From beloved icons to public enemies, we're diving into the shocking stories of celebrities who went from hero to zero. Discover how these once-respected stars managed to completely destroy their reputations through scandalous behavior, controversial actions, and shocking allegations.
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00:00The truth is, I am that person that you see on TV. I am also a lot of other things."
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're examining famous faces who achieved love
00:10and respect from fans or colleagues during their rise,
00:12only to destroy their reputations through terrible behavior.
00:15R. Kelly is this fun, laughing, loving guy. But Robert is the devil."
00:23Armie Hammer
00:24In 2017, he became a household name and a rising acting talent due to his critically
00:29acclaimed work in Call Me By Your Name. However, 2021 saw Hammer's rise completely tank when he
00:37was accused of abuse by an ex-partner. During the news storm, an allegation of his desire
00:42to eat human meat was the nail in the coffin of Hammer's career. As a result, he was dropped
00:52from multiple film projects as no company wanted to associate with him. In 2022,
00:56on top of the documentary House of Hammer exploring the allegations,
00:59Hammer reportedly left Hollywood behind to sell timeshares in the Cayman Islands.
01:03In 2023, he partially admitted to the allegations by stating that he had used people during his heyday.
01:09Are you a cannibal?
01:10No. You know what you have to do to be a cannibal? You have to have actually eaten someone.
01:14James Corden
01:15After becoming a popular actor in the U.K. with his work on Gavin and Stacey,
01:19Corden jumped across the pond in 2015 to the States to host his own talk show,
01:23The Late Late Show with James Corden.
01:25Now, believe me, however shocked you are that I am doing this job,
01:29you will never be as shocked as I am.
01:31Rumors about his conduct slightly damaged his reputation, but those raised in 2022
01:36severely dented it. That year, restaurateur Keith McNally accused Corden of verbally abusing his
01:41staff at Balthazar Restaurant in Manhattan. On two occasions, the actor allegedly berated
01:46servers at the eatery, resulting in Corden being banned.
01:49In the heat of the moment, I made, I made a sarcastic, rude comment,
01:54right, about cooking it myself. And it is a comment I deeply regret.
01:59While Corden apologized for his behavior, getting him unbanned from Balthazar,
02:03he later walked back the apology, seemingly causing the ban to be reinstated.
02:06If he goes one step further and apologizes to the two servers he insulted,
02:11I'll let him eat for free at Balthazar for the next 10 years.
02:16Lance Armstrong
02:17Beating cancer, setting up a foundation, and setting records with Tour de France wins,
02:22Armstrong was not only a national treasure, but one of the most inspirational athletes of all time.
02:27It's nice to win.
02:28His incredible history seemed to be too good to be true, and it was.
02:31After years of rumors, in 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency accused Armstrong
02:36of supplying substances and doping in competitions. The group stripped him
02:40of his achievements from 1998 onwards and banned him from competitions for life.
02:45The disgraced American cyclist Lance Armstrong has been stripped of all
02:48seven of his Tour de France titles.
02:50While Armstrong denied the accusations, he didn't appeal. In 2013, any hope fans
02:55had that it was all a mistake was dashed when the cyclist admitted to Oprah Winfrey
02:59that he had doped.
03:00Yes or no, did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance?
03:05Yes.
03:05Jussie Smollett
03:06On the rise from his work on Empire and 2017's Alien Covenant,
03:10Smollett became a leading light in the LGBTQ community. Then, in 2019,
03:16horror struck when he was attacked in Chicago, Illinois,
03:18by two men who also yelled racist and homophobic slurs at the actor.
03:22Dozen detectives are pursuing new leads, including grainy photos of two persons of interest.
03:28However, a different story emerged when the police tracked down the attackers,
03:32who were brothers who worked as extras on Empire.
03:35Smollett had paid the duo to stage the attack, and he was arrested.
03:38How can you doubt that? Like, how do you not believe that? It's the truth.
03:42In 2022, after being found guilty, the actor was sentenced to 150 days in jail.
03:47A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Smollett on six counts of disorderly conduct.
03:52In 2024, Smollett took the case to the Illinois Supreme Court,
03:56which reversed his conviction due to making a deal to drop the charges in 2019.
04:00Jake and Logan Paul
04:02Both Paul brothers have had their mainstream celebrity dented due to scandal.
04:06First, in 2017, Logan released a vlog during a stint in Japan
04:10that showed a deceased man in a forest.
04:12Due to the backlash, Logan deleted the video and released an apology.
04:15I should have never posted the video. I should have put the cameras down.
04:19However, as a result, he lost several business and production deals.
04:23At the same time as this scandal, an older video of Jake rapping racial slurs came to light.
04:28With the younger Paul having already been fired from Disney's Bizaardvark due to
04:31problematic behavior involving his neighbors,
04:33it got worse in 2020 when he was filmed attending a riot in Scottsdale, Arizona,
04:37protesting George Floyd's murder. Jake was then later raided by the FBI.
04:41Sky 5 was over the scene Wednesday morning as federal agents entered Paul's home.
04:45Amber Heard
04:46With roles in The Danish Girl, Aquaman, and Justice League, Heard's acting career was taking
04:51off. However, in 2022, the defamation case between her and her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, got underway.
04:57Johnny was upset that he had to sell the boat.
05:00Depp had sued Heard due to her allegations that he was abusive during their relationship.
05:04While neither party came out of the suit looking good, with allegations of bad behavior on both
05:08sides, Heard was particularly demonized by people. At the end of the Depp v. Heard case,
05:13he was awarded $15 million, and she received $2 million.
05:17Do you find that Mr. Depp has proven all the elements of defamation? Answer, yes.
05:23After considering appeals, both parties settled. Heard moved to
05:26Spain to escape the criticism from the media and the general public.
05:29Even if you think that I'm lying, you still couldn't look me in the eye and tell me that
05:35you think on social media there's been a fair representation.
05:38Vince McMahon
05:39Seen as a trailblazer in helping turn professional wrestling from a fringe
05:42entertainment into a mainstream juggernaut, McMahon was a co-founder of WWE alongside
05:47his wife Linda. Yet, all those decades of goodwill and respect came to an end in 2022.
05:52It is a privilege, as always, to stand before you here tonight.
05:58That year, reports came out that McMahon had used millions of company finances
06:02to suppress misconduct allegations, forcing him to retire from the WWE.
06:07Earlier tonight, my father, Vince McMahon, retired from WWE.
06:19While he later returned in 2023 to the company's board, he was then accused of a litany of abuse
06:24and trafficking involving women who worked for WWE. As such, he resigned again. After one accuser
06:30issued a lawsuit against him, federal investigators stepped in. They opened a case against McMahon
06:34after the woman agreed to pause her suit. McMahon denies any wrongdoing and calls the lawsuit
06:38against him, quote, a vindictive distortion of the truth.
06:41Ellen DeGeneres
06:42The former stand-up talk show quickly became the go-to program for celebrities to promote
06:47themselves and their work, with millions of people tuning in to watch. However,
06:51all that changed in 2020 when workers on the show accused DeGeneres of fostering a toxic workplace,
06:56leading to instances of abuse, racism, and harassment.
07:00I'm following a BuzzFeed article that portrays the queen of nice as the queen of mean.
07:05In 2021, as the allegations continued to grow, DeGeneres' program lost around a million viewers.
07:10Shortly after, the once-beloved host announced her show would end in 2022.
07:15Thank you so much for being on this journey with me.
07:17In 2024, in DeGeneres' farewell stand-up tour to show business,
07:21she joked about the scandal, saying she was kicked out of the industry for being mean.
07:24You know, I used to say that I didn't care what other people thought of me,
07:28and I realize now, looking back, I said that at the height of my popularity.
07:32Kanye West
07:33West's reputation took a severe hit when he interrupted Taylor Swift's win at the
07:372009 MTV Video Music Awards to announce his belief that Beyoncé should have won.
07:42Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'm gonna let you finish.
07:46But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.
07:49While West had several controversies afterward, including being sentenced for attacking a press
07:54member in 2014, it got worse in 2022, when he began making anti-Semitic statements.
07:59I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can't drop me. Now what?
08:05The rapper praised Adolf Hitler and uploaded extremist imagery with the star of David,
08:09causing him to be banned from the former Twitter and lose a brand deal with Adidas.
08:13Several musicians then refused to let him sample their songs for his work.
08:17In 2024, West drew further ire for visiting Russia,
08:20earning him the title of the Enemy of Ukraine.
08:23Interview adjourned. Love you.
08:24R. Kelly
08:25With three Grammy Awards, many No. 1 hits, and a reputation as a leader of the R&B genre,
08:31Kelly was respected by fellow musicians and fans alike for decades.
08:34Women loved the way he looked, the way he sounded.
08:37People looked at him as the king of R&B.
08:40However, he also was dogged for many years by rumors of abuse.
08:44His image was tarnished, but it was forever broken in 2018,
08:47when more allegations came to light and the 2019 documentary,
08:51Surviving R. Kelly, was released, resulting in his arrest.
08:54Y'all killing me with this s**t!
08:56In 2022, he was found guilty in New York and sentenced to 30 years.
09:01In 2023, Kelly was found guilty in Illinois and received a sentence
09:04of 19 years concurrently with the New York verdict,
09:07plus an additional year, giving him 31 years in total.
09:10The jury believed them and found Robert Kelly guilty of those counts.
09:17Roseanne Barr
09:18Despite Roseanne Barr's history of controversial statements,
09:20her sitcom was revived in 2018.
09:23What happened?
09:24I thought you were dead!
09:26Soon after, more insensitive actions further damaged her reputation.
09:30On Twitter, Barr compared Valerie Jarrett, an advisor of Barack Obama,
09:34to an ape, leading to accusations of racism.
09:37While she apologized for the incident,
09:38Barr claimed she was only being accused of racism due to voting for Donald Trump,
09:42claiming it was a joke, and also blamed medication for what she did.
09:45I thought the bitch was white! Goddamn it!
09:51In response, ABC canceled Roseanne,
09:53reworking it into The Conners, without Barr's involvement.
09:56Since then, she has further raised ire by making insensitive comments
09:59concerning atrocities during World War II.
10:02I guess they saw because I supported President Trump, or whatever reason they had.
10:06Bill Cosby
10:07Known as America's dad for his work on The Cosby Show,
10:10he became a legendary figure in the entertainment industry.
10:13Yet, behind the scenes, Cosby lived a very different life.
10:16I don't understand what you're talking about.
10:18In 2014, a series of allegations against him involving his abuse
10:22and assault of women over decades grew in notoriety due to comments by Hannibal Burress.
10:27This led to a criminal case being issued against Cosby in 2015.
10:31In 2018, during a retrial, he was found guilty and sentenced to between 3 to 10 years.
10:36In 2021, Cosby's sentence was overturned due to a complicated technicality.
10:40Mr. Cosby, how does it feel to be held?
10:42Cosby did not say a word.
10:44In 2022, he lost a civil lawsuit and was ordered to pay $500,000 in damages to the victim.
10:50They awarded the Riverside County woman half a million dollars.
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11:09Sean Combs
11:10Under the name Diddy and various alternate titles, Combs grew from a successful rapper
11:14to one of music's biggest influencers despite several legal issues.
11:21However, in 2023, that legacy was destroyed after his ex-partner,
11:26Cassie Ventura, issued a lawsuit against him for a litany of crimes,
11:29including abuse and assault. After that lawsuit was settled, more accusations from other victims
11:34came forward, as well as CCTV footage of Combs attacking Ventura at a hotel.
11:39My behavior on that video is inexcusable.
11:42Many celebrities distanced themselves from Combs, whose reputation spiraled downward.
11:47Facing a mountain of lawsuits and allegations, in 2024, Combs was arrested and charged with
11:52a series of despicable crimes and has so far been denied bail multiple times.
11:56He's set to face trial in 2025.
11:58The judge set a trial date of May 5th, 2025.
12:02Were you a fan of anyone in the video that you grew to despise? Or was there
12:05another beloved celebrity who you began hating? Let us know below.
12:08I got to a point where I realized I was becoming someone that I didn't recognize and didn't want
12:15to be.
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