He became famous during the peak of the paparazzi era in the early Noughties.
But tattoo artist Ami James, the star of Miami Ink, NY Ink, Ink Master, and most recently The Tattoo Shop, has revealed he hates Hollywood and refuses to tattoo celebrities.
Despite being a celebrity himself, the 50-year-old dislikes working with famous clients and often passes them on to other artists when they stop by his parlors in New York, Miami, London, and Cork, Ireland.
He told Daily Mail Australia his aversion stems from bad experiences with self-indulgent stars who like to complain about life in the spotlight while getting inked.
‘I have no desire to sit there and talk to some Hollywood t**t about how hard his life is,’ he said.
‘I have no desire to listen to anything… they’re living in a narrow world and, you know, some sort of a f**king bubble as if it resembles to my life in any way.
“And we have nothing in Common. I chose to be me. I don’t have an interest in it.
“So they usually contact me to get tattooed. I just send them to one of the guys at the shop and let them deal with it.
“Most of them” [celebrities] are f**king difficult to deal with.’
Ami stated that he would prefer to tattoo a normal person and added that he is more interested in the art of tattooing than the person.
“I would rather tattoo the garbageman, not the cemetery guy,” he said. He stated that he would prefer to tattoo the working class because he is from the working world.
Ami stated that, despite being a star on several reality shows, he dislikes TV and tries not to be enticed by the glamour.
He said, “I hate Hollywood, I hate everything about it, and I don’t take part in it.”
“It’s not my way of life. I am an artist. I love what my job allows me to do. I have never stopped tattooing even though I could.
“It’s what I’ve always wanted. It’s not like I only tattoo but that’s just my passion. It’s what I love. This is what I love doing.
“I hate watching TV. This is very strange because I still watch TV.
“But I mean, there are two types of people: those who do TV to make it famous and those who do TV to help their businesses grow because they’re smart enough.
“And that’s how you can open new channels.”
Daily Mail Australia interviewed Ami about the Australian Tattoo Expo. The event took place from March 10-12 at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.
Although he acknowledged that he was grateful for the opportunities that fame brought him, like the opportunity to travel the globe, his biggest problem is losing much of his privacy.
He stated that the worst thing that could have happened to anyone who became known was losing their privacy.
‘People constantly assume they know everything about you because they watched a f**king reality show, which is just absurd.
‘It’s a f**king reality show. If you watch it and you think anything on there is real, you’re an imbecile.
‘And so you build this persona around a f**king lie and you build this personality that’s so far away from your personality.
“Like, never in my life have I ever walked into my shop and shouted at employees. But that’s the TV persona that I have because that’s what television is.
When asked if it bothers him that the public may perceive him as someone he’s not, Ami said: ‘I always said, “I’m surrounded by 80 percent of a f**king population of idiots.” Right? It is a grain of sand. You’ll be able to see that it is exactly what it is.
Comment and share this article
