Over the past year, country music singer Morgan Wallen, model Chrissy Teigen and other stars found themselves in hot water and on the receiving end of immense backlash over their actions.
Here’s a look at a few celebrities who made headlines in 2021 and were either subsequently canceled or caught a ton of flak:
Morgan Wallen
Country music singer Morgan Wallen made headlines in February after a video surfaced of him using the N-word.
Wallen received backlash online and in the country music industry. Even though he was nominated for multiple Academy of Country Music Awards, Wallen was not included in the ceremony in any capacity. He was also dropped by his record label and his music was banned from iHeartRadio.
Wallen opened up about the video and his choice to use a racial slur months after the video surfaced in an interview with Michael Strahan.
“I was around some of my friends and we just, we say dumb stuff together. In our minds it’s playful. It sounds ignorant but that’s really where it came from, and it’s wrong,” Wallen said. “We were all clearly drunk and I was asking his girlfriend to take care of him because he was drunk and he was leaving. I didn’t mean it in any derogatory manner at all.”
Despite the backlash, Wallen’s music continues to be successful. He recently announced his 2022 tour dates.
Chrissy Teigen and Morgan Wallen both made headlines this year after receiving backlash. Teigen was accused of cyberbullying while Wallen was caught on camera using the N-word. (Photo by Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images via Getty Images / Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for CMA)
Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy Teigen joined what she called the “cancel club” after multiple people came forward accusing the model of cyberbullying.
Teigen was first accused of cyberbullying by Courtney Stodden.
Stodden, who is nonbinary and identifies as they/them, claimed Teigen told them to kill themselves on Twitter. Stodden was only 16 years old at the time of the tweets.
Lindsay Lohan, Farrah Abraham and “Project Runway” star Michael Costello have also accused Teigen of cyberbullying.
Teigen has publicly apologized for her past behavior multiple times, including in a lengthy post on Medium, which she shared on social media.
Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s reportedly pulled out of brand deals with the model-turned-chef at the time the allegations became public. Teigen also dropped out of a Netflix project and stepped away from her brand Safely.
Dave Chappelle caught backlash over his Netflix special “The Closer.” (Mathieu Bitton/Netflix)
Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle found himself in the middle of a cancel culture controversy after his Netflix special “The Closer” prompted an employee walkout over the comedian’s use of transgender jokes. The employees were disgruntled by the disparaging remarks but also about the way Netflix handled employees’ concerns internally.
Multiple celebrities, including Joe Rogan and Bill Maher, came to the comedian’s defense at the time.
Throughout the controversy, Chappelle remained unapologetic but did offer that he’d be willing to meet with the transgender community to discuss his jokes.
Despite the backlash, Chappelle will headline an event at Netflix’s upcoming stand-up comedy festival.
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Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato, who identifies as nonbinary, found themselves in hot water after they called out a small frozen yogurt shop on social media. The singer caught a ton of flak for criticizing The Bigg Chill, a local Los Angeles yogurt shop, for featuring an abundance of sugar-free options.
Lovato named the yogurt shop on their Instagram at the time, saying they were “finding it extremely hard to order froyo from @thebiggchillofficial when you have to walk past tons of sugar free cookies/other diet foods before you get to the counter.”
The yogurt shop replied to Lovato, saying it offers sugar-free items for people with “Diabetics, Celiac disease” and people who are vegan.
Lovato later publicly apologized.
“I’m sorry that I may have got the messaging wrong. I’m sorry that I may have disappointed some people,” she said.
Gina Carano was let go from “The Mandalorian” for a post on social media in which she compared today’s political divide to the events in Nazi Germany and conservatives to the Jewish people. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/FilmMagic)
Gina Carano
Gina Carano was let go from the Disney+ series, “The Mandalorian” for a post on social media in which she compared today’s political divide to the events in Nazi Germany and conservatives to the Jewish people.
She had previously caught backlash for other comments about the coronavirus, the use of gender pronouns and election fraud.
Since her firing, she was cast in a biopic titled “My Son Hunter” about President Biden’s younger son, currently under production.
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Aaron Lewis
Country music star Aaron Lewis received backlash after releasing his song “Am I The Only One,” which is critical of liberals in America.
“Am I the only one who quits singin’ along / Every time they play a Springsteen song?” the track’s lyrics read.
Lewis’ song was defended by Big Machine Label Group founder Scott Borchetta at the time after music industry blogger Bob Lefsetz issued a harsh critique.
“Aaron Lewis and I have political disagreements,” Borchetta wrote. “But there are also things we agree on. I think that’s the foundation for the idea of our country. It doesn’t work if we’re so divided that we can’t reach across the aisle, have a conversation or an argument, and ultimately, shake hands. If we can’t do that, and this moment is so divisive, we may never get our country back.”
