It has been a full decade since Jeffrey Dean Morgan first appeared as Negan on The Walking Dead. But time has not healed all wounds for the show’s most hated villain. The actor recently opened up about how fans still confront him in public, swear at him, and even physically attack him because of what his character did to Glenn Rhee.
Morgan shared these stories during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz. He made it clear that the hate is very real and very much ongoing.
Fans Still Confuse the Actor With the Villain
Jeffrey Dean Morgan joined The Walking Dead in 2016. His character, Negan, made an unforgettable first appearance in the Season 6 finale. He confronted Rick Grimes and the other survivors while holding his barbed-wire baseball bat, Lucille.
In the Season 7 premiere, Negan brutally killed Abraham Ford and Glenn Rhee. For many fans, Glenn’s death was the most painful moment in the entire series. The scene showed Negan repeatedly bashing Glenn’s head with the bat while Glenn’s wife, Maggie, was forced to watch.
That moment still haunts viewers today. And many of them still take their anger out on Morgan himself.
“I still get hate. I get people all the time that are just furious with the fact that I killed Glenn. He was so loved.”
Morgan told Horowitz that he never understood why fans were so shocked. Glenn’s death happened exactly the same way in the comic books, which came out four years before the show aired that episode.
“Glenn was, I thought, a gimme. Abraham was a bonus. But Glenn died in the comic books, and that had come out four years prior.”
Despite that, the reaction still surprised him. He said the scene “sucked the air right out of them” and that fans “hated Negan and Jeffrey Dean with fervor”.
An 80-Year-Old Woman Smacked Him With Her Purse
Morgan shared one story that stood out as the most extreme example of fan anger. It happened in Georgia while he was riding motorcycles with his co-star Norman Reedus, who plays Daryl Dixon.
The two actors stopped at a coffee shop. A grandmother and her granddaughter approached them. The granddaughter was excited to meet Reedus and Morgan. But the grandmother had a very different reaction.
“This old lady — she was probably 80 — she was with her granddaughter who was super excited to see Norman and I. But when she saw me, the older lady, she smacked me with her purse and started swearing at me, like dropping f-bombs!”
Morgan said the woman was completely serious. Reedus immediately told him they needed to leave.
“Norman was like, ‘We got to go. We got to get the hell out of here. Like this is serious.’”
The encounter shows how deeply fans connect with the characters they love. For that elderly woman, Morgan was not an actor playing a role. He was the man who killed Glenn.
The Hate Has Not Slowed Down After 10 Years
Morgan said the hate is not just a thing of the past. It continues to this day. He claimed that even now, he cannot walk down the street in New York City without someone yelling at him.
“I still can walk down the street in New York today… we could go out right now and someone’s going to yell at me and flip me off.”
He has learned to accept it over the years. He now calls the reactions “hilarious” and says they are simply “part of the deal”.
“I’ve gotten so used to it now that it’s just part of the deal.”
Morgan also mentioned that he does not go online to read comments anymore. He said the amount of hate Negan gets online is “tremendous”.
He estimated that the reactions are about a “50/50 split” between people who genuinely hate Negan and people who enjoy hating him.
Morgan Used to Defend Negan but No Longer Does
Morgan admitted that he used to defend Negan’s actions in interviews and conversations. He would explain the character’s background and try to help fans understand why Negan did what he did.
But he has stopped doing that now.
“I used to defend Negan a lot. And now I’m like, ‘Ah, whatever.’”
The shift shows how tired he has become of constantly justifying a fictional character’s behavior. After 10 years, he seems ready to just let people feel whatever they want to feel.
Glenn’s Death Still Divides The Walking Dead Fans
The killing of Glenn Rhee remains one of the most debated moments in television history. Steven Yeun played Glenn, and his character was one of the most beloved on the show.
Glenn’s death was brutal and graphic. It was shown in explicit detail, which shocked many viewers who had not read the comics. Some fans stopped watching the show altogether after that episode.
Morgan acknowledged that Glenn was “so loved” by the audience. That love has now turned into lasting anger directed at the actor who played the man who killed him.
Negan’s Journey From Villain to Anti-Hero
Over the years, Negan has changed a lot. After his defeat by Rick Grimes, he spent years in prison. He later helped fight the Whisperers and even killed their leader, Alpha.
The show also gave fans a deeper look at his past. The episode “Here’s Negan” showed his backstory as a grieving husband who lost his wife to cancer.
More recently, Morgan has starred in the spin-off series The Walking Dead: Dead City alongside Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie. The show follows Negan and Maggie as they travel through a ruined Manhattan.
Even with all that character development, many fans still cannot forgive Negan for what he did to Glenn.
Morgan Has Played Many Roles but Negan Stands Out
Jeffrey Dean Morgan has had a long career in Hollywood. He appeared in Supernatural, Grey’s Anatomy, and Watchmen. He also played the villainous Conquest in Invincible Season 3.
But no role has followed him like Negan. Fans do not confront him over his other characters. They do not yell at him for things he did on Supernatural.
Only Negan brings out that level of emotion.
Morgan told the podcast that he was careful not to make Conquest feel like a copy of Negan. He wanted to avoid falling back into the same tone. But it seems that for many fans, Negan is the only role they will ever see him as.
The Physical Attack Shows How Real the Hate Gets
The story about the elderly woman with her purse is not just a funny anecdote. It shows that some fans cannot separate fiction from reality.
The woman was around 80 years old. She was with her granddaughter. Yet she still felt angry enough to hit a stranger and swear at him in public.
Morgan did not say whether he pressed charges or even confronted the woman. He simply told the story as an example of what he deals with regularly.
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Morgan Takes It All in Stride
Despite everything, Jeffrey Dean Morgan does not seem bitter about the hate. He calls it “part of the deal” and has learned to laugh about it.
He recognizes that playing such an iconic villain comes with a price. The fact that fans still care so much, even after 10 years, shows how powerful his performance was.
Morgan also acknowledged that many people “love to hate” Negan. Those fans enjoy booing the villain and do not actually wish harm on the actor.
But there are still plenty of people who cross that line. And Morgan has learned to just accept it.
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