Yes. I am a click-whore and I just lured you with a few shots of Tom Hardy winking last night after The Revenant premiere in London. He was hanging out with Leonardo DiCaprio. They were both nominated for Oscars yesterday. Mad Max: Fury Road, starring Tom, was also well recognised by the Academy. How much do you love that Leo basically became a Kardashian for this nomination while Tom tried as hard as he could to NOT be nominated …and still got nominated. It’s kind of the best.

But now Tom Hardy has to endure the Oscars. And Tom Hardy isn’t an award show guy. You’ll recall, just before the holidays, right after The Revenant junket, Tom was criticised by HitFix’s Drew McWeeny for not being available. Drew called out Tom on Twitter, said he was a “piece of sh-t”. Click here if you missed that. 

Tom responded. Through one of his fan sites. Which, frankly, is problem #1. See Sean Penn if you’re unclear about the concept of celebrity objectivity. The full text of Tom’s letter to Drew is here. Like Sean Penn, Tom Hardy needs an editor. Like Sean Penn, Tom Hardy is the baddest hardcore badass in all the badass lands of Badass. Even when he’s sorry-not-sorry. I particularly enjoyed the part where he basically tells Drew that he could beat him down. “I dare you to say it to my face” is essentially “I’m tougher than you and you are scared of me,” isn’t it?

Yes, Tom. That’s precisely the problem. You are tougher than Drew – physically, financially, influentially, socially. It’s a power imbalance. And it’s that power imbalance that creates situations where reporters feel like second class citizens. Tom Hardy used that power balance to defend himself against Drew’s accusations.

He’s protected by a studio system with resources and access and money. And then, he posts his rebuttal on a fan site where he’s always going to be more popular, where he’s always going to have more support. He’ll never lose. It’s not a fair fight. In his mind, Tom might still be just a scrappy kid from London who speaks his mind and lives his truth, an “actor” not a “celebrity”, but that description, at best, is incomplete. Tom Hardy has the benefits and the bonuses afforded to him by fame. The fact that he can’t see it is what makes him a celebrity. It’s what they all have in common: a lack of self-awareness. But you know what? He’s SO hot when he winks. And that means you don’t mind. See how that works?