15 Of The Worst Pop Culture Moments From 2016
As we say goodbye to 2016, it's definitely time to get super reflective and think about what went down. Sure, we want to think about the big moments in our own lives, whether we fell in love or became closer with our friends or landed our dream job. But we also tend to think about the low moments since, of course, those can be even more memorable. As much as we focus on our own lives and what's going on, it's no secret that we are totally and completely pop culture obsessed. We watch every new Netflix show that is available for streaming. We watch the every move of every Kardashian and Jenner, too. We just love knowing what's going on in the entertainment industry, whether it's good and bad… and unfortunately, there were a lot of really bad moments.
Here are 15 of the worst pop culture moments from 2016. Sorry not sorry. We're hoping 2017 will be merry and bright for these stars.
15 Revivals That Flopped
We're looking at you, Fuller House. Sorry not sorry. Sure, maybe we enjoyed watching both seasons of this Netflix reboot because it's a massive nostalgic experience and we definitely miss the original series. But we have to admit that a lot of critics and fans absolutely hated this show and that makes this one of the worst pop culture moments of 2016. There were some other revivals that didn't do as well as people hoped -- The X-Files was widely considered to be a bit of a flop and a disappointment. We can only hope that future revivals are not so bad because we do love the idea of getting to spend more time with our favorite characters. At least Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life was awesome, but then again, we never really had any doubt. It's always a shame when something is hyped so much and then does really badly, but hey, that's life in the pop culture world.
14 Justin Bieber's Trouble
This was not a great year for our beloved Bieber and that's a massive understatement. We love this kid from Canada and always want him to succeed. We loved him as a pre-teen who had a big voice and tons of respect for Usher. We loved him as a teen and we especially loved his comeback and his beautiful Purpose album. Then, unfortunately, 2016 happened and all of a sudden, we couldn't read the news or go on any social media site without reading something crazy about Justin Bieber. He deleted Instagram… and then went back on… and then that was apparently a hoax and he was off again. He fought with his ex Selena Gomez on the platform, too, which was another low moment. Then there was his interactions with fans. He not only decided that he didn't want to take photos with a fan but then there was that weird time that he punched a fan… Yeah, we don't think this was the best year ever for The Biebs and we're hoping that 2017 is brighter and better.
13 Angelina And Brad's Break-Up
OMG. We're still not over this break-up and we're not sure that we will ever be. We were in shock when we read the news and we have to admit that even though 2016 is drawing to a close and it's almost a brand new year, we're still not sure how this ever happened. Weren't these two totally destined to be together? They were definitely a major Hollywood power couple, if not the number one Hollywood power couple, and it's hard to imagine them ever going their separate ways. Given the fact that we're totally pop culture obsessed, we should definitely be more used to seeing celebrities break up and say goodbye to each other. And sometimes we are. Sometimes we know that life happens, things happen, and not everyone is meant to be with each other for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, we're still not over Brangelina's break-up and we have to say it was one of the worst pop culture moments of the year.
12 The Superhero Obsession
Let's be real here: superheroes totally dominated movies and television this year. Sure, that is good… if you like superheroes. And we have to be honest that most of us do not. Well, at least some of us do not. Although it is true that everything and anything that came out this year that had to do with superheroes did really really well. But for those of us who are not such big fans, that can be tough since we do like to attend the odd movie every once in a while and it has been pretty hard to find a movie that didn't have a superhero in it in the past twelve months. It's pretty much serious Oscar films or superhero movies, and sometimes we just want a good old-fashioned romantic comedy. The struggle is seriously real. We're sure that this trend is going to continue since, of course, it's big bucks for Hollywood and that's kind of a big deal. But we have to call this trend one of the worst moments of 2016.
11 Taylor Swift's Girl Squad
Sorry Taylor. We love you. We really do. We love your music, your beautiful and super accurate lyrics, and how cool you are. But we have to admit that your girl squad was a low for pop culture in 2016. The thing is that you honestly have no clue how much of a mean girl this whole deal made you. It's like you only atoned to be friends with super hot and wealthy models and celebrities… and like you literally won't be friends with someone who is not as hot or famous. It's a real turn-off and we can only hope that you will stop with the whole #squadgoals thing in 2017, please and thank you. It's just not a good look for you. We also think that it's time that you released another album (actually, it's way past time) because we would have definitely loved to have had new Taylor Swift music in 2016 instead of all this other stuff.
10 The Big Passings
Back in January, David Bowie died… and then in April, Prince passed away as well. It is pretty crazy to think that two huge, huge, huge musical stars and icons would die in the same calendar year. These are two deaths that definitely shook up the pop culture world and that have had the greatest and most powerful impact. We are all fans of both of those stars and if we're not, we know someone that loves their music, whether our parents grew up listening to Prince or our best friends listen to David Bowie on a daily basis. It's always super sad and tragic when beloved celebrities pass away and it can be hard to deal with that. We feel strange because on the one hand, we never met them and we don't personally know them… but on the other hand, we look up to these cultural icons and they mean a lot to us. We definitely feel real emotions when we have to say goodbye to our favorite celebrities and those feelings definitely matter.
9 Alec Baldwin On 'SNL'
Okay, okay, so we do think that Alec Baldwin is an absolutely amazing actor. And we do think that he did an amazing job playing Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live. Let's just get that out of the way. The reason why we're saying this was one of the worst 2016 pop culture moments is because it's a shame that this even needed to happen in the first place. It was such an ugly, horrible, and divided election season and those negative feelings aren't going away as we approach 2017. We think that this portrayal just reminds us of how much pain is still surrounding the campaign itself and also the election results, so we have to say that it was a really low moment for the year. Hopefully, there will be some, well, hope, as 2016 turns into 2017. That's all we can really say. Hope is just the most necessary thing ever and we can't do much without it, that's for sure.
8 The 'Real Housewives Of New Jersey' Reunion
We're huge fans of The Real Housewives franchise. We love the fights, the friendships, the table throwing and the headline-making moments. But we have to admit that this year when the New Jersey outing finished its season and it was time for Andy Cohen's reunion episodes, things took a turn for the worse. There's fun housewives stuff… and then there's what happened in the reunion episodes. Sorry, but it was just horrible. Teresa Guidice actually accused several fellow housewives of being in cahoots and calling the government about her fraud and illegal activity. She thought there was this whole big conspiracy going on. What was even worse was she just wouldn't stop talking about this and it was clear that she really and truly believed this. Talk about a super low blow. We still love this reality series and we will never stop watching it but this was not a great moment.
7 T-Swift's Social Life
Then there was the fact that Taylor Swift seemed to fight with so many people this year -- Kanye West in particular -- and, oh yeah, she went through boyfriends like they were going out of style. Talk about pop culture moments that were super low. We don't understand why she keeps talking about that whole phone call that went down. Who cares?! Let's move on. We're also not sure how we're supposed to believe that she was ever truly in love with any of the guys that she dated this year. It's pretty much like the second that she was done with one of them, she was onto the next, and that makes her a total serial dater. Not the most believable girlfriend, that's for sure. All we can say is maybe she needs to be single for a bit of time before she can fall in love again in 2017… and maybe she can make it last this time.
6 'Teen Mom' Catelynn Lowell's Rehab Stint
This year, Catelynn made it clear that she was no longer able to deal with her depression and anxiety on her own and she took some time to go to rehab. While that is, of course, a really awesome decision and something that everyone should do if they are struggling, that still counts as a pop culture low moment for the year. We have watched her everyday struggles on Teen Mom and Teen Mom OG and any loyal and longtime fan knows how Catelynn had a really difficult childhood and adolescence. It's very sad to know that she is still suffering and that she feels pain on a regular basis and we wish that we could just reach through the TV screen and give her a giant hug. We love Catelynn and Tyler and have grown really attached to them over the years and we can only hope that their 2017 will be much happier.
5 Alan Thicke's Passing
Awwww. That's all we have to say about this one. Alan Thicke was pretty much everyone's dad and we just liked knowing that he was always around. Sure, maybe we knew about him because his son Robin Thicke had a bit of a controversial hit song there for a while… but Alan Thicke had actually seen a lot of success in movie and TV roles in recent years. He had a big part in the beautiful new family TV drama This Is Us and was even in the second season of Fuller House. It's always sad when we have to say goodbye to a beloved celebrity but this one was really rough. It's easy to see why fans and critics and celebrities were all super depressed to get this bad news. What's even worse? How he died. He had a heart attack at the age of 69 and that's just a horrible thing to have to happen. He is definitely a star that we lost way too soon and we can only think that this was a really sad way to close out 2016.
4 That Johnny Depp Thing
2016 was a super sad and strange year for fans of Johnny Depp. We may have loved him in movies like Pirates Of The Caribbean and Secret Window and he may be a creepy movie icon thanks to parts in Edward Scissorhands. But then news broke that he and Amber Heard were getting divorced… because of some alleged physical abuse. We hated learning this because it was just so tragic. We're not sure what the real story is since there are so many cases of people making this stuff up. So we don't know if we believe it… but we don't know if we don't believe it, either. Either way, this was a really low moment for 2016 for the entertainment industry and we never, ever want to see something like this repeated ever again. What's even weirder, though, is how quickly everyone stopped talking about this, considering how big of a movie star he is. We may never really know the truth.
3 Rob And Blac Chyna's Relationship
It's safe to say that most of the year's pop culture moments had to do with the Kardashians or the Jenners and we can admit that Rob Kardashian's relationship has been a pretty low moment, too. Sure, Dream Kardashian made her way into the world and she's super sweet and adorable… but what is going on with her parents?! News that someone hacked Rob's Instagram account is now running rampant and it's hard to know if it's true that Blac has left him with the baby or if that's just a joke or a hoax or whatever we want to call it. Then there's the fact that the Kardashians really don't want Blac to be able to change her last name and become part of the family for real, and oh yeah, there have been tons of fights on the reality show. Yeah, this relationship has not worked out too well and we're not sure that the news will be better next year.
2 Kanye West's Breakdown
It's been a rough year for both Kayne West and Kim Kardashian and his breakdown that landed him in the hospital was definitely a low pop culture moment for 2016. We were super sad to learn that he was having such a tough time and we have not stopped wishing both him and his entire family well. It's always hard to know what's really going on with celebrities since they are so wealthy and famous and well-connected. We're never really sure what's just for show and what is really going on, but it's safe to say that his pain and suffering are totally genuine and that this is definitely not a publicity stunt. We hope that things improve soon and that he can get back to his normal self. Hopefully, he can recover so his 2017 is a lot better than the latter half of his 2016 because famous or not, everyone deserves a brighter and more promising future.
1 Kim K's Paris Robbery
It's safe to say that the horrible tragedy of Kim Kardashian's Paris robbery is the number one worst pop culture moment of 2016. We would pretty much be monsters if we didn't say this. We were shocked along with the rest of the world when the news broke and we're still pretty shaken up by it. It's also pretty certain that this has created all kinds of sad ripple effects in both the lives of all the Kardashians and in the entertainment world at large. There have been rumors that Keeping Up with the Kardashians will be canceled and while it's still going strong, it's possible that the reality show has seen its last days. It's also no secret that Kim is still really upset about this and that now she seems to be having some troubles with her marriage. So yeah, not a great year for Kim Kardashian, and a pretty sad one at that. We hope that she and her family have a great holiday and a much better 2017. Hopefully next year, she'll be on the list for the best pop culture moments.
