Josh Duhamel slams Seth Rogen for ‘The Studio’ joke

They transformed him, and he’s not pleased. 

“Transformers” star Josh Duhamel was surprised to learn that he was used as a plot point on Seth Rogen’s AppleTV+ comedy, “The Studio.” 

“There’s a whole episode with me being cast as the Kool-Aid Guy,” Duhamel said during a recent appearance on the “Inside of You” podcast. 

Duhamel, 52 added, “Yeah, it’s cool, I love Rogen and all them. But you’d think they would have called me and said like, ‘Hey, do you mind if we use your name and likeness for this?’ Or at least, ‘How do you pronounce your name?’ Because they pronounced it wrong.”

The “Ransom Canyon” actor explained that they pronounced it “do-HAH-mull.” 

Podcast host Michael Rosenbaum speculated that “they did that as a joke, though.” 

Duhamel replied: “They might have. Maybe.” 

In “The Studio,” which Rogen created and also stars in, he plays Matt, a movie studio exec who must compromise his values in order to succeed in Hollywood. 

This involves making a movie based on Kool Aid, to cash in on the “Barbie” movie trend. He’d rather do more artsy faire, but his boss, Griffin, is demanding a Kool Aid movie. 

In the world of the show, they discuss Duhamel in it.

“I don’t care,” Duhamel clarified. “I’m kind of flattered by it.”

In the show, they discuss whether it would be offensive for Ice Cube to play the Kool Aid man. Unlike Duhamel, Ice Cube is in “The Studio.” 

Rogen told People that he was “petrified” when he approached the actor-rapper to appear on the show. He said his Zoom meeting was “very reflective of the joke in the show [itself], where I’m trying to not be offensive and I’m trying to explain my creative position.”

In the world of the show, Duhamel’s role is recast with Don Cheadle in the role. 

Duhamel is best known for action movies like “Transformers.” In April, he talked about moving away from Hollywood to live in his native North Dakota and filming the Netflix romance cowboys series “Ransom Canyon.”

Duhamel has two sons: 11-year-old Axl, who he shares with his ex-wife, singer Fergie, 50 (who he was married to from 2009 to 2019) and 1-year-old son Shepherd, who he welcomed with his current wife, former beauty queen Audra Mari, 31. They tied the knot in 2022. 

The actor relates to his “Ransom Canyon” characters’ emphasis on family legacy.

“I have done that, with this property that I have back home in North Dakota,” he explained. “For me, the idea of family is making memories, bringing people together. And, passing it on is really important.”

He described his home as being a cabin in the woods on a lake, “40 miles from anything.”

“It’s pretty remote, but it’s so peaceful and it’s good for the soul,” he told the Post. “It’s a cabin in the woods on a lake, 40 miles from anything. It’s pretty remote, but it’s so peaceful and it’s good for the soul.”

“I just love it out there,” he went on. “I think there’s something about reconnecting to nature and reconnecting the basics…I didn’t realize I needed it, until I got out there and started building this place, and shaping it, and figuring out how we wanted to do it. There’s always a project … I feel like I have purpose when I’m there.”