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If you've ever worked as a PA, or you're just curious about the interworkings of Hollywood, you probably know what a rider is. A rider is a series of requests that a celebrity can feasibly make to help them get comfortable before their show, shoot, or reading session. However, if you know celebrities, you know that a lot of them go above and beyond while stretching their importance. Some celebrities even push their requests so far that the people that work for them just had to share. Thankfully, we were able to collect some of the most absurd celebrity requests of all time!
Selena Gomez
Gomez went from Disney Channel star to real-world idol quickly after her tenure with the children's network was terminated. Like many other Disney stars before (and after) her, Gomez transformed with her audience, and as they changed, she changed to focus on different talents. Gomez has been known to make some strange requests when she hits the trailer, and if those demands aren't met, there's usually hell to pay.
Pot Pie and Pickles
Following Gomez's breakup with Justin Bieber, she decided that she didn't want to work with anyone who was named Justin. Instead of firing their entire workforce, most sets and venues just gave their Justins different monikers for the duration of her stay. Also, she demands one chicken pot pie and a jar of dill pickles in every dressing room she enters.
Beyonce
Beyonce has been in the business longer than most of us have done any single thing in our lives. So, naturally, it makes sense that she has some outlandish requests from time to time. First off, Beyonce is in a contract with Pepsi, so if she gets caught drinking anything other than a Pepsi product, she'll be expecting a series of unpleasant emails from her sponsors. So, no Coca-Cola products can be present in any of Beyonce's green rooms.
A Lady of Fine Taste
Most shows Beyonce plays, her rider contains requests for a very specific meal: baked chicken legs, breasts, and wings, heavily seasoned with hot sauce on the side. Additionally, Beyonce requires all of her dressing rooms and waiting rooms to be exactly 78 degrees, which we think is a little silly.
Christina Aguilera
Aguilera has always been a drama queen. Her antics on and off stage rival those of the great divas of Hollywood history. But her requests aren't so much outrageous as they are disruptive.
Hating Waiting
Aguilera hates nothing more than sitting in traffic. So, she always requests a police escort on her way to the venue in between traveling and shows. Her official statements to the police departments typically read “under no circumstances are the vehicles to be allowed to encounter any delays due to traffic.”
Justin Timberlake
Mr. Timberlake, Justin, The Man Who Brought Sexy Back, whatever you want to call him, he's a diva. Although it may seem hard to believe, this small-town success story for sure let fame and fortune get to his head. In order to sing and dance like a pro, Justin makes some wild demands before he hits the set.
The Drama King
Timberlake is a health nut, but not in a "he only eats kale and quinoa" way. Our favorite Justin demands that all doorknobs in both the hotel and venue he's at are to be disinfected before he arrives. Additionally, he demands that he gets an elevator to himself while entering a venue and hotel, and he also refuses to stay in hotels where he doesn't have an entire floor to himself.
Adele
Adele is a notoriously difficult person to work with off-stage, despite being a positive influence from a media standpoint. She used to request a full pack of marlboro light cigarettes, opened, and with a pink lighter included. She requested this for every show until she quit smoking in 2011.
Requesting in the Deep
On top of the pack of cigarettes, which honestly isn't THAT outrageous, Adele would also request very specific bottles of wine in vague ways. For the entirety of the "Adele 21" tour, she requested two bottles of wine in every dressing room. She requested "one bottle of the best quality Californian red wine, and one bottle of the best quality Californian Sauvignon Blanc, chilled, no Chardonnay." The only problem behind these wine requests was that she had no specifications as to what she thought was "the best quality." Instead of elaborating, she would just complain if her request wasn't fulfilled to her exact specifications, despite none of the show coordinators being mind readers.
Drake
Drake is a tricky subject. On one hand, you'd assume that he's fairly easy to get along with and suggest that he may not make wildly silly requests. On the other, you need to remember that he's an A-list celebrity, and all those people have wild ideas as to what people should be doing for them when they arrive at shows.
Begging for Booze
Strangely, Drake requests four dozen natural incense sticks for his dressing room. Not so strangely, he also requests an absolute ton of liquor. In his past shows, Drake has requested bottles of Hennessy, Courvoisier, Patron Silver, Grey Goose, Jack Daniels, and he almost always asks for a case of Heineken.
Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift had a humbler beginning than many other celebrities. She was born in a small town in Pennsylvania. She showed that she had an undeniable aptitude for creating music, so her parents moved her to Nashville to pursue her career.
The Coffee Snob
Swift doesn't demand much when she hits the dressing room, but her demands are firm and she freaks out if she doesn't get what she wants. The most consistent request is a grande iced caramel latte with two artificial sweeteners, a grande iced americano with two artificial sweeteners and soy milk, and a slice of pumpkin loaf from Starbucks. IF she doesn't get exactly what she wants, Swift has known to be a tough cookie.
Jennifer Lopez
J-Lo has a reputation in the industry as someone who is notoriously pleasant, yet difficult to please. She doesn't ask for food, drinks, additional service, or anything particularly tangible. However, she refuses to play shows if her demands aren't met 100%.
All White Everything
Every time J-Lo enters a dressing room, movie set, or green room, she demands that everything in that room is stark white. We mean everything. Down to the curtains, candles, furniture, rugs, even the snacks must be all white.
Kanye West
You'd be fooling yourself if you thought that we wouldn't include Kanye in this list. He's one of the most eccentric (a little too eccentric, we think) celebrities out there, and for good reason. Kanye thinks that he should be treated like a king. But, what's a king to a god? What's a god to a nonbeliever?
That's a Lot of Demands...
In every dressing room, Kanye requests Carmex brand chapstick, Sunkist brand pistachios, Propel sports drink, a bottle of Hennessy, Skyy Vodka, Patron Silver, and four 6-packs of Heineken. No, he will not accept a 24-pack, he wants his beer to be in individual 6-packs. During his "Saint Pablo" tour, Kanye asked for all of this and some "fun surprises." Those surprises turned out to be (in some places) wild animals, gogo dancers, magicians, professional storytellers, and alcoholic slushie machines.
Katy Perry
Perry is one of those "hard to please" celebrities. Instead of being down to earth and enjoyable pre-show, Perry likes to spend her time alone, thinking, and sometimes meditating. This sounds like a recipe for positivity, but really it's a way to separate herself from others.
Can You Believe It?
Perry's physical requests aren't that crazy. She asks for dried apples, pears, and lightly-salted dried edamame. She likes to get flowers delivered to her room, and her fans have picked up on that, just never send her a carnation (for some reason she doesn't like them).
Justin Bieber
Justin began his career at a very simple time in his life. As the world's most loved 16-year-old, Justin fit that mold precisely in his backstage requests. He would ask for lots of snack food and sodas for him and his friends to enjoy before they went on stage. Nowadays, Justin has gotten a little more outrageous with his requests.
Baby, Baby, Baby, NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
The last outrageous request Justin placed was for 10 luxury sedans, a massage table, and a private jet. These were requests that he placed for a show. Why would he be flying away from a show in a private jet nowhere near an airport? Nobody knows.
Rihanna
Rihanna has expensive tastes, which are subsequently hard to please. Before she was focusing on her makeup and clothing line, she was 100% focused on touring. She liked to make each dressing room as homey as she possibly could.
The Last Girl on Earth
During Rihanna's "Last Girl on Earth" tour, she demanded that she get a large fur rug in all of her dressing rooms. She only demanded this because she wanted to walk on it barefoot. Additionally, she asked that any walls, windows, lockers, or corridors be covered in large "icy-blue chiffon" and white curtains so she could get in "the zone."
Joe Jonas
Gosh, the Jonas Brothers have requested some weird things in the past. Before they were of legal age, they would always request alcohol, and if the venue followed through with that request, they would get an earful from the Jonas Brothers' manager. But, when they split up and went about their solo careers, Nick and Kevin dropped the act, and Joe ramped his side of it up.
Who Wouldn't Ask for That?
Following the heartbreaking split of the Jonas Brothers trio, Joe struck out on his own to continue being a musician. On every single rider on his tour, he asked for 12 puppies to be in his dressing room. Few cities actually obliged, and it's become more of a joke than anything else, but Joe was deadly serious for the first leg of his solo tours.
Jay-Z
Jay-Z, also known as the husband of Queen-B, is one of the only musical celebrity billionaires on Earth. So, naturally, he likes to be given the royal treatment everywhere he goes. But, all-in-all, his requests aren't the most outrageous.
One for Every Day of the Week
In his 2009 tour, Jay-Z's rider asked that he be given seven different dressing rooms (he stayed in central places and played shows in several venues) in every city he stayed in. Additionally, he asked for "good quality peanut butter" and "good quality jelly" to go along with each dressing room. Evidently, Jay-Z spent a lot of his time making PB&J's that year.
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey has a reputation to uphold! When she's not going wild on television or being an Earth-shakingly popular twitter meme, she is usually on tour flexing her pipes. But, there's always a catch when dealing with those who are superhumanly talented. Mariah Carey has a few demands about what she needs while preparing for a show.
She Likes the Finer Things
On every stop on her tour, Carey requests a bottle of Cristal brand champagne. Along with that, she asks for bendy straws, presumably for sippin'. Also, she asks for a single personal assistant at every venue whose sole job is to throw away her gum when she's done with it.
Mary J. Blige
Blige is not a fan of using any bathroom that would be considered "public." In fact, every set she arrives in (and hotel room she stays in) must have a private bathroom, with a brand new toilet seat, just for her. Additionally, she refuses to stay in any hotel room that has a bed smaller than "king-sized."
George Clooney
Clooney has been known to make some outlandish requests for his dressing rooms. They're typically related to the roles he plays, but sometimes they go over the top. For instance, he requested a hot tub and a custom made beach hut while shooting "The Descendants." He also asked for a basketball court to be built for him while he was shooting the movie "Gravity."
Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo always requests tons of bottles of alcohol for his green room. But, he asks, very specifically, for a personal bottle of Kettle One vodka. He doesn't drink it though, he only uses it to clean stuff around the venue. He's a pretty weird dude.
Britney Spears
When Britney Spears played at the O2 arena in London, she requested a framed picture of Princess Diana be hung in her dressing room because "Britney loves the monarchy." She also asked for "some" McDonald's cheeseburgers, but without the bun. We think that this is pretty bad, but at least she didn't ask for hotdogs with no buns.
Lindsay Lohan
Lohan was set to appear on a Russian talk show in 2015, but she refused to do that until she "met Vladamir Putin." She also asked to be flown in via private jet. be handed a 1-year visa, and $650,000 just for showing up on the talk show. The craziest part about all of this is that she actually received these requests.
Whitney Houston
Houston didn't really go too crazy for her riders, compared to everyone else, but she did manage to make one bizarre request from time to time. She always liked to roll up to her shows in style, and safely, so she asked to be transported from the airport in an armored Mercedes Benz or BMW 740 pretty frequently.
The Foo Fighters
Tour has become a big joke for the Foo Fighters. They're all just down-to-earth guys who occasionally take advantage of their celebrity status to get weird stuff on their riders. For instance, they once asked for "visual enhancements," banned all wallet chains and trinkets and then wore wallet chains to the venue themselves.
Paul McCartney
Paul is an avid animal-rights advocate, so when he shows up at venues, he always asks that they make sure there is no meat, fur, or any other animal product around him. He doesn't allow his crew to eat meat, and he doesn't like it when meat gets served in venues he plays at. In fact, he's fired people over eating meat in his presence.
Barbra Streisand
Streisand was one of the original divas. Before she arrives at venues (well, used to) she asks the township to sweep the venue with police dogs. She also requires all of her crew and the employees of the venue to dress "nicely" (no t-shirts or jeans). Seriously, she was that bratty.
One Direction
The now-defunct boy band that ran the circuit in the early 2010s made some fun requests in their day. On their 2015 tour, they requested that each venue be stocked with beer, KFC, a ping-pong table, and soft toilet paper. Compared to what other celebrities wanted, these guys made it easy.
Lady Gaga
Gaga is the queen of glamor, but she has been known to go pretty easy on her requests. Usually, she just requests several tea bags and some long straws. But, back in her "Monster Ball" tour days, she asked for a mannequin with pink puffy pubic hair. Seriously, we cannot make this stuff up.
Kevin Hart
Hart had a pretty disgusting rider back in his 2016 tour days. He asked for five women between the ages of 21-27 with "athletic, sexy builds" to join him and his crew one hour before the show and one hour after. He asked that the ladies only wear x-small sized t-shirts and tights. Whether this was actually filled or not is still up in the air, but jeez what a jerk.
Marilyn Manson
Manson historically just did everything to shock people. He never asked for too much, but he always wanted gummy worms, Doritos, a Manwich, microwave popcorn, and 2% milk. All of this was performative, and he usually left most of the food he requested behind.
Madonna
Madonna had, quite possibly, the most wholesomely insane request of all time. She requested a 200-person entourage to escort her into her show. Additionally, she wanted her dressing room to exactly resemble her own personal home. Yeah, that's pretty silly.
Prince
Prince was pretty quiet about his needs for the majority of his career. But, back in 2007, he requested that the venue build him a "luxury five-bedroom home nearby" (this was denied). In 2004, he requested that “all items in the dressing room must be covered by clear plastic wrap until uncovered by the main artist."
Cher
Cher refuses to wear a backstage pass (she also doesn't let her crew wear backstage passes either for some unknown reason). Instead, she requests, in her rider, that the employees of the venue familiarize themselves with the faces and names of the crewmembers that she brings along. That, and she requests a separate dressing room just for her wigs.
David Hasselhoff
Hasselhoff loves himself. He loves himself so much that he asked for a lifesize cardboard cutout of himself to be set up in his dressing room and backstage. Is this vain or psychotic? You be the judge.
DMX
DMX is one of the OG party rappers. He takes himself a little too seriously when it comes to requesting stuff for the backstage portion of his shows (either that or it's all a joke, who knows). He asks for three boxes of condoms, and a gallon of Hennessy whenever he shows up at venues.
Jack White
Jack White became notorious for requesting a ton of guacamole along his tour. However, he was so particular with the chunkiness of the guacamole that he sent each venue a recipe with clear instructions on how to make it. He also hates bananas, and he adds "PLEASE NOTE: this is a NO BANANA TOUR" on all of his riders.
Eminem
Eminem never cared about furniture or any other strange request that other celebrities put forward regularly. He only cares about what food is available in his dressing room. The weirdest requests he's had were for six Lunchables (three turkey and cheese, three ham and cheese), 24 cans of Diet Coke, and 24 additional bottles of Diet Coke. This is all just for him, by the way.
Will Ferrell
You can never tell if Will Ferrell is joking. So when he asked for an electric scooter, a flight of stairs (on wheels), a fake tree (also on wheels), and a prop rainbow (weirdly enough, also on wheels) the venues just obliged as best they could. They probably didn't have to bring any of these things to Ferrell, but he's happy they did.
Larry the Cable Guy
Larry the Cable Guy requests exactly what you'd think he requests. He asks for 50 hot wings from Hooters, and four cans of berry-flavored chewing tobacco. He's not the healthiest man on Earth, but that's his gimmick anyways.
Steve Martin
Martin leaked his own rider, he didn't even need help from the employees at the venues. He used to request a roasted chicken (that he used as a dancing puppet), a bathing suit (just in case he wanted to go swimming later), and a book called "How to Make Money From the Banjo." He's an interesting cat, isn't he?
Van Halen
Van Halen (the whole band, not just Eddie) made some wild requests in their careers. These rockstars asked for both (on the same occasion) a bowl of M&Ms without the brown pieces, and a herring in sour cream. According to them, they would only sneak in strange requests to fill out their riders, because they usually just wanted booze and veggies.
Tyra Banks
Recently, some individuals that formerly worked on "The Tyra Banks Show" came forward about how terrible it was to work with her. Evidently, she used to purposefully create difficult riders to test her PAs and interns, who were making pennies, to begin with. We understand stretching your wings as a famous person, but at what point are you supposed to lose all of your compassion?
Ariana Grande
This is gonna sound strange, but Grande insists via rider that she gets carried around on-set. Evidently, she thinks that the shoes she performs in are too painful to leisurely walk in. Who knows why she actually does this. When you have as much money and notoriety as she does, you could pretty much get away with anything.
Kim Kardashian
Kim is just as bad as her husband when it comes to making unreasonable requests backstage. She always asks for nondescript "fruits and veggies," but refuses to eat any that weren't picked that day. Evidently, she just "knows" when they aren't fresh, and she will complain if she suspects that an apple got picked two days before she got to it.
Will Smith
Smith is a notorious Hollywood "cool guy," but his laid back appearance doesn't always reflect what he expects when walking into a dressing room. He once requested a double-decker trailer, just for him, that cost nearly $2.5 million. He even had them install a $200,000 kitchen, and commanded that he got a huge parking space for it every day while shooting.
DJ Pauly D
DJ Pauly D was the focal point of MTV's hit show "Jersey Shore." But, evidently, he was really just playing a character, because he's pretty relaxed in real life. He's actually a DJ, so when he tours around, all he requests is four bottles of champagne, a VIP table, and a cab when it's time for him to leave.
Grace Jones
Grace Jones was one of the most important celebrities to walk this Earth, and fortunately, she was also notoriously easy to deal with and extremely kind. The only strange thing that she asked for was a bunch of unopened oysters. She needed them unopened because "Grace does her own shucking."
Paris Hilton
Although Hilton isn't the most prolific actor in the history of Hollywood, her rider would suggest otherwise. She's asked for some truly outrageous stuff, like a tank of live lobsters. a personal chef. and a ton of Grey Goose vodka. The craziest part about this is that Hilton is rarely ever on-set for more than one day.
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise is one of Hollywood's most successful actors. So, to partner with that, he has one of the most confusing riders out of all of them. He has, in the past, insisted that his dressing room be stocked with 50 hand-made thongs. We think that's a little strange, but it's his life to live.
Nicki Minaj
Nicki once demanded that the lawn around the venue be cut evenly or she wouldn't show up for the concert. She was close to an hour late because she thought that "since the grass was cut unevenly it was hard for her to walk on, so she didn't." Talk about a serious diva move!
Jessica Simpson
Simpson was once invited onto The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, was declined last minute, and never was invited back. The reason she got her slot canceled was that she requested $18,000 for her hair and makeup team, firmly. Leno told her to pound sand, and they had Sarah Palin on instead of her.
Jennifer Aniston
Evidently, Aniston is a nightmare to work with. She refuses to eat with her fellow actors, she only takes meals in her trailer, which she conveniently sets several miles away from where they're shooting. Aniston hasn't gotten many gigs recently, and this is probably the reason why.