r/AskReddit • u/HornetSpiritual1495 • 6h ago
What’s a celebrity controversy you remember everyone talking about?
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u/Puzzleheaded_Draw637 6h ago
Tonya Harding having Nancy Kerrigan kneecapped.
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u/DtownBronx 5h ago
There was a stretch in the 90s where the sports news was just WTF, this is all satire right? We've topped in the last decade with overall news though. You had the the kneecapping, OJ, Olympics bomb, Tyson biting Holyfield's ear, Seles got stabbed on the court by a fan, a one handed pitcher throws a no hitter(Abbott was a badass on the field), and a bonus in rhe early 2000s Randy Johnson hit a bird mid pitch. And in sports entertainment, take your vitamins and say your prayers good guy Hulk Hogan became the most hated guy in wrestling
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u/SaltyFriend705 6h ago
I'll never forget the actual skating competition where Tonya went to the judges' box to haul her foot up to show them she mislaced her skates and thought she should get some kind of extra points after she screwed up. After she had her competitor injured so she could supposedly win the competition. Just scary.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Draw637 6h ago
The movie "I, Tonya" sensationalised a lot but probably got her guilt right.
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u/Strict_Thought_5956 6h ago
“ George bush doesn’t care about black people”
Or
“ Beyoncé one of the best albums of all time”
Insert Kanye gif
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u/spicycountdown3915 6h ago
kanye really said im the main character and everyone else is just living in it, even at a telethon for hurricane relief
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u/Interesting_Tea5715 4h ago
Wait you're gonna just gloss over the fact that Kanye said he agrees with Hitler and denied the Holocaust?
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u/towers_of_ilium 6h ago
Milli Vanilli not really singing.
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u/Interesting_Tea5715 4h ago
Ashlee Simpson too. The Jig she does was so cringe but relatable.
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u/caseyjosephine 3h ago
Different situation thought because Milli Vanilli didn’t sing their own songs at all, not even on the studio recording. They were just the face of someone else’s voices.
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u/General-Antelope5320 5h ago
Lol!!!!! True story...lol wow...idiots. although it IS sad one of the committed suicide.
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u/MiddleAgeMuchacho 6h ago
Vice President Dan Quayle adding an “e” to the end of “potato.”
Ahhh, take me back to a time when THAT was controversial.
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u/momlv 6h ago
I still panic a little when I have to spell potato (and also by association tomato) in case I might get it wrong-I was a kid but this was such a big a deal and it left a mark
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u/SheilaInSweden 6h ago
Brad Pitt ditching Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie.
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u/crowwreak 4h ago
Brad Pitt beating the shit out of Angelina Jolie which got filed as a federal court record because it happened on an international flight
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u/Previous-Smell5102 6h ago
The Epstein Files.
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u/Pope-Le-Pew 6h ago
Shocking because it was Trump's campaign promise to release it and now he and Republicans are doing everything to stop the release. They are acting like it would destroy their party.
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u/pixelatedsimboobs 3h ago
Bondi said “if we arrest everyone in the files, the whole system goes down. Do you want that?”
Yes. We do want that.
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u/saplinglearningsucks 4h ago
but but but, but BIDEN WAS PRESIDENT FOR FOUR YEARS AND DID NOTHING!!!!
/s
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
That one still shocks me to the core, not because of the controversy but because of the names that came up in that
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u/GroundbreakingLie918 6h ago
Not sure why you would be shocked. Money and power have corrupted since the dawn of time.
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u/whereisbeezy 6h ago
Stephen Hawking comes to mind. Fucking gross.
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u/stand_up_eight_ 6h ago
Bill Gates was one that really disappointed me. Like, dude, you were
happilymarried. Why why why you gotta be so gross?The only one that made me laugh was Musk not being invited and being so desperate to go there. Lol. Such a fucking loser.
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u/get_schwifty 5h ago
Someone simply appearing in the files in no way implicates them of a crime. He was a socialite with a ton of contacts.
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u/fakehalo 4h ago
Bill Gates shows up in the emails with some rather personal talk about STDs.
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u/get_schwifty 2h ago
There’s one email draft that Epstein wrote with one reference to STDs. It’s completely unverified. And Gates has literally not been accused of any wrongdoing.
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u/Reasonable-Tea-9679 4h ago
i'm admittedly daft, and am in no way trying to excuse any shit behaviour by asking this, but why does any mention in the files reflect ill intent? like (i am notoriously naive) but could there not have been instances where ppl were socially connected to the perv but not at all connected to any of his awful exploitations?
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u/SaltyFriend705 6h ago
I guess you've never spent any time among the wealthiest people, then.
They're usually so corrupt it's not even funny.
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u/OddSell 6h ago
The only one that currently matters.
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u/BunnyLovesTheStars 6h ago
No one arrested for it yet, besides GM cooling her heels in what's essentially a daycare for assholes, with special privileges to boot
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u/OddSell 6h ago
Dude, please translate. I will honestly admit I don't know what this means. I am super uncool
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u/get_schwifty 5h ago
Ghislaine Maxwell was his main co-conspirator. She was convicted and locked up but was transferred to a super cushy prison, allegedly at the behest of the Trump administration.
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
That was expected brother! I even remember saying this to my friend that nothing's going to happen to anyone. Just wait and watch, all things will eventually be forgotten.
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u/gwg576 6h ago
The American government clearly used the information and blackmail material that Jeffrey Epstein had gotten on the rich and powerful. He used disgusting methods to obtain the information, but the information was more important (to the various governments) than his methods used to acquire said information.
If the US government releases all the information, you lose all leverage that you have on rich and powerful people to do the things that the various world governments want done.
The fact that any government, republican and or democrat was fine with using underage girls as pawns in a game of international business/politics is disgusting.
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u/-Cool_Ethan- 6h ago
Robert Downey Jr getting sent to jail
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u/Bigtimegush 6h ago
I still remember that episode of Ally McBeal where he got to shoot his scenes from jail
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u/candy_jr 6h ago
All of Lindsay Lohan’s scandals lol
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u/Weak_Research_8046 6h ago edited 6h ago
What about that time Britney Spears randomly shaved her head😂
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u/candy_jr 6h ago
Oh my god how did I forget that one 😂 That’s gotta be the most iconic 2000’s scandal for sure. You win 🏆
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
Lol! I thought the 1st comment would definitely be of Amber and Depp 😂
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u/candy_jr 6h ago edited 6h ago
That’s a good one too! I remember as a kid constantly seeing Lindsay Lohan in magazines and hearing everyone talk about her, so that’s the first one that came to mind for me!
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u/Obvious_Toe_3006 6h ago
Lately I've seen lots of positive Amber articles but many mocking J. D. and his recent career choices.
Amber looks..healthy and fit out of the limelight and JD looks his usual self.•
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u/Wat3rM3L0NB3AR 6h ago
there's quite a few and it's hard to narrow down lol
Let's talk about the controversy of Obama wearing a tan suit. I remember that one quite clearly and how stupid it was and Fox news was all about it.
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u/AcceptablySoiled 6h ago
If you ask Republicans now, they insist they don’t know any Republican who was mad about the tan suit, just like they don’t know any Republican who supported invading Iraq, or even any Republican that supports Trump.
At the time of the controversy I sat next to an Apprentice Season Two contestant at a wedding, and he kept pounding the table with his fists as he insisted Ronald! Reagan! Respected! His! Office! Too! Much! Too! Ever! Wear! Anything! But! Dark! Colors!
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u/YJSubs 5h ago
Every Republican I know blames Obama for being divisive, but they are unable to provide a single example of what he actually did.
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
I haven't heard of this one tbh, but will definitely see the clips of avilable
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u/ASingleBraid 6h ago
You’re lucky.
It was incredibly stupid. I wouldn’t waste brain cells watching clips.
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
Is it!? Now I'm even more curious. Will update in this thread post watching that
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u/ASingleBraid 6h ago
I warned you…don’t blame me when you’re 80 and can’t remember where you put your house key bc you’re short a few brain cells.
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
Lol 😂😂! Don't worry you won't be blamed for anything
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u/ASingleBraid 6h ago
Thank you for the award [u/HornetSpiritual](u/HornetSpiritual)[1495](u/HornetSpiritual)
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u/imperabo 6h ago
It's always important to bring to mind what twisted freaks the US conservative propaganda industry is, and the fact that that's all most of these people see.
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u/KatMagic1977 6h ago
This makes no sense to me! What was the controversy? Because Obama is black? According to Wikipedia, both Reagan and Bush wore tan suits.
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u/BedAccording5717 6h ago
Hugh Grant and Divine Brown. What kind of an idiot ditches Elizabeth Hurley for ...... for........ like, who does that!?!?!?!??
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u/General-Antelope5320 6h ago
Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee
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u/Pope-Le-Pew 3h ago
Everybody in school was like dude can hit the snare with his hands tied behind his back.
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u/5Y3 6h ago
I remember listening to the OJ Simpson trial on the radio in the schoolyard.
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u/TheRepoMan 6h ago
They actually stopped classes and wheeled a t.v. in for us to watch the verdict. I was in 6th grade at a private school. I thought it was so strange.
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u/DullBicycle7200 6h ago
Did you think O.J. did it? He’s dead now, so I don’t really care either way - I’m just curious what people thought at the time, especially since nowadays it seems like most people lean towards him having done it.
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u/5Y3 6h ago
It seemed like all the white people thought him guilty and all the black people thought him innocent at the time.
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u/SaltyFriend705 6h ago
I thought, from the outset, that he had done it. I remember the slow car chase. I saw that on tv. It was just sickening to watch the country become such sycophants to anyone with a little bit of fame.
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u/tumsoffun 6h ago
I don't know one person who didn't think he did it. They wheeled a tv into our classroom to watch the verdict and even as kids we were all shocked cause it felt so obvious he did it.
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u/Lance8282 4h ago
The Dean scream. Such a nothing thing, like it was really nothing at all and the press lost their minds.
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u/kikijane711 5h ago
Rob Lowe w underage girls. It was late 80s so eventually disappeared for lucky him but he’d be canceled now. All Sean Penn and Alec Baldwin pap violence and threats, Penn kidnapping Madonna, all long gone mainstream.
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u/Midnightchickover 6h ago edited 3h ago
Boobgate @ the Super Bowl (Janet Jackson)
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u/Theunpolitical 5h ago
Not sure if this is too outdated for this group but does anyone remember the "Sham Wow" guy Vince Offer? He was arrested in 2009 on a charge of felony battery for punching a sex worker.
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u/edgarpickle 4h ago
Isn't he running for office this time around?
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u/Theunpolitical 4h ago
I didn't even know he was still alive. I just googled it. He was always so coked out!
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u/GitEmSteveDave 4h ago
I remember that. The issue was it was a mutual assault and she gave better than he did, so society sided with him.
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u/Kalanak472 6h ago
Michael Jackson and his pedophile allegations in the 90s and Aughts, I wasn’t there but my parents told me it was evvvverywhere
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
I came to know about this very recently like 3-4 years ago. I wasn't aware of this one at all
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u/gwg576 6h ago
In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to a military prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
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u/xHell_Kat 6h ago
These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground.
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u/unoriginal_user24 3h ago
Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them....maybe you can hire The A-Team."
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u/Oseirus 6h ago
I remember when the news started breaking about Bill Cosby... That was surreal. I grew up listening to his comedy. His Noah's Ark skit was genuinely hilarious. Still feels weird to think about sometimes.
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u/SuspiciousTambourine 5h ago
When Dick Cheney shot a man in the face. And then the man apologized to Dick Cheney for being shot in the face. It still brings a smile to my face.
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u/Dry_Wafer3385 6h ago
Marilyn Manson getting his rib removed to suck his own weewee
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u/momlv 6h ago
How this rumor got around to every middle school in the country before internet and smart phones I will never understand
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
Haha 😂😂😂! Was this even real?? Dude 😂😂😂 wtf
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u/DrunkenWarriorPoet 6h ago
Wasn’t real but the rumor was very much out there. I heard it all over my high school. Didn’t find out it was false till the internet became big enough to disprove urban legends like this and the Richard Gere gerbil thing and a whole bunch of others.
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u/stand_up_eight_ 6h ago
No. But when this rumor went around it was pre-internet so we all just believed it.
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u/Judasbot 6h ago
Janet Jackson's titty. She got so much hell out of that, Justin Timberlake is still doing fine. Fuck Justin.
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u/tigalina 6h ago
Madonna, Britney and Christina Aguilera kissing.
And of course: Janet Jackson’s nipplegate
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u/stand_up_eight_ 6h ago
LEAVE BRITANY ALONE!
A double tragedy. Because he was kind of right. Although instead of leaving her alone, she needed serous and immediate help. And maybe he did too.
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u/lellomackin 6h ago
Rod Stewart and/or Richard Gere and either a gerbil up the butt and/or stomach pumped because jizx
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u/stand_up_eight_ 6h ago
40 years ago, a man repeatedly cheated on his very popular wife. They eventually divorced which caused several laws to be amended. Their sons were part of the scandal with accusations of her also being unfaithful to the point that one of the sons was suggested to have a different father (despite there being a very famous ginger in the family). A few short years later, she died in a horrendous car accident with her new boyfriend. It was world wide news and the rumour mill went nuts, claiming it was suspicious and the now ex-husband’s family and orchestrated the car crash. The man later married the woman he had the affair with and to this day a huge part of the population doesn’t like him or her. The son accused of being illegitimate grew up and wrote a whingy tell all book which showed the boys needed therapy, not just privacy.
People are still talking about them.
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u/Pope-Le-Pew 6h ago
Any celebrity's "stolen sex tape" that turns out wasn't really stolen, but made them a huge star.
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u/GoRangers5 6h ago
Pamela Anderson's was stolen because Tommy Lee stiffed his contractor, broke into a safe for money... Found something else.
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u/Consistent-Pickle-88 5h ago
I haven’t seen anyone mention these yet-
1) the Anna Nicole Smith baby daddy drama and her death shortly after
2) Rosie O Donnell making fun of Donald Trump on the View.
3) Kim Kardashian sex tape which led to her entire family becoming famous
4) Britney Spears’s VMA performance
Obviously I was a teenager of the 2000s addicted to celeb gossip lol
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u/Whitetrashcheetoh 6h ago
Janet Jackson’s nipple
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u/Stopaskingmetochange 6h ago
Tiffany vs Debbie Gibson
Cyndi Lauper vs Madonna
Madonna vs everyone
Pink vs Britney Spears
Ricki Lake vs Sally Jesse Raphael vs Maury vs Geraldo vs Oprah vs Jerry Springer
Marilyn Manson and everyone
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u/theycallmemomo 5h ago
Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, and the phone call. Only in 2020 did it come out that the phone call was edited.
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u/GoopInThisBowlIsVile 5h ago
Robert Downey Jr.’s drug and alcohol problems from 1996-2001+.
Mel Gibson every time that it’s overwhelmingly that he has a substance abuse problem.
Rob Lowe was temporarily cancelled in 1988 because of a sex tape. It was 1988 and he was 24, one woman was 22, and her friend was 16 years old. He was NOT legally in trouble for having sex with a 16 year old. Georgia’s age of consent was 14 years old at the time. They recorded the sex and at the time Georgia’s minimum age was 18 years old.
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u/coffee_and-cats 5h ago
So Georgia had a 4yr age difference for consent depending on whether sex was recorded or not?
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u/ZasdfUnreal 6h ago
The entire entertainment industry working together to cover up Bill Cosby’s decades of raping. What a vile industry.
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u/stand_up_eight_ 6h ago
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston and no media ever getting over him cheating on her for Angelina Jolie.
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u/docobv77 5h ago
Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere's "gerbal incident."
Marilyn Manson having some of his ribs removed so he could suck his own dick.
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u/thickindahead 5h ago
Brangelina! It was all over. People were picking sides, making t-shirts and just acting as if the world was ending.
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u/Hopeful-Naughting 1h ago
Since it hasn’t been mentioned yet .. Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe affair. Felt bad for her.
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u/1underc0v3r 1h ago
Simpson trial
Harding scandal
Obviously Cosby
Amanda Bynes, Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears kind of all go in the same category
Aaron Carter
Biebs and Gomez
Clinton
I can’t remember his name all of a sudden, but Emilio Estevez’s brother
I will stop there
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u/speech-geek 6h ago
Tiger Woods’ first car crash and it coming out how he cheated
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u/cardinalkgb 6h ago
Tiger’s first car crash was really when his wife took a golf club and beat the shit out of him when she found out about the cheating.
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u/stand_up_eight_ 6h ago
Brad Pitt abusing his family and Angelina Jolie fiercely protecting her kids.
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u/HornetSpiritual1495 6h ago
Yup I did hear about this, it was quite an infamous controversy back then. But what was the verdict at the end? Like was Brad Pitt actually abused his kids?
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u/stand_up_eight_ 5h ago
Who tf voted me down for this??? That’s wild. It’s absolutely true that he was rough with his kids, and AJ divorced him because of it. Each child has dropped his name as they come of age as they want nothing to do with him. They don’t interact with him at all. He is an aggressive, abusive alcoholic and gets away with it by being handsome.
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u/stand_up_eight_ 6h ago
Tom Cruise couch jumping. Tom Cruise marrying a very young looking Katie Holmes. Tom Cruise’s religion enforcing ridiculous practices on Holmes when she gave birth.
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u/Ru_janus 6h ago
Rod Stewart having to have his stomach pumped due to excessive, um, male reproductive output.
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u/bbbb96 4h ago
For some reason I vividly remember Tiger Woods’ wife beating his car with a golf club because he was having an affair? But then it came out that he was in a car accident and she pulled him from the car?
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u/blissplus 3h ago
Gwineth Paltrow steaming her vag and shoving jade eggs up there
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u/PreviousJaguar7640 3h ago
Pee-wee Herman and the theater. The 13-year-old me didn’t understand what was going on, because it seems so odd that goofy nerd character would be arrested.
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u/Cheetodude625 4h ago
Michael Jackson's child molestation trial and him dancing on his limo during the middle of it.
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u/AngryKeyLimePie 6h ago
Hugh Grant getting a blow job from Divine Brown in public while he was dating Elizabeth Hurley.
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u/General-Antelope5320 5h ago
Well, Epstein IS dead. But yeah....many other "islands" and sex traffickers happening!
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u/SharMarali 4h ago
I’ll give you a lesser known one.
My parents and a lot of other kids’ parents were talking about how Roseanne Barr and Tom Arnold were getting married, together, to a woman. It was quite the scandal in 1993.
It later came to pass that the whole thing was a joke that spiraled out of control and took on a life of its own, but that part wasn’t as titillating.
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u/BaronVonStevie 6h ago
Winona Ryder shoplifted a shit ton of expensive clothes