Stars Who Can't Stand Adam Sandler

The entire point of a comedian or comic actor's professional life, as well as it being their passion, is to make people happy. Through his dozens of very silly and engaging movies released over the last three decades, Adam Sandler has fulfilled that purpose. He's a reliable source of on-screen entertainment and joy, whether he was singing ridiculous songs on "Saturday Night Live," playing a buffoonish man-child in "Billy Madison," "Happy Gilmore," or "Hubie Halloween," or voicing an overprotective Dracula dad in "Hotel Transylvania.

Sandler is able to churn out so many projects because of camaraderie and loyalty — he prefers to work with the same crew of trusted friends and collaborators that he's employed for years. But while Sandler projects an image of a good guy making fun movies for the masses, not everybody can be liked by everybody. Among the tragic details of "SNL" cast members is that Sandler has generated a fair amount of resentment and animosity among his fellow actors. Here are all the people who have on the record to publicly declare their dislike for the otherwise beloved Adam Sandler.

Bill Murray and Adam Sandler are two of the biggest "SNL" stars ever, both during their respective eras of the sketch comedy series (the late '70s; the early '90s) and as movie stars after they left the show. Despite being part of what's a very small fraternity, Murray, already among those actors everyone can't stand working with, reportedly deeply loathed Sandler and the rest of his close circle of collaborators at "SNL" in the early '90s, including Rob Schneider. "He hated us on 'Saturday Night Live' when he hosted. Absolutely hated us. I mean, seething," Schneider told satellite radio's "The Jim Norton and Sam Roberts Show" in 2022 (via The Hollywood Reporter).

"He just wasn't into that groove of it, you know?" Schneider theorized about why Murray, possibly jealous and frustrated, disliked Sandler and his comedy stylings. "And Sandler was just committed to it, and just like, as soon as he would get on, you could see the audience just ate him up."

In response to declining ratings and in search of a rebuild for the 1994-95 season, "Saturday Night Live" producers brought in several new cast members to add to its already large group of established players for the 1994-95 year. Among the new talent was '90s zeitgeist-setting alternative comic and "Reality Bites" star Janeane Garofalo. She was frank about her "SNL" feelings in pre-season interviews, telling the "Observer" (via "New York") that the previous season, dominated by Adam Sandler, was personally "unwatchable" and that Sandler's work was "childish." 

Garofalo reported to work a few weeks before live shows began to appear in pre-taped pieces; when Sandler showed up, he ignored Garofalo for weeks and then chewed her out about her earlier comments. Reduced to mostly bit parts in sketches as girlfriends and waitresses, Garofalo bristled at the material that Sandler and his cohort pitched and produced, finding their ideas to be sexist, sophomoric, and puerile; frequently the whole premise or joke of a sketch revolved around homosexual sex acts. "That's considered incredibly funny," Garofalo told "New York" in 1995. Garofalo ultimately quit "SNL" after just 14 episodes.

Ranking with some of the best stand-up comedians of all time, the acerbic and pointed Andy Kindler is as much a guardian and critic of his art form as he is a practitioner. He first started performing stand-up comedy in the 1980s, not long before Adam Sandler entered that tight-knit scene. Kindler, best-known on-screen for recurring roles on "Everybody Loves Raymond" (as Andy) and "Bob's Burgers" (the voice of mortician Mort), detests easy, cheap, "hacky" stand-up comedy jokes and bits, calling out guilty comedians via a viral 1991 "National Lampoon" article called "The Hack's Handbook," on X, formerly known as Twitter, and in interviews. "Before 'Grownups 9'? Just like the end of an NBA blowout it's GARBAGE TIME," Kindler tweeted upon the news that Sandler was starting work on "Happy Gilmore 2."

Kindler had some even more pointed criticisms for the star in an interview with LAist. "There's the expressions, 'Shooting fish in a barrel,' 'Kicking a dog when it's down.' Could we put Adam Sandler in that category now?" Kindler said, explaining that he once liked Sandler's work. "I loved his stand up. I loved his stuff on 'Saturday Night Live.' So many times I go after people that — on a certain level — I feel could be doing better, but for some reason decided to go with the money."

In June 2015, Rose McGowan, best known for "Scream" and "Charmed," posted on Twitter (now known as X) the details of a casting notice she received. It read (according to E! News): "Please make sure to read the attached script before coming in so you understand the context of the scenes. Wardrobe note: Black (or dark) form-fitting tank that shows off cleavage (push-up bras encouraged). And formfitting leggings or jeans. Nothing white." McGowan explained that the audition instructions were "for real" and that it was for an upcoming film whose title she didn't divulge. "Name of male star rhymes with Madam Panhandler hahahaha I die," McGowan quipped. The film was likely "The Ridiculous 6," starring Adam Sandler.

For calling out a film industry luminary like Sandler, as well as his production company, McGowan was punished: Her agency dropped her as a client. McGowan later explained that she was just trying to call attention to deep-seated Hollywood sexism. "I was offended by the fact that went through so many people's hands and nobody red flagged it. This is normal to so many people. It was probably even a girl that had to type it up. It's institutionally okay," McGowan told Entertainment Weekly. "I'm not trying to vilify Adam Sandler. Although someone did tell me that when he did his Netflix deal, he said, 'I signed with Netflix because it rhymes with 'Wet Chicks.' I mean, what? What in the f*** is going on? No!"

In 2014, Adam Sandler signed a deal to make movies just for Netflix, and the first project under that pact was "The Ridiculous 6," conceived as a satirical Western that would somewhat make fun of the outmoded and unenlightened views on Native Americans older films in that genre espoused. The production hired many Native American actors from multiple indigenous groups, including Loren Anthony. He ultimately didn't appear in "The Ridiculous 6" — which Sandler produced, co-wrote, and starred in– because he was a main participant in a walkout where at least 12 Native American performers left the set of the movie in protest.

"They told me it was going to be a comedy, but it would not be racist," Anthony told Indian Country Today Media Network. Actors took particular issue with the names female indigenous characters were given — including "No Bra" and "Beaver Breath" — and how non-Apache actors who didn't resemble Apache were cast to play members of that group. "They just treated us as if we should just be on the side," Anthony said of the on-set dynamic. A contingent of the Native American actors attempted to voice their concerns with Sandler's producer group, and they were told that no edits would be made to the shooting script.