A lot of people like to think money can’t buy happiness or money is the root of all evil and so on and so forth but we all also acknowledge that, in practical terms, most of us need it and wish we had more of it. Money makes living comfortably and safely easier. You can have the things you need and then also the things you want. It’s a nice feeling. So the idea of turning down money, especially a lot of money, is really hard for many of us to understand. But it has happened in the past that some people have turned their back on massive, massive sums.
10. Bill Watterson Refused to License Calvin and Hobbes
In the world of comic strips there have been a few standouts over the years – Garfield and the Peanuts have endured for decades. But Calvin and Hobbes rose to prominence in the mid-80s and for a decade was one of the most popular and beloved strips ever made. And then its creator, Bill Watterson, decided to pack it in after a decade in 1995. The legacy very much lives on, however.
Watterson had stayed out of the limelight for the bulk of his career and he very explicitly refused to license or merchandise his creation. The kind of money he could have made is staggering. Estimates are around $300 million to $400 million. In fact, Watterson went out of his way to fight the publishers who wanted to merchandise the strip. That means all those decals you see on the backs of trucks featuring Calvin peeing on the logo of a different automaker aren’t official.
9. Dave Chappelle Turned Down a $50 Million
Few comedians will ever get bigger than Dave Chappelle and, as controversial as he can be, you can’t deny he’s had a huge impact on the standup comedy world and at its peak, the Chappelle Show was incredibly popular. It was so popular, in fact, that Comedy Central offered him $50 million to continue the show past its second season in a deal that was pretty much unheard of in the world of comedy. Some sources claim it was $55 million, incidentally.
Regardless of the dollar amount, Chappelle never closed the deal. Instead, he went to South Africa for a few weeks and sort of dropped off the world radar. When he finally did come back into the limelight, he was cagey about his reasons for leaving for a time but admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he was under a lot of stress and had become concerned that some of the comedy they were doing was “socially irresponsible.” In particular, he was concerned about one particular sketch that caused someone on set to laugh in a way that he felt was reinforcing the racial stereotypes he was trying to make fun of and may have been feeding racism rather than mocking it.
8. Keanu Reeves Turned Down $11 Million for Speed 2
Not a lot of actors have had a career quite like that of Keanu Reeves. For years, Reeves was the butt of jokes, his acting mocked with a knowing “whoa” by people channeling his characters from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure or Point Break, which came across as a little goofy or wooden. But then he made Speed and The Matrix and cemented himself as a true action hero which he continued with films like John Wick. That, plus stories of his kindness and generosity in real life had made him a fan favorite the world over.
There was long a rumor that Reeves donated 70% of his Matrix salary to the crew of the film, which isn’t true, but does sound believable given how he does have a private foundation to help children’s hospitals and cancer research. And also he turned his back on an $11 million payday back when Speed 2 was being planned and instead opted to go play Hamlet on stage in Winnipeg, Canada. His manager said he just didn’t want to do two action movies in a row. The choice got him blacklisted by FOX for an entire decade.
7. Gotye Chose Not To Monetize “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Released in 2011, Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” was a huge hit. The singer won several Grammy’s, and the video has over two billion views on YouTube, making it one of the most popular music videos of all time. Unsurprisingly, those video views add up to a good chunk of money because that’s how YouTube works. Or it is if that’s how you set YouTube up to work, and Gotye never did that.
The singer has made it clear he has no interest in selling his music and so he didn’t monetize his channel. It’s estimated he turned down about $10 million as a result back in 2017. He also doesn’t sell his song to be used in films either, though apparently he was willing to let some indie productions use his music for free.
6. Weird Al Turned Down a $5 Million Beer Endorsement
“Weird Al” Yankovic has been making parodies of popular music since the early 1980s and has had many albums go gold and platinum in that time. He’s sort of a cultural icon at this point and continues to enjoy fame as a touring musician and with a couple of movies under his belt as well.
Al has said that he was offered $5 million to do a beer ad back in the ’80s just as his star was really rising, which he turned down. He went on to explain in other interviews that he’s refused to do several things out of principle, despite the money involved.
As far as the beer ad goes, Al explained that he turned it down because he didn’t think it was appropriate. Since so much of his fanbase is children, he felt like selling beer kind of betrayed that idea. And it’s true that most of his comedy, however juvenile it may be, is also family friendly. He doesn’t even swear. Not that turning the money down was easy, mind you, he said it was a painful choice but still one that he felt was right in the end.
5. Will Ferrell Was Offered $29 Million for an Elf Sequel
After achieving fame on Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell went on to star in a string of huge comedy hits that have gone on to gross over $100 million each at the box office. One of his biggest was the Christmas movie Elf, which managed to rake in $222 million worldwide. It’s no surprise then that the movie, which had a $33 million budget, was lined up for a sequel.
Despite the huge popularity of the film, Ferrell turned down what would have been a $29 million pay day by rejecting the sequel. The reason was a harsh indictment of the movie in general as, though Ferrell was very diplomatic in his wording, he basically said that if he made the movie, he would have had to promote it and tell people it was good, and he just didn’t think the script was good. He also said he wouldn’t want to undo any good work he’d done previously by making a bad sequel before acknowledging that one day he would absolutely make a bad sequel.
His co-star, James Caan — who was on board — had a different version of what may have happened when he explained that Ferrell and the movie’s director (who you might remember was Jon Favreau) didn’t get along, and Ferrell didn’t want to work with him.
4. Google Offered to Buy Friendster for $30 Million
Social media has more ups and downs than a rollercoaster. Every TikTok is built on the ashes of a MySpace; every Instagram on a Google Plus. One of the relics of the bygone social media era was a site called Friendster.
In 2002, Google offered the founder of Friendster $30 million. The site was only a year old, and it seemed like a great deal. But others warned him against it. Tech companies had a way of increasing in value and some people in the past had rejected millions to later make billions.
The offer was rejected in an effort to build Friendster into something bigger and more valuable. No doubt, if you remember Friendster at all, you know that never happened. Somewhat worse is the fact that the founder was offered $30 million cash. He was offered $30 million in Google stock which, by today, would be worth over $1 billion.
3. Vince Gilligan Rejected $75 Million for Three More Breaking Bad Episodes
If you come to really love a TV show, then it’s always disappointing to learn that the show is coming to an end. It’s safe to say a lot of people felt that way when the hugely popular Breaking Bad ended, but maybe no one was more affected than former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg.
In the show’s final season, Katzenberg approached Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad’s creator, with an offer. Three additional episodes of the show for $25 million a piece, or $75 million total. It was about five to eight times what the show was being made for at the time.
The plan was to take every episode and break it down into five to 10 minute chapters, then release each chapter for $1 to stream online. Gilligan said no, but Katzenberg firmly believed that 10 million people would have paid a dollar a day for 30 days in a financial windfall had it worked out. Keep in mind, Katzenberg was the man who went on to found Quibi, one of the biggest failures in recent history.
2. Jerry Seinfeld Turned Down $100 Million
Seinfeld was one of the most popular sitcoms of all-time. Rolling Stone ranks it #6 out of every show ever. IGN ranked it in the 10 spot while the Writer’s Guild of America West popped it in at number two. The final episode was one of the most watched TV shows of all time with 76.3 million viewers. And with numbers like that, it seems almost a given that someone would have wanted Jerry Seinfeld to come back, even though the show was over.
A 10th season of Seinfeld was pitched to the comedian, just one single season, that would have seen him walk away with a staggering $100 million. But he said no.
It’s worth noting that apparently, thanks to syndication, Jerry Seinfeld and co-creator Larry David were making $400 million off of the show back in 2014, so maybe that $100 million wasn’t as alluring as it seemed.
1. Latrell Sprewell Rejected a $21 Million Offer
Latrell Sprewell was once a pretty high-profile player in the NBA who was an NBA All Star four different times but likely will forever be known for his incredibly poor decision making skills. In one incident, Golden Warriors coach PJ Carlesimo told Sprewell to put some mustard on a pass, meaning put some more effort into it, and Sprewell responded by choking out the coach right there on the floor. He was suspended for a full year, 68 games, and cost himself about $6 million. Later he signed with the Knicks and was immediately fined $250,000 for showing up with a broken leg that he forgot to mention.
At the end of the 2004-2005 season, after playing with the Minnesota Timberwolves for one season, he was offered a three year, $21 million contract to stay with the team, which was lower than what the Knicks had been paying him by a significant sum. Sprewell rejected the offer, famously saying “I have a family to feed.”
You can take that statement to mean Sprewell expected more money. He and his agent turned down other offers with a plan to wait out negotiations until the last minute when teams would be so desperate they’d make big money offers. Only that never happened and Sprewell didn’t sign with anyone. He never played in the NBA again.
After losing his job, he was sued by his partner for $200 million. He was pursued for back taxes and had property repossessed.