Matthew Rhys is currently starring in AppleTV’s Widow’s Bay. It’s a comedy horror series about a cursed town, and he stars as the town’s mayor. I’ve watched the first two episodes, but it’s so good I want to binge it so I’m waiting a few weeks to watch the full first season. Matthew is one of those actors that stays busy. He was last seen co-starring with Claire Danes in The Beast In Me, which aired late last year. Matthew recently did an interview with Wall Street Journal. One of the questions that they asked him was about his biggest pet peeve. Matthew responded by naming something that is very near and dear to my heart. He really hates when people watch things in public spaces without headphones.
Matthew Rhys is sounding off on the public behavior driving him “bananas.”
“The Americans” star isn’t hiding his irritation with one modern habit that’s seemingly pushed him over the edge — people blasting videos, music and FaceTime calls in public like everyone else signed up for the experience.
“Do you have any pet peeves?” Rhys was asked in a Wall Street Journal interview.
“What is driving me bananas these days are people who watch things on their phones without headphones,” Rhys said. “I’m turning into my dad, but I feel like I have to start saying to people, ‘Excuse me, do you have headphones?’ Because if we’re not schooling people, it’s going to become more rampant than it already is, and it is out of control.”
The actor’s solution to modern overstimulation is about as unplugged as it gets.
“What do you do to relax?” he was asked.
“If it’s not on the water—if it’s not a kayak or sail or something like that—then horses are big for me,” Rhys explained. “You just get to be quiet and in nature. You can’t be on your phone. You have to be present.”
The Welsh actor’s latest project is “Widow’s Bay,” starring alongside Stephen Root. The series centers on an ambitious mayor, Tom Loftis (Rhys), who tries to capitalize on a surge of tourists visiting the fictional island. His goal is to turn it into the next Martha’s Vineyard.
I am with Matthew one hundred percent here. It’s so rude to force other people to listen to your conversations or hear whatever you’re watching. I genuinely do not understand why someone would watch/listen/FaceTime while on speaker in a public setting. Do these offenders have no concept of decency or personal privacy? Last year, my husband had to ask a man at an airport to turn his volume down because he was watching something that had a lot of cursing in it and my kids were sitting right there. It was so bad that multiple people who were sitting at the gate were exchanging glances for several minutes before he finally said something.
Matthew is so right that we need to properly judge this type of behavior before it becomes accepted as a societal norm. My biggest pet peeve is people looking over my shoulder. I have hated it for as long as I can remember. To me, playing a loud video in public is an extension of that, so I don’t understand why anyone would do so. It’s actually the reason why I never got into TikTok and don’t really watch videos on Instagram. I think we need to set new social contract expectations. It’s not as hard as we think to shame people into being decent enough to put headphones on.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, MediaPunch/Backgrid