In a blunt interview, DMX said Seagull was a head with spray-on hair, mocking the way he spoke like an old slave master. He and his wife would joke about Seagull behind his back, and DMX eventually summed him up with one word: a-hole. Despite the hostility, Hollywood practicality won out. The two reunited years later for Beyond the Law, proving that even the ugliest grudges can be overshadowed by a paycheck.
Jenny McCarthy. Jenny McCarthy’s audition for Under Siege 2 turned into a nightmare that she still talks about decades later. She says Seagull derailed the audition by asking personal questions, then told her to stand up and take off your dress because there was nudity. When she refused, pointing out there was no nudity in the script.
He kept insisting until she burst into tears and ran out, yelling, “Rent my Playboy video, you asshole.” As she reached her car, she says Seagull grabbed her and warned her not to tell anyone. Years later, McCarthy hasn’t softened. If I saw him today, I’d still say, “You’re a fotting and I hope you change your ways.” George Foreman.
Even heavyweight legend George Foreman once stepped into the seagull drama literally. In 2017 at 69 years old, Foreman publicly challenged Seagull to a 10 round fight in Las Vegas, saying Seagull could use whatever style he wants and confidently predicting he’d knock him out in one or two rounds. Talks with Seagull’s manager supposedly began, but Seagull himself never responded.
Busy spending time in Russia with Vladimir Putin. The match never materialized, but Foreman never backed off his prediction. He was certain if the fight happened, Seagull wouldn’t last long. Rachel Grant. Rachel Grant, best known for Die Another Day, revealed one of the most disturbing accusations against Steven Seagull. In 2018, she said that during a 2002 audition for Out for a Kill, she was flown to Bulgaria to rehearse with him, only for the meeting to take a dark turn.
Grant claimed Seagull repeatedly told her to remove her top, and when she refused, he pulled down her strapless shirt himself. “My breasts were completely exposed,” she said, recalling how he then pushed her onto a bed and began unzipping his pants. Her tears stopped him, prompting an abrupt apology. Shaken and humiliated, she later asked, “What actress should be brought to someone’s bedroom on the first meeting and be told to take their top off?” The role ultimately went to someone else.
Seagull’s lawyers denied everything, insisting he had no such contact with Grant and rejecting the allegation outright. Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris never openly feuded with Steven Seagull, but the tension was always there. As Bob Wall’s former instructor, well aware of Wall’s long running conflict with Seagull, Norris knew exactly what kind of reputation Seagull carried in the martial arts world.
So when Dick Cavitt asked him in 1993 how skilled Seagull really was, Norris treaded carefully, saying he couldn’t tell because Seagull’s movies relied on tight shots and quick cuts that hid everything. But the moment Kavitt mentioned a story about a martial artist who acted aggressively toward him in a bookstore, Norris immediately shot back, “Was it Steven Seagull?” The audience laughed, but Cavitt pressed on, asking whether Seagull’s menacing, unpleasant persona was just acting.
Norris didn’t hesitate. He smirked, shook his head, and said, “It carries over into his whole life. Unfortunately,” and when Cavitt jokingly asked if Seagull had ever crunched his instep, Norris delivered the coldest line of all. “No, he wouldn’t dare.” And that’s just one story in a long list of controversies, grudges, and outright feuds that have followed Steven Seagull throughout his career.
What do you think? Is Seagull a misunderstood martial arts icon, or has he earned the bad blood from so many corners of Hollywood and beyond? Drop your thoughts in the comments below. And if you enjoyed this deep dive into the celebrities who vehemently hate Steven Seagull, hit that like button, subscribe, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss our next video uncovering the most shocking Hollywood rivalries of all Time.
