15 Petty Beefs Among Smart and Dignified Folks

Hey! Prominent figures can have blood feuds too, ya know! They might be smarter and more successful than the rest of us, so it’s comforting to know that they too can succumb to pettiness. If anything, the higher up the ladder you go, the thicker the competition. When a rival threatened to squash their precious egos, they fought back. The stakes were high, but the feuds were petty.
Sure, the public might view these dignitaries as, well, dignitaries, but as time goes on, stories of their sometimes incredibly trivial fallouts come into light. Who knew Benjamin Franklin had beef with another prominent bald figurehead? We didn’t. Until now.
We were also pretty thrilled to learn that world renowned shoe companies Adidas and Puma were born out of a bitter rivalry, and that you can in fact use pastries as insults. Because it’s hilarious. These are just a few of many frivolous incidents that sparked lifelong, sometimes even deadly beefs between prominent, dignified people.
Before Twitter, petty political beefs were settled in the streets.

Mark Twain openly criticized the post office his entire adult life.

Van Gogh’s “tortured soul” persona is being refuted.

Two prominent bald Americans go head to head.

Go bleep bloop yourself!

Lucasfilm
Governor Chris Christie ruins everyone’s first day of school.

Criminal confusion at the polls.

Florida Senate/Wiki Commons,
Miami-Dade Police Department (via The Daytona Beach News-Journal)
Hey! Dessert involving beef is Rachel Green’s thing.

We don’t want your prissy “French” fries here in ’Merica!

U.S. House Office of Photography/Wiki Commons,
Wiki Commons,
Billion Photos/Shutterstock
A tale of two shoe moguls.

The British-American Shakespearean war.

John Jackson/Wiki Commons,
Mathew Benjamin Brady/Wiki Commons
The political beef that just keeps giving.

U.S. House Office of Photography/Wiki Commons,
U.S. Senate Photographic Studio/Wiki Commons
Saddam Hussein

Paleontologists

Library of Congress/Wiki Commons,
Frederick Gutekunst/Wiki Commons,
Allie_Caulfield/Wiki Commons
Utah’s Governor got elementary school flashbacks.
