Seems pretty obvious...
There is NO such thing a bad publicity. The star’s daffy yapping simply pumped the press, the bloggers, the supposed trolls into overdrive. It may have garnered some additional support from left leaning moviegoers, but in reality...
The star of the flick and the flick itself have been living, rent free, in the minds of fans, haters, otaku, and the aforementioned press.
Seems we all know someone else that has used that kind of derangement to stay on top of the public consciousness.
.02
KYPD
I remember in the months before Titanic came out, I heard a bunch of reports how they feared it would tank and not recover the money they spent on it.