John Stamos says he’s ‘shocked’ by backlash to his ‘solidarity’ bald cap moment with Dave Coulier
John Stamos wasn’t expecting the backlash that he received for putting on a bald cap to support his friend and former Full House costar Dave Coulier.
“I’m so shocked,” Stamos told TMZ days after sharing photos of the two that showed both men bald. “First I’ll say, I’m just embarrassed, and they’re embarrassing. But when I started seeing this blowback, I’m just like, ‘What?’ I couldn’t figure it out. I still don’t know 100 percent. What they should be doing instead of making silly little videos, or doing comments — they should call their doctor, make an appointment. I think that’s the whole point of this. It’s been Dave’s message.”
Stamos made the on-camera comments to the outlet as he walked through the parking lot of Los Angeles International Airport.
The controversy about his support of Coulier began Monday, days after Coulier announced that he is undergoing cancer treatment. Both men shared photos of themselves together with bald heads.
“Nothing like throwing on a bald cap and flexing some Photoshop skills to show some love and solidarity with my bro @dcoulier ,” Stamos wrote and Coulier reposted. “You’re handling this with so much strength and positivity—it’s inspiring. I know you’re going to get through this, and I’m proud to stand with you every step of the way. I love you.”
But by Tuesday, Coulier was defending his longtime friend, with whom he costarred on the family sitcom from 1987 to 1995. Both also appeared on revival Fuller House, which ran from 2016 to 2020.
“I’m sorry to see a bunch of negative comments as I’ve just begun my cancer journey,” Coulier said on Instagram. “It’s our friendship (me and John) and this is how we are handling a very tough time.”
Many of the comments shamed Stamos for not actually shaving his head.
Coulier noted then, like Stamos had, that his objective in speaking out about his diagnosis of stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma was to “spread the word about early cancer detection to help people.”
He explained in the new interview that he’s on a new acting project and isn’t allowed to shave his head anyway.
But he and Coulier “laughed so freaking hard” at the bald cap.
“He cried, we laughed,” Stamos told the outlet. “We watched old movies and we told stories and I brought videos and it just was a beautiful thing.”
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He said he rarely looks at online feedback, but “this one really hurt me mainly because I didn’t understand it.”
He said he’s “embarrassed” for people who “waste time on this when all I was doing was cheering up a friend.” Stamos said he started to say he was sorry, but he isn’t.