L.A. Times on Rampage Jackson

The L.A. Times has a pretty unflattering portrayal of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and his time on the set for The A-Team. The MMA blogosphere has widely been focusing on a few key quotes:

At issue: a movie crew member had wandered in on this final day of principal photography and - whether jokingly or not - called the muscle-bound movie star a homophobic epithet. Jackson had responded with barely contained fury. He threw the guy out, shouting him down with every conceivable gay slur. "You're a punk!" Jackson finally bellowed.

He claimed the crew member's intent had been to provoke a physical assault. "That ... wanted me to punch him so he could sue me," the professional body-slammer explained, using a certain 12-letter curse word that he lets fly often in conversation - a word that has no business appearing in a family newspaper and, for the sake of this article, will from here on out be substituted with "individual."

But the outburst seemed to also prompt Jackson, 31, to wrestle with other issues: his experiences in Western Canada, his choice to take time out of the octagon (as the UFC's fighting ring is known) and how his stardom in "The A-Team," Fox studios' tent-pole adaptation of the '80s action-comedy series that's due in theaters June 11, might affect his fighting career.

"Acting is kind of gay," Jackson said. "It makes you soft. You got all these people combing your hair and putting a coat over your shoulders when you're cold. I don't want a coat over my shoulders! I'm a tough-ass [individual]!"

Michael David Smith rightly points out that homophobic language is unacceptable but there is something that is worth pointing out in the Times expose, or whatever you want to call it, that no one has mentioned: Where are the quotes from the crew or assistant directors?

If Rampage is being such a jerk, as the writer portrays, shouldn't there be at least one quote from a disgruntled employee tired of Jackson's indifferent cruelty? Yet, there isn't even an anonymous quote. Instead, there's a lot of playful hyperbole from the writer, like describing Quinton's personality as "Jekyl and Hyde", despite the fact that every quote from cast and crew about Rampage is complimentary.

Now Jackson certainly stuck his foot in his mouth throughout the interview, like when he said, "Vancouver strikes me as a San Francisco-kind of place," so you can't criticize too much.