The transcript below is from the video “The Problem with Steven Seagal” by Goldenbell Training.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Steven Seagal is a bit of an enigma in the world of martial arts. On the one hand, he’s managed to become an extremely accomplished martial artist. He’s known as the first American to run an Aikido dojo in Japan and he was one of the biggest action movie stars in the world in the early 1990s. Now, despite all of his accomplishments, it doesn’t take very much effort to find a lot of really bad stuff about Seagal.
Whether it’s his diva attitude on set, some weird stuff that he said to people, “I just met with the Dalai Lama, he in his wisdom decided to make me a deity…” jokes about his appearance or a long list of allegations made by women who worked with him. So, that’s why in this video, I want to talk about the problem with Steven Seagal.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
What’s up y’all? My name is Prince and I’m on a journey to help people find harmony in their life through martial arts, mindfulness practices and tapping into our own internal power. This video we’re going to take a look at Steven Seagal because, well, I’m going to talk about the problem with Steven Seagal in my continuing series on the problems in traditional martial arts today.
Now, in the first video of this series, the problem with Aikido actually brought up Steven Seagal’s Aikido as possibly being different from the Aikido that is being taught in most schools. And I just posted another video debunking the claim that Steven Seagal said that he fought Bruce Lee. So, that makes two videos where I’ve discussed Steven Seagal’s past and in a video where I’m talking about the problem with Steven Seagal, we’ll maybe looking at where things began, might show us where the problem started.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
So, Steven Seagal was born in Michigan and according to him, he spent some time hanging out in Detroit where he learned to play the blues with some soul brothers in a jazz band. He also was exposed to a Japanese martial arts master during the halftime show of his father’s football game. And I’m not sure if it was the same guy or a different one who also discovered him while he was washing dishes at a restaurant.
Now, from there, he says he trained old school traditional Okinawan Karate until he managed to graduate early from high school at the age of 16. And by the time he was 17, he was setting off to Japan where he would stay for 18 years, training and eventually teaching Aikido. Now, the problem is that there’s this big discrepancy between Seagal’s Wikipedia entry, because it says he moved from Michigan to California at the age of 5.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Now, at some point, Seagal met Bruce Lee’s best friend and student, Dan Inosanto. While hanging with guru Dan as a teenager, he managed to meet Bruce Lee and James Coburn. So, it turns out he actually did meet Bruce Lee. Dan Inosanto’s son-in-law, Ron Balicki, said that Dan Inosanto has known Steven Seagal for a very long time, going back to when he was a very young man.
Seagal eventually enrolled in college but he left after that first year to go to Japan. He returned to California about 2 years later and he started studying Aikido with Miyako Fujitani. When Miyako returned to Japan, Seagal went with her. And a year later, they were married and she gave birth to their son.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Now, Seagal’s version of the story doesn’t mention any of this. And when he does tell the story, it’s always embellished and, well, I mean, the thing is – the truth is actually more fascinating than whatever Seagal is telling, like take the Bruce Lee thing as an example.
Steven Seagal (Actor, Screenwriter, Producer, Martial Artist & Musician):
For some reason, he never had anything bad to say about me and I was quite interested in Aikido and he was very nice to me.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Segal said Bruce didn’t say anything bad about him and was impressed with Aikido. But when Seagal met Bruce, like, it sounds like it was in passing, and Seagal was a kid and he hadn’t even started learning Aikido. Now, Seagal says that he set off for Japan at the age of 17 and spent 18 years training Aikido. That’s not true! He could have told people about his struggles there in his early 20s and then how he basically followed his sensei back to Japan and then married her. And this actually happens pretty regularly when women come to Western countries to teach Asian martial arts. Like, I remember my first Wushu instructor was from the national team in China, and after she was finished killing us in class, she’d have a group of admirers around her at all times after the classes were finished. Now, I never tried to put my bid in because, like, she just used to look at me like, yo, that’s that short black guy who jumps high and can’t do a split. But anyway, back to Seagal.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
So, the first problem with Seagal is that his real life is actually more interesting than the narrative that he’d like to present to everyone else. And, I mean, why is that? Why does this guy feel the need to create this character for people to see instead of just being the person that he actually is.
Joe Rogan (Comedian, Podcaster & UFC Color Commentator):
And he’s a legitimate Aikido master like 100% absolute legitimate Aikido master.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
The next thing I want to touch on is Steven Seagal’s Aikido. Now, regardless of what you think, Seagal has to get credit for putting Aikido on the map. In the 1980s, there were all the Hong Kong Kung Fu movies on Black Belt Theatre on Saturdays. There were the Bruce Bruceploitation movies. We had The Last Dragon and the Karate Kid, there was Chuck Norris, there was the ninja craze. Later, we got Jean-Claude Van Damme
Steven Seagal (Actor, Screenwriter, Producer, Martial Artist & Musician):
Can I laugh in your face?
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Everyone was kicking and punching but in walks 6’5″ Steven Seagal, he’s not shredded, he’s kind of going bald, he’s just a soft-spoken regular guy who proceeds to do something that people had never really seen before. He’s flipping people by their wrists and no one can touch him. It’s like he’s invincible. And he seems to never get hit in his movies. Later, when the art catches on, we learn that it’s supposed to be called the way of peace. It’s all about redirecting the energy of your opponent. For what Seagal is doing, looks a little bit more aggressive. When Aikido people are evading and doing stuff that looks kind of fake, Seagal is hitting people and he’s giving out clotheslines and slamming people into the floor. So, why does Seagal’s Aikido look so much different?
Joe Rogan (Comedian, Podcaster & UFC Color Commentator):
His Aikido is 100% legitimate.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Well, Seagal says it’s because of his flavor of Aikido, called Tenshin Aikido, actually is different. After World War II, the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, known as Ōsensei, had a bit of a paradigm shift. He stopped teaching the techniques in the curriculum considered part of the art of war and he emphasized only the techniques making up the art of peace. So, according to Seagal, what he’s doing and teaching includes all of the legal techniques that Ōsensei stopped teaching. The thing is – this is different from what one of Seagal’s own instructors said about Tenshin on a forum post from 2006. And this post was allegedly approved by Seagal’s staff but it doesn’t describe Tenshin as being a school of Aikido that preserved the legal techniques that Ōsensei stopped teaching after 1945. What Luis Santos said is – the Tenshin Aikido is mostly different from mainstream Aikido and the training intensity. In training, they try to practice against real attacks and this is real within a training environment, and the person on the receiving end needs to be prepared to receive an attack at full force. There’s no mention of secret or forgotten teachings or material. This is stuff Seagal is saying and it’s not something he said 20 years ago in an interview, that nobody even remembers. Steven Seagal said all of this on Scott Adkins’ podcast just last year.
Kevin Hart (Stand-up Comedian, Actor & Producer):
Steven found out that one of the guys was like a black belt in Judo, like a serious black belt. So, Steven comes up to the guy, he’s like, hey, put me in your best hold, I bet you I can get out of it.
Gene LeBell (Martial Artist, Stunt Performer, Actor & Former Professional Wrestler):
Oh, Steven was trying to say that no one could choke him out. You can’t choke him out. He had this move to stop him from choking out. So, you know, I was like, alright Steven. Let’s try it!
Kevin Hart (Stand-up Comedian, Actor & Producer):
Choke Steven. Put him in a chokehold. Steven’s struggling, his feet squaming, searching for balance. He can’t, it’s like he’s losing air a little bit but…
Gene LeBell (Martial Artist, Stunt Performer, Actor & Former Professional Wrestler):
Well, and then I guess he got tired after doing that and he just fell asleep. I guess maybe he forgot to go to the bathroom.
Kevin Hart (Stand-up Comedian, Actor & Producer):
All you hear is (fart sound)… He taps out and goes “good go”…he runs out to the bathroom.
Gene LeBell (Martial Artist, Stunt Performer, Actor & Former Professional Wrestler):
Because if they just had a nice big dinner an hour before, you might have a tendency to do that
Kevin Hart (Stand-up Comedian, Actor & Producer):
he comes out, it smells like sh*t everywhere. The guy choked the sh*t out of students for death but literally, all he did was…
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
So, that brings me to my next point. I mean like, why do so many celebrities have weird Steven Seagal stories?
Interview Extract:
– I just read the greatest script I’ve ever written in my life.
– Really? Who wrote it?
– I did!
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
I mean, it seems like the only people who have anything good to say about him are people who study under the Tenshin Aikido school that’s affiliated with his dojo.
Interview Extract:
– We’ve worked with people in the past that have been just d*cks.
– Right.
– So, he’s like who am I, like who else he’s like he was Steven Seagal. You know, he used to really get shots in, you know, in his scenes. So,…
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Steven Seagal has stories about how stunned people don’t like to film fight scenes with him. Steven Seagal has stories about how he gets a double because sometimes he’s too lazy to walk. Steven Seagal has stories about how he gets a voice double because sometimes he’s too lazy to say his lines. Steven Seagal has stories about how he can’t remember the lines to a movie that he helped write. Of course, then there’s the stories about Steven Seagal on the casting couch with women, the inappropriate comments to women on set.
Carlos Granda (Reporter):
Well, that’s right! Actor Steven Seagal is under siege again. There have been multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from several actresses including Jenny McCarthy, Portia de Rossi, and as you said there are two other women who are coming forward, and they held a news conference this morning.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
The groping women on set…
– That brings us to this photograph because…
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
I think the reason Steven Seagal makes all of his direct video movies overseas has less to do with saving money and more to do with him not wanting to get caught up in the Me Too movement over in the US.
Katherine Heigl (Actress, Producer & Former Fashion Model):
… was at the last day of filming and again I had just turned 16 on this movie and he said you know Katie, I’ve got girlfriends your age. And I said, isn’t that illegal? And he said they don’t seem to mind. Then I said, mom.
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
Seriously, I bet if Donald Trump won his re-election, Steven Seagal would have started telling people that he introduced Trump to Putin, and he taught him all about…
So, do you want to know what the problem is with Steven Seagal? Let’s go back through the list that I’ve laid out. He lies about his background and perpetuates this made-up exotic story of how he’s the chosen one, the unassuming kid who was discovered while washing dishes. He sets off to Japan where he runs the only dojo where an American is the head instructor. Of course, the reality is that he was running his father-in-law’s school. But I mean, if this isn’t enough, he learned the secret techniques that Ōsensei stopped teaching everyone else. So, that makes all of the other Aikido schools out there kind of suspect. But y’all still following me? You see where I’m going with this?
Prince (Goldenbell Training):
In Hollywood, he’s the tough guy. Only the best stunt people can work with him. Otherwise, they might die trying to deal with his lethal Aikido techniques. He’s also a ladies man and no lady can resist him, whether she’d be an underage teenager, a playmate or an award-winning actress. None of them can resist the machismo Seagal. And you know what this sounds like? It really sounds like a cult leader. I mean, seriously, it does!
Seagal even paid some Tibetan monk for an empowerment so that he declared that he’s the reincarnation of a 17th century Buddhist monk. I guess that monk is trying to make up for all the stuff he missed out on when he took the robe in his previous incarnation. But look, I won’t go as far as saying Seagal is a cult leader, but we can all agree that Seagal is just like every other really weird martial arts teacher who lies constantly and gets really creepy around women. I mean, everyone has come across that guy. And if you think about it, Seagal is that guy if he managed to strike it big. Seagal is probably who that guy wished he could be. And me, personally, like, I don’t understand but I imagine that no sane person would.
But hey, if you like Aikido and you want to hear more on Aikido, be sure to check out my video on my visit to an Aikido dojo. But hey, that’s all I got for this video. So, thanks for hanging out. Y’all keep on breathing and I’ll see you in the next video.
