No bayhem at CES. Michael Bay walked off stage during a presentation of Samsung’s new, gigantic 105” UHD TV (Don’t worry, you can’t afford it) after the teleprompter failed. Samsung America EVP Joe Stinziano asked Bay to wing it, but the director was clearly rattled and quite obviously nervous. The more I look at the video, he was incredibly nervous, you can hear the quiver in his voice.
Taking to his blog shortly afterward, which in my book is the right thing to do, he wrote
“Wow! I just embarrassed myself at CES – I was about to speak for Samsung for this awesome Curved 105-inch UHD TV. I rarely lend my name to any products, but this one is just stellar. I got so excited to talk, that I skipped over the Exec VP’s intro line and then the teleprompter got lost. Then the prompter went up and down – then I walked off. I guess live shows aren’t my thing.
But I’m doing a special curved screen experience with Samsung and Transformers 4 footage that will be traveling around the world.”
And with that, he has defused the entire situation. However, considering people at Michael’s level are constantly spinning stories about their work to journalists etc. on a regular basis, I’m surprised he couldn’t bullshit away for a few minutes. Granted the question from Joe Stinziano about the curve and how it will impact viewers experience of Bay’s movies, was more than enough to make anybody walk off stage. It just seemed like a dumb question, even though they are promoting the TV, which at 105 inches doesn’t need much promotion. Bay should have been asked to talk about Transformers 4 and how great it will look on the TV that most of us can’t afford, not about the psychology of TV owners. But, if anything, Michael Bay has proved he’s human!
