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“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences

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Celebrities are just like us, regular people—they can’t always see the consequences of their actions. Even the most sociable stars, with the best teams to advise them, end up doing or saying things that are so tone-deaf and narrow-minded that they instantly regret them.
Entertainment fans rounded up some of the most epic celebrity fails when their behavior backfired in the worst way possible. These are public disasters that would make any PR rep facepalm. Scroll down to read what to never do if you ever end up becoming famous.

#1

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Sinead O'Connor ripping up a picture of the Pope at the time.

The sad thing is she was right about the Catholic Church and their cover ups and it basically cost her a career.
34points

#2

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Jussie Smollett and the hate crime hoax.

_buffy_summers:

Every single part of his story was incredibly stupid. He claimed he was outside and going for a walk at two o'clock in the morning, during the polar vortex. Most businesses were closed because of the late hour, never mind the weather conditions.

Theincendiarydvice:

I literally only know of him because he did that.
32points

#3

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Gwyneth Paltrow. Nobody asked for that candle or any of her other stuff.
32points

The legendary Streisand Effect basically refers to the fact that hiding information makes it more popular, instead, because it attracts more attention and curiosity. The antidote to it is openness and honesty, if there’s a genuine problem you’re trying to tackle.

The term itself was coined in 2005 by Techdirt founder Mike Masnick and was the result of singer and actress Barbra Streisand suing photographer Kenneth Adelman for a whopping $50 million back in 2003. Adelman had taken photos for the California Coastal Records Project, one of which accidentally featured Streisand’s mansion in Malibu.

At that point, the image had been downloaded a mere 6 times. Later, it got over a million views and was reprinted many times. Meanwhile, Streisand lost the lawsuit. Though Streisand had had bad experiences with being stalked, in this particular case, it would have been better for her if she hadn’t escalated things.

#4

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Barbara Streisand, for creating The Streisand Effect. The act of trying to stop something but inadvertently giving it so much exposure.

SweetCosmicPope:

I can't believe this isn't the top choice! The whole topic is literally named after her. lol

For those who don't know, she got a bunch of bad press because she tried to bully a photographer into taking down photos of her house that happens to be on a public beach.
31points

#5

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
The celebrity billionaires who went to space - calling themselves “astronauts” and telling the public that little girls all over the world thought they were heroes.

We’d all go to space and get lots of publicity if we had that kind of money.

I found the whole thing insulting because all it proved was that to go to space you either had to be an astronaut, Rich, a celebrity, or a billionaire.

It mostly affected Katy Perry and her public persona. And possibly ticket sales for her tour.

Dulcinea80:

Katie Perry and her tone deaf trip to space.
31points

#6

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Chris Brown and his violence towards women.



Oh wait, he still has a career.
30points

Another example of the Streisand Effect has to do with Beyoncé. After she performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2013, BuzzFeed shared some photos from the middle of her routine. The star’s publicist reached out to the outlet, demanding to take down some of the “unflattering photos.” This prompted BuzzFeed to publish a second article titled, ‘The Unflattering Photos Beyoncé’s Publicist Doesn’t Want You To See.’ The photos went viral on social media and led to the creation of memes.

The Streisand Effect can impact individuals as well as companies, damaging the reputations that they have carefully constructed over the years. Trying to suppress certain information can leave a lasting impression, painting the person or business as dishonest and untrustworthy. The result is a tarnished public image, media scrutiny, regulatory attention, decreased sales, and lower customer loyalty as your brand has been affected.

Transparency, politeness, professionalism, quick responses, emotional regulation, and avoiding lawsuits are your best strategies if you want to avoid the fallout from this effect.

#7

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Tom Cruise discussing his Scientology beliefs. I his was during the couch-jumping era.

Cruise fired his excellent publicist who told him to keep that weird stuff quiet…. and put his sister in the role. He then went public….
26points

#8

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Prince Andrew thinking that BBC interview would clear his name is the gold standard for backfires. He really tried to use a Pizza Express in Woking as a legal alibi.
26points

#9

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Remember when Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift at the VMAs? Yeah, that didn’t go as planned.
26points

What are the biggest PR nightmares and disasters that you’ve seen stars and public figures construct with their own hands and words?

Have you ever witnessed someone fall prey to the Streisand Effect, where the information they tried to hide ended up going viral?

Who are the biggest celebrities that you love to hate and hate to love?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

#10

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
For me, it HAS to be Ellen making that joke to Dakota Johnson about not being invited to her party, which led to that very humbling call out and eventual cancellation of her entire career.
26points

#11

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Nicki Minaj joining MAGA in hopes to get her husband a pardon. Didn’t seem like that worked out for her. Absolute fail.
25points

#12

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Sam Smith - weeping openly about being in isolation in his million quid house during COVID while people were dying in droves.
25points

#13

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Gal Gagot and her celeb friends singing Imagine by John Lennon during Covid.

FranciscoGarcia69:

That was the most tone deaf, cringey thing I’ve ever seen.
23points

#14

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial.

xv_boney:

Kendall Jenner resolves institutional racism and police brutality with second-place soda.

OkArmordillo:

Pepsi made an ad during the height of the 2020 BLM protests where Kendall Jenner walks into a protest, hands out pepsis to the protestors and cops, and they all drop what they’re doing to start partying together and have a good time.
23points

#15

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis writing a letter of character support for their friend Danny Masterson who is serving 30 years.
23points

#16

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Bill Cosby told the Internet to make a meme of him, which ultimately led to the allegations becoming common knowledge.
22points

#17

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Idk if it had a big effect on him, but Will Smith slapping Chris Rock definitely didn't help his image.

Jambonito:

It had a big effect imo. The general public seems to have lost all respect for him, and Will Smith is completely blacklisted now. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been in a movie or a show eversince. And if he has, it clearly hasn’t been promoted to the level it would have been if he was still in the good graces of the industry. I believe from time to time he goes on a radio show or releases music to try to regain his image, but imo it’s done in such a cringey way that he has become a laughing stock now :/
21points

#18

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
Elon buying Twitter to stop people from being mean about him.
21points

#19

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
For Australia it would be Ben Roberts Smith. Newspapers and television programs raised points about the possibility of him committing war crimes. He sues them and loses. He appeals the decision and lost again.

He was then arrested and formally charged with committing war crimes.
15points

#20

“Completely Blacklisted Now”: 60 Celebrities Who Learned That Actions Have Consequences
David Blaine spending a month in a glass box suspended above the River Thames, and discovering in the process that Brits really don't go in for the sort of celebrity worship that he was used to back in the US. Not only were most Londoners distinctly unimpressed by the stunt, they came out in force every evening to openly ridicule and torment him.
14points
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