Each year, the pop culture news cycle brings us all kinds of celebrity scandals, from breakups to fuckups. And every so often, you can look back and think, Was that actually a fever dream?
So, with that in mind, someone on Reddit recently asked users: "What was a celebrity phenomenon or scandal that you genuinely never understood?" — and some of these responses are genuinely making me question everything. Let's get into it!
1. The Anne Hathaway "Hathahate" era of the 2010s.
"The whole idea that Anne Hathaway was supposedly annoying for being enthusiastic." —strawberryskullskill
"The 2011 Oscars is so cringe. James Franco was seen as soooo cool and Anne was seen as the overachieving theater kid." —normalementoui
2. Barack Obama's tan suit controversy of 2014.
"The tan suit scandal with Obama was the most ridiculous (counts as a president rather than a celebrity), but there were headlines for weeks over it. The most ridiculous 'scandal' I’ve ever seen in my life. BTW, he looked fine as hell in that suit." —Apprehensive_Meal641
"It's so wild to think about when every president has surely brought bigger problems to the US and beyond." —yourangleoryuordevil
"I think it's the best fashion moment a President has ever had. Like, damn, that was a nice suit. It was hard to pull off, but Obama did it! Everyone else was just jealous!" —starvinartist
3. All the backlash against Meghan Markle.
"The comments I’ve seen from Britt boomers for the last 10 years or so are absolutely nasty, parasocial AF, and just pure racist hatred. It’s horrible. Having lived in the UK for a while, I was also seeing it live on every newsstand." —babyraccoonmenace
"So many people legitimately hate her, and I do not get it. She’s not even allowed to be 'cringe' or whatever, people just despise everything about her and act like Harry isn’t a grown ass adult who could make his own decisions." —Dangerous-Variety-35
4. Jessica Simpson being brutally body-shamed in 2009 over that infamous "mom jeans" photo.
"She said in another interview recently, too, that it still fucks with her and made her want to stop performing, and I’m like, she was fine??? Is the fat in the room with us??" —BouyantCorgiButt
5. The Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl halftime show with Justin Timberlake in 2004.
"Even as a 9-year-old growing up in a Catholic household, I thought 'it’s just a boob??' People were well and truly scandalized tho." —manewitness
"It was clearly a wardrobe stunt that went wrong. I remember seeing the video. She was clearly mortified." —jaderust
6. Pippa Middleton's appearance at the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William in 2011.
"All I can surmise is that… royal weddings are maybe not known for 'sexy,' Diana’s dress was an oversized cupcake, this wedding was a huge deal, and you’ve got a young, attractive woman in a slim-fitting dress. It was an injection of youth into a notoriously old, stuffy organization. It was like, as risqué as an un-risqué thing can get." —northofsixteee
"You have no idea how many tabloids I read during that time, trying to figure out what everyone was talking about😩." —No-Hall-3485
"So many tabloids were like, 'She stole the show!' 'Look at her arse! Girl looks normal." —animatedradio
7. The backlash over Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban naming their daughter "Sunday" in 2008.
"Like sure it’s a bit unusual, but people about lost their minds." —Morning_Song
"Same with Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin naming their daughter Apple! Like, in hindsight, that’s not that weird of a name, especially compared to other celebrity baby names." —smileyfish
8. The widespread hatred and sexualization of Justin Bieber in the 2010s.
"The hate & disdain for a very young Justin Bieber from grown adults, especially men. HOLY FUCK-what absolute weirdos thinking they were 'cool' by hating a kid that was loved by other kids (mostly girls)." —weebairndougLAS
"Justin Bieber had an incredibly disturbing amount of grown-ass women sexualizing him from a young age. I find it strange that men attacked Bieber for this rather than pointing out how wrong and disgusting these women were behaving towards a child." —Prestigious-Bug-1349
"Despite the recent re-evaluation of the way he was treated, 99% of people are still severely underestimating how disgustingly insane that was. It was like a long-running episode of The Twilight Zone where the entire global community was collectively trying to make a teenager of himself." —Mooredock
9. Beyoncé being accused of faking her pregnancy with Blue Ivy in 2011.
"The 'evidence' is so terrible." —malmikea
And some more recent scandals...
10. The drama over Jorginho's claim that Chappell Roan's security guard reduced his 11-year-old daughter to tears during breakfast at a hotel in Sao Paulo.
"The Chapelle Roan hotel restaurant thing of however long ago. Like from the get-go it seemed like the biggest pile of nothing to make newsworthy." —DeliciousMoments
"And in the end it was absolutely nothing. Chappell Roan and her entourage had nothing to do with it!" —pascaleps
"Even if everything had played out exactly like that lady who complained had described. I still didn't see any issue with Chappell Roan's behavior. That's how you know how dumb that was. Even the sensationalized version wasn't something you make a fuss about." —il_the_dinosaur
11. Timothée Chalamet's comments about ballet and opera.
"I agree that he could have worded his thoughts more efficiently, but the way in which the entire internet just went nuts as though they gave a damn about Ballet & Opera before that just made no sense to me at all." —Few_Butterscotch_832
"The discourse went on for SO LONG too, you could see it circle back in on itself over the course of a few months." —canarybrainrot


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