‘Be careful when you talk to me’: Denzel Washington checks fan who accused him of not being sober

Denzel Washington says he hasn’t had a drink in 15 years when a fan accuses him of lying about his sobriety after denying an autograph.

Denzel Washington has played men you don’t want to cross. And in real life, that aura echoes the same in the award-winning actor. That energy was recently revealed in a fan encounter caught on camera. 

The two-time Oscar winner found himself in an uncomfortable exchange with a New York City–based autograph seeker after being accused of lying about his sobriety. A video uploaded Monday, Oct. 27, by GTVReality, a popular autograph hunter, shows a rare glimpse of Washington’s patience being tested and his faith rising to the surface.

Denzel Washington checks a reporter for being disrespectful and calling him a liar about not drinking alcohol.

“I haven’t had a drink in 15 years.”

pic.twitter.com/IAJLa80Pni— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) October 27, 2025

According to the footage, the encounter happened sometime around August 2025, per Complex. From inside a car, Washington asked GTV to “get away” from him, only for the man to shoot back, “It’s better when you’re drinking, Mr. Washington.”

That’s when Washington, calm but clearly taken aback, replied, “I haven’t had a drink in about 15 years.”

“That’s a good lie.”  GTV responded.

The fan then tried to pivot the energy by complimenting the actor, saying, “I saw you in Malcolm X, it’s my best movie. I was watching it with my moms growing up, man.”

Instead of engaging with the backhanded praise, Washington steered the moment toward something deeper. “Do you believe in God?” he asked.

“Of course, I believe in God,” GTV said. “That’s why I wake up every morning and come out and hustle, not hurt nobody and do dumb shit—do n— shit that n—s do in the hood every day, all day. I just get autographs, Mr. Washington. Seriously.”

As Washington’s car began to move forward, the man approached again, pleading for an autograph and saying, “Takes seconds to help a brother out.”

That’s when things took a confusing and spiritual turn. Washington motioned him closer, held up his phone showing an image of a pair of eyes in the clouds, and asked, “Who do you think it is?”

“It’s God,” the man replied.

Washington then said, “Who do you think took that picture?” before sharing a deeply personal moment: “I was praying to God. I couldn’t see your face. Everybody says they can see your face. I heard, ‘Turn to your left.’ That’s what I saw.”

“Listen to me. You can play games with me,” Washington warned. “But you can’t play with Him. So be careful when you talk to me about God.”

Beyond the confusing pivot in the interaction, social media users were particularly perplexed by Washington’s claims of being sober for 15 years, when he told Esquire that he was celebrating 10 years of sobriety in November 2024. 

Though Washington says he was never “strung out” on alcohol, in the interview, he admitted he had been drinking daily for over a decade. This inspired him to quit alcohol at age 60 after realizing how much he’d been drinking daily.

“Wine was my thing, and now I was popping $4,000 bottles just because that’s what was left,” Washington said. “And then later in those years I’d call Gil Turner’s Fine Wines & Spirits on Sunset Boulevard and say, ‘Send me two bottles, the best of this or that.’ And my wife’s saying, ‘Why do you keep ordering just two?’ I said, ‘Because if I order more, I’ll drink more. So I kept it to two bottles, and I would drink them both over the course of the day.”

“I’ve done a lot of damage to the body. We’ll see. I’ve been clean,” he continued. “Be 10 years this December. I stopped at 60 and I haven’t had a thimble’s worth since. Things are opening up for me now — like being 70. It’s real. And it’s okay. This is the last chapter — if I get another 30, what do I want to do? My mother made it to 97.”