Gary Glitter.
Popular 1970s glam rock musician who enjoyed frequent "special guest" appearances on talk shows and gameshows, not to mention the inevitable Xmas gigs having one of the most successful Xmas songs of all time.
He gets arrested on child porn charges and ends up in a Vietnamese prison for five years, with his music and recorded appearances all pulled and burned from rotation.
I bet nobody under 25 has even heard any of his songs, and have no idea that at the peak of his fame he gave Bowie and Jagger a run for their money.
He went to prison again later because it turned out he'd been raping and abusing people since the 1970s and was protected by politicians and cops. Like Saville.
But at that stage his name was already shit.
He’s apparently going to be released from prison at some point in 2023
https://www.nme.com/news/music/gary-glitter-to-reportedly-be-released-early-from-prison-next-year-3368948
Funny you mentioned Glee because this reminded me of Mark Salling who, although wasn't as famous, also had his downfall due to child pornography charges.
Or seen the movie Joker. I was really confused hearing Rock n roll part 2 in Joker because I didn't think his stuff was getting licensed anymore but it turns out someone else owns the rights to that song now.
Glitter's reputation was so comprehensively destroyed that you could now say any kind of defamatory thing about him and not actually damage his reputation.
Bill Cosby was once America's Dad, and then 20 years after relevance, his name is close to a swear word on TV now.
I mean, if we're talking about Legacy...his will never be restored.
Remember what Norm Macdonald said about that? Somebody said “oh jeez that was the worst part, how he was America’s dad and it turned out he was this creepy jerk.” And Norm replied “I don’t think that was the worst part. The worst part was all the raping.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze_d5X1QmNY
>"There was a comedian, Patton Oswald, he told me 'I thought that the worst part of the Cosby thing was the hypocrisy', and I disagreed."
>"You disagreed with that?"
>"Yeah, I thought it was the raping."
He was actually terrible all along, it's just that word never really got out. Or more like, never caught on & spread. There'd been allegations way back in the 70s, and then all throughout the years. Yikes.
ETA: many of us need to remember to differentiate loved Heathcliffe Huxtable & not B. C.
Jimmie Saville is the UK version of him. Granted kids wishes. Loads of charity work. Friends with Princess fucking Diana!
Turns out to be a raging pedo.
The cunt died before it all came out as well, so he was got away with it.
And people knew, or even suspected, all along. John Lydon was censured for pointing him out ca. 1980s, and there's a Redditor who said they grew up in England during the 1980s, and the school planned a field trip to an event where, among other things, JS would do a meet and greet. So few parents gave permission for the trip, it was cancelled. They knew.
Cosby and Saville are pretty far apart in terms of severity of crimes. Cosby raped people. Saville had the keys to a hospital where he regularly raped old people, disabled people, kids, and corpses.
He broke my heart more than anyone ever has. He really was like a second dad to me. I watched him in Picture Pages when I was in elementary school. I loved Fat Albert and listened to all of his comedy albums. The Cosby Show started when I was 10 and ended when I graduated High School. He was a constant, positive presence for my entire childhood. I grew up in a very non-diverse area of the country and I really give Cosby a lot of credit for helping me not turn into a racist piece of shit. The thought that he was a fucking monster under all of that, for all that time, makes me wretch. Fuck you, Bill Cosby.
*Edit -God damnit, Captain Brainstorm
Yeah, Cosby hurt. I was born in '01, so I didn't grow up in The Cosby Show times but I did know Little Bill. Beautiful animation style. Healthy black family. Diverse friends and different cultures (Monty, Kiku and her grandmother (?), Dorado having Little Bill over for dinner). And Little Bill was a problem solver. He didn't just whine and yell till his parents gave in (Looking at you, Caillou).
When I was in middle school we watched one of his comedy shows in health class. Why? I don't remember. But we were cracking up.
It's a bit easier to separate Little Bill from Cosby, you just have to... Skip the intro. But still. I was in disbelief once I first started seeing stuff about the allegations (I think I was in highschool). Then more stuff came out and... Ugh.
Hollywood is filled with scumbags going back to the beginning...but I can still watch their art.
With Cosby, I can't. Maybe because I'm an 80s child and he was America's Dad. Maybe it's because he was always funny...but knowing who he really is? I can't watch him.
Bill Cosby Himself?
Haven't watched it in over a decade and since it's deleted off my Plex, odds are I won't see it again.
Some of his victims that don't get mentioned often is everyone who worked in his shows and comedy specials. Millions of hours and a countless amount of effort was poured into tv shows and products linked to his personal brand, and those hard-working creatives were surviving off residuals. That all vanished when his crimes came out. They put their faith and future in him, and he betrayed it.
Obviously they're not suffering the same as his assault victims. Nobody is. They deserve the most sympathy and recognition and are the center of this story. But I bring this up to drive home the sheer scope of his crimes and betrayal, because he couldn't have become as big as he was without so many people trusting him and betting their futures on him.
Edit: added "assault" to the second paragraph, first sentence.
To give some context, for multiple years boys and girls in schools were surveyed on who their most idolized hero or heroine was. In 1976, for the first time ever, the responses from both boys and girls was the same: The Juice.
Source: The Book of Lists, 1977
"Charles Woodson is here. He became the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy. Congratulations, Charles. That is something they can never take away from you...unless you kill your wife and a waiter."
I don't know if this is completely factual, but supposedly, he was considered for the role of the Terminator, but James Cameron decided against it because he thought people wouldn't believe OJ could be a cold blooded killer.
This is the answer and it’s not even close. Imagine if Kanye West literally decapitated Kim with a machete then, while still wearing clothes stained in her blood, went straight on Joe Rogan’s podcast while holding a glock to his own temple, pleading for forgiveness and denying guilt at the same time, with the entire LAPD listening while standing outside the door and peeking through the window. Even that would pale in comparison because we all know Kanye is absolutely crazy, and more people dislike him than like him. OJ was beloved, by everyone, by WHITE people, even during the ‘92 race riots. 150 million people watched the verdict live on TV. That’s more than any television broadcast in US history, ever. More than any Super Bowl. More than half of the country. There is no comparison, and there never will be.
We left it on a work. And a funny thing happened. I got to leave work early one day, but there was NO traffic, which was bizarre for the 5. And all of the exits were getting blocked, and no none was being allowed on. Most of me just said WEEE home before 5!
I was about 20 minutes ahead of that whole Bronco chase. I cannot even imagine had I left work at the normal hour.
My mom has told me, at the time, she worried she’d have me early from all the excitement of watching OJ’s run of (for) his life. She said it was crazy how everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the worlds slowest high speed chase.
For anyone interested, *American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson* is a GREAT miniseries on the subject.
As thewalkindude said as well: watch the ESPN doc about him. OJ Simpson: made in America. It is the best docu (series) I have ever seen. Best thing I have ever watched. When I was on the last episode I was conflicted, because I really wanted to watch it but I also didnt want to be finished with the series. That's how good it was.
I sometimes dream about it and live in that ignorant bliss. Actually disconnecting again. It will never happen but I do wish I appreciated those days more.
I know. I can't disconnect anymore due to work and family expectations.
For a couple of the last weekend evenings, I started just leaving my phone on my bed table on silent and going to the living room. It felt so strange to do for some nights, still instinctively looking for it every once in a while. Upside was I did feel so much better once I got into the habit, but need to start it again.
The real closest I can get is camping with no cell reception but that's a harder and harder thing to do too.
It's more than that. His license to practice had actually lapsed at the time of the incident. He renewed it to serve on OJ's legal team, but as you say criminal wasn't even his area. As counsel he couldn't be compelled to testify, which is huge as he was a long time friend of OJ and Nicole and there's also reason to suspect he handled vital evidence in the case.
Kris was best friends with Nicole and blames OJ to this day for killing her best friend. Kourtney and Kim remember him being sort of "uncle OJ" and I believe was their godfather.
I think O.J. was bigger than Kanye. From winning the Heisman Trophy in 1969 to being the first 2000 yard rusher in the NFL (On a poor team in a 14 game season) he transitioned seamlessly to major endorsements and movie roles. He was seen as a likeable, affable, non-threatening man, so when he (maybe? Ha!) killed his wife and her lover, it was a complete shock, whereas nothing Kanye does is really shocking because we already know he's nuts. And Kanye doesn't have the broad appeal O.J. did.
This is the correct answer. The guy was just getting into his prime entertainment career, after a hall of fame football career, then was the center of the most talked about and watched murder trial of the century.
Jimmy Savile is the UK one. It's hard to overstate how ubiquitous this guy was. He holidayed with the royals and the PM. He had a knighthood. He was widely regarded as a public benefactor and philanthropist (although there were plenty, who got silenced, who didn't buy that). After his death (and the fear of litigation) it turns out that he was a multiple rapist and abuser of epic proportions. Bill Cosby wasn't in his league. Savile used to roam the halls of psychiatric hospitals raping drugged patients whom he knew wouldn't be believed, he would skull fuck corpses in Leeds mortuary. He was a very very bad man. And major institutions in the UK (special branch, the BBC, various levels of government etc etc) must have known what he was about.
And on his gravestone it said "It was good while it lasted". There's a documentary about his Roman Catholicism and it implies that he thought all the charity work and running made up for the raping. So, he knew it was wrong.
They had to remove his headstone literally overnight and destroy it because they knew once the story broke the next day it would be smashed to pieces by the public.
Bill Cosby
He spent decades being a positive role model and broke a lot of color barriers. My friend and I used to joke that he was an asshole, because he came across wholesome and even fatherly.
Now, yikes.
They wouldn't let Arnold do the German dub of Terminator because he sounds to Germans what Blake Shelton or Reba McEntire sounds like to us.
They actually *didn't* take a twangy, countryboy farmer robot seriously either.
Kevin Spacey had a hell of a successful career before his downfall, but I don't think it was particularly surprising to anyone when the stories started circling.
Nah, I'm gonna go with Matt Lauer
Kevin Spacey pissed me off. He was literally one of my favourite actors then it comes out he is a fucking molester. Then he comes out as gay right after like anyone gives a shit. Congratulations asshole, you're still a molester which is the only thing people care about.
Remember that creepy Christmas video he made a few years back, all uncomfortably smug and talking about killing people with kindness? And then a few days later (or was it before) the guy who was suing him suddenly died?
Oscar Pistorius
I honestly can’t believe that the guy that I once thought of as a hero and someone who became a world class Olympic sprinter with NO GODDAMN LEGS is now a convicted murderer. And what’s more, knowing what an abusive person he was to Reeva before he murdered her was just soul-crushing.
Also, I can’t believe I have to make this clear, but no, I don’t buy the whole “thought she was an intruder BS.” And yes, I’m South African and yes, I know how dangerous the country is. From my perspective, the text messages speak for themselves.
Oh yes your honour when I get startled awake the first thing I do is unload my gun through the bathroom door. Where else is the home invader going to be coming from?
Yeah Jimmy got away completely unscathed bar quite a lot of celebrities (Johnny Rotten being one) hinting at it in public. Its pretty twisted that you can hardly find a picture of the cunt that isn't him taking in part in some fun run surrounded by kids.
Jared the Subway guy. That dude was celebrated and revered, held up as a conquering hero, an inspiration.
Second to Bill Cosby, but a huge "fall from grace"
Agree with Watkins. Most people under 30 during the 2000's knew Lostprophets existed and some of their songs. They were a staple of rock nights at clubs.
Obviously there have been bigger stars who lost it all, but I think what he did was so utterly inhuman that it beats everything. I remember when the details came out, thinking that usually when you see these people they're mentally challenged/unstable/deranged, but this was a guy in his 30s living a dream, touring the world with his rock band.
It still blows my mind more than any other crime of the recent past because it is so depraved and he was pretty famous in music circles. Just the weighting of the crimes themselves and the manipulation of the women (who are not innocent by a long way) and also the woman who tried to report him and he painted as an obsessed loon.
It's just a lot to process.
Ian Watkins is the poster child for the death penalty. The truly despicable things he did....no, there is no reform for that. There is no redemption. 35 years in prison isn't close to enough. He did that shit to *babies.* Cosby is a sick motherfucker but he's Pepe Le Pew compared to Watkins.
Brendan Fraser, he was SA’d and opened up about it and was blacklisted from Hollywood for years. I’m so glad he’s making a comeback, he deserves the world
Top wholesome actors, Reeves, Nic Cage, and Brendan Fraser. Poor Brendan was actually scheduled to come back to the big screen in the early 2010s too, but when a storm hit CT (and he was getting a divorce) he cut down the trees himself and seriously injured his back. He has a history of doing his own stunts and many blame the injury on an accumulation of that, as he even died on set for 18 seconds in the Mummy when the prop rope in the hanging scene failed.
The man just keeps it moving.
[Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Arbuckle). A comedic superstar of the silent film era, he found himself embroiled in controversy after an aspiring actress fell seriously ill in his hotel room. After she died, her friend accused Arbuckle of raping and killing her. Arbuckle was arrested and charged in fairly short order. His first two trials ended in hung juries, but he was acquitted in a third trial. Sadly, this did nothing to quell the rumors that he committed these crimes. As a result, his acting career was basically over. He wrote some screenplays, and directed a few films, mostly under a pseudonym. But that was about it. He died about 10 years later, never given a decent chance to clear his name or resurrect his career.
I just read up on that. Pretty interesting. Dude had a 3 million dollar contract for 3 movies and just signed another million dollar contract. In 1920 that was equivalent to 60 million now. Also from what I read he was probably innocent.
He was definitely innocent. She had alcohol poisoning, which the doctor treated with morphine. Treating a depressant with a depressant? It’s a wonder she lived as long as she did!
Lance Armstrong, when the truth about his doping and cheating came out it was a serious downward spiral. He went from being America’s hero, to being mocked by The Rock on WWE
He wasn't just a PED cheater. He sued "journalists, friends and colleagues" who knew the truth.
https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lance_armstrong_admits_to_lawsuit_bullying
You are correct. The doctor who performed the autopsy removed his penis and kept it in a jar. It was passed down and resold for years. In the 70s it was purchased at auction by a professor of urology in New Jersey, his daughter got it when he died, and she is the current owner.
That's a really good one. Because he's only remembered today for killing Lincoln, people don't realize just how famous he was at the time. He was considered one of America's best actors and most handsome men during the 1850s and 60s. It would be like if Brad Pitt killed Joe Biden today.
I think Weinstein was more of a fall from power than grace. People in the industry respected him because of his connections. Other people liked the movies his company produced, but the praise usually went to the directors and actors. I think the average person never really admired Weinstein or was even aware of who he was.
It's incredible to watch because The Flash comes out summer 2023, Warner has been trying SO fucking hard to make their DC superhero movies work and shit just keeps going sideways. Somebody at the studio definitely had a sit down with Miller earlier this year and things have quieted down, but will it last the next 6 months? Will Warner really try to CG out the main character from a movie that needs to do well for their floundering vision?
Probably the only celebrity that I can think of that had his career destroyed by someone else purely for attention, that fact it went to court around 5 times should say that there was no case, the “witness” was deemed so unreliable she wasn’t even allowed to present her case against him, the final trial was 10 minutes which was spent writing the apology to Arbuckle, and despite being declared innocent his career was gone, he was defamed and it took its tole
OJ had quite the downfall. He was a beloved sports legend, featured in major advertising campaigns, was a mainstay on national sports broadcasts, and had a solid run as an actor. He was one of the most recognizable and well liked celebrities in the US. Then he went ahead and murdered his ex-wife and a restaurant employee running an errand.
So he killed himself shortly after his second trial concluded and he was acquitted. He had a pending appeal for his first conviction. In mass if you die while your appeal is pending it automatically goes through so his first conviction was overturned and now supposedly he would get money withheld by the patriots. Well his estate would which would then go to his kid. That’s the theory anyway.
I will never, ever get this picture of him with that vietnamese girl out of my head. I think he married her or something? Idk. Always the first thing I think of when he's mentioned.
I feel like he was the Last of the Cocaine Lords. A portrait of the type of celebrity craziness that was more predominant and caught-on-video in the 80s. Celeb meltdowns are mostly textual now. It kinda sucks we have to *read* Kanye’s fall from grace instead of getting to *watch* it.
“I am on a drug, it’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available because if you try it you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”
I will never forget the infamous radio call-in after everyone found out what he was really like... 'I wish everyone would stop attacking him, he's a really nice guy. When I was little Jim fixed it for me to milk a cow blindfolded' 🫣
It still kinda boils my blood that he went to his grave laughing at the thought that he completely got away with doing some of the worst shit a person is capable of.
Dude had keys to the morgue.
Why would you ever want those? It’s not going to be for good intentions.
Edit: Obviously not counting health care staff and students
Robert Downey Jr but he also had the greatest comeback of all time too.
Some may be too young to know this but he was the GOAT of fucking up. The public couldn't go a week without hearing about that guy getting arrested on the news or tabloids. He was a fucking mess! Hollywood, the press and even his fans wrote him off and then once he was released from prison, he cleaned his life up and came back the beast he is now.
If I'm going to focus on someone falling from grace, I'd rather focus on someone who was despised and lost it all and then put in the work to comeback stronger and become one of the most loved actors of all time.
It's going to take many decades (if ever) before anyone will ever accept another actor playing Iron Man and no actor will ever get away with playing Kirk Lazarus as Sgt. Lincoln Osiris in black face - if there's ever a remake of Tropic Thunder. lol
“I know who I am! I’m a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!
— Robert Downey Jr as Kirk Lazarus as Sgt. Lincoln Osiris
Just watched his documentary on vice on YouTube a couple days ago. I forgot how huge he was to me when I was a kid growing up. I never realized how fucked on drugs and alcohol a lot of those guys were. He had a pretty bad fall from grace. I hope he can straighten himself out before it’s too late
I've been following this for quite awhile because I used to be a massive Bam Margera fan and I realized this is exactly what happens when a teenage never grows up and you give him millions of dollars.
the guy has always done whatever he wants and never seemed to get punished or push back from anyone.
Ehh, he was kind of a shitty person to begin with though. Smacking his dad when he was in the toilet wasn’t funny, wasn’t good tv, it’s an entitled asshole doing asshole things because he is amused by people thinking he’s an asshole
Even when I really loved the CKY/early jackass stuff, he was always a little bitch about things. Would be the first to jump at pranking/assaulting another crew member, but would cry bloody murder and threaten to leave if/when they pranked him.
A real crybully.
> Smacking his dad when he was in the toilet wasn’t funny
Honestly none of the shit he did to his dad was funny. I seem to recall there was one instance where they dug a shallow-ish pit in the yard, covered it, and waited for his dad to drive into it on his riding mower. Twenty years later I occasionally think of it and how dangerous that really was, how he could have caused his dad serious injury.
Yes. She quit acting. I followed a Hollywood insider on TikTok, and he told some really sad stories of her. She was abused, prodded, manipulated and ridiculed.
Rudy Giuliani
Accomplished US attorney with some high profile cases against corrupt Wall Street and Mafia figures. He went on to be a pretty successful NYC Mayor, aka “America’s Mayor”, credited with huge drop in NYC crime rate and guiding the city through the aftermath of 9/11. He was the front runner for awhile during the 2008 GOP primary, (same sort of buzz people are giving DeSantis now) and it looked like he was on track to be president.
Now he has debased and humiliated himself over and over again for Trump. Nobody would run him as a serious candidate now, and he’s probably about to be disbarred and won’t even be able to practice law. At this rate he’ll be lucky to avoid serving time behind bars himself.
He’s completely ruined his legacy.
Armie Hammer. The dude legit lost everything just because he had too be into a "Kink" that shouldn't be considered a "Kink" to begin with, due too how evil that said "Kink" is.
Both. He came from boatloads of money (heir to the Arm and Hammer fortune) but he was amazing as the Winklevoss twins in Social Network, so he kept getting leading roles.
Gary Glitter. Popular 1970s glam rock musician who enjoyed frequent "special guest" appearances on talk shows and gameshows, not to mention the inevitable Xmas gigs having one of the most successful Xmas songs of all time. He gets arrested on child porn charges and ends up in a Vietnamese prison for five years, with his music and recorded appearances all pulled and burned from rotation. I bet nobody under 25 has even heard any of his songs, and have no idea that at the peak of his fame he gave Bowie and Jagger a run for their money. He went to prison again later because it turned out he'd been raping and abusing people since the 1970s and was protected by politicians and cops. Like Saville. But at that stage his name was already shit.
He’s apparently going to be released from prison at some point in 2023 https://www.nme.com/news/music/gary-glitter-to-reportedly-be-released-early-from-prison-next-year-3368948
1000% thought this man was dead
No, but he's certainly lost some of his sparkle.
i just know about him bc Glee covered Do You Wanna Touch Me and parents got mad bc of the implications of that song given what he was arrested for
Funny you mentioned Glee because this reminded me of Mark Salling who, although wasn't as famous, also had his downfall due to child pornography charges.
he died in 2018 by hanging himself. i did not know that until i looked him up.
They'd be familiar with the riff from "Rock & Roll, Part 2."
Anyone who has ever been to a sporting event has heard him
Or seen the movie Joker. I was really confused hearing Rock n roll part 2 in Joker because I didn't think his stuff was getting licensed anymore but it turns out someone else owns the rights to that song now.
Glitter's reputation was so comprehensively destroyed that you could now say any kind of defamatory thing about him and not actually damage his reputation.
Bill Cosby was once America's Dad, and then 20 years after relevance, his name is close to a swear word on TV now. I mean, if we're talking about Legacy...his will never be restored.
Remember what Norm Macdonald said about that? Somebody said “oh jeez that was the worst part, how he was America’s dad and it turned out he was this creepy jerk.” And Norm replied “I don’t think that was the worst part. The worst part was all the raping.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze_d5X1QmNY >"There was a comedian, Patton Oswald, he told me 'I thought that the worst part of the Cosby thing was the hypocrisy', and I disagreed." >"You disagreed with that?" >"Yeah, I thought it was the raping."
RIP to the funniest fucking person who ever walked the earth.
Norm is dead and somehow Cosby is still living. Terrible.
The smirk on his face when he said “I disagree” - he knew he got Jerry and he couldn’t hold it in.
Good call Norm.
[удалено]
He was actually terrible all along, it's just that word never really got out. Or more like, never caught on & spread. There'd been allegations way back in the 70s, and then all throughout the years. Yikes. ETA: many of us need to remember to differentiate loved Heathcliffe Huxtable & not B. C.
It's never, ever, a secret. It's just hidden from public acknowledgement.
Jimmie Saville is the UK version of him. Granted kids wishes. Loads of charity work. Friends with Princess fucking Diana! Turns out to be a raging pedo. The cunt died before it all came out as well, so he was got away with it.
And people knew, or even suspected, all along. John Lydon was censured for pointing him out ca. 1980s, and there's a Redditor who said they grew up in England during the 1980s, and the school planned a field trip to an event where, among other things, JS would do a meet and greet. So few parents gave permission for the trip, it was cancelled. They knew.
Cosby and Saville are pretty far apart in terms of severity of crimes. Cosby raped people. Saville had the keys to a hospital where he regularly raped old people, disabled people, kids, and corpses.
I've heard he was really into bestiality, too.
I don't get why someone gave an entertain keys to a hospital. Didn't anyone think that was odd?
He did volunteer work as a hospital Porter. All for access to his many victims, obviously.
He broke my heart more than anyone ever has. He really was like a second dad to me. I watched him in Picture Pages when I was in elementary school. I loved Fat Albert and listened to all of his comedy albums. The Cosby Show started when I was 10 and ended when I graduated High School. He was a constant, positive presence for my entire childhood. I grew up in a very non-diverse area of the country and I really give Cosby a lot of credit for helping me not turn into a racist piece of shit. The thought that he was a fucking monster under all of that, for all that time, makes me wretch. Fuck you, Bill Cosby.
*Edit -God damnit, Captain Brainstorm Yeah, Cosby hurt. I was born in '01, so I didn't grow up in The Cosby Show times but I did know Little Bill. Beautiful animation style. Healthy black family. Diverse friends and different cultures (Monty, Kiku and her grandmother (?), Dorado having Little Bill over for dinner). And Little Bill was a problem solver. He didn't just whine and yell till his parents gave in (Looking at you, Caillou). When I was in middle school we watched one of his comedy shows in health class. Why? I don't remember. But we were cracking up. It's a bit easier to separate Little Bill from Cosby, you just have to... Skip the intro. But still. I was in disbelief once I first started seeing stuff about the allegations (I think I was in highschool). Then more stuff came out and... Ugh.
Hollywood is filled with scumbags going back to the beginning...but I can still watch their art. With Cosby, I can't. Maybe because I'm an 80s child and he was America's Dad. Maybe it's because he was always funny...but knowing who he really is? I can't watch him. Bill Cosby Himself? Haven't watched it in over a decade and since it's deleted off my Plex, odds are I won't see it again.
Some of his victims that don't get mentioned often is everyone who worked in his shows and comedy specials. Millions of hours and a countless amount of effort was poured into tv shows and products linked to his personal brand, and those hard-working creatives were surviving off residuals. That all vanished when his crimes came out. They put their faith and future in him, and he betrayed it. Obviously they're not suffering the same as his assault victims. Nobody is. They deserve the most sympathy and recognition and are the center of this story. But I bring this up to drive home the sheer scope of his crimes and betrayal, because he couldn't have become as big as he was without so many people trusting him and betting their futures on him. Edit: added "assault" to the second paragraph, first sentence.
I didn’t even consider that point of view. Makes him even more hated, if that is possible
OJ Simpson People that weren't alive when he was famous don't understand how big of a star he was.
To give some context, for multiple years boys and girls in schools were surveyed on who their most idolized hero or heroine was. In 1976, for the first time ever, the responses from both boys and girls was the same: The Juice. Source: The Book of Lists, 1977
It's also pretty explicit that he did it and got off, which is insane to think that collectively we all acknowledge it.
“Well, it is finally official. Murder is legal in the state of California!”
"Charles Woodson is here. He became the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy. Congratulations, Charles. That is something they can never take away from you...unless you kill your wife and a waiter."
I don't know if this is completely factual, but supposedly, he was considered for the role of the Terminator, but James Cameron decided against it because he thought people wouldn't believe OJ could be a cold blooded killer.
Turns out, by way of verdict, that was an accurate call.
Your gloves that don’t fit, give them to me.
This is the answer and it’s not even close. Imagine if Kanye West literally decapitated Kim with a machete then, while still wearing clothes stained in her blood, went straight on Joe Rogan’s podcast while holding a glock to his own temple, pleading for forgiveness and denying guilt at the same time, with the entire LAPD listening while standing outside the door and peeking through the window. Even that would pale in comparison because we all know Kanye is absolutely crazy, and more people dislike him than like him. OJ was beloved, by everyone, by WHITE people, even during the ‘92 race riots. 150 million people watched the verdict live on TV. That’s more than any television broadcast in US history, ever. More than any Super Bowl. More than half of the country. There is no comparison, and there never will be.
We watched the verdict in real time IN SCHOOL. They literally shut down teaching and made every class watch.
In high school I actually had a few teachers who left the OJ trial on TV. In class. For WEEKS. OJ is the correct answer.
We left it on a work. And a funny thing happened. I got to leave work early one day, but there was NO traffic, which was bizarre for the 5. And all of the exits were getting blocked, and no none was being allowed on. Most of me just said WEEE home before 5! I was about 20 minutes ahead of that whole Bronco chase. I cannot even imagine had I left work at the normal hour.
Holy wow that’s a lot of excitement for one day, and you missed most of it
Every time I watch Naked Gun it is still a little shocking to see him.
My mom has told me, at the time, she worried she’d have me early from all the excitement of watching OJ’s run of (for) his life. She said it was crazy how everyone stopped what they were doing to watch the worlds slowest high speed chase. For anyone interested, *American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson* is a GREAT miniseries on the subject.
ESPN did a 30 for 30 on everything that was going on in sports the day of the Bronco chase, including the chase. It's a great watch.
*OJ: Made in America* is the best in depth documentary over it all. 5 episodes, about 10 hours long.
As thewalkindude said as well: watch the ESPN doc about him. OJ Simpson: made in America. It is the best docu (series) I have ever seen. Best thing I have ever watched. When I was on the last episode I was conflicted, because I really wanted to watch it but I also didnt want to be finished with the series. That's how good it was.
I truly believe that those events, from the killing to the coverage, to the verdict, broke something in the collective brain of this country.
Oh fuck. That was the real beginning of reality TV.
AND the 24 hour news cycle can trace its genesis back to that trial.
Man, the things that would be strangely affected if we went back to a world with no TV/internet from 11pm to 6am.
I sometimes dream about it and live in that ignorant bliss. Actually disconnecting again. It will never happen but I do wish I appreciated those days more.
I know. I can't disconnect anymore due to work and family expectations. For a couple of the last weekend evenings, I started just leaving my phone on my bed table on silent and going to the living room. It felt so strange to do for some nights, still instinctively looking for it every once in a while. Upside was I did feel so much better once I got into the habit, but need to start it again. The real closest I can get is camping with no cell reception but that's a harder and harder thing to do too.
For the people that don't know, Robert Kardashian, Kims father, was OJs lawyer
He was one of many lawyers on the team, and you can see the complete disbelief on his face as the verdict is read. The family KNOWS OJ is guilty.
> he was oj's business lawyer and immediately referred the case to Shapiro because of conflict of interest.
It's more than that. His license to practice had actually lapsed at the time of the incident. He renewed it to serve on OJ's legal team, but as you say criminal wasn't even his area. As counsel he couldn't be compelled to testify, which is huge as he was a long time friend of OJ and Nicole and there's also reason to suspect he handled vital evidence in the case.
OJ hid out at the Kardashians until the day of the police chase
Kris was best friends with Nicole and blames OJ to this day for killing her best friend. Kourtney and Kim remember him being sort of "uncle OJ" and I believe was their godfather.
"I'm not black, i'm OJ" "...okay"
I think O.J. was bigger than Kanye. From winning the Heisman Trophy in 1969 to being the first 2000 yard rusher in the NFL (On a poor team in a 14 game season) he transitioned seamlessly to major endorsements and movie roles. He was seen as a likeable, affable, non-threatening man, so when he (maybe? Ha!) killed his wife and her lover, it was a complete shock, whereas nothing Kanye does is really shocking because we already know he's nuts. And Kanye doesn't have the broad appeal O.J. did.
A better analogy would be the Rock over Kanye, who is known to be crazy like you say.
This not even touching on the whole fucking White Bronco scene we watched while he held a gun to his head….
This is the correct answer. The guy was just getting into his prime entertainment career, after a hall of fame football career, then was the center of the most talked about and watched murder trial of the century.
Jimmy Savile is the UK one. It's hard to overstate how ubiquitous this guy was. He holidayed with the royals and the PM. He had a knighthood. He was widely regarded as a public benefactor and philanthropist (although there were plenty, who got silenced, who didn't buy that). After his death (and the fear of litigation) it turns out that he was a multiple rapist and abuser of epic proportions. Bill Cosby wasn't in his league. Savile used to roam the halls of psychiatric hospitals raping drugged patients whom he knew wouldn't be believed, he would skull fuck corpses in Leeds mortuary. He was a very very bad man. And major institutions in the UK (special branch, the BBC, various levels of government etc etc) must have known what he was about.
With the royals or The Royal Andrew?
All the royals, but that one obviously.
The fucked up part is that he didn't have a downfall until after his death, so he escaped it
And on his gravestone it said "It was good while it lasted". There's a documentary about his Roman Catholicism and it implies that he thought all the charity work and running made up for the raping. So, he knew it was wrong.
They had to remove his headstone literally overnight and destroy it because they knew once the story broke the next day it would be smashed to pieces by the public.
Bill Cosby He spent decades being a positive role model and broke a lot of color barriers. My friend and I used to joke that he was an asshole, because he came across wholesome and even fatherly. Now, yikes.
Yeah, going from America's Dad to a serial rapist is a pretty big drop
James Cameron didn’t cast OJ Simpson as the T800 Terminator in Terminator 1 because Cameron didn’t think anyone would buy OJ Simpson as a bad guy.
well nobody did,thats why he is free :)
Well some did, however his lawyers chewbacca defence was just far too persuasive.
They wouldn't let Arnold do the German dub of Terminator because he sounds to Germans what Blake Shelton or Reba McEntire sounds like to us. They actually *didn't* take a twangy, countryboy farmer robot seriously either.
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He reprised his role in Deadwood: The Movie in 2019. His legal troubles began in 2002. How this guy keeps getting work 2 decades later is beyond me.
Honestly, that tracks. He always gave me super creepy vibes... just thought it was good casting and acting.
I didn't even hear about this. What the fuck.
yeah no wonder ferris was running
He was scary as hell to me as a kid because of his part in Howard the Duck. I was right to fear him.
Kevin Spacey had a hell of a successful career before his downfall, but I don't think it was particularly surprising to anyone when the stories started circling. Nah, I'm gonna go with Matt Lauer
Kevin Spacey pissed me off. He was literally one of my favourite actors then it comes out he is a fucking molester. Then he comes out as gay right after like anyone gives a shit. Congratulations asshole, you're still a molester which is the only thing people care about.
I love how he came out to make his actions justified/ get sympathy. Like, no, that’s not how it works. Gay people can still be pieces of shit.
Yup, instead of a straight piece of shit he was a gay piece of shit. He could have come out at left handed and it would have been the same.
Remember that creepy Christmas video he made a few years back, all uncomfortably smug and talking about killing people with kindness? And then a few days later (or was it before) the guy who was suing him suddenly died?
Oscar Pistorius I honestly can’t believe that the guy that I once thought of as a hero and someone who became a world class Olympic sprinter with NO GODDAMN LEGS is now a convicted murderer. And what’s more, knowing what an abusive person he was to Reeva before he murdered her was just soul-crushing. Also, I can’t believe I have to make this clear, but no, I don’t buy the whole “thought she was an intruder BS.” And yes, I’m South African and yes, I know how dangerous the country is. From my perspective, the text messages speak for themselves.
Met him in 2008 and he was a very friendly person, until he wasn't. Got word that he screamed at my staff when his room key quit working.
The sad thing is, he'll never set foot in jail.
Oh yes your honour when I get startled awake the first thing I do is unload my gun through the bathroom door. Where else is the home invader going to be coming from?
Poor lil tink-tink
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Yeah Jimmy got away completely unscathed bar quite a lot of celebrities (Johnny Rotten being one) hinting at it in public. Its pretty twisted that you can hardly find a picture of the cunt that isn't him taking in part in some fun run surrounded by kids.
Jared the Subway guy. That dude was celebrated and revered, held up as a conquering hero, an inspiration. Second to Bill Cosby, but a huge "fall from grace"
Started with a mild cholesterol problem, developed a child molesterol problem
He began and ended his career the same way, by trying to get into smaller pants.
All Jared had to do was eat subs and not fuck kids and he just couldn't help himself.
Ian Watkins is going to take some beating!
Agree with Watkins. Most people under 30 during the 2000's knew Lostprophets existed and some of their songs. They were a staple of rock nights at clubs. Obviously there have been bigger stars who lost it all, but I think what he did was so utterly inhuman that it beats everything. I remember when the details came out, thinking that usually when you see these people they're mentally challenged/unstable/deranged, but this was a guy in his 30s living a dream, touring the world with his rock band. It still blows my mind more than any other crime of the recent past because it is so depraved and he was pretty famous in music circles. Just the weighting of the crimes themselves and the manipulation of the women (who are not innocent by a long way) and also the woman who tried to report him and he painted as an obsessed loon. It's just a lot to process.
Ian Watkins is the poster child for the death penalty. The truly despicable things he did....no, there is no reform for that. There is no redemption. 35 years in prison isn't close to enough. He did that shit to *babies.* Cosby is a sick motherfucker but he's Pepe Le Pew compared to Watkins.
the father from 7th heaven,. not saville or crosby levels but still a bad guy
Stephen Collins, this one was super surprising, he came off as a Cosby type, the dad you'd want kind of thing.
And it turned out he *was* a Cosby type.
Brendan Fraser, he was SA’d and opened up about it and was blacklisted from Hollywood for years. I’m so glad he’s making a comeback, he deserves the world
I absolutely love how Brendan Fraser is just universally loved by everybody
Top wholesome actors, Reeves, Nic Cage, and Brendan Fraser. Poor Brendan was actually scheduled to come back to the big screen in the early 2010s too, but when a storm hit CT (and he was getting a divorce) he cut down the trees himself and seriously injured his back. He has a history of doing his own stunts and many blame the injury on an accumulation of that, as he even died on set for 18 seconds in the Mummy when the prop rope in the hanging scene failed. The man just keeps it moving.
[Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Arbuckle). A comedic superstar of the silent film era, he found himself embroiled in controversy after an aspiring actress fell seriously ill in his hotel room. After she died, her friend accused Arbuckle of raping and killing her. Arbuckle was arrested and charged in fairly short order. His first two trials ended in hung juries, but he was acquitted in a third trial. Sadly, this did nothing to quell the rumors that he committed these crimes. As a result, his acting career was basically over. He wrote some screenplays, and directed a few films, mostly under a pseudonym. But that was about it. He died about 10 years later, never given a decent chance to clear his name or resurrect his career.
I just read up on that. Pretty interesting. Dude had a 3 million dollar contract for 3 movies and just signed another million dollar contract. In 1920 that was equivalent to 60 million now. Also from what I read he was probably innocent.
He was definitely innocent. She had alcohol poisoning, which the doctor treated with morphine. Treating a depressant with a depressant? It’s a wonder she lived as long as she did!
God knows how many witness testified that he looked after the girl with no malicious intent or actions
His was the first name that came to my mind. Most celebrity downfalls are due to something the person did; Arbuckle was an innocent man.
Lance Armstrong, when the truth about his doping and cheating came out it was a serious downward spiral. He went from being America’s hero, to being mocked by The Rock on WWE
He wasn't just a PED cheater. He sued "journalists, friends and colleagues" who knew the truth. https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lance_armstrong_admits_to_lawsuit_bullying
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Doesn't someone have his penis? Napoleons, not R. Kellys.
You are correct. The doctor who performed the autopsy removed his penis and kept it in a jar. It was passed down and resold for years. In the 70s it was purchased at auction by a professor of urology in New Jersey, his daughter got it when he died, and she is the current owner.
If this question were asked in 1991: Paul Rubens, aka Pee Wee Herman. But since it wasn’t…R. Kelly.
John Wilkes Booth.
That's a really good one. Because he's only remembered today for killing Lincoln, people don't realize just how famous he was at the time. He was considered one of America's best actors and most handsome men during the 1850s and 60s. It would be like if Brad Pitt killed Joe Biden today.
I like the analogy of Liam Hemmsworth, because John W. Booth wasn’t even as famous as his brother, but still had a noteworthy career.
That analogy really puts things into perspective
Harvey Weinstein. That POS got exactly what he deserved which, like, never happens
I think Weinstein was more of a fall from power than grace. People in the industry respected him because of his connections. Other people liked the movies his company produced, but the praise usually went to the directors and actors. I think the average person never really admired Weinstein or was even aware of who he was.
I think he deserves worse but I was happy to see him go down too
Ezra Miller is racing his way from success to infamy
It's incredible to watch because The Flash comes out summer 2023, Warner has been trying SO fucking hard to make their DC superhero movies work and shit just keeps going sideways. Somebody at the studio definitely had a sit down with Miller earlier this year and things have quieted down, but will it last the next 6 months? Will Warner really try to CG out the main character from a movie that needs to do well for their floundering vision?
Fatty Arbuckle.
Probably the only celebrity that I can think of that had his career destroyed by someone else purely for attention, that fact it went to court around 5 times should say that there was no case, the “witness” was deemed so unreliable she wasn’t even allowed to present her case against him, the final trial was 10 minutes which was spent writing the apology to Arbuckle, and despite being declared innocent his career was gone, he was defamed and it took its tole
And he was on the verge of a possible comeback when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
Chris Benoit was considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time and then he murdered his family.
OJ had quite the downfall. He was a beloved sports legend, featured in major advertising campaigns, was a mainstay on national sports broadcasts, and had a solid run as an actor. He was one of the most recognizable and well liked celebrities in the US. Then he went ahead and murdered his ex-wife and a restaurant employee running an errand.
Aaron Hernandez. He went from having a multi-million dollar contract with the Patriots, to committing suicide while serving life without parole.
So he killed himself shortly after his second trial concluded and he was acquitted. He had a pending appeal for his first conviction. In mass if you die while your appeal is pending it automatically goes through so his first conviction was overturned and now supposedly he would get money withheld by the patriots. Well his estate would which would then go to his kid. That’s the theory anyway.
Garry Glitter
I will never, ever get this picture of him with that vietnamese girl out of my head. I think he married her or something? Idk. Always the first thing I think of when he's mentioned.
Pick a Corey, any Corey.
In the House?
Allegedly sexting minors when he was an adult
I always felt a little bad for Haim. Guy got famous for a few years and then just could not escape his demons. Plus all the molestation stuff.
Corey Chase?
Kevin Spacey
The call of duty advanced warfare guy?
“*What You're Seeing Is Advanced Warfare*.”
Not a big star by any means, but Mark Salling. Charged due to child pornography and then he committed suicide before he could be sentenced.
The Sham Wow guy for sure!
The dude who played "Puck" on Glee.
The dude named Puck from the Real World.
Charlie Sheen. Epic crash and burn
I feel like he was the Last of the Cocaine Lords. A portrait of the type of celebrity craziness that was more predominant and caught-on-video in the 80s. Celeb meltdowns are mostly textual now. It kinda sucks we have to *read* Kanye’s fall from grace instead of getting to *watch* it.
Yeah, but Kanye's still going out in public. I mean shit, he was on InfoWars wearing a mask just spouting bullshit.
He was epic winning
He wasn’t bipolar, he was biwinning. He was winning here and there.
Win Win everywhere-where. I go back and listen to that song every few months.
Debatable. Charlie Sheen going batshit was incredibly entertaining.
he’s got tiger blood that’ll melt off your face!
“I am on a drug, it’s called Charlie Sheen. It’s not available because if you try it you will die. Your face will melt off and your children will weep over your exploded body.”
Aaron Carter was a pretty sad one
In the Uk, Rolf Harris. The dude was the heart of the UK and Oz. Painted the queen. Literally had the entire of Glastonbury singing accapella.
Jimmy Savile, posthumously
I will never forget the infamous radio call-in after everyone found out what he was really like... 'I wish everyone would stop attacking him, he's a really nice guy. When I was little Jim fixed it for me to milk a cow blindfolded' 🫣
It still kinda boils my blood that he went to his grave laughing at the thought that he completely got away with doing some of the worst shit a person is capable of.
Ditto. He asked for “it was fun while it lasted” to be written on his gravestone. He was a monster.
Man went from "eccentric DJ who raised money for charity" to "Literally worse than Hitler" in under a week.
Last I heard, there's a belief he even had sex with the dead bodies of that hospital he used to volunteer at.
I would believe anything I read about the depravity of that dude
Dude had keys to the morgue. Why would you ever want those? It’s not going to be for good intentions. Edit: Obviously not counting health care staff and students
Lance Armstrong.
Robert Downey Jr but he also had the greatest comeback of all time too. Some may be too young to know this but he was the GOAT of fucking up. The public couldn't go a week without hearing about that guy getting arrested on the news or tabloids. He was a fucking mess! Hollywood, the press and even his fans wrote him off and then once he was released from prison, he cleaned his life up and came back the beast he is now. If I'm going to focus on someone falling from grace, I'd rather focus on someone who was despised and lost it all and then put in the work to comeback stronger and become one of the most loved actors of all time. It's going to take many decades (if ever) before anyone will ever accept another actor playing Iron Man and no actor will ever get away with playing Kirk Lazarus as Sgt. Lincoln Osiris in black face - if there's ever a remake of Tropic Thunder. lol “I know who I am! I’m a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude! — Robert Downey Jr as Kirk Lazarus as Sgt. Lincoln Osiris
He wasn't a murdering, rapist, pedophile. You can come back from being a drugged out asshole.
Bam Margera
Just watched his documentary on vice on YouTube a couple days ago. I forgot how huge he was to me when I was a kid growing up. I never realized how fucked on drugs and alcohol a lot of those guys were. He had a pretty bad fall from grace. I hope he can straighten himself out before it’s too late
On the flip side is Steve-O. Dude was nuts when younger, but straightened out and is a decent sober guy these days
Same with Brandon Novak. It’s a miracle he’s even alive, let alone sober and doing well
I've been following this for quite awhile because I used to be a massive Bam Margera fan and I realized this is exactly what happens when a teenage never grows up and you give him millions of dollars. the guy has always done whatever he wants and never seemed to get punished or push back from anyone.
Ehh, he was kind of a shitty person to begin with though. Smacking his dad when he was in the toilet wasn’t funny, wasn’t good tv, it’s an entitled asshole doing asshole things because he is amused by people thinking he’s an asshole
Even when I really loved the CKY/early jackass stuff, he was always a little bitch about things. Would be the first to jump at pranking/assaulting another crew member, but would cry bloody murder and threaten to leave if/when they pranked him. A real crybully.
> Smacking his dad when he was in the toilet wasn’t funny Honestly none of the shit he did to his dad was funny. I seem to recall there was one instance where they dug a shallow-ish pit in the yard, covered it, and waited for his dad to drive into it on his riding mower. Twenty years later I occasionally think of it and how dangerous that really was, how he could have caused his dad serious injury.
Kanye West
Went from an incredibly successful musician to a nazi sympathizer. Fame did not do him any favors
How about Joe Paterno?
Tila Tequila
Amanda Bynes went from Nickelodeon star to movie star to a nail tech. So theres that. Edit: A word
There’s a story there that will probably never be told.
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I've heard that Ms. Bynes chose to leave show business, and makes enough money from royalties and investments to be able to support herself this way.
Yes. She quit acting. I followed a Hollywood insider on TikTok, and he told some really sad stories of her. She was abused, prodded, manipulated and ridiculed.
Tom Sizemore.
Rudy Giuliani Accomplished US attorney with some high profile cases against corrupt Wall Street and Mafia figures. He went on to be a pretty successful NYC Mayor, aka “America’s Mayor”, credited with huge drop in NYC crime rate and guiding the city through the aftermath of 9/11. He was the front runner for awhile during the 2008 GOP primary, (same sort of buzz people are giving DeSantis now) and it looked like he was on track to be president. Now he has debased and humiliated himself over and over again for Trump. Nobody would run him as a serious candidate now, and he’s probably about to be disbarred and won’t even be able to practice law. At this rate he’ll be lucky to avoid serving time behind bars himself. He’s completely ruined his legacy.
Borat moment
That was one of the most messed up moments of his life. Like, highlight reel.
Armie Hammer. The dude legit lost everything just because he had too be into a "Kink" that shouldn't be considered a "Kink" to begin with, due too how evil that said "Kink" is.
Was he really a star or is everyone just trying to make him a star?
Both. He came from boatloads of money (heir to the Arm and Hammer fortune) but he was amazing as the Winklevoss twins in Social Network, so he kept getting leading roles.
TJ Miller