Even 26 years after the release of the Adam Sandler comedy Happy Gilmore, the film still demonstrates its relevance today because of how recognizable the characters are, or at least, the actors who played them still do. All these years later, people still see McDonald as Shooter McGavin more than they see him as McDonald, and it appears he knows that better than anyone.

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McDonald recently mocked himself on Twitter for trying to get out of a DUI back in 2017 by telling police officers that he played Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, which was an admirable but rather fruitless effort. In the tweet, McDonald’s caption simply read, “Shooters shot,” while posting a picture of his mugshot from TMZ explaining what happened back in 2017. McDonald evidently has a sense of humor about himself since the “I played Shooter McGavin!” bit did not work with the police. McDonald was sentenced following the DUI but did not have to serve jail time. Instead, he was sentenced to 35 hours of community service, three-year summary probation, and an alcohol education program. McDonald has since been able to avoid any such incident since.

Getting back to McDonald’s valiant attempt to get out of being arrested, it makes some sense as to why he’d do that. To this day, Shooter McGavin is considered one of the more iconic villains in the comedy genre of movies. His smug demeanor and his constant condescension toward Happy Gilmore made him very easy to root against throughout the film. The audience wanted to see him lose, and they wanted to see him lose badly when he did. It also goes to show how well McDonald portrayed McGavin because he perfectly captured a character the audience loved to hate, which not many actors could have replicated.

The funny part is, McDonald has played that type of character many times in his acting career. Both before and after he played Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, but McGavin is who people think of when they think of his arrogant character persona due in part because of the movie’s popularity that stands strong almost three decades later. McGavin’s character is so well remembered to this day that when McDonald makes public appearances, they don’t call him by his actual name. They call him Shooter McGavin because the character is that recognizable even all these years later.

That being said, cases like these hopefully demonstrate two things, the first being: don’t think your celebrity persona will get you out of your legal troubles. Driving drunk is extremely dangerous and someone can get hurt, or worse, killed. Second, have a sense of humor about yourself when you mess up. McDonald clearly looks back on this very humorously. Even if saying you were a popular movie character can have its perks, it’s stupid to think that it will get you out of trouble with the police. Thankfully, not only did the police not buy it, but McDonald has kept his nose clean since this DUI incident. Above all else, here’s to hoping he continues to promote himself as Shooter McGavin except when talking to law enforcement.

Happy Gilmore can currently be streamed on Peacock.

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Source: Shooter McGavin/Twitter