Whether he’s discussing his favourite hobby becoming a ‘behind-the-scenes’ wrestling TV reality show, or mouthing off at other high-profile acts, the domed leader of the Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Corgan, never strays too far from headlines.
His latest controversy? Corgan has found himself at the wrong end of a bizzarre lawsuit involving Grey’s Anatomy, a eucalyptus tree and some very unhappy neighbours.
According to TMZ, Grey’s Anatomy star Eric ‘McSteamy Dane, and wife Rebecca Gayheart, have filed a lawsuit against the Smashing Pumpkins mouthpiece after an incident last December where a eucalyptus tree in Corgan’s yard was uprooted during a severe storm, landing on the actor’s house.
Trapped inside, Dane’s wife – nine months pregnant at the time – was forced to evacuate the “quickly flooding” house, dodging live electrical wires in the process.
Claiming Corgan had been warned of the danger his trees imposed in the past, Dane is suing for nuisance, negligence, and injunctive relief, demanding an unspecified amount of compensation.
“I was horrified when I learned about the tree falling during what was a massive storm” claims Corgan, adding “thankfully no one was injured”.
Corgan has since called an expert to remove similarly treacherous trees, describing the entire incident as “a shame… because [Eric and Rebecca] are nice people.” Evidently not when their house is crushed, Billy.
Funnily enough, a tree felling is comparable to the subtlety of Corgan’s most recent lambasting that he’ll “piss on fuckin’ Radiohead” with the release of The Smashing Pumpkins’ latest LP Oceania. Following in the highly revered band’s footsteps, Corgan released the album as a free stream on iTunes in the lead up to its release.
Upset at the band’s fanatical support base, Corgan bitterly criticised “this value system that says [Radiohead guitarist] Jonny Greenwood is more valuable than [Deep Purple’s] Ritchie Blackmore. Not in the world I grew up in, buddy.”
Tributing not only his rock idols, Corgan has also announced he will launch his own wrestling reality TV show. Ironically Corgan pitched the idea by stating, “with a wrestling company, you don’t have to manufacture reality”. Except for when they’re, you know… doing just that.
The show, tentatively titled Resistance Pro, aims to “show what goes on in a wrestling company behind the scenes” and explore the “struggles independent wrestlers go through”.
Thankfully, Corgan has not forgotten his primary source of income, and has told MTV Hive that he is “starting to write new songs for the next Pumpkins album.” Refusing to reveal the album title, Corgan went on to describe the album as a “cruel record”, claiming, “vengeance is mine”. McSteamy had better watch out.
You can survey the damage from Corgan’s gardening negligence below:
