Samuel L. Jackson and Laurence Fishburne are not the same person, and heaven help you if you make that mistake in front of Jackson.
KTLA reporter Sam Rubin learned the hard way not to confuse Jackson with Fishburne after he mixed up the two on live TV Monday morning. Rubin asked Jackson, appearing from Atlanta to promote his new film RoboCop, about his recent Super Bowl commercial.
But Jackson wasn't in a Super Bowl commercial. That was Fishburne who appeared in the Kia ad during the big game.
"I'm not Laurence Fishburne. We don't all look alike!" Jackson said after Rubin admitted his mistake.
The Pulp Fiction star then proceeded to run down which commercials he's done and which ones Fishburne and other actors have done.
"We may be all black and famous but we all don't look alike," Jackson continued as Rubin scrambled to apologize.
As Rubin continued to admit his mistake and try to get the interview back on track to talking about RoboCop, Jackson continued his attempt to educate the KTLA anchor.
"I'm the other guy…the other one. 'What's in your wallet?,'" Jackson said referencing his Capital One ads. "There's more than one black guy doing a commercial. I'm the 'what's in your wallet' black guy. He's the car black guy. Morgan Freeman is the other credit card black guy. You only hear his voice, though, so you probably won't confuse him with Laurence Fishburne. There's a heavier weight black guy that's like putting cash down in the seats in a baseball stadium, but he's also the black guy that turns off the house, the water and the lights when his kid tells him the house is cool. I'm not that guy either."
Throughout Jackson's lecture, Rubin continued to insist the actor is right.
Rubin later apologized for the mix-up on KTLA's website.
"I very much apologize to Samuel L. Jackson and anyone else who was offended for what was a very amateur mistake," Rubin wrote in part.
Rubin's full apology can be found below:
“We start right now with the beauty and the occasional pain of live television. First and foremost, I do know who Samuel L. Jackson is. I’ve interviewed him several times over the years, but never quite like the conversation we just had.
“I indicated to Samuel that I’d seen him during the Super Bowl, and he thought that I had confused him with the commercial Laurence Fishburne had done for a car company. Of course a “Captain America” ad had also run during the Super Bowl, but I immediately felt so dumb, I didn’t bring that up — and he gave me the shellacking that was well deserved.
“I pride myself on the fact — that unlike a lot of people who do this kind of work — more often than not, I really do know what I’m talking about. But I didn’t 30 minutes ago, and I’m really embarrassed about it, and I very much apologize to Samuel L. Jackson and anyone else who was offended for what was a very amateur mistake.”
