After a change of attorney and a failure to submit paperwork, a judge dismissed the lawsuit against Seagal. Chances are pretty good he never wrote the letter of apology, either. Seagal's bromance with Putin has earned the star some enemies. When he told a Russian state-run newspaper that he considers Putin "one of the great living world leaders" and that he thinks of him like a brother, he also came out in support of Putin's controversial intervention in Crimea.
That got him dropped from a gig performing at a blues festival in Estonia. After Putin personally granted Seagal a Russian passport in , the actor was banned from entering the Ukraine , another former Soviet republic. Officials said that Seagal had "committed socially dangerous actions," which "contradict the interests of maintaining Ukraine's security.
If you thought Seagal's admiration of Putin was weird, it may not seem quite as strange in the context that he's also a Donald Trump supporter. It might seem surprising that the same man who starred in and directed the environmentally conscious On Deadly Ground , where he battles an oil tycoon and notorious polluter, and starred in Fire Down Below , where he took on baddies dumping toxic waste, would support a president who doesn't believe in global warming , but does anything about Steven Seagal surprise you anymore?
On the night of President Trump's inauguration, Seagal took to Twitter to congratulate the new leader of the free world, saying, "Congratulations to President Donald Trump! Wonderful speech!
If you believe there's a secret globalist agenda that threatens to destroy the United States—and you believe you're one of the select few who truly understands what's going on—what's the best way of getting out your message? This is evidently exactly what Steven Seagal believes, and as he revealed in late , his answer to that question is "write an action espionage novel starring a thinly disguised version of myself. As with many of Seagal's films and albums, the reviews haven't exactly been kind—in December , the A.
Club highlighted a series of Amazon writeups and social media posts subjecting the authors and their work to gleeful mockery, and culture critic Nathan Rabin "hate-read" the entire book in order to offer an in-depth rundown of the story. Right-wing classic rocker Ted Nugent, on the other hand, loved it —and although he later admitted he hadn't had a chance to read it , disgraced former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio went so far as to pen the book's foreword.
With so many different projects and hustles under his belt, you might think it's hard for a guy like Steven Seagal to move forward and find something new to explore.
And you'd be right. As it turns out, the actor is moving forward in his career by reaching into the past. Under Siege and Under Siege 2 are among Seagal's biggest cinematic hits, and a film to complete the trilogy is apparently in the works. As of this writing, neither project has yet to make much in the way of headlines since their initial announcements.
But hey, that's the whole thing about Steven Seagal: he always strikes when you least expect it. Seagal is no longer the athletic martial arts master of Under Siege or Above the Law. So maybe he's put on some weight and moves a little slower—but that's going to happen to most any guy who's in his mid-sixties.
That's why some were a little skeptical of a viral video of Seagal demonstrating the martial art of aikido at the International Youth Sambo Tournament, held in the Russian city of Saratov. Seagal takes on two faster, younger combatants and effortlessly flips and tosses them, all while barely moving around. When cornered by TMZ , Seagal laughed off accusations that the fighting in the viral video was fake.
After the TMZ reporter suggested that the guys up against Seagal flopped a little too hard, Seagal explained that, "when you're about to break someone's arm or wrist, usually they like to go with it so it doesn't snap.
One of the truly great things about a democracy is that every citizen has a voice—even if, as in Steven Seagal's case, he happens to be a veteran Hollywood action hero who's been granted citizenship in one of his native country's biggest rivals.
Seagal made that voice heard during a September appearance on Good Morning Britain , accepting host Piers Morgan's invitation to weigh in on the large number of professional athletes protesting racial injustice and inequality in America by opting not to stand during the national anthem prior to sporting events.
It's a complicated issue that's inspired no shortage of debate, but from Seagal's point of view, it's all very simple. Insisting he believes in free speech and agrees that "everyone's entitled to their own opinion," Seagal—who went on to claim he's "risked my life countless times for the American flag"—made it clear that he's deeply offended by the idea that anyone would refuse to stand during the anthem for any reason.
It's disgusting. Now that you're caught up with what he's has been up to, let's see how well you really know the action star. Keep reading for some facts you may not know about Steven Seagal.
It's been years since action thriller fans were wowed by a new Steven Seagal fight scene, but once you've spent years building yourself a reputation as a supposedly unbeatable fighter, people will keep lining up to try and make you prove it long after you probably should have retired. Boxer George Foreman, who himself knows a thing or two about climbing back in the ring well after many believed his final bell had been rung, issued just such a challenge to Seagal in October of , tweeting an offer to go ten rounds with his would-be opponent in a no-holds-barred Vegas match during which he'd stick to boxing but Seagal could "use whatever.
Steven Seagal, I challenge you One on one, I use boxing you can use whatever. Seagal didn't immediately respond to Foreman's challenge, but that didn't stop it from making headlines that triggered a surprising amount of gleeful anticipation. Then again, maybe it isn't so hard to understand why people would want to watch these once-mighty fighters whale on each other—if you've ever struggled to make your way through a late-period Seagal movie or burned yourself on a Foreman Grill, the idea of either man being punched for your enjoyment must be pretty tempting.
One of those babies was her daughter with the action man, Arissa LeBrock. The younger LeBrock grew up and found her own place in the spotlight, working as a model for clothing lines such as Mac Duggal and Ashley Stewart. She told the New York Post that while she's following in her mother's modeling footsteps, she "ended up looking like a Seagal: strong and built. Of course, you don't need a New York Post article to tell you that: one look at Arissa LeBrock in the photo above should tell you everything you need to know about her parentage.
Let's just say that Steven Seagal probably never thought about needing to take a paternity test. Of course, all of this raises an important question: should Steven Seagal have been a runway model instead of an action hero? Now's probably as good a time as any for him to give that career path a shot.
According to multiple actors, Steven Seagal is an incredibly difficult coworker, something John Leguizamo discovered the hard way. While filming Executive Decision , Seagal got angry with his costar and allegedly shoved Leguizamo against a wall.
Seagal also made life hard for the Saturday Night Live cast. While hosting the show in , he was "very critical of the cast and writing staff.
According to Julia Sweeney, Seagal wanted to perform a sketch where he played a therapist who wants to sleep with a rape survivor. Evidently, Seagal was so frustrating, he was banned from ever hosting again.
Stephen Tobolowsky also learned firsthand about Seagal's petulant ways. In The Glimmer Man , Tobolowsky played a serial killer — naturally, Seagal was supposed to blow the bad guy away. But then Seagal decided it was " bad for his karma " to keep killing people on-screen. Now, he wanted Tobolowsky to survive. Thinking on his feet, Tobolowsky explained that his character was trapped in his own private Hell. By killing the villain, Seagal would be allowing the bad guy to reincarnate as a more peaceful being.
Seagal agreed, and the scene went on as scripted. At the time, Silva was widely considered the greatest mixed martial artist on the planet, and in round one, he knocked Belfort out with a front kick to the face.
It was one of the most iconic moments in UFC history According to Seagal, he was the man who taught Anderson Silva how to use that particular kick. In fact, Seagal even claimed that he'd invented that kick. While many assumed Seagal was lying, the actor had indeed escorted Silva to the ring that fateful night. Once again, Seagal took credit for the move, this time on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
While Silva seemed to enjoy the joke at first, the champ eventually decided to speak up, explaining how he'd been practicing the front kick long before he met Seagal.
In his famous broken English, Silva admitted , "Seagal is a good man. No coach. No train me. Is a good man. Is a good person. That's it. Other athletes are far less polite. When Seagal tried to go backstage at UFC to advise light heavyweight champ Jon Jones , the fighter turned him away. Ronda Rousey once claimed she could " beat the crap " out of the actor. Seagal even challenged two-time ex-champion Randy Couture to a fight When asked about the matchup, Couture said he wasn't surprised that Seagal wanted to fight "in a private, remote location where nobody could see it happen.
In addition to acting, Steven Seagal has done quite a bit of fight choreography. According to IMDb, most of the films he's choreographed are his own, but in the early '80s, Seagal worked on the James Bond film Never Say Never Again , having been brought onboard to teach Sean Connery about martial arts.
Now, Connery was already well-versed in karate. While preparing for 's You Only Live Twice , the actor was awarded an honorary third-degree black belt. But for his seventh outing as Bond, Connery needed to learn a little aikido, so Steven was hired to teach Sean how to throw opponents and manipulate joints. At first, the lessons seemed to be going well As Connery put it , "I got a little cocky because I thought I knew what I was doing," and then an irritated Seagal allegedly grabbed Connery's arm and broke the actor's wrist.
While he was undoubtedly in pain, Connery kept on training. In fact, he didn't realize that Seagal had actually snapped his wrist until the late '90s.
That must've been one slow-healing injury. Of course, Seagal can take a bit of pain as well. While working on his breakout film, Above the Law , actor Henry Silva broke Seagal's nose with an overzealous punch. Knowing the show must go on, Seagal stayed up late that night, icing his battered schnoz so he could keep on shooting the next day. In his heyday, Steven Seagal was the biggest martial arts star in Hollywood.
But that doesn't mean he could fight in real life. Seagal is a legit seventh dan in aikido, a martial art that relies on joint locks and the redirection of momentum.
In fact, Seagal was the first American to teach aikido in Japan. But honestly, aikido is pretty worthless when it comes to self-defense. According to fight analyst Jack Slack , aikido only works if your "opponent is running straight at you," something most smart fighters never do.
And as UFC commentator Joe Rogan explained, aikido "would never work against a trained fighter, never, not in a million years. Nevertheless, Seagal claimed he could beat anyone, anywhere, anytime. Even worse, Seagal made some controversial comments about Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and the sport of full-contact karate.
This didn't sit well with Bob Wall. An actor and high-ranking black belt with plenty of tournament experience, Wall was friends with Norris, had worked with Lee, and absolutely didn't care for Seagal's attitude.
Wanting to teach the actor a lesson, Wall assembled the " Dirty Dozen ," a group of angry kickboxing and karate champions like Benny Urquidez, Bill Wallace, and Howard Jackson. Some wanted to show Seagal was a fake , others were upset at his comments, while others wanted to avenge a group of stuntmen whom Seagal had allegedly injured. Wanting to get the actor's attention, the Dozen appeared in magazines like Prevue and Black Belt , but despite their efforts, there was never any showdown.
Instead, when Seagal finally met Wall, the movie star supposedly apologized for what he'd said. And if you need more definitive proof that Steven Seagal sucks as an actual fighter A martial arts pioneer, LeBell has studied almost every fighting style imaginable, from taekwondo to boxing otka rate.
But LeBell was particularly fond of grappling, excelling at both judo and jujitsu. The man was a two-time national heavyweight judo champion, taught Bruce Lee how to grapple, and currently serves as a mentor to UFC megastar Ronda Rousey. LeBell also competed in the first televised MMA fight in American history, when he used his ground game against boxer Milo Savage in So, he's tough for real.
LeBell also worked as an actor and a stuntman, appearing in over 1, films and TV shows. He was the fight choreographer on Out for Justice , an action movie starring Steven Seagal. During filming, Seagal allegedly said no one in the world could choke him out, claiming he had a special move that prevented anyone from putting him to sleep. Naturally, Gene accepted the challenge, and the two guys went at it. Within seconds , LeBell had Seagal in a rear-naked choke.
And that's when the aikido master supposedly pulled out his super-secret, special trick move—a karate strike to LeBell's balls. To be fair, we would definitely break the hold if he did that to us.
Despite the low blow, LeBell held on — soon, Seagal was out like a light. On top of that, the actor reportedly had a bizarre reaction to being choked out. According to LeBell, Seagal must've had a big meal before the match, because the unconscious star suddenly soiled himself.
Obviously, Seagal denies the fight ever took place, but according to the "Godfather of Grappling," Seagal was a truly crappy fighter.
Steven Seagal has battled all sorts of bad guys on the silver screen, from terrorists to the yakuza. But Seagal has also faced some scary villains in real life, namely the Mafia. In the '90s, Seagal teamed up with producer Julius R.
Nasso pictured above. Together, the duo made a string of hits, but their relationship soured in Eventually, the two had a falling out, but things took a dark turn when the Gambino crime family got involved. One day, Seagal was ordered into a car and escorted to a Brooklyn restaurant, where he met an alleged Gambino captain named Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone.
According to Seagal, Ciccone ordered him to start working with Nasso again. The martial artist had every reason to be afraid. As he left the meeting, someone supposedly told Seagal , "If you would have said the wrong thing, they would have killed you. The scandal came to light in , when the government indicted alleged crime boss Peter Gotti and 16 others for a whole host of crimes.
This is because, despite his support for Russia and being granted Russian citizenship, Seagal still retains his American citizenship. Jump directly to the content. Sign in. All Football. Entertainment Celebrity Bernadette Giacomazzo. Seagal made headlines in May after joining a Russian pro-Kremlin party.
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