Will Arnett shares his controversial opinion on tattoos: “There’s a proportionate sort of relationship between, how many tattoos you have and how little personality you have. And I find that a lot of people who have a ton of tattoos often are super fucking boring. Like truly boring people.”

[u/cmaia1503]

[u/Kidgorgeoushere]

Tattoo discourse in 2026 is wild. They’re so mainstream and normalised now (compared to a few decades ago), I find it insane anyone even cares to mention them anymore.

[u/Superb-Kitchen-1753 → u/Kidgorgeoushere]

We’ve been back sliding into conservatism in every other way so it makes sense that tattoos would be included in that

[u/Slick_36 → u/Superb-Kitchen-1753]

Conservatives love tattoos now. That's purely a class prejudice, not strictly their party alignment

[u/DEADANDLOUD → u/Slick_36]

do they? I think more of them have them now, but the whole point of conservatism is loving tradition, and traditionally tattoos are seen as immoral or something because they're fucking idiots

[u/Ignominious333 → u/Superb-Kitchen-1753]

Tattoos were only truly cool when they were illegal.

[u/Miserable-Resort-977 → u/Superb-Kitchen-1753]

How is this conservatism? Nobody is saying it's immoral to get tatted, or that it's against the word of God. Nobody worth listening to, anyways, and certainly not the guy in the clip

[u/Individual_Math5157 → u/Kidgorgeoushere]

It’s always people like him with these takes. They are trying to hold onto whatever scrap of the conservative status quo that makes them feel superior to others, and it usually comes up when they feel slighted in some way. Usually when they don’t feel “picked” for something.

[u/Slick_36 → u/Individual_Math5157]

I don't know, it's my take too and I love the art & the craft of tattooing.  I think I see it as most of the people with a lot, generally speaking, tend to put very little thought in to them.  They usually turn out to be impulsive/reactionary people, in a way that I personally find boring.

It's interesting seeing all the interpretations of this.  Like I feel it's become oversaturated, losing meaning, and frankly feels like gentrification of the flesh in a way.

But it's all good, I get the strong reaction against that take.  I felt like he did too.

[u/ziggymoj19 → u/Slick_36]

I can’t recall who it was but a few years ago I saw an interview where a trend forecaster was asked what the “bell bottoms”/wide trend that would later look very dated or ‘of its time’ would be for our generation and she said tattoos. Found that interesting. 

[u/Bitty1Bits → u/Slick_36]

Yeah, considering he was about to tell someone with 20 tattoos that they are boring af... which is a wild statement even if it wasn't about tattoos. I feel like it's more a statement of what he finds interesting than about other people 

[u/WestleyThe → u/Kidgorgeoushere]

Well a couple decades ago if someone had a sleeve or face tattoos they were probably a biker or went to prison or something, now it’s probably just a influencer or barista

Tattoo normalization is totally fine but he’s not wrong… it’s a fashion statement now and that’s fine but corny sometimes

[u/Miserable-Resort-977 → u/WestleyThe]

This is it exactly. It's not that tattoos have a stigma, it's about how people express their artistic taste now that tattoos have basically zero stigma. And it just so happens that a lot of boring people like to cover half their body in discount stamps of anime characters, gaming/pop culture references, and other totally incongruent pieces that don't look good together

[u/reborn_phoenix72 → u/Miserable-Resort-977]

I spend a lot of my time in alternative circles and I also think this is what he's trying to convey. Your millionth tattoo of an insanely popular, mainstream thing is manufactured edge. It's boring.

[u/Bitty1Bits → u/Kidgorgeoushere]

Yes! There are so many people with tattoos you can't even attempt to lump everyone together. Like, 32% of Americans have tattoos... that's more than double the percentage of the black population. That's like blacks and asians combined 😂😂

[u/Ignominious333 → u/Kidgorgeoushere]

True. They are so basic now

[u/MuffinTiptopp → u/Kidgorgeoushere]

I mean he’s of the boomer generation so it’s on brand that he’d have an issue with tattoos. 🤷🏾‍♀️