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Hollywood has seen its fair share of scandals – but these were next level.
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the Top 30 biggest celebrity scandals of the 21st century. From jaw-dropping controversies to career-shaking moments, these incidents had fans and media buzzing worldwide.
Which scandal shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments!
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down the Top 30 biggest celebrity scandals of the 21st century. From jaw-dropping controversies to career-shaking moments, these incidents had fans and media buzzing worldwide.
Which scandal shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Anything to say to your accusers, Mr. Cosby?
00:02Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:04And today, we're counting down our picks
00:06for the most controversial celebrity headlines
00:08since the year 2000.
00:10Allison, any comment?
00:11Anything you want to say today?
00:14Number 30.
00:15The slap heard around the world.
00:17The morning after the 94th Academy Awards,
00:20everyone was talking about Will Smith.
00:22And not just because of his Oscar win.
00:25During the show, presenter Chris Rock
00:27made a tasteless joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's
00:29bald-headed appearance.
00:31That was a nice one, okay.
00:33In response, Will Smith climbed on stage
00:35and slapped the comedian, all on live TV.
00:39The burst of violence had more drama
00:41than all the Best Picture nominees combined,
00:44especially when Smith later won Best Actor
00:46for his work in King Richard.
00:48You're gonna be the best it ever was.
00:51You're gonna be the greatest of all time.
00:56You know how I know?
00:58Because I planned for it.
00:59Now regarded as the slap heard around the world,
01:02Smith's actions resulted in intense media controversy
01:06and a 10-year ban from future Oscar ceremonies.
01:09Will responded,
01:11I accept and respect the Academy's decision.
01:13Number 29.
01:15Ryan Lochte's fibbed robbery.
01:16In 2016, Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte
01:20and three others were robbed at gunpoint
01:22during their stay in Rio for the summer games.
01:25And we got pulled over in our taxi
01:29and these guys came out with a badge,
01:34a police badge.
01:35Scandalized by the news,
01:36the entire world came to Lochte's aid.
01:39Or they would've,
01:40except the robbery never actually happened.
01:43As it turns out,
01:44the so-called criminals were actually security guards
01:46attempting to detain the swimmer
01:48for vandalism and disorderly conduct.
01:51When this security video shows him
01:53and three other U.S. Olympic swimmers
01:55romping through a gas station,
01:57ripping down signage,
01:58and police say being belligerent.
02:00Lochte and the others suffered through a media storm
02:03of their own making,
02:05eventually scraping by with apologies,
02:07fines,
02:08and short bans from Olympic events.
02:10If they handed out medals for media attention,
02:12Lochte's debacle would've taken the gold without a sweat.
02:16Number 28.
02:17Winona Ryder is caught shoplifting.
02:19In between her Oscar nominations
02:21and her starring role
02:22in the Netflix juggernaut Stranger Things,
02:24Winona Ryder made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
02:28The actress was caught trying to shoplift items
02:30worth over $5,000 in 2001
02:33and spent the next several years
02:36in a high-profile court case.
02:37He said the actress walked past three cash registers
02:40with a pile of clothes and handbags
02:42before leaving the store.
02:44The charges ran the gamut,
02:45from burglary to grand theft to drug possession,
02:49although the latter was eventually dropped.
02:51This incident completely shattered Ryder's image
02:54as Hollywood's squeaky clean it girl
02:56and even forced her into a four-year hiatus from acting.
03:00The actress is facing four shoplifting charges
03:02that carry a maximum three-year jail term.
03:05Ryder herself admits
03:06it was a dark time in her life,
03:08but thankfully she's managed to bounce back
03:10both personally and professionally.
03:13They set up security cameras because of me?
03:15No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
03:16Wait, well then why did they set them up this week?
03:19Because I can't think of a lie right now.
03:22Number 27.
03:24Depp versus Hurd.
03:25It was the he said, she said of the ages.
03:28Two Hollywood A-listers battling it out
03:30in a live-streamed court case.
03:32No, this isn't a movie, but it sure played out like one.
03:35Wait a minute, what's your name?
03:38Let's keep that a secret.
03:39Well, I don't even know it.
03:41Well, then you'll keep it even better.
03:43It all started when actress Amber Hurd came forward
03:45with accusations of domestic violence
03:48against her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
03:50I didn't say anything.
03:51I didn't react.
03:52Depp denied and sued her for defamation,
03:55causing a nail-biting trial
03:56with enough courtroom fireworks
03:58to feed the tabloids for months.
04:00Truth is the only thing I'm interested in.
04:03The dramatic nature of the case
04:04had everyone on the edge of their seat
04:06waiting for the next headline to drop.
04:09And boy, were there some wild revelations.
04:11Depp was found liable of one defamation charge,
04:14while Hurd was convicted of all three,
04:17ensuring neither star escaped
04:18the mudslinging completely clean.
04:21Number 26.
04:22Paula Deen's racist past.
04:24You won't find it in any of her cookbooks,
04:26but Paula Deen knows quite the recipe
04:28for newsworthy backlash.
04:30All right, now we're gonna take our dry ingredients
04:32and we're just gonna beat those in.
04:36Just look at what happened in 2013.
04:38During a deposition about racial discrimination,
04:41the television personality admitted to using slurs
04:43on multiple occasions.
04:45Neither her fans nor the networks
04:47or her publishers were happy with this admittance.
04:50Overnight, the Food Network,
04:51home to Deen's cooking shows,
04:52said it does not tolerate any form of discrimination.
04:55And we'll continue to monitor the situation.
04:58Despite Deen's assurances it was all in the past,
05:01the intense media scrutiny
05:02lost her several endorsements and contracts.
05:05Words are so powerful.
05:09They can hurt.
05:10They can make people happy.
05:13Well, my words hurt people.
05:15The whole thing nearly ended her career.
05:17But slowly, Deen has managed to rebuild her brand.
05:20Though something tells us she'll be adding
05:22a lot more sugar to her public image from now on.
05:24Number 25.
05:26Jimmy Savile's Tarnished Legacy
05:28From charitable to con man,
05:31there may never be anyone who faces
05:32as steep a fall from grace as Jimmy Savile.
05:35Did you make up your mind
05:36that you were gonna be totally honest?
05:38What are the certain things you weren't going to say?
05:40The bits that I didn't say
05:42are only those which I forgot.
05:45The English celebrity made a name for himself
05:47through radio shows, eclectic interviews,
05:50and mountains of benevolent fundraisers.
05:53He was a good, honest man.
05:55Or at least, that's how it seemed
05:56until his death in 2011.
05:58While there had been allegations before then,
06:01Savile's passing opened the floodgates
06:03to hundreds of sexual misconduct claims.
06:05Please do not let him get away with this perversion.
06:08Don't let him continue to think he's untouchable.
06:12Or that his secret is too well hidden.
06:13You heard that right.
06:14There were hundreds,
06:16many of whom were underage at the time.
06:18The overwhelming evidence
06:19shook the industry to its core,
06:21with many still wondering
06:22how such a rampant predator
06:24never faced justice in his lifetime.
06:27I don't think he would get away with that now.
06:29I think times have changed.
06:30Number 24.
06:32Roseanne Barr's Twitter catastrophe.
06:34Sitcom star or not,
06:36this joke was no laughing matter.
06:38Kinda scary talking to your old granny, huh?
06:40I'm not afraid of you.
06:47Give it time.
06:48While Roseanne Barr's divisive political views
06:51always stirred up controversy,
06:53comparing black political figures to animals
06:55proved to be one tweet too many.
06:57It put her in a viral downfall,
07:00eventually getting Roseanne cancelled.
07:02Literally.
07:03Roseanne already was huge.
07:04It was number one.
07:06It came on like a freight train,
07:07huge in the ratings,
07:08making a lot of money for ABC,
07:11for them to so swiftly cancel this show.
07:14They're gonna take a hit.
07:15Her hit show was pulled off the air,
07:17with Barr herself left blacklisted from the industry.
07:20The lengthy aftermath sparked a whole online discussion
07:23about the protections of free speech online,
07:26and whether that has a place in entertainment.
07:28When do we stop laughing
07:29at things that really aren't funny?
07:32When do we start laughing at things that are racist?
07:34Either way, it's safe to say Roseanne
07:36won't be back on TV screens
07:38for a good long while, if ever.
07:40Number 23.
07:42Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rant.
07:44No one comes out of a DUI arrest looking good,
07:47but this drunken road trip
07:48ended up being the least of Mel Gibson's problems.
07:51It seemed like he was definitely,
07:53had drank a little too many that night.
07:55When the arresting officer refused to let him drive home,
07:58Gibson unleashed a hate-filled tirade
08:01full of jaw-dropping anti-Semitic remarks.
08:03After TMZ leaked the arrest report,
08:06it hit mainstream news outlets,
08:08and that was that for Gibson's image.
08:10The devout Catholic wrote,
08:11I am not a bigot.
08:13Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.
08:15The ensuing backlash threatened to capsize his entire career.
08:19Actually, it did for a while.
08:21In the years following this 2006 scandal,
08:24Gibson struggled to make new friends in Hollywood.
08:27He's since apologized and regained his footing in the industry,
08:30but there's no way Gibson will ever fully leave his words behind him.
08:34You had some rough patches over the last 10 years.
08:37Yeah, a rough patch.
08:38Uh-huh.
08:38And how was that?
08:41Eh, not my proudest moment.
08:43Number 22.
08:45Chris Brown and Rihanna's Rocky Romance.
08:47On the outside, these two music artists seemed like the perfect power couple.
08:52Under the surface, though, things were rough.
08:54This happened to me, and it can happen to anybody.
08:57In 2009, a disagreement turned into an argument,
09:01which turned into a fight, which turned into felony assault.
09:04It left Rihanna with invisible wounds,
09:07and Chris Brown at the mercy of a 24-hour news cycle.
09:10The highly publicized nature of their relationship
09:13made this violent fallout the headlining story for what felt like years.
09:17Do you really get the severity of what happened?
09:21Of course, 100%, I think.
09:22To fuel the fire, photos of Rihanna's injuries leaked online,
09:26sentencing Brown to lifelong prejudice in the court of public opinion.
09:30In the actual courts, however, Brown pleaded guilty,
09:34receiving five years probation, counseling, community service,
09:38and a 50-yard restraining order.
09:40Number 21.
09:41All the charges against Woody Allen.
09:43Hollywood has seen more than its fair share of disturbing allegations.
09:47And yet, Woody Allen's might just be the worst.
09:50I want to show my face and tell my story.
09:56Accused of committing unspeakable acts on his adoptive daughter,
10:00Allen went from a beloved filmmaker to a social pariah seemingly overnight.
10:05The allegations, however, had been brewing for decades.
10:08Allen continually denied the claims,
10:10and investigations failed to produce any evidence.
10:14Do you wish that they would have gone ahead and filed the charges?
10:17Because then you would have to have taken the stand.
10:19You know, honestly, yes.
10:20I do wish that they had, you know, even if I'm just speaking in retrospect.
10:26Still, the Me Too movement in 2017 proved to be the final tipping point,
10:30with several colleagues both behind and in front of the camera,
10:34finally denouncing Allen for good.
10:36Given how things shook out, odds are Allen has received his last industry award.
10:41Number 20.
10:42Ellen DeGeneres' Treatment of Employees.
10:45The comedian presents herself on her talk show as a friendly, down-to-earth personality.
10:51However, rumors of mean remarks and actions have circulated for a while.
10:56And in 2020, employees began to speak out.
10:59Remember, these were allegations of fear and intimidation at the workplace,
11:03of sexual harassment, of racism, shocking allegations on their own.
11:08But this was at The Ellen Show.
11:11In a report from BuzzFeed in July,
11:13employees alleged that Ellen presided over a toxic work environment
11:17where they were exposed to sexual harassment, racist comments,
11:21and other issues from the show's producers.
11:24Following these revelations, ratings dropped by more than a million viewers.
11:28The Emmy winner finished by acknowledging she's not just a TV personality,
11:32she's also the boss of 270 people on her show's staff.
11:37Ellen says she wants them all to be happy and proud to work there.
11:41In 2021, DeGeneres announced that she would be ending her show after 19 years on the air.
11:48Number 19.
11:49Kanye West Accuses George W. Bush of Being Racist.
11:52The slow government response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005 was widely criticized,
11:59especially the delay in providing aid to New Orleans residents.
12:03On September 2nd, a benefit concert was held to raise much-needed funds.
12:08However, Kanye West decided to go off script.
12:11I hate the way they portray us in the media.
12:14If you see a black family, it says they're looting.
12:17If you see a white family, it says they're looking for food.
12:21He criticized the media for portraying white families as, quote,
12:25looking for food, yet black families as, quote, looting.
12:29And he infamously set his sights on President Bush,
12:32suggesting he was indifferent to black Americans.
12:35George Bush doesn't care about black people.
12:38The comment shocked his co-host Mike Myers and stirred up outrage and debate.
12:42While Myers later characterized West's comment as, quote,
12:46speaking truth to power, West eventually apologized.
12:49Number 18. Michael Jackson Dangles Prince Over a Balcony
12:53The King of Pop was embroiled in controversy throughout the 2000s,
12:58what with his child endangerment trial and this 2002 incident that took place at a Berlin hotel.
13:04As a spontaneous act to surprise his fans,
13:13Jackson presented his infant son to a crowd outside the hotel,
13:17Prince Michael Jackson II, or Blanket.
13:19However, the way he showed his infant child shocked the public,
13:29as he put a towel over the child's head and held him over a balcony
13:32where one slip could have sent the baby plummeting to a gruesome end.
13:37Jackson seemed to recognize how dangerous his act was and issued an apology.
13:42Number 17. Eminem's Feud with the Cheneys
13:45During a congressional hearing in 2000,
13:47Lynn Cheney, wife of future Vice President Dick Cheney,
13:51asserted that Eminem promoted violence against women.
13:54He is a violent misogynist.
13:56Cheney also called on the rapper's record label to drop him.
14:00In response, Eminem made sure to give Lynn a couple of mentions in his 2002 album,
14:05The Eminem Show, In Without Me and White America.
14:08Even more shockingly, for the music video Without Me,
14:12Eminem featured a stand-in for Dick Cheney, who's electrocuted by the rapper.
14:16I know that you got a job, Ms. Cheney,
14:18But your husband's heart problem's complicated
14:20So the FCC won't let me be
14:22Oh, let me be me, so let me see
14:24It was another example of Eminem going all out against critics.
14:29Number 16. Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin's College Admissions Scandal
14:33In 2019, an FBI investigation named Operation Varsity Blues
14:38uncovered a criminal scheme in which parents were bribing their children's ways into top universities.
14:44The bust is called Operation Varsity Blues
14:47and the accusations range from paying thousands of dollars for higher SAT scores
14:51to presenting students as top athletes in sports they never even played.
14:56It is a little enraging.
14:57Among those involved were actresses Felicity Huffman,
15:00best known for her role in Desperate Housewives,
15:03and Lori Loughlin of Full House fame.
15:05Huffman paid $15,000 to have someone take her daughter's SAT test for her
15:10and Loughlin paid $500,000 to have her daughter enrolled in the University of Southern California.
15:16Both actresses were arrested and did short stints in prison.
15:20The ruling?
15:2014 days in prison, $30,000 fine, one year supervised release,
15:26and 250 hours of community service.
15:29The scandal's shown a spotlight on how the rich are able to use money and influence
15:34to give their children an unfair advantage.
15:37Number 15. Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction.
15:40Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's halftime performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004
15:46is undoubtedly one of the most infamous television events of all time.
15:50At the end of Rock Your Body, Justin removed part of Janet's costume,
16:03exposing her breast for about half a second.
16:06The backlash was massive, with shocked and outraged commentators lamenting the country's moral collapse.
16:13Over half a million letters poured into the FCC, who fined CBS $550,000,
16:18although it was later voided.
16:21The controversy is now remembered for having unfairly tarnished Jackson's career,
16:26while not affecting Timberlake's at all.
16:28All the emphasis was put on me, not on Justin.
16:31And, uh, Justin, we were friends.
16:40Number 14. Kanye interrupts Taylor Swift's award speech.
16:44When Taylor Swift won Best Female video at the 2009 VMAs,
16:48Kanye was so outraged that he crashed Swift's acceptance speech and let everybody know what he thought.
16:54Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you.
16:58I'm gonna let you finish.
16:59But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.
17:05The moment was embarrassing for everyone, even Beyoncé, for whom West was advocating.
17:10Beyoncé graciously invited Swift back to the stage to finish her speech when she won for Video of the Year.
17:16West faced enormous public backlash for ruining Swift's big moment and apologized.
17:22It was just, it was rude, period, and, you know, I'd like to be able to apologize to her in person.
17:28But in 2016, he also later took credit in an improbable lyric for making Taylor Swift famous.
17:34I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex while I made that b**** famous.
17:39Goddamn!
17:40I made that b**** famous.
17:42Setting off a new round of controversy.
17:45Number 13.
17:46Jesse Smollett's fake hate crime.
17:48The actor from Empire made headlines when he claimed in January 2019 to have been the victim of an attack outside a Subway restaurant in Chicago.
17:56How can you doubt that?
17:58Like, how do you, how do you not believe that?
18:00It's the truth.
18:02And then it became a thing of like, oh, it's not necessarily that you don't believe that this is the truth.
18:08You don't even want to see the truth.
18:12Smollett alleged that two white males in MAGA hats put a noose around his neck, poured bleach on him, and beat him while yelling racist and homophobic slurs.
18:21It was later revealed that the men were actually Nigerian-born brothers who knew Smollett and said he'd paid them to stage the attack.
18:29The initial charges against Smollett were dropped, which also caused controversy.
18:34He was even so bold as to file a countersuit against Chicago.
18:38But he was later convicted of making false police reports and disorderly conduct.
18:42For years, his allegations had raised questions of race, hate, and lies surrounding his claims, which affected the city of Chicago and beyond.
18:51Today, a jury said he was lying.
18:54Number 12.
18:55The Sean Diddy Combs Investigation.
18:58In September 2024, rapper and producer Sean Diddy Combs was indicted on charges of trafficking and racketeering after a slew of lawsuits and allegations were brought to federal court.
19:10Today, I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment.
19:13The indictment includes multiple accounts of abuse against women, illegal drug transportation, and larger schemes allegedly orchestrated by Combs,
19:23who was accused of coercing victims into sex acts that lasted for multiple days.
19:28The indictment alleges that Combs abused and exploited women and other people for years, and in a variety of ways.
19:35Combs pleaded not guilty to the charges, and if convicted, he faces 15 years to life in prison.
19:42Given his high profile in the music industry, the investigation and subsequent trial generated significant media attention,
19:50breaking the silence on Combs' long history of alleged misconduct.
19:54This is what the feds do.
19:56They measure twice.
19:56They cut once.
19:58Number 11.
19:58Martha Stewart's Insider Trading.
20:00Given Martha Stewart's reputation for giving Americans happy homemaker tips, she was probably the last person anyone would suspect of being a white-collar criminal.
20:09Martha Stewart decided to spend her last night of freedom away from the glare of the spotlight.
20:15Tomorrow, she trades that glare for surveillance of a different kind.
20:19However, that changed in 2002, when it was alleged that Stewart had sold off more than 3,900 shares of ImClone Systems before its stock dropped 16% in value the next day.
20:31In 2003, Stewart was indicted on nine felony counts related to insider trading, and in 2004, she was convicted on all counts and served five months in a federal prison.
20:42What was a small personal matter became, over the last two years, an almost fatal circus event of unprecedented proportions.
20:51Because of the scandal, Stewart had to step down from the board of directors of Martha Stewart Living Omni Media Incorporated, and she couldn't join again until 2011.
21:01Number 10.
21:02Britney Spears' Conservatorship.
21:03The Princess of Pop became an instant sensation in 1999 with Baby One More Time.
21:09But in the mid-2000s, she had a very public breakdown, shaving her head, checking into and out of drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities, and even crashing into a parked car.
21:20The media coverage was relentless, and the public could not get enough.
21:24She was constantly swarmed by paparazzi.
21:27She was talked about in the tabloids and portrayed in a very misogynistic and sexist light.
21:33After child welfare investigators got involved, she lost custody of her children.
21:38It all culminated in a conservatorship under her father, Jamie, with conditions including time in a psychiatric facility and using an IUD.
21:46In response, her fans started a Free Britney movement to advocate for an end to the conservatorship.
21:51Britney Spears and her supporters finally got their wish in November 2021.
21:54Her most ardent fans, the legions of the Free Britney movement, celebrating outside.
22:00I was just so, so happy. She deserves all of the freedom.
22:04Number 9. Tom Cruise's Scientology Video.
22:07Founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology has remained controversial in spite of its celebrity advocates.
22:14I think it's a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist, and it's something that you have to earn.
22:18The organization is infamous for its space opera involving an alien dictator named Xenu, but also its predatory financial tactics and aggressive policies towards critics.
22:30That hasn't stopped Tom Cruise from extolling its virtues.
22:33In 2008, a video uploaded to YouTube showed Cruise claiming that Scientologists are experts at dealing with substance use disorder and the only people who can help after car accidents.
22:45When the organization filed a copyright claim, YouTube took the video down.
22:49They said, so, like, have you met an SP?
22:56This inspired hacktivist collective Anonymous to launch the protest movement Project Chinology.
23:03Number 8. Lance Armstrong's Doping Scandal.
23:06This pro-athlete and cancer survivor was seen as an inspiration by people around the world and raised millions for cancer research through his Livestrong Foundation.
23:15For seven straight years, he dominated arguably the hardest sporting event in the world.
23:20History in the making, seven times a winner of the Tour de France.
23:23Around him grew an empire that included a powerful foundation dedicated to fighting cancer.
23:28It's one of the great human stories.
23:30He was an example of what was possible if you worked hard and believed in yourself.
23:34However, in 2012, Armstrong disappointed the sports world and disillusioned his supporters when he admitted to using steroids to enhance his performance during his bike races.
23:43Yes or no, did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?
23:49Yes.
23:51Yes or no, was one of those banned substances EPO?
23:55As a result, Armstrong was stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles and was banned for life from the sport.
24:02Number 7. Tiger Woods' Cheating Scandal.
24:05In 2009, Tiger's world was turned upside down when the National Enquirer published a story about an extramarital affair.
24:12I've done some pretty bad things in my life, and it all came to a head.
24:17A few days later, he crashed his car and had to be brought to the hospital.
24:21As the number of alleged affairs began to grow, so did everyone's interest in the story, making him the focus of morbid curiosity.
24:29As a result of the scandal, his wife, Elin Nordegren, divorced him,
24:33and several companies such as AT&T and Gatorade decided to drop him from their endorsement deals.
24:38The scandal permanently tarnished Tiger's squeaky clean image.
24:43I hurt a lot of people, not just my wife, my friends, my colleagues, the public, kids who looked up to me.
24:51There were a lot of people that thought I was a different person.
24:56Number 6. R. Kelly Abuse Allegations.
24:58The R&B artist has long been suspected of having inappropriate relationships with underage girls.
25:04In 2002, R. Kelly was indicted on multiple counts of possessing obscene material involving children.
25:11Though he was acquitted, and a year later, he was able to beat the rap again.
25:15Last month, Kelly was indicted again, this time charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of four women,
25:23including three who the charges say were minors at the time.
25:27However, in the late 2010s, more allegations of misconduct and abuse emerged,
25:32along with a series of high-profile documentaries, including Lifetime's Surviving R. Kelly.
25:37In July 2019, federal prosecutors charged Kelly with multiple felony counts,
25:42including racketeering, exploitation, kidnapping, and sex trafficking.
25:47Altogether, it added up to a 2022 sentence of 31 years behind bars.
25:53That verdict comes after weeks of testimony from some 50 witnesses.
25:57He faces potentially decades in prison.
26:00Number 5. Allison Mack and NXIVM.
26:03Best known for her role as Chloe Sullivan on Smallville,
26:06this actress was involved in NXIVM,
26:08a sex cult dressed up as a multi-level marketing organization.
26:13As part of NXIVM, which she joined in 2006,
26:16Mack recruited girls to become slaves for cult leader Keith Raniere.
26:20In 2018, Mack was indicted on charges including sex trafficking and forced labor
26:25that potentially could have landed her between 14 and 17 years in prison.
26:30However, because of her cooperation with investigators in bringing down Raniere,
26:34Mack was only sentenced to three years in prison,
26:36a thousand hours of community service, and was fined $20,000.
26:41She was released in 2023 after serving just 21 months of her term.
26:46Prosecutors asked the judge to give Mack a reduced sentence because of the, quote,
26:50substantial assistance she provided with their investigation into the cult.
26:55Number 4. 2014 Photo Hack.
26:58Ever get suspicious emails asking for sensitive information?
27:01Some of them look legitimate, as if they're from Apple or Google.
27:04But they're not.
27:05An invasion of privacy tonight impacting some of the biggest stars in the world.
27:11Personal photos of some A-list celebrities were reportedly posted on photo-sharing site 4chan,
27:16allegedly obtained by hacking cloud accounts.
27:19In 2014, several celebrities, including Jennifer Lawrence, Kirsten Dunst, and Kate Upton,
27:24were the victims of such a scam.
27:26Their iCloud accounts were hacked and nude photos uploaded to websites like 4chan.
27:31It was a horrible invasion of privacy that's enough to give anyone nightmares.
27:36Lawrence was perhaps the most vocal about her outrage,
27:38calling the hack a violation and sex crime.
27:41Just because I'm a public figure does not mean that I ask for this.
27:45It does not mean that it comes with the territory.
27:47It's my body and it should be my choice.
27:49And the fact that it's not my choice is absolutely disgusting.
27:53At least five men who were involved in the hacking were convicted and given prison sentences.
27:58Number 3. Bill Cosby Assault Accusations.
28:01Before Hannibal Buress' rant at a stand-up show went viral in 2014,
28:06Bill Cosby was so loved and respected as a comedian that he was known as America's dad.
28:11But this squeaky clean image was quickly shattered as the sexual assault allegations came pouring in.
28:18However, after the Buress video gained attention,
28:21several women felt encouraged to come forward and accuse Cosby of misconduct.
28:25In 2018, Cosby was indicted and convicted of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand
28:32and received a prison sentence of 3 to 10 years.
28:35However, in 2021, he was released early after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction,
28:41citing a violation of due process.
28:44Many do not see a legal path for another case, but some say they're not giving up.
28:49Other cases are still pending, however, and the scandal has forever tarnished his legacy.
28:54Number 2. Prince Andrew's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
28:58Wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein was able to cultivate a lot of relationships with powerful people
29:03based on his ability to traffic young girls.
29:06The Monday morning headlines say it all.
29:09Prince Andrew's attempt to explain his friendship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein backfiring.
29:15According to one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Giuffre,
29:18Prince Andrew was one such a person and abused her in 2001.
29:22The ties between Epstein and the Duke of York were reported by the BBC in 2011,
29:27and in 2019, the prince gave a disastrous interview where he infamously tried to dispute allegations
29:33by insisting that he was unable to sweat.
29:36I have a peculiar medical condition, which is that I don't sweat.
29:42Prince Andrew, who served in the Royal Navy, says he developed the rare medical condition
29:47during his combat tour in the Falklands War.
29:50The Epstein scandal has been a headache for the British royal family,
29:54and in November 2019, Andrew stepped down from his duties as a royal.
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30:14Number 1. Harvey Weinstein and Me Too.
30:16An influential producer once considered a titan in Hollywood, Weinstein was accused of assault
30:22and harassment by numerous women, as detailed by the New York Times and The New Yorker.
30:27After these stories came out, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged women around the world to
30:31share their stories on social media with the hashtag Me Too.
30:34This would spark a movement that changed the way many industries viewed misconduct in the workplace.
30:52In February 2020, Weinstein was found guilty on multiple counts of misconduct,
30:57and was later sentenced to 23 years in prison.
31:01This is seen as a severe sentence and perhaps a watershed moment for the Me Too movement.
31:05Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years behind bars.
31:09Did we miss any scandalous pop culture moments?
31:11Let us know in the comments.
31:13My behavior was unacceptable.
31:17Check out these other clips from WatchMojo, and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to
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