12 Celebrities Who Turned Down Million-Dollar Paychecks

Celebrities are well-known for their wealth. They have so much money that turning down a few million dollars for a job they don't want to do or conflicts with their values is not really a huge problem. Celebrities occasionally make mistakes and lose out on opportunities to earn even more money, which they later regret.
While we may be envious of celebrities who live lifestyles we can only imagine, we can also learn from them: gaining more and more money should not be our primary goal. Sometimes it’s good to take a step back and concentrate on what we truly desire. Also, even the most successful people earning millions of dollars can make bad decisions and they have to come to terms with it, as we all do when we fail at something.
So, here's a list of celebrities that could have made a lot of money but didn't. Let's scroll down to find out more!

#1 Matt Damon turned down a 10% stake in Avatar

Source: Georges Biard / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 3.0

Matt Damon claimed in a 2019 interview with GQ that James Cameron offered him the starring role of Jake Sully in Avatar, the 2009 blockbuster. Of course, Damon had no idea that the film would become one of the most financially successful of all time, but Cameron made him a great offer: 10% of the film's profits.
If Damon had taken the role, he could have gotten about $250 million. However, the actor claimed that taking the part would have posed an issue for Paul Greengrass and all of his "The Bourne Ultimatum" cast members, so he couldn't do it.

#2 The Beatles turned down a full $50 million to reunite on stage at Shea Stadium

Source:  Poppe de Boer / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Many people tried to reunite the Beatles throughout the 1970s and even more wished they could. In 1976, Bill Sargent offered the band a total of $50 million to rejoin on stage.

This isn't the end of the story. The intended warmup act: a man grappling with a great white shark, Ringo Star told The Mirror in a July 2020 interview. Because the opening act was a guy biting a shark, Ringo said they opted not to do it. So they decided to say no.

#3 Gotye turned down millions just so that YouTube wouldn't play ads on his videos

Source: Eleven

Gotye's artist, Wally de Backer, turned down millions of dollars simply so YouTube wouldn't play advertisements on his videos.

Though the exact amount de Backer earned from "Somebody That I Used to Know" is difficult to estimate (based on potential ad income per view of the successful video), it could have been in the millions. The video had received around 1.5 billion views as of summer 2020. When Psy's "Gangnam Style" achieved 2 billion views on YouTube, he made roughly $2 million from advertisements.

#4 Dave Chappelle walked away from $50 million for no apparent reason

Source: Chappelle's Show / Comedy Central

Dave Chappelle traveled to South Africa for no apparent reason after striking a $50 million agreement with Comedy Central in 2005 to make two more seasons of his critically acclaimed Chappelle's Show. It wasn't until years later that Chappelle discussed his reasons for leaving the program, which appeared to be complicated. He expressed reservations about studio involvement and how his work was received by his audience.

#5 The Smiths were offered $5 million to do a reunion gig at Coachella

Source: Rhino Records UK

Over the years, the former UK band has turned down numerous requests to regroup. Morrissey was not convinced by a cool $5 million for one day's work reuniting to play the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

During an interview with writer David Fricke at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Music & Media Conference in Austin, Texas, he remarked: "Money doesn't come into it, it was a fantastic journey. And then it ended. I didn't feel we should have ended. I wanted to continue. [Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr] wanted to end it. And that was that."

#6 ZZ Top turned down $1 million to shave their beards for a commercial

Source: Brian Marks / Flickr / CC-BY 2.0

In 1984, a group of courageous Gillette men decided that their razors were powerful enough to shave the famed manes of Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill. They were complete fools. The million was turned down cold by the couple.

#7 Vince Gilligan turned down $75 million to make three more episodes of ‘Breaking Bad’

Source: AMC

The writers all laughed when Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg approached "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan and his colleagues with a suitcase full of cash. Katzenberg only wanted them to make three more episodes, but he had no idea that doing so would necessitate totally rewriting the series' ending, as well as jeopardizing the show's intended 62-episode duration.

Walter White, the show's protagonist, was particularly taken with the number (Bryan Cranston). The atomic number of samarium, a substance used to treat cancer patients, is 62.

#8 Oasis Allegedly was offered £100 million to do a reunion tour

Source: Creation

It's unclear whether this was a legitimate offer or if Liam Gallagher was simply roasting his brother Noel on Twitter, but Oasis will not be reuniting anytime soon. In February 2020, Liam tweeted that they'd been given 100 million pounds for a tour but not enough.

Noel responded to the accusation on Twitter, writing, "To whoever might be arsed: I am not aware of any offer from anybody for any amount of money to reform the legendary Mancunian Rock’n’Roll group Oasis. I am fully aware though that someone has a single to promote so that’s maybe where the confusion lies."

#9 ABBA turned down '$1 billion' to do a reunion tour in 2000

Source: AVRO / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 NL

According to RTE, Ireland's national public broadcaster, ABBA was offered $1 billion to do a reunion tour. The band did get together in 2014 to discuss whether or not to do a 40-year anniversary tour, but the answer was a firm no.
Singer Frida Lyngstad told RTE, "We only have one answer and that is no - we’re not going to do it... No amount of money would change our minds."

#10 James Arthur turned down £250,000 to be on 'Celebrity Big Brother'

Source: Columbia

£250,000 is approximately $330,000 in the United Kingdom. This offer occurred at a time when James Arthur's career was in flux and he was receiving offers from all over.
In a 2016 interview with the Daily Star, Arthur said: "They were life-changing amounts of money, the most I got offered was £250,000 for CBB [Celebrity Big Brother], which I really needed at the time, not knowing if I had a career. I feel like I made a brave decision not to take the cash. It was a great option for me and my family, but I wanted to stay true to my music and I am proud of that decision."

#11 Jerry Seinfeld was offered more than $100 million to do another season of 'Seinfeld'

Source: NBC

Timing is crucial in comedy. Knowing how long a joke should last is just as crucial as knowing how long the joke should last. So when NBC offered Jerry Seinfeld $5 million each episode to do a 10th season of Seinfeld, he declined. From Seasons 3 to 9, the sitcom had between 22 and 24 episodes, which means he could have easily made $110 million.
According to a 2018 interview with the New York Times Magazine, Seinfeld turned down another season to keep the program from slipping into mediocrity.

#12 Christian Bale turned down multiple chances to return as batman

Source: The Dark Knight / Warner Bros.

Was a fourth installment of "The Dark Knight" trilogy really necessary? Most likely not. According to a 2019 Toronto Sun interview, Warner Bros. approached Christian Bale about whether he wanted to do precisely that. Bale, on the other hand, stayed true to filmmaker Christopher Nolan's wishes. Nolan had always intended to make a trilogy of pictures.
According to Bale, "Chris had always said to me that if we were fortunate to be able to make three we would stop. 'Let's walk away after that,'he said."