Wayne Brady came on my tourbus about five years ago for a San Francisco city tour. The Asian woman with him sat directly behind me and continued to speak on her cell phone after I asked her politely several times to turn it off. Finally I got a bit sterner in my tone, at which point Wayne Brady stood up and almost roared that I could not speak to his wife that way. I had no idea that they were connected in any way, and so I repeated that I was not speaking to him, but the lady on the cellphone beside him. If she would turn it off, all trouble over, no apology required. She would not stop, and he rose in front of all others in the small bus, threatening me to get off the bus and fight him outside. Children from England seated near the front started crying in terror. He was large, angry and black, and his face seemed to flare like a gorilla's on Lost in the Mist.
"What a nutcase", I groaned to myself, for indeed the worst part of any tour job is dealing with whackos and weirdos, possibly on drugs, or with enormous chips on their shoulders induced by MLK propaganda. I had no idea who this raging, muscular Negro was, but I knew one thing: he's off my bus, and the woman can stay if she shuts up. I announced this. The situation worsened. Finally they disembarked at Fort Baker, right underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, while I refused to even look at him or speak to him - from years of experience, I avoid angry blacks. I'm a white woman with too much experience in USA.
There they stayed, on we went, and of course I had a message from the boss: Come see him about the folks who left the bus. I calmly told him the story. He asked if I knew who he was. I said, "Yes, a jerk about to ruin the tour for 22 tourists, who would all demand refunds." He said, "That man was a well-known travel writer who is about to destroy our company with an article about you in the next issue of a travel magazine."
I replied, "That man seemed illiterate to me. He spoke like a grade-school dropout with gutter language for adjectives. He was a liar to boot."
I got his name off my passenger list back home, then checked the net. He was well-known alright - an actor, singer, dancer, impersonator, and definitely smart and talented, well-liked. Who then was the monster insided Wayne Brady, the gorilla who went ballistic with threats on a San Francisco tourbus? Further confirmations came from others who'd worked with him at the SF comedy clubs, that he was ferocious when angry, easily provoked, rude and obstreperous, a wild card to have at any party or presentation. His AOL screen name was AMISTAD. His identity: slave.
It was easy to set up MRAMISTAD with love messages, telling his ego how great he was. He responded with interest, that he would meet me in SF (I claimed to adore him, etc, would love to see him in person.)
IN the end, I simply told him that I had been one of the passengers on the bus, that I had recognized him, and was disgusted by his behavior against the group and especially against the driver/guide. He typed me angry swear words in return and demanded I never communicate with him again.
I have printed out the entire log. But rememeber, this is when he was married to that woman on the cell phone - he was prepared to meet me, sight unseen, for instant messages!
Wayne Brady may have been on drugs, but I sense it is his true character. He's dangerous in public and should have been arrested for his threats.
The driver who ultimately came to "rescue" these morons knows me well. He knew instantly that it was a woman with guts who threw off a "celebrity", and he laughed secretly as he drove this whining couple back downtown.
My boss never apologized. But hey, it's a corporation, and ex-Sacred Heart high school teachers are perhaps at the same level as Brady, if that. The sad part here? Brady is an Irish name, and I am disgusted that he bears one.
Okay all you fans, see if you can verify this story! Ask ANYONE who has dealt with him in a service capacity. His "wife" was in tears with humiliation. What a marriage...must be true luv.
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