Social media can be a double-edged sword, and these posts prove just how quickly things can go wrong. From offensive tweets to tone-deaf celebrity moments, we're diving into the most controversial social media posts that sparked massive public outrage and career-ending consequences.
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00:00With that single inflammatory tweet, Roseanne's rising star imploded today.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be looking at the most unforgettable social media
00:10posts that drew intense backlash and thrust their creators into the center of heated controversies.
00:15This is one of the fastest responses and crash and burns I've ever seen from a tweet.
00:21CeeLo Green's tweets about consent.
00:23CeeLo, whose real name is Thomas DeCarlo Calloway, is due back in court today for the first time
00:28since entering a not-guilty plea in October to a felony charge of furnishing a controlled substance.
00:34In 2012, a woman accused singer CeeLo Green of slipping her a date drug and sexually assaulting her.
00:39While authorities declined to pursue sexual assault charges due to insufficient evidence,
00:44Green pleaded no contest to one count of furnishing a narcotic.
00:48But this morning, the Forget You singer is finding out even without the sexual assault case,
00:52prosecutors haven't forgotten about the drug charges.
00:55If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.
00:59Shortly after, he took to Twitter to voice his opinion on the matter.
01:02In a series of now-deleted tweets, Green attempted to redefine sexual assault, suggesting that
01:06actual victims would remember the incident.
01:09The posts lit a firestorm on Twitter, forcing Green to temporarily deactivate his account.
01:14Although he later returned and apologized, the damage was already done.
01:17His TBS show, The Good Life, was canceled, and he was booted from the animated film Hotel
01:21Transylvania 2.
01:22Please don't kill me!
01:24I mean, yo, V, what's up?
01:27Talking toilet paper.
01:29Well, that's a new one.
01:31Danny Mathers' body-shaming snaps
01:32She's a celebrated Playboy Playmate who fired her torpedo into her own career with a single
01:37click from her phone.
01:39Playboy Playmate Danny Mathers was at her local gym in July 2016 when she came across
01:44a 71-year-old woman changing in the locker room.
01:47Instead of minding her business, Mathers secretly took a picture of the naked woman and posted
01:50it on Snapchat.
01:52Alongside a selfie covering her mouth.
01:54Unsurprisingly, the internet was not amused.
01:56The combination went viral, and the backlash online?
01:59Immediate and relentless.
02:01Facing a storm of backlash, Mathers deleted the post and claimed it was intended as a
02:05private message.
02:06But her tone-deaf stunt wasn't just socially unacceptable, it was also a legal violation.
02:11Mathers was charged with invasion of privacy and risked up to six months behind bars.
02:16In the end, she pleaded no contest and was sentenced to three years' probation and
02:1930 hours of graffiti removal service.
02:22All it took was a single Snapchat to turn Danny Mathers from Playmate to Pariah.
02:29Dylan Mulvaney's Bud Light Advertisement
02:36What started as a simple beer ad quickly spiraled into a massive boycott campaign.
02:40In April 2023, transgender actress and influencer Dylan Mulvaney shared a short promotional
02:45video for Bud Light on Instagram.
02:47The campaign aimed to boost sales by appealing to younger consumers and positioning the brand
02:52as more inclusive.
02:53However, this backfired, as the ad was reviled by many in conservative circles.
03:06Musicians, politicians, and commentators not only called for a boycott, but also directed
03:10a barrage of threats towards Mulvaney.
03:13Bud Light's response to the backlash, which neither supported Mulvaney nor renounced the
03:17ad, managed to please no one.
03:19As a result, the brand's sales plummeted by as much as 26 percent, and its parent company's
03:23stock price fell by 20 percent.
03:28Bow Wow's Private Jet Post
03:42The lives of the rich and famous are often portrayed as so glamorous they might make
03:46you envious.
03:51But needless to say, not everything they showcase is genuine.
03:54Case in point, Bow Wow.
03:55In May 2017, the rapper posted an Instagram photo of a private jet, implying he was flying
04:00to New York in style.
04:01However, mere hours later, a passenger spotted him in Economy on a commercial plane, took
04:05a picture, and shared it online.
04:15To make matters worse, a reverse image search revealed that the photo he posted was actually
04:19a stock image from a transport company.
04:21Internet users united in their ridicule of the rapper, even creating the hashtag BowWowChallenge,
04:26posting side-by-side pictures of their own exaggerated luxury alongside the less-than-glamorous
04:31reality.
04:39The Star-Stuttered Imagine Video
04:47In March 2020, the entire world was plunged into chaos as the COVID-19 pandemic spread,
04:52leaving many uncertain about the future.
04:54During this turbulent period, Hollywood actress Gal Gadot decided that what humanity really
04:58needed was a montage of celebrities singing along to John Lennon's Imagine.
05:07The three-minute clip was posted to Instagram, and in addition to Gadot, featured names like
05:11Kristen Wiig, Jimmy Fallon, Natalie Portman, and Will Ferrell.
05:14Despite the widespread confusion in the world at the time, everyone was crystal clear that
05:18the clip was not only tone-deaf and cringeworthy, but ultimately pointless.
05:22Gadot later acknowledged that the project was in poor taste, but reiterated that they
05:25all had pure intentions making it.
05:32Justine Sacco's Offensive Tweet
05:42Prior to December 20, 2013, Justine Sacco served as the Senior Director of Corporate
05:47Communications at the media company IAC.
05:50That day, however, her life changed dramatically thanks to a single, ill-conceived tweet.
05:54Just before boarding her flight from London to Cape Town, South Africa, Sacco posted an
05:59offensive comment that trivialized the prevalence of HIV in the country.
06:12The tweet was widely seen as racist and very quickly lit a social media firestorm while
06:16Sacco was blissfully offline mid-air.
06:19Before long, this obscure tweet from an account with just about 200 followers was trending
06:23worldwide.
06:24After Sacco landed and realized the magnitude of her misstep, she issued a public apology,
06:29acknowledging her insensitive comment.
06:31Nevertheless, she was fired by her employers.
06:41Roseanne Barr's Racist Tweet
06:49The year was 2018.
06:51The ABC sitcom Roseanne had been revived for a tenth season that premiered to impressive
06:55ratings.
06:56Everything was going great for the show's star and producer, Roseanne Barr, until May
07:0029 when she targeted former White House advisor Valerie Jarrett in what was widely criticized
07:05as a racist tweet.
07:06Barr initially doubled down, but as the backlash exploded, she apologized for the tweet and
07:11blamed it on the sleeping drug Ambien.
07:13The drug's manufacturer had to step in to publicly refute her claims.
07:16That same day, ABC canceled the revival of Roseanne, just two months after renewing it
07:21for another season.
07:22The show was eventually retooled as The Conners, but this time without Barr in the picture.
07:36Kanye West's Anti-Semitic Tweet
07:45Kanye West has long been a magnet for controversy, but in October 2022, his behavior reached
07:50a troubling new low.
07:52After being locked out of Instagram for suggesting that Sean Diddy Combs was controlled by Jewish
07:55people, West moved to Twitter to escalate his rhetoric.
07:59There, he posted a tweet threatening violence against Jewish people and absurdly claimed
08:03he couldn't be anti-Semitic.
08:04Turns out he could.
08:06West's tweet drew the ire of many across the board and resulted in his Twitter account
08:10also getting locked.
08:11From there, things went downhill pretty quickly.
08:13Several high-profile companies with whom he shared business partnerships, including Adidas,
08:18Gap, Balenciaga, and Vogue all severed ties with him.
08:21Despite these significant losses, West continued to spread hateful remarks.
08:39Kathy Griffin's Trump Mask
08:49Donald Trump is undeniably a polarizing figure, but that does not excuse the controversial
08:53stunt Kathy Griffin pulled in May 2017.
08:55The comedian shared a video on Instagram and Twitter in which she held a bloody mask that
08:59closely resembled Trump.
09:01Griffin may be widely known for her shock humor, but this was a step too far.
09:09The posts were criticized both by Trump's supporters and his detractors, as many took
09:12it as a veiled threat of violence against the president.
09:15As a result, Griffin lost multiple endorsement deals and jobs and was forced to cancel her
09:19upcoming tour dates.
09:21She initially apologized and removed the posts, but she later retracted her apology and even
09:25reposted the image after Trump lost the 2020 election.
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10:00Kevin Spacey's Twitter Apology
10:16The MeToo movement brought a tsunami of revelations that toppled many Hollywood elites, but few
10:21fell as hard as Kevin Spacey.
10:23It all began when Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances towards him back
10:27in 1986, when Rapp was still a minor.
10:39In response, Spacey uploaded a statement to his Twitter apologizing to Rapp but claiming
10:43he couldn't recall the incident.
10:44If he had just ended there, things might have played out differently.
10:47Instead, he used the same statement to come out as gay, a move that was widely seen as
10:51a clumsy attempt to distract from the very serious allegations.
10:55Spacey received a deafening wave of criticism from all sides, and his reputation has since
11:00remained irreparably damaged.
11:18Which of these social media posts did you think was deserving of the backlash it received?
11:22Let us know in the comments below.
11:23But she's not the only one who's learning the hard way about the mistakes we can't take
11:27back on social media.