Red Rock star: I’ve suffered nasty abuse
RED Rock bad boy Stephen Cromwell has revealed he has been abused on the street on several occasions.
The vitriol, however, is not aimed at his dodgy character, Keith Kiely, in the hit soap. Instead it stems from a previous acting role in which he played a Traveller.
‘People thought I was a Traveller and I did get a bit of attention and abuse,’ he said.
‘They called me “knacker.” It’s an awful word which should not be used.
‘The abuse was shocking all right. It happened three or four times where the word “knacker” was used,’ he said. The abuse came after Stephen played a boxer who carried out a kidnapping in the 2013 film Jack Taylor: Shot Down.
Fortunately, he said most people approaching him today are fans of Red Rock, which returns to TV3 tomorrow at 9.30pm in a new hour-long slot.
‘They usually just ask, “Who killed Brian?” I’m getting that a lot on trains and buses – but I don’t tell them. Most people are quite nice.
‘The show is popular but it is not so astronomically big that people are afraid to approach you. It’s at that level where people want to talk to you.
‘I play pool a lot and lads will come over and say, “I want to be the one who beats Keith Kiely at a game of pool.” That type of stuff, mostly friendly.’
Speaking of his bad boy character, minor criminal Keith who is looking to avenge the killing of his brother by a rival family, Stephen said: ‘I absolutely love Keith. He is an absolute p***k but on the inside he’s actually a good guy who tries to look after his family. Every time he does something bad it comes from a good place.’