15 Times Famous People Got More Hate Than They Deserved
We all have had our moments in life where we do something that we'd rather forget and were completely and utterly crucified by our friends and family for doing said something. However, when you're in the public eye, it's harder to forgive and forget - even if you do something that doesn't deserve as much hate as it had accumulated. These 15 individuals are only human, yet thanks to the magic of fame, when they made the mistake of screwing up, they received a tidal wave of some pretty harsh hate that really wasn't warranted. Sure, some of these celebrities are in fact pretty douchy, but that doesn't mean they deserve the hate thrown at them after making some very public mistakes. Everyone deserves love, people - even these very rich and famous people.
15 Selena Gomez
Ah, the sweet and innocent looking Selena Gomez, the girl who became a Disney channel household name and helped turn Justin Bieber from a little Canadian boy into a Canadian man. But after that relationship roller coaster derailed into a group of onlookers, Miss Gomez started looking elsewhere for love, which included scooping up Bella Hadid's on-again, off-again boyfriend the Weeknd, taking him off the market indefinitely. After photographs surfaced of Gomez and the Weeknd sucking face on Instagram, Hadid quickly unfollowed Taylor Swift's bestie on the social media site. Haters started shaming Gomez, saying that she stole the supermodel's boyfriend and went after the actress like an angry mob of villagers chasing down Frankenstein's monster. Jeez, calm down people: they're two consenting adults who can do whatever the hell they please.
14 Gwyneth Paltrow
Once upon a time, actress Gwyneth Paltrow was just a loving blonde head in a box who was the fiancée of both Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck before she was the wife of Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin. Sure, her acting was so good that it border-lined on annoying as hell (knock off the British accent - we get it, you're good), but that's not why so many people turned out to viciously hate the celebrity. So much so that she was literally voted “most hated celebrity” years ago OVER CHRIS “I BEAT THE UTTER HELL OUT OF RIHANNA” BROWN! Paltrow was so thrown off by this fact that she started spewing some idiot nonsense about how she “wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth". It may not have been in your mouth, but thanks to your rich parents, it certainly was shoved up another place. I mean, she graduated from a private Manhattan high school - lady, you grew up wealthy, just admit it. I'm sure she's not a bad person and to be voted most hated must have hit a nerve, but calm down the uppity-ness and maybe we'll give you a pass.
13 Casey Affleck
Actor Casey Affleck was always simply known as Ben Affleck's little Boston-accented brother who would brute around, whining at things. But after his turn in Manchester By The Sea, audiences started to, well, turn on him themselves. People started uncovering some little known facts about the actor after he started winning award after award for the movie, like the time he was accused of harassment from two different female co-workers back in 2010. The suits were muddled and no one was really sure if he was being accused of harassment or assault. Either or, these two things are pretty freaking bad, so it made sense that the hate was being spewed from all over. But why then? Why right after he went on an award run and not before when he was doing all his other movies after the fact? This, I would like to know.
12 Anna Gunn
I hate to break it to die hard fans of Breaking Bad, but Anna Gunn is REALLY not Skyler White - the woman is a completely different person because, you know, she's an actress and her job is to play completely different people for a living. Apparently, fans of the hit AMC drama couldn't distinguish the two and threw numerous shades of hate at Anna herself. Gunn played the damaged and trapped wife of protagonist-turned-antagonist Walter White who, in the end, turned completely on her husband WHO WAS A KNOWN DRUG LORD. Yet, people hated on Gunn instead for playing the part so well. I think Gunn should feel flattered by this, if it didn't threaten to type cast her in the future. But, c'mon people - she's not Skyler and she's not really responsible for her husband turning into a meth kingpin - it was crappy healthcare coverage.
11 Raven-Symone
Woooo, this one is a ring-dinger. Back in 2015, a petition started circulating to have the Disney actress removed from the ABC daytime show The View. “Raven Symone has been sprouting her ignorant and self-hating spiel on the view for long enough,” the petition read. “From stating that she wouldn't hire somebody for having a ghetto name, to openly complaining about reverse racism.” The petition went on to say that Symone is not a strong, black role model and that she was only saying what “white people want to hear”. Raven has said in the past that she can't stand labels and even refuses to label her own orientation, which shouldn't earn her as much hate as she's received. It's weird because the same people that threw shade at her were also excited for the That's So Raven spinoff. Makes no sense.
10 Anne Hathaway
Poor Anne Hathaway - there is even a word in the English language dedicated to hating on her: “Hathahate”. But some people have to ask, “what the hell did she do wrong?” One second she's a beloved Disney princess, the next everyone wants to throw tomatoes at her. Columnists weighed in on the matter, saying that she's that “one theater kid” who overcompensates everything she does. One of those overcompensating moments came when she hosted the Academy Awards with James Franco back in 2011. While Franco phoned in his sleepy/drunk performance, Hathaway tried to make up for it by doubling her own energy… which was a little bit of an overkill, but did it deserve all the hate she mustered up? Uh, how about NO. I mean, making up a whole new word to describe the exact feeling of hate? That's just wrong.
9 Scarlett Johansson
While I believe this reason is justified, it's not just about one person, it's about the entire problem itself. Hollywood has been known to “whitewash” particular minority characters by having white women play them and the outcry is completely warranted. Most recently, Hollywood screwed up again by casting white actress Scarlett Johansson to star in the live-action adaption of the popular Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell, where she played a Japanese character. Because of this, the movie tanked and hate was spewed at Johansson as she was attacked by fans and critics all over the board. Actors like Ming-Na Wen took a stand against the movie itself without attacking Johansson outright: “Nothing against Scarlett Johansson,” the actress tweeted out. “In fact, I'm a big fan. But everything against this whitewashing of Asian role.” Actress Constance Wu always took to Twitter to air out her frustrations as well: “It's like a way to reduce race to mere phys appearance as opposed to say culture, social experience, identity, history.” Maybe Johansson will think twice in the future about taking a Whitewashed role.
8 Tyler Perry
Sure, his movies aren't that great. Sure, you see his face everywhere IN his movies that you start to believe he's obsessed with himself. Sure, he releases like 27 movies a month, but are those reasons to hate on actor/director/writer Tyler Perry? He's literally one of the most hard working men in Hollywood and television (he has like four to six shows on TV) and Broadway and yet he still gets a bad rap from almost all critics, writers, and even Spike Lee himself (before they both called a truce in regard to trashing each other on social media platforms). He's been called out for being a copycat, doesn't know how to cast crack heads properly, keeps making sequels to crappy movies, his refusal to collaborate and so on and so forth. But is all that worth the hate… well… . Now I'm not so sure.
7 Hayden Christensen
Oh Hayden Christensen, you should have known better not to star in those little prequel movies after reading the cardboard, horrible scripts. I get it, I get it - NO ONE in their right mind would ever turn down working in a Star Wars movie but, damn boy, they're horrible as all hell. While it seems impossible to turn down the role of Darth Vader before he was Darth Vader, but you could've done it, Hayden - you had the power! Now, thanks to those heinous films, Christensen seems almost untouchable these days, finding it completely hard to shake the shadow of Anakin Skywalker, but is that any reason to hate him, Hollywood? Okay, your reasons are justifiable, Star Wars geeks, but the as for the rest of the world, it's time to forgive and forget.
6 Shia LaBeouf
If there's any sort of Hollywood stir up that seems to have an extra dose of crazy added to it, chances are actor Shia LaBeouf has something to do with it. Remember when he was this cute little kid from the Even Steven show? Yeah, I don't either. LaBeouf has appeared to have gone off the deep end these days, his latest dump of crazy happening when he was pulled over and yelled at a black police officer for being a pawn of a white police department. People hate him so much that they're even starting to physically assault people who LOOK like Shia LaBeouf. I'm starting to think that Shia only does these off the wall things because he wants to stay relevant in the eyes of the public, but doesn't really know about how to do it properly.
5 Zack Snyder
While Hollywood seems to enjoy director Zack Snyder (at least, I think they do because they keep throwing projects his way), D.C. Comic fans absolutely loathe him. Geeks want his head on a stick via Lannister style. First, he ruined Dawn of the Dead, then Sucker Punch, and finally Batman v Superman, a movie so freaking horrible, that it received a 27 percent rating on RottenTomatoes.com. Fan boys claim that Snyder tends to choose “style over substance” and his characters lack some major development. “I think I just have a natural operatic aesthetic. I can't help it,” Snyder said of his eye. Yew, vomit. While I think he's the poor man's Michael Bay, I don't think he deserves to receive death threats from geeks still living in their mother's basement.
4 Kristen Stewart
While I can see why the former future Mrs. Robert Pattinson was so hated back when she was publicly caught cheating on her eternal vampire love with a married director, but is the hate warranted now? Sure, Kristen Stewart isn't the most talented actress in the melting pot, but is she hate worthy? No. Cardboard worthy, perhaps, but not hate worthy. These days, Kristen Stewart and girlfriend Stella Maxwell are living it up, driving around Los Angeles in some old blue truck and making kissy faces at each other as they snap selfies. They're literally one of the cutest couples out there, yet Stewart still gets slack for cheating on Pattinson. Look people, crap happens, people sometimes stray. Was she wrong? Yes. But it's in the past and she's since atoned for her mistake (via box office flops). Let it go, already.
3 Brian Williams
I have to say that Brian Williams was my absolute favorite news anchor growing up. He had the intellect and the sense of humor that drew world-wide attention. However, in 2015, he was massively disgraced for disproven stories he reported on back in 2003. Williams was then suspended from The Nightly News for six months without pay, which led to his eventual removal. Williams then moved over to MSNBC as a chief anchor and now anchors the show The 11th Hour with Brian Williams. Despite his lovable turn as a frequent guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, people were still hating on Williams for his past mistakes. While I don't condone what Williams did, I don't believe the hate should still be as strong as it still is today.
2 John Mayer
Okay, so this guy can tend to be a jerk to a great deal of the women he's had relationships with. But you have to admit, John Mayer has gotten some pretty good music out of those specific relationships. Remember when we found out Your Body is Wonderland was about Jennifer Love Hewitt? We all let out a collective awwwww. But then when Mayer started dating fellow singer Taylor Swift, everyone held their breath. Like all of Swift's relationships, this one had a pretty quick expiration date. After the relationship faltered, Swift went on to write the song “Dear John” which was about their doomed relationship. “Don't you think 19 is too young to be played by your dark twisted games, when I loved you so?” one lyric said. John went on to say he was humiliated by the song itself and the fact that he was attacked by her entire fan base. I really don't think Mayer is to blame here since most of Swift's relationships are all pretty damn short. She's the common denominator here.
1 Simon Cowell
And then there's this guy, the man all the world loves to hate. Simon Cowell gets a bad rap for throwing pretty crappy remarks at aspiring artists when he first came to the attention of the world back on American Idol. Sure, he was an unusually cruel soul crusher, but he helped mold some of today's most talented individuals. You have to admit, the man knows talent when he hears and sees it. Yes, he kicks people while they're down sometimes, but he wouldn't lie to you - if you had talent, he would call it out and if you didn't, he'd make you feel like utter dirt. But the man himself is talented and while he can't sing himself (he knows this and calls himself out at some times) he has an ear for talent and really doesn't deserve the real hate he gets tossed sometimes.