He rose to fame during the height of the paparazzi era in the early 2000s.
But tattoo artist Ami James, star Miami Ink, NY Ink, Ink Master and most recently The Tattoo Shop, has revealed he hates Hollywood and refuses to tattoo celebrities.
Although he’s a celebrity himself, the 50-year-old doesn’t like working with celebrity clients and often passes them on to other artists when they stop by his salons in New York, Miami, London and Cork, Ireland.
He told Daily Mail Australia his dislike stemmed from bad experiences with indulgent stars who like to complain about life in the spotlight while getting tattoos.
“I have no desire to sit here and talk to some Hollywood asshole about how hard his life is,” he said.
He rose to fame during the height of the paparazzi era in the early 2000s, but Miami Ink star tattoo artist Ami James has revealed he hates Hollywood and refuses to tattoo celebrities.
Although he’s a celebrity himself, the 50-year-old doesn’t like working with celebrity clients and often passes them on to other artists when they stop by his salons.
“I have no desire to listen to anything…they live in a narrow world and, you know, kind of a fucking bubble, like it’s kind of like my life.
“And we have nothing in common. And I just choose to be me. I have no interest in it.
“So usually when they approach me to get a tattoo, I just send them to one of the guys in the shop and let them handle it.”
‘Most of them [celebrities] are really f**king hard to deal with.
Ami said he would much rather tattoo a normal person, adding that he was much more interested in the art than the person.
‘I prefer to tattoo the guy from the cemetery, the garbage collector. I prefer to tattoo the working class, because I come from the working class,” he said.
Although he has starred in several reality shows, Ami said he dislikes being on television and tries to avoid the glitz and glamor that comes with it.
“I despise Hollywood, I despise anything to do with it, I don’t participate in it,” he said.
Ami spoke to Daily Mail Australia at the Australian Tattoo Expo (pictured), which took place from March 10-12 at the Sydney International Convention Centre.
While Ami is grateful for the opportunities fame has brought him, such as traveling the world, the biggest downside for him is losing much of his privacy.
‘It’s not my life. I’m just an artist and I love doing what I do. And I never stopped tattooing, even when I could have.
“It’s exactly what I always wanted to do. It’s not like I only tattoo but it’s just my passion. It’s what I love to do. That’s why I’m here.
“I hate doing TV, which is really weird because I keep doing TV.
“But I mean, there are two different types of people: people who do TV because they want to be famous and people who do TV because it helps their business because you’re smart enough to realize how much it helps your business grow.
“And through that, you can open different channels.”
Ami spoke to Daily Mail Australia at the Australian Tattoo Expo, which took place March 10-12 at the Sydney International Convention Centre.
While he said he’s grateful for the opportunities fame has given him, like traveling the world, the biggest downside for him is losing a lot of his privacy.
“The worst thing that ever happened when you became famous is that you lose your privacy,” he said.
“People constantly assume they know all about you because they watched a reality show, which is just nonsense.
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‘It’s fucking reality TV. If you look at it and think something is real in it, you’re a fool.
“And so you build this character around a fucking lie and you build this personality that is so far removed from your personality.
“For example, I’ve never walked into one of my stores and yelled at the workers in my life. Still, that’s the character I have on television because that’s what television is.
Asked that it bothers him that the public might perceive him as someone he’s not, Ami said: “I’ve always said, ‘I’m surrounded by 80% of a whore. population of idiots. LAW? So take it with a grain of sand. You know, like, it is what it is.
