A Whole Bunch Of Celebrities Would Rather You Didn’t Read This Article About Their Forgotten 2023 Moments
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1. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher’s bizarre apology
If you need reminding, just three months ago Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher’s That 70s Show costar Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after he was found guilty of raping two women in the early 2000s.
The judge involved in the case then revealed that he’d received more than 50 letters asking for leniency in Danny’s sentencing, with two of those letters coming from Mila and Ashton.
In their letters, Ashton called the now-convicted rapist a “role model,” and said that it would be an “injustice” for Danny’s daughter to be “raised without a present father.”
Mila also called him “an outstanding role model and friend” as she added: “I wholeheartedly vouch for Danny Masterson’s exceptional character and the tremendous positive influence he has had on me and the people around him."
And perhaps even worse than the letters themselves was Mila and Ashton’s strange response to the backlash that they were receiving, with the married couple appearing somber in an apology video filmed at their house.
In this apology, Ashton made a point of saying that the letters "were intended for the judge to read,” which prompted many to argue that they were “only sorry because they got caught” as fans blasted the “insincere” video on social media.
The couple reacted by turning off comments on their post, but the situation went from bad to worse just days later when Ashton sent fans on his text mailing list a “flippant” message that appeared to allude to the situation.
The text read: “A friend said something me today: We have one heart we can fill in with hatred or love. I chose love,” he then reiterated in a second message: “I chose love.”
But this did not get the intended response, with one person reacting by asking: “Who’s gonna tell him that someone who chooses to fill their heart with love isn’t gonna side with a literal rapist? That is the opposite of picking love. That’s siding with violence and hatred.”
2. Jonah Hill’s alleged “boundaries”
Back in July, Jonah Hill was dominating the news cycle after his ex-girlfriend Sarah Brady accused him of being “emotionally abusive” and shared a series of damning screenshots of their alleged text conversations on Instagram.
The worrying exchanges saw somebody that was saved in Sarah’s phone as “Jonah” making a list of demands if she wanted to continue dating him. These included his expectation that the semi-professional surfer should delete all photos and videos of herself in swimwear from Instagram.
The sender also detailed a list of “boundaries” that Sarah was expected to adhere to if she wanted to remain in a “romantic partnership” with him — the list included “boundaryless inappropriate friendships with men,” and not having “friendships with women who are in unstable places.”
Many were left horrified by the messages, which sparked an important conversation about weaponizing “therapy talk” at the time, as readers were also left disturbed by the way that the sender repeatedly bragged about what a good partner he was to Sarah and how well he treats her.
“I literally am the best boyfriend On earth,” one alleged message from Jonah reads. Another warns: “Don’t ruin all the kindness You’re better than that.”
And when Sarah said that she felt gaslit by his actions, a reply reads: “To say you feel gaslit when I was being nice is absurd,” with another that was sent shortly after adding: “You have not been gaslit.”
Jonah never publicly responded to Sarah's allegations, and eventually all of the discourse wore thin.
3. Drew Barrymore being branded a "scab"
We never could have imagined a situation where one of the world’s most beloved celebrities, Drew Barrymore, would land a spot on a list like this, but her response to the ongoing writer’s strike in September triggered intense scrutiny.
After months of abiding by the union’s rules, it was announced that Drew’s talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, would be returning before the strike was over. This would entail returning to air without any writers, which understandably rubbed many up the wrong way and led to Drew being branded a “scab.”
The situation went from bad to worse when Drew defended the decision amid mass backlash, and in a tearful now-deleted Instagram video she told followers: “I believe that there is nothing I can say or do in this moment to make it okay.”
“I wanted to own a decision so that it wasn't a PR-protected situation and I would just take full responsibility for my actions,” she went on. “There are so many reasons why this is so complex. I just want everyone to know my intentions have never been in a place to upset or hurt anyone. That's not who I am."
Eventually, Drew buckled to the criticism and shared that a decision had been made to pause the return of her show until the strike was over. She said: “I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today."
Then, undoubtedly frustrating for Drew, mere days after her scab scandal the writer’s strike came to an end — meaning that if she’d just held out a couple more days before announcing plans for her show to return, the messy situation could have been completely avoided.
4. Taylor Swift and Matty Healy’s seriously misguided relationship
While Taylor’s incredibly high profile relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has been incredibly well-received, her love life took a rather controversial turn back in May.
Just weeks after it was announced that the pop superstar had quietly split from her boyfriend of more than six years, Joe Alwyn, she was romantically linked to British singer Matty Healy.
This was troubling for fans due to Matty’s history of problematic behavior, with the 1975 frontperson being accused of doing a Nazi salute on stage as recently as three months earlier.
And just two months before he and Taylor started dating, Matty had been involved in a podcast episode that made racist jokes about the rapper Ice Spice, with Matty admitting in the same appearance that he masturbates to Black women being “brutalized.”
But as more and more of Matty’s troubling behavior began to resurface online, Taylor appeared to double down on her decision to be with him, and the two were repeatedly spotted attending parties together, ducking in and out of her New York City home, and even kissing.
The most overt display of their relationship came when both Matty and Taylor mouthed the exact same words to each other during their respective shows in an apparent secret declaration of their love. At Matty’s May 3 concert, he mouthed “This is about you. You know who you are. I love you,” while on stage. Taylor did the same thing during her May 5 show in Nashville.
The scrutiny intensified quickly, with Taylor’s most dedicated fans demanding refunds for their Eras tour tickets and canceling their Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) preorders in response to who she was choosing to associate with. But Taylor remained defiant, and as the criticism grew — and just days after Matty’s troubling masturbation comments resurfaced — she made a point of ignoring the offense that her relationship was causing.
Making a rare statement about her personal life while on stage, Taylor pointedly said: “I’ve just never been this happy in my life – in all aspects of my life — ever before.”
Despite this, and amid the relentless backlash, Taylor and Matty’s whirlwind romance was over by the end of the month. Interestingly, news of their split broke shortly after a podcast clip of Matty laughing as his friends referred to Taylor’s mom as “Miss Piggy” resurfaced online.
Taylor has never explicitly acknowledged the controversial relationship, and her new romance with Travis has arguably done a pretty good job of distracting people from this misguided fling.
5. The Weeknd’s “worst sex scene in history”
While The Weeknd spent much of 2023 doubling down on his performance in the widely-panned HBO series The Idol, he probably hopes that fans have forgotten his involvement in what ended up being dubbed “the worst sex scene in history.”
Viewers were left cringing and The Weeknd was mercilessly dragged online after the scene in question aired, with many claiming that it was “obvious” that the star thought he looked “sexy” in it.
Others questioned whether anybody involved with the production had ever actually had sex before, with The Weeknd specifically being compared to “Gollum scurrying for a fish.”
Needless to say, The Weeknd wasted no time in distancing himself from his character, insisting in an interview that his onscreen persona was “pathetic” and “such a loser.”
He also reiterated that he is nothing like the character in real life, telling GQ: “He looked nothing like me, acted nothing like me, just a totally different person.”
Despite his insistence, some argued that The Weeknd had protested a little too much, especially when they noticed that he was constantly hitting back at critics of The Idol on his Twitter page.
6. Joe Jonas's navigation of his split from Sophie Turner
It’s arguable that no other celebrity has had a quicker fall from grace in 2023 than Joe Jonas, who became public enemy number one back in September when source quotes attributed to his camp constantly dunked on Sophie Turner amid their messy split
Not only did the breakup catch fans off-guard, it was reported to have also caught Sophie off guard too, with legal papers claiming that she didn’t know that Joe was filing for a divorce until it was in the news.
In addition, insiders from Joe’s inner circle suggested that Sophie was a bad mom and partied too hard despite there being piles of evidence that neither of these claims were true.
At one point, Joe's camp made the vague claim that the final straw in their marriage was him capturing "Sophie saying and/ or doing something" on their ring doorbell camera. Sophie, meanwhile, maintained a dignified silence as the narrative that she was responsible for the breakup built.
Things got so bad, that Joe was accused of resorting to Justin Timberlake’s misogynistic 2002 playbook as the split unfolded, and many casual celeb gossip lovers admitted that they’d gone from having no opinion on Joe to having an extremely negative one.
But just as the scrutiny that Joe was under reached fever pitch, it was announced that he and Sophie will be handling the rest of their split privately. But, to quote Sophie’s Game of Thrones character, the north remembers.
7. Lizzo’s lawsuit
Back in August, Lizzo was hit with a lawsuit after some of her backing dancers accused her of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
In one part of the suit, it was claimed that Lizzo took the dancers to a strip club in Amsterdam after one of her shows this year and "began inviting cast members to take turns touching the nude performers, catching dildos launched from the performers’ vaginas, and eating bananas protruding from the performers’ vaginas."
One of the dancers alleged that Lizzo “pressured” and “goaded” her into touching the nude performer’s breast, despite her saying several times that she didn’t want to. The dancers also claimed that they were tricked into attending a nude cabaret bar in Paris by the singer.
In addition, the star was accused of subjecting her dancers to “excruciating” 12-hour rehearsals, with one saying she was so scared that she’d get fired if she took a break to go to the bathroom that she soiled herself.
Other accusations included Lizzo allegedly making “thinly veiled” remarks about a dancer’s weight gain.
And after the news of the lawsuit broke, others came forward to support the claims — including two other members of the troupe who were not involved in the suit but said that they’d had a similar experience to the one detailed in the legal documents.
Director Sophia Nahli Allison also opened up about her experience with Lizzo after she was chosen to direct a documentary about the singer. Sophia alleged that Lizzo was so disrespectful that she ended up quitting the project after just two weeks.
She went on to call the star “arrogant, self-centered, and unkind.”
Lizzo denied the allegations against her in an Instagram statement at the time, calling them “false” and “outrageous.” The following month, she filed to dismiss the lawsuit but the motion was rejected.
Interestingly, the case went to trial last month but this hasn’t received anywhere near as much attention as the initial allegations did back in August. Per Rolling Stone, Lizzo’s defense lawyer has argued that the outings to the strip clubs were protected by the First Amendment because they furthered the star’s “explicit and expressed creative purposes.”
Both the lawyer representing the dancers and the judge are said to have hit back at this claim at the time, but generally speaking, the trial has appeared to fly completely under the radar.
8. Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater’s controversial relationship
In recent weeks, Ariana Grande and her reported new boyfriend Ethan Slater have been living their lives like any other low-key showbiz couple, with Ariana being spotted supporting the Broadway star in his latest stage production.
Despite the public appearance, neither star has discussed the new relationship, and they’ve seemingly been keeping their heads down to avoid the usual celebrity fanfare.
However, they might have another motive for trying to keep things casual — after all, the romance dominated the headlines when it was first revealed due to the fact that they’d both only just split from their spouses.
Around the same time that Ariana and Ethan’s relationship went public, it was announced that she’d ended things with her husband Dalton Gomez.
But what really shocked people was the fact that Ethan had also split from his wife; his high school sweetheart who he'd been married to since 2018.
In fact, Ethan and Lilly Jay had only recently welcomed their first child together before he moved on with Ariana. Ariana was also seen to have liked many of Ethan’s family photos with Lilly on Instagram before they got together.
Ethan’s wife was understandably reported to have been left “devastated” after being “completely blindsided” by his relationship with Ariana, and went on to publicly blast her as "not a girls' girl."
9. Lea Michele facing “difficult” allegations (again)
It’s fair to say that it feels like much longer than 11 months ago that ID and Discovery+’s controversial docuseries The Price of Glee premiered, with the show exploring the dark side of Ryan Murphy’s musical TV series.
The three-part documentary consisted of interviews with crew members, background actors, and close friends and family members of the Glee cast — and they did not hold back when it came to opening up about the show.
But it was Lea Michele who bore the brunt of the scrutiny, with one crew member calling her a “narcissist” and admitting that many people on the set did not support her relationship with her late costar Cory Monteith.
“She had a rep for being a little bit difficult,” Garrett Greer said in the documentary.
In case you didn’t know, Lea has been at the center of several scandals since Glee came to an end in 2015, and many former castmates have accused her of bullying and racism.
This was amplified in the docuseries, where crew members claimed that there would be “conflict” whenever Lea felt as though the attention that her character was receiving was under threat.
Dabier Snell, who was a background actor on Glee in Season 4, also recalled being told that Lea didn’t want him sitting at the same lunch table as the rest of the cast because she didn’t feel as though he belonged “with the rest of the group.”
And the father of Naya Rivera, who starred alongside Lea in Glee and tragically died in 2020, said that Lea was the only person that his daughter had “trouble with” at work.
Lea did not acknowledge any of the allegations made in The Price of Glee at the time, but just a couple of weeks later she came under even more scrutiny when she was accused of trying to overshadow Stranger Things star Sadie Sink when they both appeared on The Tonight Show.
Lea was accused of subtly moving Sadie out of her way so that she could take center stage during a game on the program. While Sadie was praised for the “gracious” way that she handled the seemingly awkward situation, Lea was accused of being “disrespectful” and “immature.”
10. Hugh Grant’s “obnoxious” red carpet moment
Speaking of disrespectful, Hugh Grant divided the internet with his red carpet behavior at the 2023 Oscars back in March, where he was branded “obnoxious” and “rude” for the way that he handled an interview with ABC red carpet host Ashley Graham.
In an awkward clip that quickly went viral, Ashley could be seen desperately trying to get a substantial answer out of Hugh for almost 90 seconds, while the British actor remains distracted and uninterested throughout.
And when the uncomfortable interview finally came to an end, Hugh was seen rolling his eyes and pulling a face at the host.
Viewers were baffled by his behavior, and many called him out for the way that he had treated Ashley. One person tweeted at the time: “You don't have to be that much of a dick, Hugh Grant. I mean you really just don’t.”
Interestingly, contrary to the rest of the celebrities on this list, there is actually a chance that Hugh would rather people did remember his behavior on this night. After all, he has admitted to being on a mission to let people know that he isn’t as nice as the likable characters he is known for playing on screen.
In fact, Hugh appears to be straight-up resentful of this reputation, and said in a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly: “I get very annoyed when people think I’m nice or diffident or a polite English gentleman. I’m a nasty piece of work and people should know that.”
And in 2020 he admitted that director Richard Curtis used to get a kick out of casting him as a good guy “because he knew that exactly the reverse was true.”
Hugh has also confessed to being “cruel” to his women costars over the years, including criticizing Julia Roberts’s appearance and making Drew Barrymore cry.
11. Ariana DeBose’s BAFTAs rap
And finally, we couldn’t round up this list without giving a shout out to one of the most iconic moments of the year; Ariana DeBose’s BAFTAs rap.
The star went seriously viral after the lyrics to her original rap about this year’s Best Actress nominees came under scrutiny — combined with the fact that she was audibly out of breath during the high-energy performance.
Arguably the most famous part of the bespoke song was: “Angela Basset did the thing / Viola Davis, my Woman King / Blanchett Cate you’re a genius / And Jamie Lee, you are all of us.”
To make matters worse, each nominee was cut to onscreen as Ariana shouted them out, and every one of them looked confused and unimpressed by the song.
By the time the BAFTAs were over, Ariana’s awkward musical number had already caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic as viewers ripped it to shreds. In fact, the ridicule was so intense that BAFTA organizers ended up jumping to Ariana’s defense and calling the online mockery “incredibly unfair.”
Initially, the whole thing appeared to get to Ariana too and she deactivated her Twitter account shortly after the performance.
However, as the rap transitioned from being considered horribly cringeworthy to iconically camp, Ariana appeared to have a change of heart and she insisted that she actually loved the public response.
After all, when it comes to standout moments of the year, it’s safe to say that nobody did the thing quite like Ariana.
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