Bye, haters. Ansel Elgort opened up about dealing with criticism and being able to blend into the crowd during an interview with Billboard published on Thursday, June 15.
The Fault in Our Stars actor, 23, said it’s “cool” that he’s frequently discussed on Who? Weekly, a podcast that pokes fun at lesser-known celebs. “I don’t walk around calling attention to myself. It’s important to be able to blend in; otherwise you turn into a Hollywood douchebag,” he told the publication. “I’m sure plenty of people think I am one, too. I’m super easy to hate, but it’s fine. It’s hard to be liked and successful.”
He explained that his close friends The Chainsmokers face that conundrum, too. “It’s a prime example of how success makes everyone hate you if you’re not underground … And I’ve also been there. It becomes a meme to hate somebody. But don’t be like, ‘They seem like they’re so bro-y.’ They were never trying to fool anyone into thinking they weren’t bro-y,” he said. “Sorry if I sound heated. It’s just so easy to be a hater.”
Elgort hopes to have a career that encompasses acting, singing and everything in between. “Eventually, I hope I can have a career that’s uncategorizable. And that’s hard. I think that would be very difficult to do,” he said. “But I’m hopefully going to pull it all off.”
He already has several successful movies under his belt, and his music is now Frank Ocean-approved. Elgort recently met the Grammy winner at the Met Gala in May, and the pair hit it off. “I was like, ‘He looks like Frank Ocean … but why is he being so nice to me?’” Elgort joked. “He said he had seen me singing ‘City of Stars’ [from La La Land] on Instagram, and he said, ‘You have an amazing voice.’”
After the fashion event, the duo headed to NYC’s Chinatown neighborhood. “No one bothered us, never,” Elgort continued. “Then we walked into an ice cream store with a lot of kids, and after two minutes it was like, ‘OK, let’s bounce.’”
