Question: is having the new iPhone so important to you that you’d camp outside an Apple store overnight to get one? Yeah, me neither. But there are lots of geeks and people who are obsessed with being the first to own the latest status symbol who would. Actor/hottie Jason Bateman managed to piss a lot of these people off recently by being allowed to hop the long line at his local Apple store in order to get his hands on the new iPhone. Though he says there were no boos, other witnesses say differently.

Deny it all you want, Jason Bateman.

After two sources confirmed to UsMagazine.com the actor, 41, outraged more than 2,000 people by cutting in line for an iPhone 4 last week, he wrote on Twitter, “There wasn’t one boo. Not one hiss. The Apple guy brought me in away from the paparazzi. Period. I was content in line. I wish I’d stayed.”

But more eyewitnesses have come forward to back up Us’ report that he was escorted by employees into the store. And there was, at most, one photographer “who kept a respectful distance,” customer Andrew Hamer tells Us.

“It was so much drama! It was the most surreal experience. People were so pissed because that line was ridiculous,” adds Angela Mayhew, who was one of the first people in line who arrived at 3:30 A.M.

Mayhew tells Us that Bateman arrived to the L.A. Apple store around 4:45 A.M., and initially waited “like everybody else.” But around 10 A.M., he was escorted inside first.

“I heard commotion in the back. I thought someone was fighting,” says Mayhew. “Then he strolls right on by with the Genius Bar guys and suddenly people in my area started to yell, ‘What the hell is going on?'” (Hamer says Community actor Donald Glover saw Bateman getting walked in and “tried to get the same special treatment, but [employees] told him, ‘Nope! Sorry!'”)

Bateman’s pal Keith Olbermann came to his defense on his MSNBC show, saying those in line were booing at paparazzi, but Mayhew insists they were yelling “at him!”

“It was loud, passive-aggressive anger. There was a chorus of boos and then people shouting, ‘What?’ and ‘We’ve been here for hours!’ We were patiently waiting before then [and] that just made everyone’s blood boil,” adds Mayhew. “Plus, people starting yelling at the Apple guys too. They escorted him like he was a pretty big deal.”

Mayhew sat next to Bateman as the Apple employees personally transferred over his contacts to his new phone. “Then when he was done, he was out of there in a flash,” she fumed to Us.

After word of Jason’s “special treatment” got out, he issued an apology on Twitter.

Jason Bateman has issued a mea culpa in the Great iPhone 4 Riot of 2010.

Last week, the actor ticked off a mob of 2000 by cutting in line with an Apple store employee to snag an iPhone 4. Via Twitter, Bateman initially claimed he was simply avoiding paparazzi and didn’t notice any ruckus. (The incident was even a “Hot Topic” on Monday’s The View.)

But late Tuesday — after more eyewitnesses confirmed what really happened to UsMagazine.com — Bateman changed his tune.

“Correction- If there were boos, I didn’t hear them,” the star, 41, Tweeted. “If some were mad, I didn’t see them. I wish I had. If you’re out there, I’m sorry.”

[From Us Weekly]

I think it’s unfair that celebrites get to cut lines, get free stuff, and in general get to operate by a different set of rules than the rest of us. What’s so great about them? But Jason isn’t to blame – I say the Apple store managers are. They’re the ones who offered to let Jason cut the line. Sure, he could have said no – but if you were offered the chance to jump ahead, what would you do? It’s obvious that companies like Apple and many others see celebrities using their products as great PR and free advertising, and they want to encourage it any time they can. It’s the reason why celebs get all these free gift bags at awards shows and things like that. I’m sure Apple wanted to be able to say, “Hey look! Jason Bateman uses our stuff!” But it has clearly backfired. Personally, I don’t get all the hype around the iPhone and why people are such slaves to them. There’s nothing that would get me out of bed at 3:30 in the morning except my house being engulfed in flames.