49 Fun Facts About Celebrity Scandals

Which pop duo's Best New Artist Grammy was revoked after producer Frank Farian admitted neither member sang a note?

Milli Vanilli's secret came out when the duo demanded to sing on the follow-up album: Farian fired them at a Munich press conference, and the Recording Academy took the award back days later.

Which actor was banned from Academy events for ten years after slapping presenter Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars?

Will Smith won Best Actor for King Richard later that same evening, then resigned his Academy membership on 1 April before the ten-year ban was handed down. The joke that provoked him compared Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head to G.I. Jane.

Which film was mistakenly named Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars before the real winner, Moonlight, was revealed?

La La Land's producers were already giving their acceptance speeches when the mistake was caught on stage. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had been handed the backup Best Actress envelope naming Emma Stone.

Which rapper grabbed Taylor Swift's microphone during her Best Female Video acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV VMAs?

Kanye West told the crowd 'I'mma let you finish' before insisting another nominee had one of the best videos of all time. The audience booed, and President Obama was later caught off-air calling him a 'jackass'.

Which cyclist was stripped of seven Tour de France titles in 2012 before confessing to doping to Oprah Winfrey?

Lance Armstrong's seven titles were never reassigned: the UCI decided nobody else would be awarded the wins, leaving 1999 to 2005 blank in the record books. He was also banned for life from all sports under the WADA code.

Which lifestyle mogul served five months in federal prison for lying to investigators about a sale of ImClone shares?

Martha Stewart was never convicted of insider trading itself, only of conspiracy, obstruction and lying about the sale, and her prison term was followed by five months of home confinement.

Which singer apologised for a 'wardrobe malfunction' after the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Janet Jackson?

Justin Timberlake's statement that he was 'sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction' put the phrase into the language. The FCC's record $550,000 fine on CBS was voided by an appeals court in 2011.

Which British king gave up the throne in 1936 to marry a twice-divorced American socialite?

Edward VIII told the nation by radio that he could not carry on 'without the help and support of the woman I love', and his brother Albert took the throne as George VI.

Which skater was banned for life after her ex-husband arranged the 1994 baton attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan?

Tonya Harding still skated at the Lillehammer Olympics weeks later and finished eighth, restarting her free skate after a bootlace broke. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution and was stripped of her 1994 US title.

Which Desperate Housewives star was sentenced to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 to have SAT answers corrected?

Felicity Huffman served 11 days at a federal prison in Dublin, California, released two days early because the end of her term fell on a weekend. She had pleaded guilty to honest services fraud in the Operation Varsity Blues case.

Which Canadian sprinter was stripped of his 1988 Seoul 100 m gold three days after the race for taking stanozolol?

Ben Johnson had just lowered his own world record to 9.79 seconds, and the sample was analysed by Seoul's own Olympic Doping Control Center. In 1993 he was banned for life after a second positive test, this time for excess testosterone.

Which runner was stripped of her 1980 Boston Marathon win for joining the course about half a mile from the finish?

Rosie Ruiz clocked 2:31:56, and a photographer later recalled meeting her on the subway during the 1979 New York City Marathon that had qualified her for Boston. Jacqueline Gareau was declared the winner in 2:34:28.

Which Beatle's remark that the band was 'more popular than Jesus' set off record burnings in the American South?

John Lennon made the remark to the London Evening Standard in March 1966 to little reaction in Britain; the fury began only when the US teen magazine Datebook reprinted it that summer. He apologised at a Chicago press conference.

Which heavy-metal singer was banned from San Antonio for a decade after urinating in Alamo Plaza in 1982?

Ozzy Osbourne was wearing his future wife's dress at the time, because she had hidden his clothes. He later apologised and donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Which Irish singer tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II live on Saturday Night Live in October 1992?

Sinéad O'Connor had just sung Bob Marley's 'War' a cappella with altered lyrics, before holding up the photo and saying 'Fight the real enemy'. Two weeks later she was booed at a Bob Dylan tribute at Madison Square Garden.

Which journalist's 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana was found in 2021 to have been obtained by deceit?

Martin Bashir left the BBC on 14 May 2021, days before Lord Dyson's report on the mocked-up bank statements that had been shown to Diana's brother to help secure the interview.

Which actor had Sacheen Littlefeather decline his Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather at the 1973 ceremony?

Marlon Brando boycotted the ceremony to protest Hollywood's portrayal of Native Americans and to draw attention to the standoff at Wounded Knee. The Academy formally apologised to Littlefeather in 2022, a few months before her death.

Which actress was convicted of grand theft in 2002 for taking $5,500 of designer goods from Saks Fifth Avenue?

Winona Ryder got three years' probation, 480 hours of community service and $3,700 in fines instead of jail, and was acquitted of the burglary count. The felonies were reduced to misdemeanours in 2004.

Which comedian's tweet about Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett led ABC to cancel her revived sitcom the same day in 2018?

Roseanne Barr's show was pulled within hours, ABC's president calling the tweet 'abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values'. Within a month ABC had ordered The Conners, the same cast without her, which premiered that October.

Which NFL Hall of Famer got 33 years in 2008 for a Las Vegas memorabilia robbery?

O. J. Simpson was found guilty exactly 13 years to the day after his murder acquittal, and served nine years in Nevada's Lovelock Correctional Center before his 2017 parole.

Which televangelist was convicted of fraud in 1989 for overselling $1,000 'lifetime memberships' at Heritage USA?

Jim Bakker was sentenced to 45 years, later reduced to eight, and was paroled in 1994. Prosecutors said tens of thousands of memberships were sold, but only one 500-room hotel was ever finished.

Which Blade star began a three-year federal prison sentence in 2010 for failing to file his income tax returns?

Wesley Snipes was acquitted of the felony fraud and conspiracy counts and convicted only of three misdemeanours, yet the judge still gave him the maximum three years. He left McKean federal prison in April 2013 after 28 months.

Which first-season Survivor winner was jailed for 51 months for not paying tax on his $1 million prize?

Richard Hatch beat Kelly Wiglesworth by a 4–3 jury vote in 2000, collecting the $1 million and a Pontiac Aztek, then never declared the money. His sentence was lengthened for obstruction of justice.

Which country singer answered a $32 million IRS claim with a 1992 double album titled The IRS Tapes?

Willie Nelson's assets had been seized by the Internal Revenue Service in 1990, and the album's profits plus the auction of his property cleared the debt. Its full title asked 'Who'll Buy My Memories?'

Which singer was sued by the US government after his camper started a 1965 fire that scattered endangered condors?

Johnny Cash's fire burned 508 acres of Los Padres National Forest and drove off 49 of the refuge's 53 condors; he said he did not care about 'your damn yellow buzzards'. The government won $125,172 but settled for $82,001.

In which country was Paul McCartney jailed in 1980 when airport customs found cannabis in his luggage?

Japan released him without charge and deported him, after the promoters had already cancelled every date of the Wings tour.

Which newspaper's 1967 editorial 'Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?' defended Mick Jagger after the Redlands drug raid?

The Times editor William Rees-Mogg set Alexander Pope's line in capitals over his 1 July 1967 leader attacking the sentences: three months for Jagger, a year for Keith Richards. On appeal Jagger's became a conditional discharge.

Which Italian actress served 17 days in prison for tax evasion in 1982?

Sophia Loren blamed her accountant's mistake and called the sentence unjust; in 2013 Italy's supreme court ruled for her in a separate, decades-long dispute over the tax on her 1974 earnings.

Which South Africa cricket captain was banned for life in 2000 after admitting to taking money from bookmakers?

Hansie Cronje was sacked within four days of Delhi police revealing his recorded talk with a betting-syndicate representative, and the King Commission inquiry followed. He died in a 2002 plane crash, aged 32.

Which MLB hits leader accepted a permanent place on baseball's ineligible list in 1989 for betting on games?

Pete Rose's record 4,256 hits never got him onto a Hall of Fame ballot in his lifetime. Commissioner Rob Manfred ruled in May 2025 that such bans end at death, months after Rose died.

Which silent-film comedian's 1922 manslaughter acquittal came with a written apology from the jury?

Fatty Arbuckle's jury took six minutes, five of them spent writing that 'acquittal is not enough' and that 'a great injustice has been done him'. Six days later William Hays banned him from film work anyway.

Which film-noir star served 50 days behind bars after a 1948 marijuana arrest in Los Angeles?

Robert Mitchum's conviction was overturned in January 1951. He had been arrested with actress Lila Leeds and split the sentence between the county jail and a Castaic prison farm.

Which actress was photographed seated on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun during a 1972 visit to Hanoi?

Jane Fonda's photo earned her the nickname 'Hanoi Jane', and in 1988 she said she would 'go to my grave regretting' it because it looked as if she were trying to shoot at American planes. She stands by her anti-war broadcasts from the trip.

Which actor was fired from Two and a Half Men in 2011 after publicly attacking its creator Chuck Lorre?

Charlie Sheen was earning $1.8 million an episode and telling interviewers he was a 'warlock' with 'tiger blood' and 'Adonis DNA' who was 'winning'. CBS scrapped the rest of the season and replaced him with Ashton Kutcher.

Which comedian lost her CNN New Year's Eve gig over a 2017 image of her holding a bloodied Donald Trump mask?

Kathy Griffin had co-hosted the broadcast with Anderson Cooper, and says the image put her under a two-month federal investigation and on the No Fly List. The inquiry closed in 2017 without charges.

Which celebrity chef lost her Food Network show in 2013 after admitting under oath to having used a racial slur?

Paula Deen said in the deposition that she had 'of course' used the word on occasion, and Smithfield Foods, Walmart, Target, QVC and her publisher Ballantine Books cut ties as well. The network dropped her on 21 June 2013.

Which silent-film legend, sailing to promote Limelight in 1952, had his permit to re-enter the United States revoked?

Charlie Chaplin, accused of communist sympathies, settled in Switzerland and stayed away for twenty years, returning only in 1972 to accept an honorary Oscar. The citation praised his 'incalculable effect' on the art form.

Which actor became the first to refuse a Best Actor Oscar, for Patton, having dismissed the ceremony as a 'meat parade'?

George C. Scott had already declined his nomination for The Hustler in 1962 and declined this one too, but the Academy voted him the award anyway. His full verdict: 'The whole thing is a goddamn meat parade.'

Which reclusive billionaire phoned seven journalists in 1972 to denounce Clifford Irving's fake 'autobiography'?

Howard Hughes told the televised call that he had never even met Irving, let alone dictated a book to him. Irving confessed to the hoax and served 17 months in prison.

Which actor's duet of 'Proud Mary' with Snow White opened the 1989 Oscars and prompted Disney to sue the Academy?

Rob Lowe's number had the Creedence lyrics rewritten about the film industry; Disney sued the Academy for copyright infringement and 'dilution of business reputation'. Paul Newman was among 17 signatories calling it 'an embarrassment'.

Which Broadway star was introduced as 'Adele Dazeem' by John Travolta at the 2014 Academy Awards?

Idina Menzel was about to sing 'Let It Go' when Travolta mangled her name live on air. At the next year's ceremony she took her revenge, introducing him as her 'very dear friend, Glom Gazingo'.

Which US network refused to air the 2022 Golden Globes after a report revealed the voting body had no Black members?

NBC said 'change of this magnitude takes time and work' after a Los Angeles newspaper reported in February 2021 that none of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's members were Black. The 79th Globes went ahead as a private event.

Which news anchor fronted the 2004 report on George W. Bush's National Guard service that rested on unverifiable memos?

Dan Rather announced that November that he would step down, and gave up the anchor chair on 9 March 2005, 24 years to the day after taking it; CBS had conceded it 'cannot prove that the documents are authentic'.

Which Nightly News anchor was suspended for six months in 2015 for misrepresenting a 2003 helicopter incident in Iraq?

Brian Williams was suspended without pay by news president Deborah Turness, and that June was demoted to breaking-news anchor on the cable side. Lester Holt took over the weekday chair.

Which presenter was dropped by the BBC in 2015 after assaulting a Top Gear producer while filming on location?

Jeremy Clarkson's contract was simply not renewed, and that same year he, his co-presenters and producer Andy Wilman formed W. Chump & Sons to make The Grand Tour for Amazon Prime Video.

Which TV presenter was fined £86,000 in 2018, then believed to be Britain's highest-ever drink-driving penalty?

Ant McPartlin pleaded guilty at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court and was banned from driving for 20 months after a collision in London that March. He then announced a break from presenting until 2019 to continue his recovery.

Which 168-year-old British Sunday tabloid printed its final edition in July 2011 amid the phone-hacking scandal?

News of the World was shut within days of the revelation that it had hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, which sent advertisers fleeing; the closure was announced just three days before the last edition.

Which country trio's singer Natalie Maines told a 2003 London crowd the band was ashamed George W. Bush was from Texas?

Dixie Chicks songs all but vanished from country radio and the members received death threats. In June 2020 the band dropped 'Dixie' over the word's negative connotations and became the Chicks.

Which boxer had a one-inch piece of his ear bitten off by Mike Tyson in their 1997 Las Vegas rematch?

Evander Holyfield lost the cartilage in the third round; Tyson spat it onto the ring apron, then bit the other ear in a later clinch before referee Mills Lane disqualified him. Nevada revoked Tyson's licence and fined him $3 million.