For a man who should simply be known for his love songs, John Mayer has found a way to be one of the most polarizing men in the music industry.
From controversial statements about his love life to questionable musical choice, Mayer has pushed fans away as often as he has won them.
Mayer has been closely scrutinized by the public and fans for most of his career.
Like clockwork, the internet justifiably drags up some sort of negative sentiment every few months, especially when it’s teasing new music or making headlines for one reason or another.
But where does this seemingly irreparable hatred for Mayer come from?
Here are 7 reasons why people hate John Mayer.
1. Mayer made lewd comments about Jennifer Love Hewitt.
During a 2006 performance at Hollywood’s The Laugh Factory, Mayer took a low blow to his ex whom he briefly dated in 2002 – and reportedly wrote “Your Body Is A Wonderland”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLEA6WGnZls
Speaking at The Laugh Factory, the musician said he never had sex with Hewitt due to a bout of food poisoning brought on by a bad fish.
Mayer got back on the joke, telling Us Weekly: “It Was Really That I Was Fooling Myself”
2. Mayer also had some blunt comments about Jennifer Aniston.
The couple dated from 2008 to 2009, but the comments Mayer made about their relationship stuck long after they ended it.
“I will always be sorry it didn’t last long,” the singer announced at the time. “In some ways I wish I could be with her. But I can’t help being 32”.
“One of the main differences between us was that I was tweeting. There was a rumor that I was dumped because I tweeted too much. It wasn’t, but it was a big difference.”
He continued, “The brunt of her success came before TMZ and Twitter. I think she still hopes it goes back to 1998. She saw my involvement in technology as a distraction.”
In response to his rude comments, Aniston told Vogue that “‘He had to publicize that he broke up with you”.
“And mostly because it’s me. It’s not just any girl he’s dating. I get it. We’re human.”
“And that doesn’t change the fact that he’s a great guy,” she explained. “We care about each other. It’s funny when you hit a spot in a relationship and you both realize maybe we should do something different, but you still love each other very much. It’s painful.”
She continued, “There was no ill intent. I care about him very, very much; we talk, we worship each other. And that’s where it is”.
3. He threatened to sodomize an editor.
In 2009, Mayer was interviewed by Vulture’s Christianna Ablahad at a party for Giorgio Armani’s home label.
When Ablahad suggested that President Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize was premature. Mayer replied, “I love you, you’re beautiful, but shut up.”
“You’re not building a journalism career. You’re making yourself look like an idiot and you’re not,” he said.
Later, Mayer directed his criticism at Ablahad’s editor, saying, “I’m going to forcibly sodomize your editor.”
4. He made several misogynistic remarks in a 2010 Rolling Stone article.
While speaking to the publication, Mayer discussed what he looks for in a woman in the least flattering way possible.
“Aren’t we talking about a matrix of a number of different things here? For example, you have to enable them to go with you intellectually,” he said.
“But shouldn’t they also have a vagina on which you can set up a tent and just camp for the weekend?” Shouldn’t there be? The Joshua Tree of vaginas?’
He went on to discuss exactly how he determines whether a woman is worth sleeping with.
“I met a girl in Vegas one time, her name was Dimples, and the ‘S’ in Dimples was a dollar sign,” he said.
“I have a weird feeling, a proud thing, for the people I’ve had relationships with. I still feel like I’m with them, in that if I f—ed Dimples, what does that say about someone like Jen [Aniston]? I feel like it’s all connected. How could I ever connect these two people cosmically?”
He continued: “What would I say to Jen, who I think is fantastic, if I told her, ‘I don’t hate you. In fact, I like you extremely well. But I have to get back out of this because it didn’t arch over the horizon. This isn’t where I see myself for the rest of my life, this isn’t my ideal destination, “and then I see myself fucking dimples? Does that apply to my case?”
5. He used the n-word and spoke badly of Jessica Simpson in a Playboy interview.
The singer upset fans when he objectified his on-off girlfriend in a 2010 interview, comparing her to an explosive device.
When asked if he would become a “tabloid fixture”, Mayer countered that his celebrity status was due to his addiction to Simpson.
“It wasn’t as direct when I said, ‘I’m making the choice now to bring the paparazzi into my life.’ I actually said, “I’m now making the choice to sleep with Jessica Simpson.” That was stronger than my desire to stay out of the paparazzi’s eye.”
“That girl is a drug to me. And drugs are not good for you if you use a lot of them. Yeah, that girl is like crack cocaine to me… Sexually it was crazy. That’s all I’ll say was like napalm, sexual napalm,” he said.
Mayer also felt comfortable enough to flaunt his racism.
“My dick is some kind of white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a goddamn David Duke c-ck,” in which he compared himself to the former great wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
“Someone recently asked me, ‘How does it feel now to have a haircut?’ Mayer added.
And by the way, it’s kind of a contradiction in terms because if you really had a hood pass you could call it an n—–pass. Why do you pull a punch and call it a hood pass when you’ve got really a hairdresser?”
6. He dated Taylor Swift when she was 19 and he was 32.
Swift’s fans have long criticized Mayer for dating the singer when she was barely legal, pointing to the obvious power imbalance in their brief fling.
They have called each other names over the years, but their relationship began in 2009 and by 2010, Swift had written her breakup anthem “Dear John”, which Mayer claimed had “humiliated” him.
Over the years, Swifties have taunted him several times for talking about Swift when she clearly wanted nothing to do with him.
Even after they broke up, they were still linked in the press.
On her most recent album, her song “Could’ve, Would’ve, Should’ve” was rumored to be about Mayer and their relationship.
7. He was accused of cultural appropriation.
In 2017, Mayer faced backlash over the “Asian-inspired” music video for his song titled “Still Feel Like Your Man”.
The video featured a ridiculous amount of Asian stereotypes, including geishas, dancing pandas, and samurai. Mayer himself called it ‘disco dojo’.
He told USA Today that he was “not expecting any backlash,” showing fans his ignorance when it comes to racial matters.
“If I expected backlash, I wouldn’t have made the video. Controversy doesn’t inspire me. I wish I could say yes, but controversy doesn’t inspire me,” said the singer.
“I never would have made anything to anticipate backlash. I would have changed it so I wouldn’t have anticipated backlash.”
Taylor Haynes is a writer from Chicago. She writes for Entertainment & News at YourTango. You can find her here on Instagram.
