
IT'S THE CRITICS JOB TO CRITICIZE...
YOU DECIDE THE NEXT STEP.

WALT DISNEY​
Was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.
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STAN SMITH​
Was rejected as a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because he was "too awkward and clumsy." He went on to clumsily win Wimbledon and the US Open...and eight Davis Cups.
CHARLES SHULZ
Had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn't hire him.
​​MICHAEL JORDAN
Was cut from their high school basketball teams. Jordan once observed, "I've failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."
​​VINCE LOMBARDI
An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation." Lombardi would later write, "It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up.
​SIDNEY POITIER
After his first audition, was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.
FRED ASTAIRE
After his first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MFM, dated 1933, read, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." He kept that memo over the fire place in his Beverly Hills home.
Lucille Ball
When Lucille Ball began studying to an actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, "Try any other profession."​​
​Beethoven
Beethoven's music teacher once said of him: "As a composer, he is hopeless."
Colonel Sanders (KFC)
Was considered too old to start a business.
Oprah
Told she was "unfit for TV".
Harrison Ford
In his first film, Ford was told by the movie execs that he simply didn't have what it takes to be a star.
Stephen King
The first book by this author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received 30 rejections, finally causing King to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged him to resubmit it, and the rest is history. King, now having hundreds of books published, has the distinction of being one of the best-selling authors of all time.
Elvis Presley
The manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one performance telling him, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."
