Kevin Owens Quotes

I want to be embraced by the audience, but it's fun to stir up the pot.

I'm well aware that no matter how big of a jerk I am, some people will cheer me, and no matter what I do, some people will boo me, and that's fine. I just need to elicit emotion. That's all I care about.

I enjoy seeing how many boos I can get.

We like reactions - a reaction is walking out on us, a reaction is throwing tomatoes at the stage, that's a healthy psychological reaction.

Sometimes I feel like if I'm not getting people to boo me, then I'm not doing my job right.

Of course I'm sure half the people there hate me and half the people like me.

They're reacting and that's wonderful. It's better than them sitting there doing nothing. I say make them react - do whatever's in your power to move the audience, and if that's where it is, and there where it is with America, sex and violence, then I say project it.

I don't want to walk in the middle. I want people to read what I write and feel strongly about it. If, at some point, whatever I am doing is failing to elicit a response, whether it's very positive or very negative, then I am going to stop doing it.

I don't intentionally go: 'Ooh, what is provocative,' and try to do that. I just do stuff, and people go: 'Ooh, that's provocative.'

You can calculate the worth of a man by the number of his enemies, and the importance of a work of art by the harm that is spoken of it.

The best way to get your audience larger and more consistent is to be more divisive and more radical and criticize those who cater to or kowtow to other forces.

You don't get a standing ovation and get boos, by the way. They don't go hand in hand.

If you're not polarizing, you failed, in my opinion.

You could mention my name in any hallway in any academic institution and you would have people foaming at the mouth.

I don't mind what the critics say, so long as I get some reaction. The worst thing is to be ignored.

Of course, I also hear from critics who detest what I do, and while sometimes I feel rather proud of having made various the loathsome people or groups angry, at other times I wonder why I put up with such grief.

If you want to be loved by everyone, don't go into politics.

I've yet to meet somebody who said, 'Your stories are so revolting I couldn't read them.'

I like to be loved by my children, and I quite like the 'Guardian' hating me. I like it when I read they want me to die painfully. Then I think I've really got under their skin. It's like annoying a teacher. Once they've shown signs of weakness, you really can go for them.

If a writer doesn't generate hostility, he is dead.

I can open up any can of worms and get people upset.

I've made so many people angry that they kind of blur into one unpleasant memory of people staring at you with somewhere between passive aggression and active aggression.

For anyone who works in front of an audience there is no thrill quite like that of feeling and hearing the evidence of the audience members' enjoyment. Laughter and applause really are powerful.

backlash

Before I entered politics, when I used to appear in public everyone would applaud; now half of the people applaud, and half of them boo.