It has been quite an interesting year. Although we entered 2021 hopeful and optimistic that it would be better than 2020 — which was entirely defined by the global pandemic — it wasn't long before it became clear that 2021 was going to be another doozy. The health crisis is still raging on, people are still divided and struggling, and there seems to be some cause for controversy at every turn. None of us are exempt, but celebrities seem even more prone than the average person to getting themselves caught up in controversial situations.
From Kylie Jenner to Lil Nas X, a number of huge celebrities — both young and old — stirred up some serious controversy in 2021. Some of it boiled down to simple misunderstandings that got overblown whereas other situations were caused by seriously problematic behavior.
In some cases, we feel genuine sympathy for celebs who find themselves mixed up in public controversies, but in other cases, we just can't believe they let themselves get into such sticky situations. Either way, these stars made headlines in 2021. Maybe what they say is true: Any publicity is good publicity. Keep reading to see which celebrities we're talking about, and you be the judge.
Aaron Rodgers
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers appeared to blatantly lie about his COVID-19 vaccination status during a press conference, and he got caught in his lie months later when he ended up testing positive for the disease.
He had previously told reporters that he was "immunized," intentionally being vague, but when people claimed he had lied, he outright denied that he did. He protested his innocence on the grounds that he didn't lie because he is "immunized" against other things. What?! Dude, semantics don't change the fact that you lied.
Lil Nas X
We don't ever expect rapper Lil Nas X to try and conform or please everybody, but he took things to a completely different level when he released the video for his song "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)." In it, he appears to be in the Garden of Eden, and at one point he seems to steal Satan's crown, which led many to accuse him of being a devil worshipper.
Instead of shutting down the accusations, he leaned into them, releasing his "Satan Shoes" track shortly afterward and issuing this statement: "You see, this is very scary for me. People will be angry, they will say I'm pushing an agenda. But the truth is, I am. The agenda to make people stay the f— out of other people's lives and stop dictating who they should be."
Josh Duggar
One of the original stars of the wholesome TLC show 19 Kids and Counting, Josh Duggar was arrested on federal child pornography charges in April, and over the next several months, not only did fans turn against him but a lot of his famous family did too.
The evidence against him was overwhelming, and on December 9, he was found guilty of the charges and immediately taken into police custody. He could serve up to 20 years in prison and pay hefty fines.
Nicki Minaj
It caught a lot of fans off guard when rapper and new mom Nicki Minaj said the reason she didn't attend the Met Gala in September was because she wasn't ready to get vaccinated. This stirred up a controversy not because she wasn't vaccinated but because of her reasoning why. She said her cousin's friend's testicles were swollen after getting the vaccine and that his fiancée ended up leaving him because of it. Huh?
Rita Moreno
Hollywood icon Rita Moreno briefly found herself in the hot seat this summer when she attempted to defend playwright and filmmaker Lin-Manuel Miranda after he received some backlash related to the casting of In the Heights.
"We are all colors in Puerto Rico. And this is how it is, and it would be so nice if they hadn't come up with that and just left it alone, just for now. I mean, they're really attacking the wrong person," she said on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. She later issued a public apology, saying she now realizes that she was being "dismissive" of Black lives.
Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy Teigen was accused of serious online bullying by multiple people, including media personality Courtney Stodden and fashion designer and Project Runway alumnus Michael Costello, and she found herself basically canceled.
She lost tons of social media followers and some major brand partnerships, despite issuing multiple public and private apologies and being candid about her regrettable actions. She's working on a comeback, though, and still has the support of a lot of people.
DaBaby
Just as his career was going more mainstream, rapper DaBaby lost a lot of fans and supporters in 2021 when he made seemingly homophobic comments at the Rolling Loud music festival in Miami. His response to the accusations only made things worse when he suggested that his "gay fans" are fine because they're not "nasty."
Multiple celebrities including Demi Lovato, Elton John, and Dua Lipa — with whom he collaborated this year — spoke out against him, and he wound up losing brand partnerships and getting dropped from other festivals. Still, some people did stand by him, including TI, Kanye West, and Miley Cyrus. How his career will fare going forward is still uncertain.
Matt Damon
Is it wrong that we expected better from Matt Damon? Probably. Over the summer, the 51-year-old filmmaker and actor said his daughter wrote him a letter detailing why his use of the homophobic "f-slur" in a conversation they were having about a joke from a movie was problematic and that it's what convinced him to stop using the word altogther.
People were shocked and angry that Matt had used the slur, and he was forced to explain in detail the conversation he had with his daughter and his history with the word.
Piers Morgan
Piers Morgan narrowly escaped legal issues after he questioned Meghan Markle's claims that she had suicidal thoughts while she was a working member of the royal family. Still, his comments were completely insensitive and tasteless, and they continue to be condemned by many who have questioned the newsman's morals in the wake of the incident.
Prince Harry & Meghan Markle
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle cannot seem to escape controversy these days, but nothing compares with the tell-all interview they did with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. The couple basically accused the royal family of being racist and ignoring Meghan's calls for help when she felt suicidal. The interview deepened the rift between the Sussexes and the senior royals, and further divided public opinion of them.
Marilyn Manson
Shock rocker Marilyn Manson has always been a controversial figure. But when his ex Evan Rachel Wood accused him of abusing her and alleged that she was "brainwashed and manipulated" by him for years, there wasn't much forgiveness to be had for him.
Following Evan's accusations, at least four other women made similar claims against him, to which he responded by saying they were "horrible distortions of reality." Marilyn quickly became an even more polarizing figure and ended up being dropped by both his record label and a TV series he was involved with at the time.
Kanye West
Some would say that rapper and businessman Kanye West had several controversial moments in 2021, but one of the most interesting goes back to Marilyn Manson. In the fall, Ye restarted his Sunday Service events for the first time since everything shut down in 2020, and on Halloween, Marilyn showed up on stage alongside him and Justin Bieber.
This was, of course, several months after the allegations against Marilyn surfaced, and people thought it was in poor taste for Kanye to be spending time with him, even though the two had previously worked together on Ye's album Donda. The thing is, Kanye claims to be a Christian and Sunday Service is a Christian event, so in theory all should be welcome, including those who need to repent for their sins, right?
Michael Che
Saturday Night Live comedian Michael Che is no stranger to inciting controversy with his jokes. The man is funny, but sometimes he goes too far. It happened at least twice in 2021 — once when he made an offensive joke about transgender people related to President Biden repealing the transgender military ban in January and then when he posted on social media that he felt like making fun of Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, who backed out of multiple events at this year's games because of mental health reasons.
He also was accused of encouraging his fans to do the same, to which some responded with jokes related to the US gymnastics sexual abuse scandal involving Larry Nasser. There's no getting around what poor taste that is. Michael ended up scrubbing his Instagram account for a while and deleting the offensive posts from Twitter.
Armie Hammer
Actor Armie Hammer has been canceled — like really canceled. Early in 2021, some disturbing DMs of a sexual nature that were allegedly from him were leaked online. In some of the messages, he even portrays himself as a cannibal and expressed interest in rape.
He ended up being dropped from the Jennifer Lopez film Shotgun Wedding and has been a pariah in Hollywood ever since. He vehemently denied the claims, but we're not sure there's any coming back from this one.
Kylie Jenner & Travis Scott
Kylie Jenner and her rapper boyfriend, Travis Scott, incited the ire of the public when they failed to respond in what many people believed to be an honest and adequate way after 10 people died at Travis' Astroworld music festival in November. The two each issued messages on social media, but it wasn't thought to be sufficient or sincere enough — and people online quickly called for both of them to be canceled and boycotted, with many even accusing Travis of being a devil worshipper and planning the whole thing.
In early December, Travis spoke out in his first interview since the tragedy, saying he didn't know much about what was going on at the concert while it was happening. He also expressed regret for his initial social media statement and told the family of the victims that he'll "always" be there for them.
Chris Harrison
Chris Harrison hosted The Bachelor for 19 years, but his career came to a crashing halt when he defended one of the show's contestants after it came out that she had posted TikTok videos featuring the Confederate flag and had attended an offensive, plantation-themed party (The situation went down before she competed on the season of the show that featured the first Black bachelor.)
Chris claimed she was a victim of the "woke police" and called her a "poor girl." Oddly enough, she went on to win the season (though she and the bachelor later broke up), and Chris ended up stepping down from the franchise.
Hilaria Baldwin
Alec Baldwin's wife, Hilaria Baldwin, did not earn herself any fans when it came out that she had basically been pretending to be Hipanic for years. She claimed Spanish heritage and even changed her name from Hillary prior to becoming a public figure, solely on the grounds that she had spent a significant amount of time in Spain as a child and is fluent in the language.
Months later, she still insisted that she's "multicultural" and shamed others for apparently trying to strip her of her culture and identity. It's really just strange and offensive for those of us who actually are Latina or Hispanic and have a very different lived experience from Hilaria's.
Gina Carano
Actor and former MMA fighter Gina Carano angered many — and got herself fired from a sweet gig on the hit Disney+ show The Mandalorian — when she thought it was cool to post offensive and uninformed messages on social media. She compared being a Republican in today's world to being a Jewish person enduring the Holocaust, and subsequently, her homophobic and problematic posts regarding the health crisis were unearthed.
Ever since, Gina has leaned even further into her conservative and oftentimes offensive views and is essentially now marketing herself to audiences whose beliefs align with hers.
