Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Steve Buscemi Got Stabbed and Justin Long Got Kidnapped

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Steve Buscemi got stabbed in a bar fight, and Justin Long got kidnapped by some locals.

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Do that, do that, do that with Acrobat. Learn more at Adobe.com slash do that with Acrobat. So Steve Buscemi is about to get into a bar fight, and that somehow sort of leads to Justin Long getting kidnapped. Let me explain. So this guy, his name's Steve Buschemy, and he's a movie star, and you know who he is, you've seen him in stuff. Well, one day in 2001, he's in North Carolina, filming a movie, and after work, he and some of the crew, they go out for drinks at a local bar. And they're with this other guy, fellow actor Vince Vaughn. And you know who Vince Vaughn is.

And so anyway, it's 2 a.m. and they're all drinking. And that is when a local woman starts talking to Vince Vaughn. And her boyfriend, who is also there, he doesn't like this. He didn't like his girlfriend talking to some movie star. And so the guy confronts Vince Vaughn and they get into it. And they're arguing and yelling, insults. And finally, Vince Vaughn is like, yo, let's take this outside, bro. And now the whole bar is like, oh shit, there's about to be a fight.

And they all go outside. And there, bam, Vince Vaughn and this guy, they start fighting, and pow, Vince Vaughn punches the guy, and boom, the guy punches back. But then, in the middle of all this chaos, some other crazy guy in the crowd suddenly pulls out a knife, and he's like, who wants to get sliced? I don't even know what this guy has to do with the fight. But Steve Buscemi sees the guy pull out the knife, and kapow, he tries to kick it out of his hand. But it doesn't work, and this really pisses this crazy guy off. And so, boom, he lunges at Steve Buschemy, and he stabs him in the face and he stabs him in the neck again and again. And it's brutal.

Sometime later, police arrive, and they arrest all the people fighting, including Vince Vaughn. Here's his mugshot. While Steve Buscemi is rushed to the hospital and he's in critical condition, but thankfully, he survives and he's okay. But then, fast forward to around 2008, and Steve Buschemy is in Michigan filming a different movie. And this movie stars a bunch of people, including this actor, Justin Long. And you know who Justin Long is. He's been in Accepted. He's been in Dodge Ball.

He's been in Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squeakwell. And so one night, during this shoot, Justin Long and Steve Buscemi, they're off work. And they're out at a local bar, drinking and chatting. And Steve tells Justin this crazy story about how he was filming a movie a few years back, and he got stabbed in the face by a local. And he lets him know, yeah, you know, sometimes the locals. they don't like big movie stars coming into their town thinking that they're all that. And Justin Long hears this and he's like, oh, okay, don't piss off the locals.

Got it. Good advice. And that thought stays with him. A few nights later, Justin Long comes back to that same bar, but without Steve Buscemi this time. And so he's there and he's sitting at the bar, getting a drink, and that is when two random guys slide up next to him. And we'll call them the bros. And so the bros slide up and they start. messing with him like, oh what, you think you're better than us, Mr. Big Shot movie star? And Justin is like,

no, no, I'm normal, just like you guys. And he, probably thinking about Steve Busimi's advice, he starts buying these two bros drinks. Like, you know, he doesn't want them to think he's arrogant or something. And so they all start hanging out, Justin Long, these two bros and two other locals. And eventually the bar closes, and the two bros are like, hey, it's getting late. You want to go to a casino? And Justin Long's like, all right, because, you know, he doesn't want to piss off the locals. And so Justin and this whole group, they get into the bro's car, and they head toward this little local casino. And on the way, they make a quick stop at Justin's hotel room so that he can get some cash to gamble with. But then, as they're driving to the casino, suddenly the bros are like,

we need to make a pit stop real quick. And they pull up to their apartment. And everyone gets out and they go inside. and they're chilling for a sec, and that is when they offer Justin Long a little Zaza. And Justin Long's like, ah, no thanks. But these bros, they're insistent. They're like, oh, what, you're not going to smoke with us, bro, Mr. Big Shot Hollywood?

And of course, Justin doesn't want to be seen as that. Plus, remember what Steve Buschemy told him about pissing off the locals, and so Justin is like, all right. And he hits this Zaza. But here's the thing about this Zaza. Once Justin Long hits it, he immediately knows, this ain't Zaza. This is what he believes to be PCP.

And he can feel it right away and it feels wrong. But then he notices the two bros aren't smoking with him. And he's like, hey, aren't you guys going to smoke too? And the bros are like, ah, no. And they just keep watching him all suspiciously like, oh, is it working? Then their roommate comes in. And this roommate looks right at Justin.

and he starts whispering to one of the bros. And he says, you're right, that's the guy. Let me get my camera. And Justin Long's thinking, oh, shit, they're about to start taking pictures of me while I'm all wasted on whatever that drug was that they gave me. And then randomly, one of the bros starts just doing karate kicks right at Justin's face. Like I guess just trying to freak him out or something. And so anyway, their Justin Long is high on something with a random guy that he just met

doing karate kicks in his face. And if that isn't bad enough, then the bros are like, hey, you want to make a video for TMZ? You want to make a YouTube video, Mr. Hollywood? And at this point, Justin Long is in like total freakout mode. Like who the hell are these people? What are they about to do to him?

He doesn't feel safe anymore. So he's like, please just take me back to my hotel. And the bros are like, oh what, you can't handle a little Zazao, bro? But regardless, they all get in the car to take him back to his. hotel and so they're all driving along in the middle of nowhere and poor Justin Long like he's still freaking out and all these thoughts are racing through his head what do these guys

want are they trying to get a video of me messed up on drugs to sell tabloids are they gonna hold me for ransom meanwhile the bros are acting shady as fuck they keep whispering to each other and texting someone and Justin Long is so high at this point he's like hit his limit and he's thinking he's being kidnapped and so he wants to call for help. However, unfortunately, he can't because whatever he smoked is making the concept of dialing numbers on his phone out to be an impossible task. And so he just sits there freaking out. But then he gets a little bit of hope. Out the window, Justin can see that they're approaching his hotel. And so finally, they're getting somewhere. And maybe this nightmare is about to be

over. Until. The bros drive right past his hotel. These guys are taking him someplace else. And so this is the point when one of the bros asks Justin, so how much money did you take out for the casino? How much money do you got on you? And Justin is like, holy shit!

And he just loses it and he starts freaking out again. And he sees that their car is approaching a red light. And so he thinks, okay, when we stop at the red light, I'm just going to jump out of the car and I'm going to run for it. But then the bros don't stop the car at the red light. They just blow right past it and they keep on driving. And so Justin's like really flipping out now. He's like, oh my God, I'm going to die.

And that is when he decides to take action. And without the car, slowing down at all, boom, he opens the door and he jumps out. And pow, he hits the ground and he rolls. and bam, the car's back tire runs over his leg and it just crushes it. And as crazy as that is, ultimately Justin escapes. However, he unfortunately has permanent nerve damage in his leg. And because Justin was so messed up, he couldn't remember what the two bros looked like so he didn't report it to police and ultimately the bros got away.

It's wild.