Jeremy Renner Involved in Brutal Thailand Fight

[FarangFarang]

This might put a damper on tourism in Phuket.

We guess this is good training for his upcoming role in The Bourne Legacy...

Jeremy Renner was involved in a violent fight last night outside a bar in Phuket, Thailand, TMZ reports, one in which a participant gashed another with a rotor axe.

Local police says the melee started after a man in Renner's party, Vorasit Issara, dropped a glass on the floor. A group of workers - with whom Vorasit has been arguing - proceeded to attack Issara, Renner and their friends, with the former getting stabbed in the neck and the stomach with a knife.

All six men who initiated the attack were arrested, while the actor's rep said he left the scene as quickly as he could once the fight escalated.

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/jeremy-renner-injured-in-brutal-thailand-fight/

Also being reported in the LA Times.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2012/01/jeremy-renner-thailand-bar-brawl-the-hangover-2.html

I caught this when it was on the elevator's video screen in my office building. Because it involves Renner who is in the latest Mission Impossible movie and filming a new Jason Bourne movie this will likely be one of those stories about Thailand that gets just enough US and foreign press to make some people think twice about visiting Thailand :-(

[FarangFarang]

From Phuketwan

Phuket Bar Stabbing Resort Owner Tells: 'I'm Lucky to Be Alive'By Alan Morison and Chutima SidasathianFriday, January 6, 2012PHUKET: Happy to be alive, Vorasit ''Wan'' Issara showed us the photographs today of the shocking wounds inflicted when he was set upon by six men with a tomahawk and knives in an after-hours Phuket bar this week.

''They thought I was Korean,'' he told Phuketwan in an exclusive interview from his bed in the Intensive Care Unit at Bangkok Hospital Phuket. ''That was shocking, too.''

Khun Wan looked surprisingly well, sitting on the edge of his bed, chatting on his mobile telephone, with his head half-shaved around wounds and large bandages on his belly and shoulders. Monitors and wiring are everywhere.

His resort-owning father Songkran, who joined us as we talked, said: ''My son is lucky to survive. The cuts were very deep and they came close to major blood vessels.''

It was in the Rassada Pub in a notorious part of Phuket City about 4.30am on Wednesday, with Hollywood star Jeremy Renner, two or three colleagues and his driver that 30-year-old Khun Wan's life almost came to an abrupt end.

''I'd been to that pub about six times before and the place has always had a bit of a reputation,'' he said. ''We headed out that night because it was Jeremy's second-last night on Phuket.

''We started out at my place (the swank Sri panwa resort on Phuket's eastern Cape Panwa) then we moved to Kor Tor Mor (a popular spot with visiting celebrities) and after that closed, we moved on to the Rassada Pub.''

Khun Wan confirmed that Jeremy Renner had been unscathed in the bloody assault and was now back at work in the Philippines, filming on his latest project. The two have been talking by telephone about the incident, he said.

''We pushed Jeremy to safety as soon as the fight broke out,'' Khun Wan said.

The photographs he showed us today were taken at the Phuket City private hospital soon after he arrived.

They show shocking injuries. Part of his intestines spilled from the knife wound. The long slashes to his neck and shoulders appear to have been executed with deadly intent.

''The adrenaline was flowing. Only when I got into the car did I realise I had been stabbed in the stomach,'' Khun Wan said. ''And when I took off my shirt we realised how bad the chop wounds were to my back.''

Khun Wan took the brunt of the assault by the six male staff at the Rassada Pub, with the worst wounds inflicted with a homemade tomahawk to his back and a knife to his stomach.

His hand was also badly cut and required stitches. Fortunately the hospital was just five or 10 minutes from the bar at that time of the morning.

''I had been there (to the Rassada Pub) about six times before but I don't think they remembered,'' he said. ''Those guys have a bad reputation. They thought I was Korean.''

At the pub, sitting in a middle table, a woman at a neighboring table dropped a glass and it broke.

''I'm an experienced hotelier so I used my foot to sweep the glass under a chair to make sure it was out of the way,'' Khun Wan said. ''Everything seemed fine. A guy did come and shone a torch in my face twice, though.''

Khun Wan said that the partying continued for a while. ''Then as I was standing, I felt this arm around my neck from behind. At first, I thought it was one of my friends, playing a joke.

''In fun, I grabbed the person's arm and tried to swing it, as if we were dancing.''

In the drama that quickly unfolded, Khun Wan was struck time and time again with various weapons, including the tomahawk and a knife.

''I am very pleased that the police did such a good job,'' Khun Wan said.

Police apprehended all six Rassada staff. One of six - the one who wielded the tomahawk - is under 18 and, as a minor, cannot be identified. All six are likely to face charges of attempted murder.

With the spate of bad publicity worldwide for Phuket and Thailand, Phuket's new Police Commander, Major General Chonsit Wadhnawarangkun, is likely to oversee a crackdown on after-hours bars all over Phuket.

Khun Wan is hoping to be out of hospital and home to the Sri panwa resort within a few days. He has been told he will regain full use of his arms.

http://phuketwan.com/tourism/phuket-bar-stabbing-resort-owner-tells-lucky-alive-15289/

[CiaranM]

from reports i saw i don't think he was involved at all .... but guy he was with got a bad beating, stabbed and hacked with an axe !!!

lovely stuff !!!

[Querida]

Hmmmm....he escaped as quickly as he can??! He could have shown those guys his fighting skills and he can defuse a bomb! lol

I like him though he's my crush! Filipinos are waiting for him.

http://news.ph.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5723470

[English_Bob]

I know Wan, personally. My friends called me after he'd been stabbed. We thought it was hilarious. The guy's an a**hole, always looking for trouble and starting fights.

There is not a chance in hell the staff at Rassada didn't know who he is... Everyone in Phuket F and B knows Wan. There is no chance they thought he was Korean. He's rich and connected... He just pushed some people too far.

The story sounds like bollocks. There are broken glasses in Rassada (and every other late night bar all the time)... Wan loves rubbing shoulders with celebrities. He's got a big mouth and a bad attitude. This was inevitable.

[Admin_2]

I know Wan, personally. My friends called me after he'd been stabbed. We thought it was hilarious. The guy's an asshole, always looking for trouble and starting fights.

You lose a fight to one guy ten years ago, yet you still feel the need to pretend you have "friends" backing you. WTF?!

"WE thought it was hilarious." Nice one there, EB.

[English_Bob]

You lose a fight to one guy ten years ago, yet you still feel the need to pretend you have "friends" backing you. WTF?!

"WE thought it was hilarious." Nice one there, EB.

I've got a list... This was a chance to get Wan AND that Wenner a**hole at the same time... It should have been ME in MI-4!!!

(Don't worry - there are lots of names before I get round to you....)

[FarangFarang]

Well, the point is that regardless of Wan's assholishness (or not) this will be how many interviews play out when Renner goes on the press tour for the new Bourne movie.

Clueless Entertainment Reporter: So Jeremy, we heard that while you were filming you ran into a little trouble.

Renner: Yeah, we had a few days off in shooting so I went to Thailand to relax a bit. I was out with some friends and a bunch of thugs tried to attack us. I was able to get away but my buddy Wan got cut up pretty bad. They had knives, axes . . . yeah, it was pretty intense.

Clueless Entertainment Reporter: Wow! Knives and axes. That sounds really dangerous.

Renner: Yeah, it was. My friend almost died. There was blood everywhere.

Clueless Entertainment Reporter: What caused the attack?

Renner: We're not really sure. Some people sitting in a booth near us dropped a glass and the staff must have thought we did it.

Clueless Entertainment Reporter: Well, stabbing customers over a broken glass seems pretty extreme. Thailand doesn't sound like a place for a nice quiet vacation.

Renner: No, not anymore.

So in addition to the bad press today, expect another round when they do the press junket for the film when it's released. This is one of those stories where nobody is going to dig too deep for the truth. Just having a celebrity involved in a knife attack is all that will make the headlines.

[English_Bob]

Sure... and I'm glad of ALL the bad press for Phuket... I hated living there.

I found the Thai people to be the worst I'd ever met... not like Thais at all.

I want Phuket to self-destruct. I want all those rude, greedy, obnoxious, violent thugs standing around scratching their empty heads asking themselves, "Huh? Where are all the tourists?"

[kaunitz]

Sure... and I'm glad of ALL the bad press for Phuket... I hated living there.

I found the Thai people to be the worst I'd ever met... not like Thais at all.

I want Phuket to self-destruct. I want all those rude, greedy, obnoxious, violent thugs standing around scratching their empty heads asking themselves, "Huh? Where are all the tourists?"

It seems that once money is coming in without any particular effort of those getting it, people tend to get the way you described. So I think your statement also goes for Pattaya and the East Coast of Koh Samui, am I right?

What many of farang might not have noticed is that Bang Saen is even worse than Pattaya because it still is a place mainly for Thais - and they don't complain when being f*cked. I have been there three times, first time was ok, second time was not so good and third time was really awful because it was over the weekend, where lots of Bangkokians are going there. I had the comparison of prices and behaviour during the week and then during weekend - a big shame! Never will go there again as people there are cheating like hell and nobody is doing anything about it.

Edited January 8, 2012 by kaunitz

[FarangFarang]

Sure... and I'm glad of ALL the bad press for Phuket... I hated living there.

I found the Thai people to be the worst I'd ever met... not like Thais at all.

I want Phuket to self-destruct. I want all those rude, greedy, obnoxious, violent thugs standing around scratching their empty heads asking themselves, "Huh? Where are all the tourists?"

Interesting response. I recently answered a question elsewhere that someone asked about what steps could Phuket take to stop all of the corruption and basically my response was that there are dozens of actions the people and the government could take to clean up Phuket and make it more attractive to tourists but, in the end, it's pointless to even fantasize about that because nobody is interested in cleaning up Phuket. In other words, the HOW part is not difficult to figure out. Finding people willing to risk the mafia, local businesses, and even their own financial interests, is the hard part.

Issues like they have down in Phuket sort of remind me of Patpong. Once the main entertainment area of Bangkok, a similar sort of greed eventually drove most of the tourists and expats away. But even then, the lesson wasn't learned. They're still out there scamming people.

One of Thailand's biggest problems right now is the internet. How are those two concepts related? Well, 20 years ago, you could scam people all day long and you could keep the scam going because word of mouth traveled relatively slowly compared to the internet age.

Nowadays, information travels with much more quickly. Between sites like TF, Thai Visa, Stickman, Ajarn, etc word travels very quickly within the expat community. Within the tourist community word travels slower because not everyone is familiar with the expat online communities and such but it does get around.

But Thailand, in general, really doesn't get it. Many businesses and scams operate on the old model of an endless supply of dumb tourists arriving. They don't understand that the average tourist who shows up today is better informed about how things work than the average tourist 20 years ago. They don't understand that every tourist they rip off or who has a bad experience can communicate that to hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people via the internet.

So, on one hand, I would love to see Thailand eliminate these negative experiences but on the other hand I'm fully aware that things have to self-destruct before the message sinks in.

[FarangFarang]

It seems that once money is coming in without any particular effort of those getting it, people tend to get the way you described. So I think your statement also goes for Pattaya and the East Coast of Koh Samui, am I right?

That's an interesting observation. In fact, I think it extends beyond those areas. Pattaya is obvious. I'm not familiar with Samui enough to comment. But even parts of Bangkok, especially anything within the vicinity of an "entertainment zone", have many of the same issues.

I think it's interesting that there are almost no chains of bars, restaurants, hotels, etc that cater to tourists in Thailand. I've always used the example of Hussong's (started by a German guy - and for extra trivia Hussong's was the birthplace of the Margarita, a drink the bar specially designed to impress the German ambassador), Senior Frog's, and Pappas and Beer in Mexico. They all grew up as little bars in the sleepy fishing town of Ensenada, Mexico. But they started promoting themselves heavily with t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc. So, when I was growing (in Southern California) you always saw people walking around with Hussong's, Senior Frog's, and Pappas t-shirts or you saw bumper stickers on people's cars who had visited.

There was almost no way that you weren't going to visit those bars if you went to Ensenada. And everybody in Southern California knew the brands even if they had never been there.

Eventually the brands spread across Mexico and even into the US (Hussong's set up a bar in Las Vegas, Pappas and Beer have a few locations in the US, as does Senior Frog's). Now you can't go to Cabo, Cozumel, or Cancun without running into one or more of the three bars.

Gulliver's has a few branches. A couple of other bars have a Pattaya and Bangkok locations. But, for the most part, nobody really knows how to run a business based on brand loyalty. Part of that is because most businesses that cater to tourists are too focused on fucking you over while they have the chance rather than building up a quality business.

The three Mexican bars that I mentioned built their brands on making sure the customers had a great time. They didn't pad bills or allow for staff with bad attitudes. They're sort of like Hard Rock Cafes now. People go there just to say they went there and to buy the t-shirt. Everything else is a bonus.

And Mexico faces many of the same problems as Thailand. Poverty, corruption, poor educational opportunities, etc. And in many ways they face even worse problems with drug cartels, violence, etc.

The fact that Phuket, Pattaya, and even Bangkok have so few (some might argue, any) "must-see," internationally known bars or restaurants after 50 years of increasing farang tourism says a lot.

But it's not just about some bars and restaurants either. I can't even begin to count the number of hotels I've stayed in my travels around Thailand. Do you know how many have ever sent me an email? One. The President Solitaire sends me a newsletter every so often with special prices and discounts.

On the other hand, I still get emails from probably 50% of the hotels I've stayed at in Mexico. In fact, one place I stayed down in Cozumel, Mexico had been sending me emails for about 2 years and I went down to Cozumel and booked at the hotel again. When I got there they thanked me for my return visit, still had all of my room preferences, etc, etc. This wasn't some four or five star place. It was a little mom and pop run bed and breakfast.

It's just the whole attitude towards tourism and tourists that needs to change in Thailand. Thailand, in general, is way too focused on right now. They don't treat you like they want your business on the next trip. They don't care if you ever come again because there's an airport full of tourists right behind you.

There are exceptions. But not enough.

[English_Bob]

Regarding Bangkok scams...

In the past couple of months, I've met guests who were subject to scams originating around the Grand Palace. Nothing unusual except that I'm meeting about 3 a month... That's in one small restaurant on the other side of town. What are the real numbers!?

The scam is the usual deal; Grand Palace is closed get in this taxi/tuk tuk. The marks are then taken to a boat trip, which lasts an hour and includes feeding fish. Cost 1200 baht per person!

I met a couple of Greek girls who had been in Thailand for only one day. They told me they loved Thai people and their friendliness. I was pleased until one of them said, 'Especially the tuk tuk driver yesterday...' I started asking questions, and then as soon as I had the start of the story, I was able to answer for them - "And then you went to a temple? And then you met someone else? And then you heard about a gem sale?"

In one day, the girls had been scammed three times by the 'friendly Thai guy'.

They were gutted. I wished I hadn't told them. And it made me want to have a wander around Grand Palace in tourist clothes, so I could get a bit of revenge.

[FarangFarang]

Regarding Bangkok scams...

In the past couple of months, I've met guests who were subject to scams originating around the Grand Palace. Nothing unusual except that I'm meeting about 3 a month... That's in one small restaurant on the other side of town. What are the real numbers!?

The scam is the usual deal; Grand Palace is closed get in this taxi/tuk tuk. The marks are then taken to a boat trip, which lasts an hour and includes feeding fish. Cost 1200 baht per person!

I met a couple of Greek girls who had been in Thailand for only one day. They told me they loved Thai people and their friendliness. I was pleased until one of them said, 'Especially the tuk tuk driver yesterday...' I started asking questions, and then as soon as I had the start of the story, I was able to answer for them - "And then you went to a temple? And then you met someone else? And then you heard about a gem sale?"

In one day, the girls had been scammed three times by the 'friendly Thai guy'.

They were gutted. I wished I hadn't told them. And it made me want to have a wander around Grand Palace in tourist clothes, so I could get a bit of revenge.

When my dad was in BKK we took him to the Grand Palace. We took a taxi and the taxi dropped us off right in front of the entrance and as we got out of the taxi there were guys telling us that it was the wrong entrance and that we needed to follow them. After I told them to "fuck off" Ked laid into them in Thai.