Top 23 Scandals of Each Year (2000 - 2022)

It was the kiss that shocked the globe and set the media ablaze. In March of 2000, Angelina Jolie won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Girl, Interrupted.” While attending the afterparty, the freshly-honored Jolie and her older brother James Haven locked lips. The smooch was brief, but it was immortalized through the magic of cameras, and it was quickly plastered on the front pages of newspapers and gossip magazines. People questioned whether the two shared an inappropriate relationship, and interviewers inquired about the kiss for years. For Jolie, who was a bit of a newbie at the time, that night encapsulated everything that is both good and bad about the industry.

Nowadays, Winona Ryder is known for playing Joyce Byers on “Stranger Things.” It’s a comeback for the ages, because for a while there, Ryder’s career was dead in the water. Various factors caused it to implode, including a string of not-so-great movies and her infamous 2001 shoplifting incident. Shortly before Christmas, Ryder was arrested for stealing over $5,000 worth of clothes from a Beverly Hills Saks Fifth Avenue. This wasn’t just a “slap on the wrist and forget about it” kind of crime. No, Ryder was brought up on numerous felony charges, and while she avoided prison, she nevertheless faced a slew of punishments. These included hefty fines, nearly 500 hours of community service, and three years’ probation.

Few business people reach the cultural clout of Martha Stewart. It seemed like this woman did everything, from writing best-selling books to hosting cooking shows to starting her own media empire. But everything came crashing down with the ImClone scandal. In short, Stewart was tipped off about the falling stock values of ImClone Systems, causing her to sell all of her shares. By doing so, she avoided the loss of almost $46,000. This is illegal and is known as “insider trading.” While the incident occurred at the end of December 2001, most of the fallout was relegated to the following year. Stewart was heavily criticized by the media, eventually serving five months in prison and two years of supervised release.

Despite the undeniable contributions that he made to music and pop culture as a whole, Michael Jackson’s lasting legacy will forever be cloudy. Abuse allegations against minors followed Jackson throughout the ‘90s and early 2000s, and everything came to a head in 2003. In February of that year, the scandalous documentary “Living with Michael Jackson” was released and led to the musician being charged on several counts involving the underage that December. While Jackson vehemently denied the charges, public opinion on his character was permanently marred. It was the most scandalous pop culture event of the year, and Jackson went to trial in 2005. He was not found not guilty on all charges.

If someone says “THAT halftime show,” most people will immediately know what they are talking about. Yeah, there have been a few iconic Super Bowl halftime shows, but none are as well known as Super Bowl XXXVIII. The legendary night was February 1, 2004, with the Carolina Panthers playing Tom Brady’s New England Patriots. The halftime show was being performed by a number of entertainers, including Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson. In the climactic moment of the performance, Timberlake ripped Jackson’s outfit and accidentally exposed her breast to 150 million people. The fallout was immediate and widespread. Enormous fines were issued, MTV was banned from producing halftime shows, and Jackson’s career imploded. It also birthed the creation of YouTube and entered the term “wardrobe malfunction” into the Webster's Dictionary.

2005 was a very odd year for the famous rapper. The critically acclaimed Late Registration was released on August 30 and earned him widespread praise and popularity. Just three days later, he appeared alongside Mike Myers on the charity program “A Concert for Hurricane Relief” and received widespread condemnation. While Myers stuck to the script about Hurricane Katrina, West did his own thing and commented on racial politics and then-President George Bush. It surprised everyone, including the evidently shaken Myers and co-presenter Chris Tucker. It was a huge media event, and was later spoofed by Myers on “Saturday Night Live.” (xref) In later years, West would later interrupt Taylor Swift at the VMAs and make horribly anti semitic comments, continuing his ongoing string of troublesome actions.

While an enormously popular actor and director, controversy has followed Mel Gibson throughout his career. He was accused of homophobia back in the early ‘90s, and in 2006 he received widespread criticism for some anti semitic remarks. After getting arrested for drunk driving, Gibson made a derogatory statement about Jewish people, claiming that they were “responsible for all the wars in the world.” The quote was referenced on the arrest report, which was in turn leaked by TMZ, resulting in a firestorm of bad publicity. While it was the biggest pop culture scandal of 2006, the incident did not tarnish his career. Gibson continued to star in movies, and in 2016 he released the critically acclaimed “Hacksaw Ridge,” which received six Oscar nominations - including Best Director.

A string of tragedies hit pop icon Britney Spears in the mid-2000s. She filed for divorce from Kevin Federline in November 2006, and her aunt died of cancer just two months later in early 2007. While this was occurring, Spears also struggled with substance use disorder, prompting less than 24-hours’ stay in rehab. This of course generated much discussion in gossip magazines, and the media closely followed the singer’s personal life. The intense pressure and publicity culminated in Spears shaving her head, which is arguably one of the most infamous pop culture moments of the decade. This meltdown resulted in Spears being placed under the legal care of her father by the next year, which resulted in its own long string of controversies and scandals, with the conservatorship finally ending in 2021.

The arguably biggest movie star of our time is also in the arguably biggest cult of our time. Tom Cruise has been involved with Scientology since the mid ‘80s and has since become its most vocal, and famous, advocate. In January of 2008, members of the activist group Anonymous leaked a video that showed Cruise speaking favorably about the so-called religion. The video was made by and for his fellow Scientologists, but Anonymous’ Project Chanology leaked it as a form of protest. Its release caused further publicity to be shed on Cruise and his disputable lifestyle, and its removal from YouTube sparked a further debate of its own. However, the video has since been re-uploaded, and despite the brief scandal, Cruise’s career didn’t appear to be tarnished in the least.

Even the greatest athletes of all time aren’t immune from public scrutiny. Tiger Woods is perhaps the greatest golfer the world has ever seen, and in 2009 he earned his tenth PGA Player of the Year award. However, that year also saw him facing a major infidelity scandal that nearly ruined his career. Throughout the months of November and December, it was revealed that Woods had repeatedly cheated on his then-wife, Elin Nordegren, with over a dozen women. The couple got a divorce, and Woods lost a ton of sponsorship deals. Whether owing to the scandal, other personal problems, or multiple injuries, Woods would not win another major championship for many subsequent years, with 2019’s Masters Tournament trophy being perhaps the most notable.

Many child stars experience tragic downfalls, and Lindsay Lohan is one of them. Her career started falling in the mid-2000s, when she started experiencing severe personal, professional, and legal problems. 2010 was a particularly difficult year for the actress, as she spent it in and out of jail. In July, she was sentenced to ninety days after violating her probation but spent just two weeks inside. However, Lohan was only free for a couple of months, as she was briefly sent back in September after failing a drug test. For many, the repeating jail sentences was proof that Lohan was not getting better, and it did nothing to help her failing career. Fortunately, the 2020s seem to be looking up for the actress thanks to her deal with Netflix.

It wasn’t long before the cultural focus shifted from Lindsay Lohan to Charlie Sheen. Sheen was in the midst of a substance use disorder when he went on Alex Jones’s radio show and spouted some wildly inappropriate comments. He called Alcoholics Anonymous a “cult” and made numerous offensive remarks towards his boss, Chuck Lorre, like calling him a “stupid little man.” The resulting outrage was too much for CBS and Warner Bros., and the rest of “Two and a Half Men”’s current season was canned followed by Sheen’s contract termination a few months later. But the problematic behavior didn’t stop, and Sheen became a walking meme with his bizarre quotes and statements. His outlandish conduct was all over the internet throughout 2011.

Jimmy Savile was a renowned public figure in the United Kingdom, primarily known for hosting the television music show “Top of the Pops.” Savile died in 2011 at the age of 84, and it wasn’t long after that his reputation came into question. The very next year, it was revealed that Savile had mistreated hundreds of women and girls throughout many decades. Allegations of this sort were made when Savile was alive, but these were mostly dismissed and forgotten. The reports became international news and shocked those who viewed Savile as a charitable public figure. Sometimes the monsters are hiding in plain sight.

Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius was a big topic of discussion in 2012, being the first double-leg amputee to compete at the Summer Olympics. But the very next year, the South African athlete was in the news for a very different reason. On February 14, 2013, Pistorious killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, by shooting her through the bathroom door. Pistorius claimed that it was an accident and was eventually found guilty of culpable homicide, receiving a prison sentence of five years. However, this sentence was later overturned, and Pistorious was found guilty of homicide. His prison term was extended to the country’s minimum of fifteen years, minus his time already served.

Like Jimmy Savile, Cosby had been accused of abuse in the past, but these reports were mostly ignored. Everything changed in 2014, when the allegations were brought to the forefront of the cultural conversation. This was the same year that Woody Allen’s adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, accused him of mistreatment in an open letter in The New York Times. About 60 women claimed that they were assaulted by Cosby, with some incidents dating back to the 1960s. Cosby quickly went from America’s Dad to persona non grata. He was stripped of awards, dropped by organizations, and taken to court on felony charges. He was eventually found guilty of aggravated indecent assault but was released from prison in June 2021 on a legal technicality.

On January 18, 2015, the New England Patriots faced the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots would obliterate the Colts 45-7 and go on to win the Super Bowl, but the victory came with a major asterisk. People argued that the Patriots were using illegally deflated footballs, which had given them a significant advantage on offense (and thereby resulting in the enormous blowout). The media had a field day with the story, and Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was accused of being complicit in the enterprise. Brady earned a four game suspension, and the Patriots a $1 million fine.

The mid 2010s were full of various “-gates” within the sporting world, whether it was allegedly deflating footballs or lying about a robbery. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte was in Brazil for the Summer Games when he was allegedly robbed by men posing as police officers. But upon further investigation, it was discovered that Lochte and some other swimmers had vandalized a gas station and paid off the responding security guards. The incident overshadowed the rest of the 2016 Olympics, and many viewed the occasion as a national embarrassment. Lochte subsequently received numerous punishments, including lost sponsorships, community service, and a ten month unpaid suspension.

The world changed forever in October 2017, when The New York Times and The New Yorker broke the story of movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein was a co-founder of Miramax and worked with many prominent filmmakers, giving him incredible power within the movie industry. He used his position of power to commit sexual violence, with more than 80 women having accused him of abuse, including prominent actresses like Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Weinstein became the face of a systemic issue and was sentenced to 23 years in prison. The scandal helped launch the #MeToo movement, which saw many controlling and powerful figures finally getting their comeuppance.

Allison Mack was a bonafide TV star throughout the 2000s, starring as Clark Kent’s best friend, Chloe Sullivan, in “Smallville.” About midway through the show, in 2006, Mack fell in with the multi-level marketing company / cult known as NXIVM. She quickly worked her way up the ranks and was eventually made second-in-command of DOS - a subset within NXIVM that trafficked women for its founder, Keith Raniere. These “recruits” were subjected to extreme conditions and branded with Raniere’s initials. The branding was personally overseen by Mack herself. Everything came to a head in April 2018, when Mack was arrested by the FBI for trafficking and forced labor conspiracy. She pled guilty to racketeering and helped prosecute Raniere, resulting in a sentence of just three years.

2019 was unfortunately a big year for sex-related crimes. Famous singer R. Kelly was arrested that July and sentenced to thirty years in prison for violating the Mann Act, a law that prohibits the transportation and trafficking of women for nefarious purposes. That same month, prominent financier and socialite Jeffrey Epstein was also arrested for human trafficking. His scandalous sex ring earned enormous media buzz and allegedly involved some big names, including Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Prince Andrew’s reputation was ruined by the scandal, and Epstein infamously died in jail shortly after his arrest. This earned an even bigger reaction in the media, as many people theorized that Epstein was killed by someone (as opposed to taking his own life) to ensure his silence.

2020 was a whiplash year for comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. That January, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented her with the Carol Burnett Award owing to her “outstanding contributions to television.” Just six months later, her career was crumbling around her. It all began in July, when Buzzfeed News broke a story about DeGeneres’s supposed heinous backstage behavior. Many anonymous employees came forward, alleging that DeGeneres was a horrible boss who intimidated her staff, ignored workplace harassment claims, and engaged in racist behavior. It caused enormous controversy for DeGeneres and effectively ruined her reputation. “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” came to an end in 2022, but many people were done with the host before then.

The world received upsetting news on October 21, 2021, when it was reported that Alec Baldwin had accidentally killed a woman named Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun. Both were working on a movie called “Rust” when the incident took place. Baldwin was handed a prop revolver with a live round and practiced his shot while Hutchins set up the camera. Unfortunately, the live round went off and struck Hutchins in the chest. She was airlifted to a nearby hospital but tragically died of her injuries. Her family later filed a lawsuit against those responsible for the shooting, and this was settled in October 2022. Filming is set to begin again in January 2023.

Nothing brings people together like a good court trial. Between April and June of 2022, ex-couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard battled each other in court, with each suing the other for defamation. The world watched the proceedings with bated breath, and it seemed like the case was trending for months on end. Legal experts and media personalities added their opinions, onlookers fervently watched the livestream, and social media was set alight with discussion (and yes, lots of nasty comments towards Heard). A lot can be read into the trial, including our collective obsession with celebrity and justice. And in the end, no one really won. Both sides were found to have defamed the other, and both were awarded damages.