15 Celebs Who You Didn't Know Were Problematic AF

Even as a celebrity, there are consequences for saying or doing offensive things. Careers have been destroyed by one poorly thought out tweet or a bad Halloween costume choice. However, celebrities have been saying offensive and controversial things for a long time and no one batted an eye--only because no one called them out for it. Seriously, Sean Connery straight up told a magazine that he thought hitting women was okay! That would definitely not fly in 2017. With Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, it's now easier than ever to say one wrong thing and become the most hated person on the internet. Also, smartphones make it way easier to snap photos of problematic celebs doing problematic things.

There are some obviously racist, misogynistic, gender biased, and homophobic celebrities out there who are so offensive that it's pretty much what they're known for (like Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Azealia Banks, Paula Deen, Kylie Jenner, etc.) but this list contains all of the celebrities you didn't know were problematic. All of these stars have said or done some pretty controversial things that you should definitely know about. Like the star who wore blackface on Halloween or maybe the celebrity who pretended to be gay in order to get media coverage. But hey, it's okay to still like these celebs and their music or movies or TV shows or whatever but it's important to stay socially conscious. Here are your problematic faves:

15 Meghan Trainor

We love that Meghan Trainor wrote a song for girls with big booties but her song "All About That Bass" is not as empowering as you may think. Considering that she basically says in the song that you should like your curves because guys like them is pretty much the opposite of empowering. To make matters worse, she told ET that she, "wasn't strong enough" to be anorexic. She went on: "I tried to go anorexic for a good three hours. I ate ice and celery, but that's not even anorexic. And I quit. I was like, 'Ma, can you make me a sandwich? Like, immediately." That's not how eating disorders work, girl. Saying that you have to be "strong enough" to be anorexic is just plain offensive and awful. Trainor tries to be a positive role model for girls who aren't ultra thin but she does it in all the wrong ways.

14 Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris' real name is Adam Wiles which is a perfectly fine name but the DJ who's mostly famous because he's an ex-boyfriend of Taylor Swift adopted a stage name for a very offensive reason. Short answer: he wanted people to think he was black. In an interview with Shortlist in 2009, the DJ said, "My first single was more of a soul track, and I thought Calvin Harris sounded a bit more racially ambiguous. I thought people might not know if I was black or not. After that, I was stuck with it." He literally changed his name so people wouldn't know he was white. This is incredibly offensive because people with ethnic-sounding names are often ridiculed and discriminated against (it's been proven that people with names that indicate ethnicity are much less likely to get job interviews than people without ethnic-sounding names) but he just decided to use one because it would make him more money.

13 Kelly Osbourne

Kelly Osbourne is racist. That's just a fact. While she was co-hosting The View, she said something that she seemed to think was very woke despite it being incredibly racist: "If you kick every Latino out of this country, then who is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?" The other hosts immediately called her out on her remark and she backpedaled furiously saying that she wasn't trying to be racist. This is racist because it assumes that anyone who cleans a toilet is a Hispanic woman. What makes it worse is that she didn't even apologize for her remark. She wrote that she messed up but she also wrote that she would "not apologize for being a racist as I am NOT." If you say something that's racist, you can't negate what you said by claiming that you're "not racist." If you really don't think you're racist, then say that you're trying not to be racist and that you appreciate when you are confronted when you say casually racist things.

12 Jennifer Lawrence

When Jennifer Lawrence first started to become a big star, she was praised for how honest, real, and relatable she was. However, she has been slowly giving us more and more reasons to dislike her every day. One example of this was when she said on the Graham Norton Show that she scratched her rear end on a sacred cultural site in Hawaii and called referred to the site as "sacred rocks, and they were, I don't know, ancestors, who knows." This anecdote is not as adorable and charming as she thinks it is. The fact that she reduced an important cultural site to "rocks" that were "so good for butt-itching" is pretty offensive and very annoying. If you go to another country and there is a sacred area to the locals, you should be respectful enough to treat it with respect and not stretch your booty on it.

11 Nick Jonas

Though Nick Jonas has never actually said that he was gay, he has done a lot of things to make people think that he might be. Though he was once trying to win the hearts of his female friends with his purity ring and curly hair, he went after a new demographic when he released his solo album by going to gay clubs in New York and showing off his abs. He seriously did this. Though his queer baiting may be a smart career move, it's a pretty nefarious way to get fans especially since members of the LGBTQ+ community are still regularly discriminated against. Since then he's appeared on the cover of OUT magazine and hailed as some sort of gay icon. He was also called out when he was one of the speakers at a vigil for the victims of the Pulse shooting in Orlando last year. Since he had already been marketing himself to the gay community in the weeks leading up to his album release, the fact that he appeared at the vigil "as a straight ally" just three days after his album had dropped was distasteful.

10 Julianne Hough

Apparently Julianne Hough didn't get the memo that it's not okay for a white person to dress up like a black person on Halloween but she wouldn't be the first. Colton Haynes and Jason Aldean have gotten in trouble for dressing up in blackface for Halloween but let's not forget the other stars who have had blackface scandals such as Kylie Jenner, Fred Armisen, Kim Kardashian, and Sarah Silverman. In 2013, the former Dancing With the Stars dancer dressed up as Suzanne (Crazy Eyes) Warren (played by Uzo Aduba) complete with the bantu knots and dark makeup on her face. She has since apologized for her offensive costume and even Aduba has forgiven her but seriously how culturally insensitive do you have to be to actually think that a blackface costume was a good idea?

9 Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website Goop launched in 2008 and since then it's been providing women with all kinds of ridiculous products that promote wellness. What is problematic about Goop is that it peddles Eastern pre-modern approaches to health and wellness as if they have some sort of mystical powers and these methods are untapped by Western doctors who fail to see the benefits of healing agents like herbs and detoxes. Goop sells their ideology which is that Asian medical practices are somehow more enlightened and more effective because Asian people are more in tune with their spiritual sides. These methods that are endorsed by Goop are marketed as a way to remove toxins and bad energy from the body and some of the strangest products include sea sponges, a supplement called Brain Dust made from super herbs and super mushroom proteins, crystal therapy that removes negative energy, jade eggs, and oxygen bars. Not only is it problematic, it's pretty freaking pretentious.

8 Chris Pratt

Chris Pratt thinks there are not enough stories about the average guy in Hollywood movies. In an interview with Men's Fitness he told them that he didn't see enough movies with stories that resonated with him and that, "The voice of the average, blue-collar American isn't necessarily represented in Hollywood.” Considering that almost every movie focuses on the story and plight of an average white guy who somehow manages to be the hero, Pratt is definitely wrong about this. He later apologized on Twitter by saying "That was actually a pretty stupid thing to say. I'll own that. There's a ton of movies about blue collar America." As much as you may love his abs and his movies, don't forget that's he's very conservative and does not appear to be very socially conscious. It's important to be aware of that even if you enjoy watching Parks and Recreation.

7 Karlie Kloss

For some reason, Karlie Kloss has managed to be incredibly problematic on at least two separate occasions. The first was when she walked the runway in 2012 in a full length Native American headdress. Not okay. The second time was when she literally dressed up as a geisha for Vogue's diversity issue in March. They seriously dressed and tried to make this white girl look like a Japanese woman for their diversity issue. The spread was called "Spirited Away" which was named after the famous Japanese film and it is full of photos of Kloss with a pale white face and black hair. Though she apologized for the photos, it seems that, at this point, Kloss is just happy for people to notice her and talk about her, even if it is about her being racist, because she wouldn't get any press otherwise.

6 Vanessa Hudgens

Vanessa Hudgens thinks that her boho style is totally adorable but it's not as cute as she thinks it is. Most of the time, it's downright racist. For example, wearing dream catchers in your hair is not and should never be a thing. Second of all, a bindi is not a fashion accessory. The High School Musical star got in hot water when she posted a photo of a tan line where her bindi had been during a musical festival. Culture is not a costume, girl. Also the whole "boho" thing is way over the top, most of the time it just looks like Coachella threw up on her. She also carved her name and her boyfriend's name into a rock in a national park which is totally illegal and she even posted it on Instagram so she was found out immediately and had to pay $1,000 to remove the writing.

5 Miley Cyrus

Ever since that time she started twerking and everyone thought that she invented it (even though she was never very good at it), Miley Cyrus has been called out for cultural appropriation. Despite all of her cultural appropriation (including the time she said that she wanted her album to have a "black sound") she also seems to act like she can move on from all of it like it never happened because it can't help her career anymore. Ever since she released her new single "Malibu" and grew out her hair, she's acted like it was all just a fever dream. What makes it worse is that she's recently gotten on her high horse about being vegan and said that if you're not vegan then you don't love animals. Hey, Miley, if you appropriate black culture then throw it away when you're done then you don't really care about black people.

4 Katy Perry

Where do we even start with Katy Perry? First of all, she rose to fame because of her single "I Kissed a Girl" which is all about girl-on-girl action and from then on, she has always acted like she was a part of the LGBTQ+ community when she's really not. While young women are kicked out of their homes and even killed for their orientation, it's pretty insulting when a superstar pretends to be bisexual in an attempt to stay relevant. Also, she dressed up as a geisha at the AMAs and she actually said in an interview that she loved Japanese so that she wanted to skin them and "wear you like Versace." What's so disgusting about this is that, when it comes to cultural appropriation, it is like white people actually "wearing" another culture like it's an outfit. Gross.

3 Selena Gomez

There's nothing wrong with appreciating the beauty of another culture but it's not okay if you wear clothing from another culture like it's a costume. When Selena Gomez performed at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards, Gomez performed “Come and Get It” while wearing an Indian-themed outfit with a bindi on her forehead. A bindi is not a cute and quirky fashion accessory. What's worse is that she didn't even apologize. She even told Z100's Elvis Duran that she wore the ensemble because she appreciates the culture so much saying, “I've learned a lot about the culture, and I think it's beautiful. I think it's fun to incorporate that into the performance." She also had a gypsy-themed birthday party and since the term "gypsy" is actually a slur, that was definitely not a good theme.

2 Zac Efron

As a way of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Zac Efron decided to not only celebrate the civil rights activist but also himself. This is what he posted on social media: "'I'm grateful for a couple things today: Martin Luther King Jr & 10 million followers on IG #MLKDay". Though he apologized for being so insensitive, it's still something that he should not have done and he should have known better. Didn't he think for a second how pretentious, self-centered, and offensive that was? Also, let's not forget that he dressed in blackface for Halloween many years ago but most people don't know about it. Seriously, as a celebrity, you need to know how your actions and words affect people and they should all know by now that blackface is just not something that you can do.

1 Justin Timberlake

When Jesse Williams gave an amazing and empowering speech at the BET Awards in 2016, Justin Timberlake decided that he wanted some of the attention. He tweeted that he was "#inspired" by Williams' moving speech and the people of Twitter were not happy about it. One Twitter user, a journalist named Ernest Owens, wrote, "So does this mean you're going to stop appropriating our music and culture?" This is referring to the fact that Timberlake has made a career out of appropriating black pop culture while also ignoring issues affecting people of color. In fact, he is guilty of doing exactly what Williams' spoke about in his speech: "Burying black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil - black gold."