Drama Queen Portnoy At It Again

[technomancer]

So apparently he was upset a hospital didn't ignore its normal triage procedure of taking care of people with a serious or life threatening condition first to treat him before his gig

Mike Portnoy pissed that hospital wouldn't treat him like someone important

 

[technomancer]

Oh and an apology that revised the original story

A Post from MP regarding yesterday's experience in a London hospital

 

[Noxon]

What a douche. Great drummer, but I really don't care for his personality.

 

[Vhyle]

And Neal's reply to the situation, from his FB page:

Regarding last night in London, the paramedics came around 6:00 and THEY said Mike should go to the hospital, loaded him in the ambulance (I got in with him). T...hey ran vitals. Then, after some time the driver said they were too low on fuel and suggested alternate transport. Shocked and in a bit of a panic, I ran into the venue and asked if anyone had a car. We got a ride from a very kind fan and it took us 30 minutes because of traffic that the ambulance probably could've avoided. It was now about 7:15 and we were supposed to go on around 8:00. The women at emergency told us to sit and wait though we gave them the ambulance papers and told them the situation. No one would tell us anything about how long it might take or any info at all. I did most of the talking as Mike was pretty out of it. No one made a scene at all. We were all very polite to one another. So we waited...Not sure what to do, at around 7:45, I went back where it said no admittance and found a nurse who kindly looked him up in the computer to see where he was in the queue and said he wouldn't be seen for quite awhile and there was no way to change that. So, Mike opted to go back and do the gig untreated.That's what happened as best I can tell it.
My only comment is that Mike was never rude to anyone at all during the whole process. This is being blown way out of proportion. There was no rage at all. The fact that he did the gig as well as he did is a testimony to what a workhorse kind of guy he is! I had the same thing and went to the doctor (I've never been to the doctor on tour in my life!) in Zurich 2 days before and I can tell you it's nasty. Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know how it all went down.
Thank you,
Neal

 

[Vhyle]

Mike got all pissed off because he couldn't be seen in time before the show. Understandable, but that's something out of his control. He should have left his little rant to himself, in that case.

 

[Preciousyetvicious]

I love how he places the blame on everyone else for all the "rude and nasty"-ness that came out of it.

Ugh...I'm so over this dude.

 

[Splenetic]

Stupid human being....making mistakes and all. How dare he.

I'm not even remotely a fan, but honestly, get the hell over it folks. It's literally the most miniscule of deals possible.

 

[Hollowway]

Couldn't lift his arms up, so he had to type that rant at waist level. Oh, the inhumanity!

I would be surprised if any of the hospital staff had a hot clue who he was. And it's the ER for Pete's sake. Pretty much everyone in there wants to get back to doing what they were doing - but they can't because they have an EMERGENCY. Sadly, MP is probably not the only guy who feels entitled to move to the front of the line. Half the people in there probably felt the same way.

 

[JP Universe]

Oh how I missed Portnoys online rants!

 

[Snarpaasi]

When MP is getting his signature Cry Baby pedal? *drumroll*

 

[Repner]

I ignored a lot of the drama after he left DT, since I knew a lot of it would be Blabbermouth doing their usual stalking for lines to take out of context, but he's really crossed the line with this one.

It was a London hospital on a weekend. A&E's anywhere in the country get bombarded with patients on weekends, never mind one of the more overpopulated cities in the UK. If there are people dying or fighting for their lives in there, the staff aren't going to care if there's a bloody stadium of fans waiting for you. He clearly wasn't so fatigued that he couldn't play anyway (with great difficulty, at least), so I doubt they'd consider it life-threatening enough to jump the queue.

The doctor of that hospital that replied to him explains it better:

“As much as I'd jump at the opportunity to help you if I was on call tonight, please try to understand. Us healthcare professionals don't want anyone to wait or suffer at all – however we encounter life-threatening conditions every hour, sometimes every minute, that stop us from seeing others that may be slightly less unwell as quickly as we'd like.

“The NHS is under-financed, understaffed, overworked. We do have to economise our resources. With all the respect I have for you, it hurts when one of my idols insults an organisation I work very hard for. Waiting sucks, I know – but dying patients suck even more.”

My only comment is that Mike was never rude to anyone at all during the whole process.

...Except when he decided to publicly bash them on his Facebook.

 

[Casper777]

Very happy this guy is not in DT anymore... and I hated his stupid "grown-wanna-be" backing vocals!!

 

[bostjan]

Ugh, I've heard horror stories about MP's demeanor since the late 1990's, but he was always cool to me and people around me at shows and signings and whatnot. Here, we have social media doing its worst to expose a person's attitudes at their low points.

On one hand, everyone has a bad day once in a while. On the other hand, if you have enough bad days in public, you are going to get labelled as a jerk. This is certainly not a first for MP (creating drama on social media), so we are well down that road.

He's still a fantastic drummer, though.

 

[Aion]

I'm really not a big Portnoy fan, but we've all done and said things in frustration that we shouldn't have. His apology reads well. What bothers me more than what he said about the hospital is the comments he made to fans, that just seems totally petty.

 

[Andromalia]

Guy was frustrated and vented, and offered apology when he cooled down. That happens.

 

[Lungo]

"Couldn't stand or lift my arms" but he left the hospital and played the gig.

I don't think there's a cure for what that guy has.

 

[beneharris]

When MP is getting his signature Cry Baby pedal? *drumroll*

Yeah, this whole thing is silly. Yes he can be a drama queen, but I don't think that has ever been something nobody knew; this isn't new. He posted something stupid on the internet.

 

[Rev2010]

"get off the internet to try and recooperate"




Rev.

 

[cjms1997]

I'll be honest, I love Portnoy's little online rants. Regardless of if they're stupid or not, the controversy that follows is always funny as mess.

Probably wouldn't want to be friends with the guy though, he'd probably get angry I couldn't hang out with him and rant on the internet.

 

[ArtDecade]

He's human. Just like the rest of us.