Although we might look up to actors and envy them for their lifestyles, the price they pay for their fame and fortune is being constantly scrutinized by the media and the public. Actors’ words and actions are dissected and tracked by thousands, if not millions, of people worldwide. Whereas we might be able to get away with a slip-up or two, these public figures most certainly cannot.
Social media has revolutionized the way that we propagate news and opinions. While many famous people use social media as a platform to do good and to use their voices to create positive change, others do not. Many actors make the mistake of airing their personal concerns and problems to their followers, and often these can end up ruining their careers.
From making problematic statements to trying to get attention, we're take a look at the actors whose careers were destroyed by their misjudged use of social media. Many of the examples here show deeper problems that the actors were facing, while others demonstrate a complete lack of self-awareness and good sense. Either way, it will be hard for any of these people to claw back their reputations after the social media mistakes they’ve made.
Here are 15 Stars Who Destroyed Their Careers Through Social Media.
Gilbert Gottfried
When you think of Gilbert Gottfried, the first thing you’ll surely associate with the comedian is his grating, gravelly voice. Then again, you’ve probably not cast a thought his way in a while since he’s been markedly absent from the public eye for the last few years.
There was a time when Gottfried was one of the most sought-after comedians in the world, and most people have encountered his special brand of comedy in one shape or another, whether it was during his stint on Saturday Night Live, his roasts on Comedy Central, or even his voiceover acting as Iago the parrot in Disney’s Aladdin.
However, he swiftly fell from grace in one fell swoop when in 2011 he tweeted a series of wildly offensive jokes relating to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami that killed over 20,000 people that year.
Among his worst tweets was: “I just split up with my girlfriend, but like the Japanese say, 'They’ll be another one floating by any minute now'"
Julianne Hough
Julianne Hough, the American dancer, singer, and actress best known for her regular appearances on Dancing with the Stars and for her role in the remake of the 1980s classic film Footloose, couldn’t manage to dance her way out of the mega-gaffe she made in October 2013.
Hough was photographed dressed up for a Halloween party as “Crazy Eyes” from Netflix’s Orange Is The New Black, famously played by African-American actress Uzo Aduba. If you think this meant Hough was just wearing an orange jumpsuit and some space buns, well you’d be wrong. The dancer-actress was snapped in blackface, which of course caused mass criticism and huge backlash.
Although Hough took to Twitter to apologise, saying “"I am a huge fan of the show 'Orange is the New black,' actress Uzo Aduba, and the character she has created. It certainly was never my intention to be disrespectful or demeaning to anyone in any way”, this created even more of a backlash as people wouldn’t let Hough off for not realizing blackface would be disrespectful or demeaning.
Amanda Bynes
One of the most famous examples of an actor’s career going up in flames because of social media is none other than Amanda Bynes, who rose to fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s on the Nickelodeon shows All That and The Amanda Show.
She was a bright, burgeoning comedic star who swiftly got roles in a number of popular films, including She’s The Man and Hairspray. However, her squeaky clean, wholesome image soon unravelled as of 2012 when she was seen to be having a very public breakdown that seemingly began when she was charged with a DUI and escalated into a full-on social media meltdown on Twitter.
Bynes proceeded to fire off a stream of worrying tweets, many attacking other celebrities like Rihanna, and accusing her father of abuse. It was deeply saddening to see the young star self-destruct in the public eye. Bynes’ bizarre, erratic behaviour ended with her being hospitalized under psychiatric care, and she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Reports have surfaced that Bynes is hoping to make a return to acting in 2018, but no projects have yet been confirmed.
Charlie Sheen
No one will ever forget Charlie Sheen’s very public breakdown in 2011 when he took to TV and the web to show just how much he was going off the deep end.
The former Two And A Half Men star and eternal Hollywood bad boy shocked the world with bizarre behaviour that saw him spewing some of the weirdest comments any celebrity has uttered, including talking about tiger’s blood, how telephones are made by trolls, and of course how he was “winning” at life.
Aside from his weird interviews, Charlie Sheen also took to Twitter, again making absurdly outlandish comments and getting into notable disputes with his ex-wife Denise Richards. Sheen tweeted a number of defamatory messages aimed at Richards, including calling her the “worst mom alive” and an “evil terrorist.”
Sheen had been getting record numbers of followers on Twitter, but his angry tweets about his ex-wife certainly didn’t help salvage his reputation.
Drake Bell
Best known for his role on Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh, Drake Bell played the part of an aspiring musician whose antics with his on-screen stepbrother Josh Peck delighted young audiences for many years. Bell has turned his role into his real-life ambition though, by becoming a singer.
He recently released his very steamy music video for his song “Rewind”, but unfortunately for Bell, he can’t unwind the moment he sparked mass controversy and backlash when he took to Twitter to express his opinions on Caitlyn Jenner. Bell tweeted: “Sorry…still calling you Bruce” in response to the Vanity Fair cover story that covered Jenner’s transition reveal.
Bell’s tweet was seen by many to be highly insensitive and disrespectful of the transgender community. Bell proceeded to delete his post, but continued to try to defend his original comment on Twitter, which in turn resulted in more backlash against him.
James Franco
James Franco is a well-known personality in Hollywood. Not only has he proven his capabilities as an actor, but he’s also shown his skills as a director, a producer, and an indie musician. Franco is known for portraying himself as a progressive artist, but the respect he earned in his career came under scrutiny when earlier this year five women spoke out against the actor, accusing him of misconduct.
However, this was not the first time Franco had been accused of inappropriate behaviour. Back in 2014, James Franco was exposed for having pursed a flirtation with a 17-year-old fan on Instagram. Screen-grabs were leaked of a conversation exchange between the actor and the young girl and people were quick to turn against the actor’s inexcusable behaviour.
It has been suspected that it’s because of these various instances of misconduct that Franco did not receive an Oscar nomination for his role in The Disaster Artist, and the future for this actor now labelled as an “alleged harasser” is unclear.
Ashton Kutcher
Ashton Kutcher has been a household name ever since he starred in That '70s Show, and over the years he has transformed from a Hollywood heartthrob into a genius entrepreneur. Although Kutcher is doing less acting these days and is instead more interested in business ventures and being a dad to his kids, the actor didn’t help his acting career any with his bejavor on social media.
Back when he was starring in more TV show and films then he is now, when in 2011 he decided to express his feelings about the Penn State football coach Joe Paterno getting fired.
Kutcher tweeted: “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste". Well, funnily enough, his then 8 million Twitter followers found his remark in poor taste, as Paterno had been let go after people were outraged that he hadn’t sufficiently responded to allegations that his former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had been involved in the sexual abuse of children. Although Kutcher later apologised for his tweet and continued to star in roles, his acting career certainly wasn’t helped by this misjudged tweet, and he definitely alienated himself from his fans.
Kathy Griffin
Comedian Kathy Griffin saw her career crumble before her eyes after she posted a very controversial picture of herself holding a model of Trump’s head.
Griffin had made a name for herself over the years with her raunchy jokes and taboo humor. However, the “joke” picture of her holding the President’s head showed that she’d definitely crossed the line this time.
The photo ended up costing Griffin her endorsement deals as well as remaining dates she was meant to do on her tour. The fallout from the photo was so immense that Griffin was certain this would be the end for her career, saying: “I’m going to have to figure my way out of this and I’m going to have to do it one joke at a time.”
RuPaul
RuPaul has long been everyone’s favorite drag queen, but it seems that the world’s biggest queen may have lost control of her court.
RuPaul came under fire recently when he made some comments in March 2018 that were offensive toward the transgender community. When asked if he would allow a transgender women who had received gender affirmation surgery to be on his popular show RuPaul's Drag Race, RuPaul said: “probably not.”
RuPaul got major backlash on social media for his non-conclusive statements, and only made the situation worse when he tweeted: “You can take performance enhancing drugs and still be an athlete, just not in the Olympics.” It seems like people are wondering if RuPaul is past his prime, and no longer in touch with the evolution of the LGBTQ movement.
We'll have to wait and see if future seasons of Drag Race do, in fact, start to include transgender queens.
Tila Tequila
Former adult and reality TV star Tila Tequila was the first real social media star, originally having risen to fame on the social media platform MySpace.
She was always known for loving the limelight but her addiction for attention seems to have thrust her into a bizarre and sinister phase which has ultimately led her to being banished from Twitter altogether. Tila Tequila’s account got suspended after she was seen to be posting pro-Nazi content and making favorable comments about Adolf Hitler.
Earlier this year in February, Tila took to Facebook and posted a rant calling out Kim Kardashian, and other women who dress like her, for taking steamy selfies.
If there was ever a star who was both made and destroyed by social media, it’s definitely the very troubled Tila Tequila.
Lena Dunham
Lena Dunham rose to fame with her TV series Girls but has gone from being the “liberal darling” of entertainment to being considered an over-privileged, hypocrite and racist.
Not only did Dunham face widespread backlash and criticism over her defence of Girls writer Murray Miller who was accused of assault, but her comments relating to football wide-receiver Odell Beckham Jr. landed her in hot water as well.
Lena Dunham commented on Twitter that: "@OBJ_3 is talented, stylish, seems super awesome and wasn't into chatting with me at a fancy party”. Her whole saga over the football star not speaking with her sparked a huge amount of controversy and criticism over her accusations.
Dunham’s misjudged tweets and social media posts have seen her fall out of favour with fans and industry people alike, and it seems like the poster girl for “white feminism” has put her foot in her mouth one too many times for her to be able to redeem herself.
Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton was the It Girl of the early and mid 2000s, rising to fame thanks to her part on the hit show The O.C. However, Barton’s career careened to a halt when the series came to a close in 2007, and the actress has failed to re-capture the positive limelight she seemed so on track to gain after her breakout role.
With nothing but negative headlines under her belt ever since she left her role as Marissa Cooper, Barton didn’t do herself any favors by posting a picture on Instagram in reaction to Alton Sterling’s shooting in 2016. Mischa posted a photo of herself in a bikini on a yacht, with a caption saying she was “truly heart broken” and “thank god the pigs get caught on camera now”.
People were quick to criticize the actress not only for her wording, but also for the seemingly strange picture she decided to pair with her statement. Things already weren’t looking great for the actress’ career, but this certainly didn’t do her any favors for her future either.
Scott Baio
Former Happy Days actor Scott Baio had an uncomfortably public Internet meltdown which began in 2009 when he started to spew some rather angry tweets. He directed his increasingly bizarre ire towards other public figures, including Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama, and expressed some pretty controversial political views on Twitter too.
Baio got himself in hot water as well when he suggested that his former Happy Days co-star Erin Moran had died due to a subtance abuse, when in fact Moran had likely passed away because of cancer. People took to Twitter to unleash their opinions on Baio’s comments, to which he replied that the only reason people were getting upset with him was because he was a Trump supporter.
Most recently, Baio has been accused of assault by his Charles in Charge co-star Nicole Eggert, and took to Facebook to deny the charges against him. This, of course, did not help Baio’s reputation.
Logan Paul
Social media star and actor Logan Paul made headlines in January 2018 for his highly controversial, sickening video of a man who had committed taken his own in a forest in Japan.
The Youtube vlogger, who had 15 millions subscribers on his YouTube channel, sparked outrage over his distasteful video which saw Paul joking and laughing in the video by the deceased person's body. Thousands of his viewers reacted negatively to the posted video, and called for the social media star to be banned from YouTube for good.
The video platform didn’t ban Paul, but instead put him on a 90-day probation that would suspend him from being in the Trending category. Logan Paul has since gone back to vlogging, but his reputation has forever been tarnished.
Tyrese Gibson
Tyrese Gibson is another star who made the mistake of publicizing his meltdown on social media in 2017. The singer-actor posted an emotional video of himself talking about the custody battle he was going through over his daughter, and later composed several posts addressing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson too.
His rambling posts blamed Johnson for his own money problems, saying that Universal Pictures’ decision to make a 2020 Fast and Furious spin-off with the Rock would mean that Tyrese’s payments would get delayed, a situation he could not afford to have happen due to mounting legal fees and child support payments.
Gibson has since apologized for his meltdown, and has blamed his emotional ranting on the medication he was taking. Many have been quick to condemn Gibson for exploiting his daughter on social media in order to get attention.
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Did we miss any other celebrity messes on social media? Let us know in the comments.