Earlier this month, a video surfaced online of Jeff Hardy being hounded for autographs in an airport. The video saw Jeff signing multiple items from the same guy, which he was almost sure to go sell on eBay or another platform.
Taking to his “The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy” podcast, the AEW wrestler commented on the situation and why he’d like to see his brother, who he says always wants to be a “people pleaser,” take a hard stance and only offer to sign one or two autographs for the same person.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the video of Jeff being solicited for autographs: “Well, to begin with, I had just passed through that exact area probably 20 seconds before the video was taken. If you see me in an airport, I’ll most likely have on shades, I’ll be moving straight ahead, I’ll have on headphones […] I saw those guys and I saw them going, ‘Hey Matt. Matt, Matt, Matt.’ I see them holding stacks of photos, obviously, they’re guys that are there to get autographs just to flip them and sell them and put them on eBay.”
On his stance toward autograph seekers: “I will never mind, I will never say no to someone who comes up with like a photo who legitimately is a wrestling fan […] When I know you’re there literally for the only reason to try and flip these photos and make money off of it, it’s not cool and it’s not appropriate. Jeff is just so nice of a guy, where it’s hard for him to say no. He’s very much a people pleaser, and I think part of his journey to sobriety over the last year, he has probably learned a lot and he has put his foot down some in terms of being a people pleaser.”
On people who ask for multiple signatures: “I hate that anyone puts him in that position. I would like to see Jeff say, ‘I’ll do two,’ or, ‘That’s too much.’ I think if a wrestling fan is there, especially someone with a kid, we’re always going to sign. That’ll never change. We’re not gonna say, ‘No, this is our personal time.’ We’re public figures to a degree, we’ll always sign or take a picture with someone. But that guy was prostituting Jeff’s kindness, and taking advantage of him. I’m glad it was on video and someone put it out and brought it to the forefront, so that it could be a public discussion because that should help shame those people into thinking twice about doing that again.”
