I was with a famous comedian when a young fan walked up and asked for an autograph. The comedian blew him off. I’ll never forget the look on the young boy’s face. He was devastated.

Anderson recalls witnessing a celebrity’s casual cruelty—refusing a child’s autograph request—and the lasting impression it left on him. The anecdote frames fame as a relationship with real moral stakes: for a young fan, a brief encounter can carry outsized emotional weight, shaping how they see both the performer and themselves. By emphasizing the boy’s devastation and his own inability to forget it, Anderson suggests that public figures are accountable for small acts of kindness or dismissal. The quote implicitly explains a code of conduct for entertainers: treat fans, especially children, with dignity because the “moment” matters more to them than it does to you.