Robert Brink - Writer

Milestone: Corey Duffel

October 6, 2008 | Skip To The Comments (2)

Milestone: Corey Duffel
By Rob Brink
The Skateboard Mag November 2008

Corey Duffel admits to being a certifiable drama magnet. Some of it, as you may know, has been self-inflicted and highly publicized in the skateboard media over the years, while other parts of it might just be the fact that Corey stands out in a crowd. He looks and dresses different. He has presence and a big mouth every now and again. It could be something in the cosmos—some weird energy. You know that friend of yours who’s always having odd or funny or crazy stuff happen to him for no apparent reason? That’s Corey.

“Drama is following me constantly,” says Duffel. “The worst part is, I try to avoid drama, yet I’m always stuck in the middle of it. Whether it’s with fucking girlfriends or fucking kids or whatever. And cops never leave me alone. I just want to sit down and have a peaceful evening, and nope, it always seems to be drama.”

For those of you who may not have been around, or who just like to hear about it over and over, Corey’s most infamous debacle was his use of the “N” word in regards to Stevie Williams in a Big Brother am interview about eight years ago. Not to be overlooked, some choice anti-gay slurs were spoken in the interview as well. Many even believe Corey owes his career to the hype it generated. Seemingly wiser, he strongly disagrees.

“It did nothing but hurt me,” says Corey, now 24 years old. “I’m sure it played a big part in me not having a shoe sponsor for a while. It made me look like a fucking terrible person. I said terrible things and acted like a retard and I paid for it. People say it did wonders for me, but it made me look shameful. Obviously it brought attention to me, but for a bad thing. No one wants to be known for that—especially in skateboarding when we’re all supposed to be homies with everyone. If I hadn’t done that, I could have done a lot better for myself back then, ’cause it’s something that will follow me for a long time.”

And follow him a long time it has. Recently, allegations of Corey being a racist resurfaced on the web and Clyde Singleton offered some candid commentary on his blog:

Can somebody explain to me, how this scumbucket, still has a skateboarding career? i got an email from a kid who said he saw recent footage of ole Corey trying a trick over a rail, falling, and screaming “N!gger”, at the top of his lungs ... anyone (namely, any brothers) whos dumb enough to stand next to this racist fukk, and believe hes “changed”, is a fool. racism is a disease. you dont take a few weeks off, apologize, and come back “healthy”. fukk this kid. and once again- why am i the only one discussing this?”[sic]

“I’m still hated on for so much shit I’ve said in the past and apologized for,” says Corey. “Clyde says some sensitive shit about me, but I’ve just got to get on with things. I don’t want to say nothing back, so I just shut it. I just live my life and do what I’m doing. You always have to move forward and try to go on to things with the best outlook.”

In other recent inter-industry squabbles, according to Corey, he was jumped by Beagle [Baker’s filmer] at a Vans contest last year.

“Yeah. So some dude I don’t even know fucking comes up and sucker punches me three times while I’m in the middle of a conversation with somebody else and then takes off.”

Corey found out later it was over him making out with Beagle’s ex-girlfriend.

“Keyword ‘ex-girlfriend,’” says Corey. “It takes two to tango, dude. It ain’t my fault—blame the girl!’”

A second physicality between the two, evidently initiated by Beagle again, occurred at the Maloof Money Cup in July. A picture of Beagle punching Corey surfaced on the web almost instantly and Clyde pounced as well:

Beagle … i must give you the hghest honor in Gullyness, as well as “ass kickedgry” known to man. the only person who i’d be happier to see gettin the beats like this Is ... well. nobody. you’ve done more for Blacks, than Jesse Jackson punk ass. this, my friend- is one of THE greatest days i’ve come to see in my 20yrs of skateboarding. All i can really say, is THANK YOU brotha.. [sic]

And it’s these types of things that make a piece about Corey Duffel difficult to construct. Ignoring or evading these issues would be total bullshit. But there’s a potential guilt-by-association situation going on here. Defending Corey, or even just not condemning him, can be touchy for anyone.

At the same time, despite all the things you may hear or believe or see, Corey isn’t as hated on as you might think. People back him—although some sort of whisper it behind closed doors. They certainly don’t support his comments from Big Brother or anything of the sort, but they support his skating. Among these supporters, there’s an acknowledgment that everyone, especially kids, do stupid shit, fuck up, and (hopefully) eventually snap out of it. Honestly, the general consensus with most people I spoke with is that Corey made some dumb mistakes, got (and is still getting) what he deserves, works hard, and rips on a skateboard. That’s not to say he isn’t under the microscope … in fact, Corey might’ve used up eight of his nine lives in skateboarding already. And he knows it.

One time Corey got expelled from high school for having knife in his pocket and the vice principal told him he was never going to succeed at anything and was going to be a failure.

“Two years after I graduated,” Corey says, “he asked me to speak at the high school for career day. I thought that was kind of funny. I was like, ‘The nerve of this guy. He tells me I’m going to be a failure but now he wants me to fucking teach fucking career day about how to become a professional skateboarder?’”

“Did you say that to him?” I asked.

And Corey replied, “No, I bit my tongue pretty much.”

Once again, keeping his mouth shut, it seems Corey’s taken his beating—figuratively and literally—and tried to learn from his mistakes. To be frank, Corey talked some healthy doses of shit on a few other skateboarders in our little interview. A few weeks after, he called me explaining he’d rather it not be printed. In other words, he’s wising up. But it seems, much like with his vice principle, for whatever reason, the people in Corey’s world always offer a second chance or come back for more.

Over the years, Corey’s had to work three times as hard to keep himself from industry exile—mainly by letting his skating and work ethic do the talking. He’s had about ten interviews in the last four years alone. The amount of pros who’ve done even half of that in twice the amount of time can probably be counted on two hands.

“Perhaps it’s because people either love me or hate me?” Corey asks, addressing the vast amounts of coverage people want from him. “I don’t think I know any fucking neutral-type people. Even with pro skateboarders … the ones I get along with are real good friends, and the guys I don’t know, if I even wave to them, I don’t think I’m going to get a wave back. But a lot of times with the people who don’t like me, they end up meeting me and we become good friends.”

Even with the fans, it’s the same ol’ story. Corey either meets the die-hards who look just like him or the guys that he gets death threats from.

“I’ve shown up to demos in shorts and kids fucking get mad at me. Like, ‘Where are your tight pants? Why are you wearing shorts?’ I don’t know. Fuck it. It’s a hundred degrees outside.”

“He’s probably one of the easiest people to work with because he just understands how it all works,” says Foundation Team Manager Eric Wall. “He knows what he has to do to get in the mag. He won’t waste a photographer’s time. He’ll sign autographs and pose for pictures all night long. He’ll have talks with the kids. He may seem like the I-don’t-give-a-fuck dude, but he does.”

“I just like to get shit done. I know everyone else has a life and shit to do too. I wake up early. I’ll skate all fucking night. I want to be home working in the yard. I got two dogs and a new house I got to take care of. I got my family I like hanging out with. I got records to listen to. I got a million plants to plant, you know? I don’t want some fucking weeds and overgrown grass in the front yard. I want my shit looking proper.”

Corey knows how it works with the fans too. He’s no stranger to doing what it takes to keep ’em happy.

“It’s just called having human decency and being polite,” Corey says. “You never know how long a kid drives for demo, whether it’s ten minutes or fifteen fucking hours. I remember exactly which pros were cool to me and which ones were assholes. If a kid meets me, I’ll want to make sure he knows I’m actually a fucking nice guy—especially if it’s a kid who like doesn’t like me. I want them to see that at least I can fucking sit down and hang out and have a conversation with them. It’s like, why be a dick? Do you want to sell boards or do you not want to sell boards, you know? If a kid drove twelve hours to see you and you don’t give him an autograph, he’s going to think you’re a cocksucker. And I don’t want to be like the fucking cocksucker pros that I still remember as a kid.”

Corey believes in loyalty to his sponsors. And it may very well be part of the reason he’s managed to stick around through some hard times. Despite offers to ride for other brands over the years, he decided to stick with Foundation.

“They hooked me up when no one was giving me offers, so I definitely find that I have a solid bond with them,” says Corey. “To me that definitely goes a long way.”

But it’s not just “controversial” industry drama that looms over Corey’s head … there’s the everyday as well. Commonly referred to as anecdotes, this is the part where we put the seriousness aside and have a little chuckle at Corey’s expense over how, on a recent Osiris trip to South America, he got parasites after consuming large quantities of the tap water he was specifically told not to drink.

Admittedly too cheap to buy bottled water because it’s a “crock of shit and a waste of money,” it was the last day of his trip when the distributor asked him if he’d been drinking the tap water.

“I drank about six to ten glasses a day,” Corey replied.

”Well, ya know,” said the distributor, “it’s contaminated with parasites. You’re going to have to go get pills when you get back home.”

Sure enough, Corey was in his third day of gut rot when we did this interview.

While busy ingesting parasites in Ecuador, Corey’s girlfriend dumped him. “Over the phone?” I asked. “No. Even better yet. Over the AIM … the iChat,” he said. “I’m sure everything will work back out. Things always seem to happen that way.”

And they always seem to happen to Corey, We’ve all seen some priests on camera acting very un-priestly to skateboarders, but how many people do you know that can say they’ve been run over by an unruly man of the cloth and lived to tell the tale? Corey can.

He was skating some brand-new hubbas at a church in San Diego with LaRue and his friend Jeff, only to be confronted by a priest telling them they couldn’t skate and they were about to be arrested. Corey gave his trick one more go, made it, and the crew hopped in the car.

“So we’re leaving and Jeff pulls a U-turn to laugh in the guy’s face,” says Corey. “Like, ‘Ha ha. We got the trick!’

“Well the guy wasn’t so psyched on that so all of a sudden he pulls a hard left and crashes into Jeff’s car. Fully hit us on purpose. Like, that’s [attempted] manslaughter, man!

“So I get out of the car and I’m like ‘Hey dude. Take it easy, man.’ And of course he’s super bummed on that, like, ‘I’m not a dude.’ We’re like ‘Yeah, nice behavior, you’re supposed to be like, some holy dude.’

“So he gets back in his car. I’m outside just checking out the car and calling the cops. And then all of a sudden I look up and the dude is charging at me from like 30 or 40 feet away.

“It didn’t really click in my brain that I was about to get run over. I was just like ‘Holy shit!’ So I try to jump up out of the way and I get smacked by this SUV. I fly up and crack his windshield. Fully got toasted. My friends told me it was like straight out of a movie and then you see him peel out and take off as I’m laying on the ground, fucking fully looking pathetic in the middle of the street ’cause I just got hit by this SUV.”

Corey had hit his arm and head pretty badly and was still lying on the ground when the cops came. The officers ignored the fact that a priest drove over Corey and left the scene, proceeding to blame him for damaging the church. A few witnesses were walking their dogs and told the cops the whole story and in the end Corey still got tagged.

“I love that I get busted for fucking skating a hubba, but it’s okay for a proper guy in society to hit me with his car—a hit and run—and he doesn’t get in trouble. Kind of a strange world sometimes.”

In a past interview, Corey mentioned being one of the more rebellious and original skateboarders in the industry, because so many skaters look alike or fall into certain cliques. And asking him about it led to some optimistic commentary.

“My good friend Garrett Hill had that 360 flip 50-50 ad in red and black pants, and so many people gave him shit about that. But how many people remember that trick? Everybody knows it, whether it’s for the fact that it’s a sick trick or for the pants. So for the people that hate on him for it. Like, who gives a shit? Fuck them. If you wear something ridiculous, at least people remember it. Why do you want to be such a bore? It’s pretty annoying ’cause the thing that always makes people so awesome is something different and original. And yet you’re going to be a skateboarder talking shit on another skater for doing something he loves to do? We should all be homies with each other and just have a good time no matter what you look like. The reason we started skating was to get away from everybody else and have fun with our friends. It’s supposed to be original.”

Some might view that as a “take your own advice” type of scenario. But then again, Corey isn’t necessarily predictable, static, or safe.

“It’s like they always say,” says Corey. “‘Any publicity is good publicity’ in a way. I mean, shit, if you’re hating on me, that’s cool, ’cause at least you’re thinking about me. There’s that Oscar Wilde quote: ‘The only thing worse than being talked bad about, is not being talked about at all,’ ya know?”

It seems like Corey Duffel is a fairly self-aware young man who knows his place in the world of skateboarding. He also knows what he’s up against. He persists and is trying to find a balance between enjoying the attention he earns himself and crossing the line to get it. And while some people love to hate him, there’s a whole bunch of people out there who really hope he doesn’t blow it anymore.

The question now seems to be “How far is he gonna go in skateboarding and for how long?” As cliché as it sounds, it’s anyone’s guess. So, as always, it looks like all eyes are gonna be on Corey for a while.