Channing Tatum fans who fell in love with his abs post–Magic Mike probably don’t remember he once starred in 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. And he’d like to keep it that way. During an interview with Tatum on Howard Stern’s radio show, Stern referenced the film as a turning point in Channing’s career. And while he meant it as a compliment, Channing couldn’t stop laughing. Why the awkward reaction? “Look, I’ll be honest. I fucking hate that movie,†he confessed. “I was pushed into doing that movie.†Going into it, he explained, he was hot off the heels of Coach Carter (in which he apparently played the “token white kidâ€) and signed a three-picture deal because he was young and needed the money. Years later, when Paramount called him during the writer’s strike to fulfill his contract, he says that’s when G.I. Joe came into his life. But after they denied his request to play Snake Eyes, Channing says it all went downhill from there.
The script wasn’t any good. And I didn’t want to do something that I — that I was a fan of since I was a kid and watched every morning growing up — and didn’t want to do something that was 1) bad, and 2) I just didn’t know if I wanted to be G.I. Joe.
Tatum also revealed that “things have got messy†in regard to his rumored Ghostbusters reboot, and that it’s now in a “gestation period.†Also included in the interview? A story about the time Channing almost burned off his beloved penis, Gilbert. Now that everyone would fucking hate.