Update via a Facebook Post from Kayvan, who helped put the event together: Seth Rogen didn’t smoke, even though he begged the world to be able to do so, and called other venue owners “lame” for not letting him smoke. I smoked. So did a lot of people around me. He looked the other way.
Two weeks ago, Seth Rogen poetically and bravely invited his Denver-based fans to smoke weed with him at a premier screening of The Interview.
We are going to do a screening of #TheInterviewMovie in Colorado where I get baked with everyone first, and we can smoke weed in the theater
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) November 26, 2014
The screening did take place last night at Denver’s Oriental Theatre. Unfortunately, Rogen’s fantasy hotbox did not at all happen. Instead, according to numerous first-hand accounts, Rogen ironically poured shots of tequila into audience member’s mouths in the theatre before the screening during a Q & A:
Tonight I watched @Sethrogen pour tequila shots into an entire theater’s mouth 1 by 1 & learned the blood scene in Superbad really happened.
— Trunks (@rclarky311) December 9, 2014
Thanks for the hospitality @Sethrogen!Free beer&pizza! #TheInterviewMovie is hilarious (ps thanks for the tequila you dumped down my throat)
— SpodieYodie (@spodieyodie) December 9, 2014
Hey @Sethrogen thanks for pouring tequila in my mouth. Sorry I coughed some of it on you. Such a great night! #TheInterviewMovie
— Chris (@Choffner88) December 9, 2014
So instead of a calming, sedative, laugh-inducing medicine being shared by one weed-loving celebrity with his fans, Denver’s bizarre and out-of-whack smoking laws forced tequila to perforate the air. On Rogen’s part, it’s somewhat of a cop out for not saying to hell with it and just lighting up a Shofar bong and putting Denver on blast.
He’s Seth Rogen after all, and it’s not like Denver’s PD is tossing him in a cell for smoking weed. But out of respect to the Oriental Theatre, he probably couldn’t do that.
Public consumption of cannabis–even in private theaters–is illegal by law. So while low-key, local events can often skirt these laws, a public announcement from “The Stoner King of Hollywood” will–and did–always garner the attention of local law enforcement.
That snafu meant the screening was moved from its initial location, the Sie FilmCenter, to the more weed-friendly Oriental Theatre. Unfortunately–and Rogen has not responded to a tweet–no mentions or pictures from the event show Rogen sharing a one ounce joint or even a one-hitter with the crowd.
The Oriental, which typically adopts a don’t ask/don’t tell philosophy and hosts “Sex Pot Comedy”, placed this ominous sign for attendees (and to cover their own backs):
Letter outside of the Oriental theater says “personal consumption” of marijuana not allowed. @KDVR #TheInterviewMovie pic.twitter.com/pzkMDRKBG2 — Mark Meredith (@markpmeredith) December 8, 2014
While weed may have been smoked within the theatre, no one on Twitter–namely, Rogen–mentions any smoke in the Oriental’s air. Rogen’s dream hotbox made for headlines and would’ve made for dank history, the end result appears to be a celebrity’s naive notion of Denver’s legal weed laws.
The unfortunate outcome is certainly not Rogen’s fault, though the stoner could’ve done more homework on Denver’s weed laws before the bold invitation went out. Nonetheless, the result represents a cruel twist of irony: a man who proudly boasts about his love of cannabis and invited fans to smoke legal weed instead had to resort to the far more poisonous juice of the devil.
Oddly, Rogen has remained silent on Twitter and social media about the outcome of the event, the day after he waged a Twitter war against Cathay Pacific airlines for not letting his dog fly.
Rogen, who Rolling Stone just named the “Stoner King of Hollywood,” has a pulpit and a massive audience. While the screening went down in Denver, it clearly did not meet his or Denver’s high expectations.
Hopefully, Rogen will use his platform and his pull to criticize Denver’s outdated “smoking in private places law” and go on a little rant about why he was forced to resort to Tila Tequila in Mary Jane’s stead.
As Jane West told The Cannabist, Rogen had and still has the opportunity to make his powerful voice heard.
“I feel like no one in 2014 has had this kind of platform in 2014, even with all the international attention we’ve seen,” Dannemiller said. “(Rogen) is standing on top of an epic platform, and people could be talking about this. ‘Why can’t you get high in public?’ ‘You can’t just smoke pot?’ “He could have really pushed the conversation forward. But he didn’t.”
I reached out to Rogen on Twitter for comment about the seeming lack of weed at the event, but have yet to heard back. If and when Rogen hollers at a fellow Jew, we will update our story.
As for the scene itself, Rogen drew a serious crowd of Denver’s finest stoners. Since I live around the corner from the typically quiet theatre, I strolled by around 6:00 PM to see what was going on and if Rogen would make an appearance outside the theatre.
Aside from a few news teams that we’re not allowed in the event and a clearly excited yet generally sober crowd, the scene was far from a red-carpet Hollywood premier. It was very chill and very Denver.
Unfortunately, Rogen did not appear during that time period and probably went inside the theatre’s back entrance. Meanwhile, the smell of burnt cannabis was barely lingering as the waiting crowd–some of whom waited for hours–waited for their stoner king.
Bored and unsure exactly what to do or what was going on (my RSVP was too late), I lit up a joint, smoked that joint, and went home to smoke another joint.