People Are Sharing Celebrity Scandals That Really Weren't That Big Of A Deal, And It's Very Illuminating

If there's two things that go hand-in-hand, it's celebrities and controversy. However, as time passes, sometimes we look back at past scandals and realize they really weren't that scandalous to begin with.

A bunch of hands pointing at a man with glasses
Siphotography / Getty Images/iStockphoto

U/vantae-bts recently asked the people of Reddit, "What outrage over a celebrity was way overblown?" The answers are a fascinating trip down memory lane — and maybe they'll change your own perception of the past, too:

1."Ross Rebagliati, a Canadian snowboarder who went gold in the men's giant slalom event at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The IOC initially stripped him of the medal due to a failed drug test for cannabis use, but it [was] overruled by an appeals court two days later, resulting in the medal being restored."

—u/2cats2hats

Closeup of Ross Rebagliati
Picture Alliance / picture alliance via Getty Images

2."Charlie Chaplin was labeled a communist and was told that his re-entry to the United States would be subject to investigation into his political views. Charlie just decided never to come back to America. Once the documents became unsealed, it was revealed government officials had nothing on him, despite publicly stating they did."

—u/smilysmilysmooch

Closeup of Charlie Chaplin
Topical Press Agency / Getty Images

3."Security guard Richard Jewell. He discovered a backpack bomb at a 1996 Summer Olympics venue in Atlanta and helped evacuate many people before it exploded. The FBI, and then the media, accused him of planting the bomb."

—u/oranggit

Closeup of Richard Jewell
Doug Collier / AFP via Getty Images

4."Michael Phelps ripping a bong."

—u/Tshimanga21

Closeup of Michael Phelps with his gold medal
Adam Pretty / Getty Images

5."Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction."

—u/ripplerider

Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at the Super Bowl
Kmazur / WireImage

6."Sinéad O'Connor calling out the Catholic church over the abuse of minors. How dare she?"

—u/CDNGooner1

Closeup of Sinéad O'Connor performing
Nbc / NBCUniversal via Getty Images

7."Howard Dean's scream. He was giving a talk to motivate his campaign workers."

—u/Backsight-Foreskin

Howard Dean speaking
Drew Angerer / Getty Images

8."The Chicks and the whole thing with George W. Bush."

—u/cece_13sunroom

The Chicks holding their Grammys
Bob Riha Jr / Getty Images

9."Obama’s tan suit."

—u/magicmann2614

Obama at the podium
Alex Wong / Getty Images

10."Britney Spears when she had her meltdowns. The woman was bullied and harassed at such an insane level, it would make anyone snap."

—u/Elle12881

The front page of a tabloid featuring Britney Spears
New York Daily News / NY Daily News via Getty Images

11."Monica Lewinsky — America did her dirty."

—u/Letsgosomewherenice

Monica Lewinsky at the podium
Jesse Grant / Getty Images for The Hollywood Reporter

12."Martha Stewart was accused of insider trading and put in prison, yet every politician in Washington becomes millionaires from insider information."

—u/minigopher

Closeup of Martha Stewart
Arnold Turner / Getty Images for Netflix

13."Remember when Lizzo played that glass flute and conservatives lost their shit because she was 'disrespecting the history' or some nonsense?"

—u/VVillyD

Lizzo playing the flute on the red carpet
Sean Zanni / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

14."Colin Kaepernick kneeling."

—u/cadcamm99

Colin Kaepernick kneeling
Michael Zagaris / Getty Images

15."Jenna Ortega smoking a cigarette and drinking wine."

—u/Familiar_Ad3128

Closeup of Jenna Ortega
Gregg Deguire / WireImage

16."When Brandi Chastain won and took off her shirt and had a sports bra under it. My God, you would have thought all of the world just witnessed their first look at a stomach."

—u/Creepy_Society5958

Brandi Chastain celebrating her win
Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images

17."I always thought the public outrage over Body Count’s 'Cop Killer' was overblown and ridiculous, even if Ice-T did eventually end up pulling the song from the album."

—u/supern0vaeyes

Closeup of Ice-T
Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tribeca TV

18."Martin Scorsese saying Marvel movies were basically theme park rides. Everyone lost their absolute minds over it because liking Marvel movies was about as brave as saying you prefer chocolate chip cookies to oatmeal, and everyone swung in as if it was this personal attack. Really, it was an old-ass legendary director giving a take that has only aged better with time, since Marvel movies were never that good at telling stories to begin with, and they've run even more out of ideas since he made that comment."

—u/EazyParise

Closeup of Martin Scorsese
Noam Galai / FilmMagic

19."The fact that we spent two months with Will Smith’s slap in the headlines. I don’t think the outcome should have been necessarily different, but we could’ve wrapped that shit up in three days or less."

—u/itsallthesamejames

Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars
Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

20."I always felt bad for Vanessa Hudgens. She had her private photos stolen and posted all over the internet, and then she had to apologize for it."

—u/deenofthenorth

Closeup of Vanessa Hudgens
Neilson Barnard / Getty Images for ELLE Magazine

Agree? Disagree? Got your own suggestions? See you in the comments!

These entries have been edited for length and clarity.