
35 Celebs Who Thought They Said Something Really Profound And Impactful...That Ended Up Being Pretty Problematic
Critics — including fellow celeb Emily Ratajowski — were quick to point out not only the money wasted on the trip but also its environmental impact, along with its association with Bezos. To many, it felt far less like female empowerment, and far more like an empty gesture.
2. This isn't the first time Perry's been accused of empty "feminist" gestures. Last year, she released the song and accompanying video for "Women's World," which was criticized for being the definition of dated, performative, surface-level feminism (Perry later claimed it was "satire"). It didn't help that Perry had worked with Dr. Luke on the song, who Kesha accused of rape in 2014.*
3. Then, there's Perry's speech last year at the VMAs, where she accepted MTV's Video Vanguard Award. Perry spoke about the "noise" female artists deal with, joking about her period and bringing up criticisms after she cut her hair short. This might've been fine, except...periods and haircuts kind of pale in comparison to rampant sexual assault and intimidation in the music industry, especially considering her continued work with Dr. Luke.
4. During the January 6 Capitol attack, Demi Lovato tweeted about her heart being broken over the insurrection...and then brought up her music. "It makes me to sad to believe how naive I was to think this couldn't possibly happen, and yet it did. Here we are. For everyone in my comments saying 'where's d7' or wanting me to sing instead of speaking up about what needs to change in this country..." she wrote on X (then Twitter). "THIS IS WHY I POST AS MUCH AS I DO. THIS IS WHY I CARE. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN ANY FUCKING MORE. I'm angry, embarrassed and ashamed. I'm in the studio working on something special after today's assault on democracy. #impeachtrumptonight." While Demi's outrage was shared by many Americans, centering the tweet around her music was poorly received — as was the idea that a song might be of any help.
5. Speaking of the aftermath of the 2020 election, Eva Longoria made a bit of a head-scratching comment just after the results came out. Appearing on MSNBC to speak about Biden's win, she said, "The women of color showed up in a big way. Of course, you saw in Georgia what Black women have done, but Latina women were the real heroines here — beating men in turnout in every state and voting for Biden/Harris at an average rate close to three to one." While clearly trying to make a point about the importance of Latina voters, her comments were seen as erasing the contributions of Black women, who had voted for Biden in even larger percentages than Latina voters.
Apologizing, she wrote on X (then Twitter), "I'm so sorry and sad to hear that my comments on MSNBC could be perceived as taking credit from Black women. When I said that Latinas were heroines in this election, I simply meant that they turned out in greater numbers and voted more progressively than LATINO MEN." She continued. "Let me be very clear: Black women have long been the backbone of the Democratic Party, something we have seen played out in this election as well as previous ones."
6. Jamie Lee Curtis might have been trying to say something about the danger of making assumptions, but her comments on Ana de Armas still felt a little problematic. When Jamie met Ana de Armas on the set of Knives Out, she says she thought de Armas was "unsophisticated" and a new actor because she was from Cuba. "I assumed — and I say this with real embarrassment — because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived," she said. "I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman. That first day, I was like, 'Oh, what are your dreams?'" Many felt Jamie's story just portrayed her own racism.
7. In what appeared to be an attempt to show how important it is to grow and listen to the younger generation, Matt Damon seemed to frame having only recently "retired" the f-slur as if it was a good thing. In an interview, he claimed that after he made a joke using the slur, his daughter gave him a "treatise" on the subject. "The word that my daughter calls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application," Damon said. After making the joke, "She left the table. I said, 'Come on, that's a joke! I say it in the movie Stuck on You!'"
He later walked back this version of the story, saying he had "never called anyone 'f****t' in [his] personal life and this conversation with [his] daughter was not a personal awakening." He said he was attempting to contextualize to his daughter the progress that had been made since he was a kid, telling her he'd heard the F-slur often as a kid "before [he] knew what it even referred to." He said he "explained that that word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine as recently as 2003; she in turn expressed incredulity that there could ever have been a time where that word was used unthinkingly." He continued, "To my admiration and pride, she was extremely articulate about the extent to which that word would have been painful to someone in the LGBTQ+ community regardless of how culturally normalized it was. I not only agreed with her but was thrilled at her passion, values, and desire for social justice." Damon then clarified, "I do not use slurs of any kind. I have learned that eradicating prejudice requires active movement toward justice rather than finding passive comfort in imagining myself 'one of the good guys.' And given that open hostility against the LGBTQ+ community is still not uncommon, I understand why my statement led many to assume the worst. To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community."
8. Responding to those who were posting comments about her daughter True's skin color in an Instagram photo, Khloé Kardashian wrote on X (then Twitter) that "I truly love educating others and hopefully opening up their minds to a beautiful collective world" and noted that "all skin tones/ethnicities" were beautiful. However, she wrote, "I try to put myself in their shoes &maybe they were brought up in a different type of household then I was. So instead of shaming I try to educate. In our household we do not see color. We see emotion and action. We see love. We feed off of energy." While Khloe's comments were largely positive, people took issue with her description of how her household does not "see color," saying it came from a place of privilege and denied the realities of racism.
Years later, Khloe appeared to change her tune and spoke about the importance of teaching her children about race, saying that you're setting your child up for failure if you don't discuss the things they might face "in, quote, the 'real world," adding. "Even if you do live in a bubble, whoever you are, I think that can be really jarring then when your kids are set free, then they're going to be so either devastated, hurt, traumatized, confused, overwhelmed."
9. If we're talking about the Kardashians, we have to mention Kim Kardashian's comments on women in the workforce. Giving her advice to women, she said,"Get your f—ing ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days." This may have been a type of tough love or encouragement (especially given that she later said, "Success is never easy. If you put in the work, you will see results"). Still, it came off as wildly out-of-touch considering the post-COVID struggle to find work and the fact that many Americans struggle to make ends meet even with a job.
10. While receiving the Ally for Equality Award at a Human Rights Campaign event, Pink tried to make a point by announcing that she was gay...and then quickly taking it back. "My point is I would like the same boring response that I get from, 'Hi, I'm a Virgo,'" Pink said. "I would like 'Hi, I'm gay' to elicit the same type of response." While her intentions were good, the whole pretending-to-come-out thing was maybe not the best way to show support for a community she's not a part of.
11. Similarly, in response to a troll asking if she was trans after she posted a message of trans allyship, Alyssa Milano tweeted, "I'm trans. I'm a person of color. I'm an immigrant. I'm a lesbian. I'm a gay man. I'm the disabled. I'm everything." Milano — who is none of the above, quickly started receiving backlash. Fans were also unhappy with her use of the term "the disabled."
12. One of the worst examples is when Kelly Osbourne thought she was making a powerful statement about the value of immigrants and ended up suggesting immigrants are necessary because they clean toilets. After the controversy, Osbourne said she'd made a "poor choice of words" but said she would "not apologize for being racist as I am NOT."
Later, she called the moment "the most cringe moment of my entire life" and "the worst thing I've ever done," clarifying she meant, "This whole country is built on immigrants, and if you stop people from coming into this country who do the jobs that make this country exist and thrive and flourish, who's going to do all the jobs that you don't want to do yourself?"
13. While many stars chimed in with impactful stories in the wake of the #metoo movement, Mayim Bialik maybe should've kept silent. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Bialik spoke about how she hadn't been a victim of the casting couch because she was not a "perfect 10" and had the "luxury" of being overlooked. She also spoke about her "self-protecting and wise" choices to reserve her "sexual self" for "private situations," to "dress modestly," and to retrain from acting "flirtatiously with men" — and seemed to suggest other women should do the same, though she acknowledged those "choices might feel oppressive to many young feminists."
"In a perfect world, women should be free to act however they want. But our world isn't perfect. Nothing — absolutely nothing — excuses men for assaulting or abusing women. But we can't be naïve about the culture we live in," she continued, adding that "having others celebrate your physical beauty is not the way to lead a meaningful life." She finished, "If — like me — you're not a perfect 10, know that there are people out there who will find you stunning, irresistible, and worthy of attention, respect, and love. The best part is you don't have to go to a hotel room or a casting couch to find them." It was an odd time to platform this perspective in a conversation about sexual assault and harassment, and even though Bialik was careful not to place blame on women, her words still served to put responsibility on women.
14. In another example where Bialik felt the need to make a public statement about something that ended up shaming women, Bialik took issue with a billboard of Ariana Grande. In an article for a parenting site, she wrote, "I am a bleeding heart liberal without exception. But I am old-fashioned. My kids have clothes they only wear to synagogue. I don't favor my kids cursing. I dress modestly. I don't want my kids learning about sex from billboards. Stuff like that. Which is why a few billboards I have seen lately really bug me. There is one for Ariana Grande, and I will go ahead and admit I have no idea who she is or what she does. Based on the billboard, she sells lingerie. Or stiletto heels. Or plastic surgery because every woman over 22 wishes she has that body, I'm sure."
"Why is she in her underwear on this billboard though? And if she has a talent (is she a singer?), then why does she have to sell herself in lingerie?" Bialik continued. "I mean, I know that society is patriarchal and women are expected to be sexy and sexually available no matter what we do in society, but I guess now I need to explain that to my sons?" Fans were left wondering why Bialik needed to make this statement, feeling it only served to shame women.
15. Lena Dunham once made the head-scratching statement that she wished she'd had an abortion, which many felt trivialized how difficult the experience of getting an abortion can be. Speaking on her podcast about visiting a Planned Parenthood in Texas, she said she was asked to share her abortion story. "I sort of jumped. 'I haven't had an abortion.' ... I wanted to make it really clear to her that as much as I was going out and fighting for other women's options, I myself had never had an abortion. And I realized then that even I was carrying within myself stigma around this issue. ... It was an important moment for me then to realize that I had internalized some of what society was throwing at us. And I had to put it in the garbage." She continued, "Now I can say that I still haven't had an abortion, but I wish I had."
Dunham later apologized, saying, "I truly hope a distasteful joke on my part won't diminish the amazing work of all the women who participated. ... I would never, ever intentionally trivialize the emotional and physical challenges of terminating a pregnancy.'
16. Ahead of cohosting the 2022 Oscars, Amy Schumer discussed the potential to platform global issues at the ceremony. She even said she wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to speak (the Academy reportedly refused). However, at the actual ceremony, Schumer only made a throwaway reference to Ukraine, lumping the conflict in with attacks on women's and trans rights. "There's a genocide going on in the Ukraine and women are losing all their rights and trans people...and now please welcome Anthony Hopkins," she said before giving the floor to Hopkins, who was introducing Best Actress.
17. Sean Penn also made a Ukraine-related gesture that many felt was empty. After discussing the Academy's reported refusal of having President Zelenskyy Zoom in to the ceremony, Penn ranted over what became the biggest moment of the night instead — Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. "The Oscars producer thought, 'Oh, he's not light-hearted enough.' Well, guess what you got instead? Will Smith! ... This fucking bullshit wouldn't have happened with Zelenskyy. Will Smith would never have left that chair to be part of stupid violence. It never would have happened." He then said he wanted to destroy his Oscars by melting them down to be made into bullets for Ukraine to use against Russia.
Penn actually ended up following through, giving one of his statues to President Zelenskyy. "This is for you. It's just a symbolic silly thing, but if I know this is here, then I'll feel better and strong enough for the fights," he told Zelenskyy. "When you win, bring it back to Malibu, because I'll feel much better knowing there's a piece of me here."
'The Oscar is there in his office, and ready to be melted any time he wants to melt it," he later told the press, calling the gift "a small gesture, symbolic between two friends — inspired by my continuing shame towards the leadership of the Motion Picture Academy in choosing to present Will Smith smacking Chris Rock rather than the greatest symbol of cinema and humanity living today. Their loss." While it was a nice gesture, giving an Oscar to a war-torn country felt sort of useless, especially given Penn kept bringing up Will Smith and the Academy rather than the war in Ukraine.
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
To be fair to Penn, not all of his Ukraine-related efforts have been so frivolous. He co-directed Superpower, which is about Zelenskyy, and consistently speaks up about Ukraine.
18. After the investigation regarding Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's rape allegations, Bette Midler paraphrased a John Lennon and Yoko Ono song by tweeting, "Women, are the n word of the world." She continued, "Raped, beaten, enslaved, married off, worked like dumb animals; denied education and inheritance; enduring the pain and danger of childbirth and life IN SILENCE for THOUSANDS of years. They are the most disrespected creatures on earth." While it's certainly true that women have endured discrimination and pain throughout history, her statement appeared to ignore the realities of racism in favor of sexism.
Bruce Glikas / WireImage via Getty Images
She later tweeted an apology, writing, "The too brief investigation of allegations against Kavanaugh infuriated me. Angrily I tweeted w/o thinking my choice of words would be enraging to black women who doubly suffer, both by being women and by being black. I am an ally and stand with you; always have. And I apologize."
19. Madonna has made several similar comments that attempted to platform women's rights but ended up being problematic. In 2015, she said, "Women are still the most marginalized group" and that "it's moved along for the gay community, for the African American community, but women are still just trading on their ass."
Kevin Mazur / WireImage for Live Nation via Getty Images
20. Also in 2015, she said that ageism is "still the one area where you can totally discriminate against somebody and talk shit. Because of their age. Only females, though. Not males. So in that respect, we still live in a very sexist society. No one would dare to say a degrading remark about being Black or dare to say a degrading remark on Instagram about someone being gay. But my age — anybody and everybody would say something degrading to me." While meant to make a statement against ageism, her comments instead served to dismiss the issues that queer and Black people still face.
Theo Wargo / Getty Images for MTV/ViacomCBS
21. She's also made remarks specifically disparaging Black men. She once told Spin magazine, 'I've always in this naive way identified with other minorities because I'm in a minority. You think that somehow unifies you in some philosophical way. But ultimately it doesn't. Because I've found that being a strong female is actually more frightening to the Black men that I've dated. It took me a really long time to accept that. ... I believe that I have never been treated more disrespectfully as a woman than by the Black men that I've dated. I've never actually said that to anybody, but it's true, and I think it's a cultural thing." This time, Madonna's comments on women's rights served not only to dismiss racism as lesser than sexism, but also to place blame on Black men.
Images Press / Getty Images
Madonna also said it wouldn't be the same if she were a Black woman. "I think Black men have just been shit on for so long, that, in a way, Black women are maybe more willing to accept rage from a Black man, because they see what's happened to them. So many Black men grow up without fathers, without strong male figures, without a sense of romance and seeing a man treat a woman with respect."
22. After the 2020 Oscars declined to nominate any women for Best Director, Natalie Portman attempted to make a positive statement by wearing a cape embroidered with the names of snubbed female directors to the ceremony. However, fans — and Rose McGowan — were quick to point out that Natalie Portman has her own production company, and the only female director it has ever hired is her. Portman has also rarely worked with female directors on feature films.
Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images, Amy Sussman / Getty Images
In a response, Portman agreed it was not "brave" of her to wear the dress, as was reported. She said, "I hope that what was intended as a simple nod to [female directors] does not distract from their great achievements. It is true I've only made a few films with women. In my long career, I've only gotten the chance to work with female directors a few times — I've made shorts, commercials, music videos, and features with Marya Cohen, Mira Nair, Rebecca Zlotowski, Anna Rose Holmer, Sofia Coppola, Shirin Neshat, and myself. Unfortunately, the unmade films I have tried to make are a ghost history.' She continued, "I have had the experience a few times of helping get female directors hired on projects which they were then forced out of because of the conditions they faced at work. ... So I want to say, I have tried, and I will keep trying. While I have not yet been successful, I am hopeful that we are stepping into a new day.'
23. She had previously said, "Here are the all-male nominees" when presenting for Best Director at the Golden Globes in 2018. While making a statement about the lack of female directors in Hollywood seems good, it felt like an empty remark coming from Portman.
NBC / Via youtube.com
24. Similarly, at the 2018 Oscars, Emma Stone introduced Best Director by saying, "These four men and Greta Gerwig created their own masterpieces." While some fans were thrilled at Stone calling out the lack of recognition and support for female directors in Hollywood, others felt that categorizing the four male nominees as "four men" was reductive, especially considering Jordan Peele had been nominated for Get Out. Peele was only the fifth-ever Black person to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar, and no Black person had ever won (conversely, a female director, Kathryn Bigelow, had won the award in 2009).
ABC / Via youtube.com
25. Another celebrity who used an awards show speech to make a political statement that didn't quite come off as they'd hoped is Meryl Streep. During her Golden Globes acceptance speech in 2017, she spoke out against President Donald Trump, saying, "Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts — which are not the arts." While Streep's comment was well-meaning, many took issue with her comments, especially in regard to martial arts.
NBC / Via youtube.com
26. Speaking of Streep — she once served as the jury president of the Berlin Film Festival. At a press conference for the event, a reporter pointed out, "There is a film that is representing Tunisia and the Arab world and Africa in the main competition," then asked Streep, "How do you see this part of the world, and is it easy for you to understand that culture, and are you following any Arab movies?" Streep replied that she had seen Theeb and Timbuktu but didn't "know very much about the Middle East."
Arturo Holmes / WireImage via Getty Images
"And yet I've played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures," she continued. "The thing that I've noticed is that there is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture. And, after all, we're all from Africa originally; we're all Berliners; we're all Africans, really." Streep faced backlash for her comments, especially considering the all-white jury for the festival, and her comments that 'This jury is evidence that at least women are included and in fact dominate this jury, and that's an unusual situation in bodies of people who make decisions." Many felt she was downplaying the importance of racial diversity.
Samir Hussein / WireImage via Getty Images
Streep later defended herself, saying,"Contrary to distorted reporting, no one at that press conference addressed a question to me about the racial makeup of the jury. I did not 'defend' the 'all-white jury,' nor would I, if I had been asked to do so. Inclusion — of races, genders, ethnicities, and religions — is important to me, as I stated at the outset of the press conference." She continued, "I was not minimizing difference, but emphasizing the invisible connection empathy enables, a thing so central to the fact of being human, and what art can do: convey another person's experience."
27. Many have accused Taylor Swift of white feminism, where only the perspective of white women is platformed, erasing the issues women of color face. In one example, she called out Nicki Minaj for "pit[ting] women against each other" after Minaj criticized the VMAs for not nominating "Anaconda" for Best Video. As Minaj hadn't named Taylor (whose video was nominated) and had brought up valid points about the lack of body diversity in popular music, many were bothered Swift had centered the conversation around her. Others felt that dismissing valid concerns about representation in a female achievement category as anti-women because it "pits women against each other" was reductive and only served to reinforce a homogenous version of feminism centered around thin, white bodies.
Neilson Barnard / Getty Images for The Recording Academy, Albert L. Ortega / Getty Images
In response to Swift's tweet, Minaj tweeted back, "Huh? U must not be reading my tweets. Didn't say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this." Swift then apologized, writing, 'I thought I was being called out. I missed the point, I misunderstood, then misspoke. I'm sorry, Nicki."
28. Lana Del Rey has often been accused of glamorizing abuse in her music. Speaking out against these accusations, Del Rey posted a lengthy statement on Instagram called "Question for the culture," where she wrote that she was just a "glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all around the world." She also questioned how other artists were able to get away with sexually explicit music, while she was "crucified" for her own lyrics. While Del Rey made some valid points, the fact that she almost exclusively called out Black artists in her post, along with her statement, "There has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me," caused backlash.
Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images
Del Rey did apologize for predominantly mentioning Black singers, but doubled down on many of her statements.
29. I don't know what it is with white celebrities and George Floyd, but some of them did some truly questionable things in their attempts to speak out about police brutality. Like David Geutta, who, while livestreaming a DJ set for COVID relief, said he'd "made a special record in honor of George Floyd," adding, "shoutout to his family" before playing an EDM mashup of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
T.H.E - Music Essentials / Via youtube.com
30. Guetta was not the only one who did something weird. Like...why did Heather Morris (y'know, from Glee) take to Instagram to share an interpretive dance piece she'd choreographed in Floyd's honor? It felt, at best, bizarre and, at worst, wildly inappropriate.
Gregg Deguire / WireImage via Getty Images
31. Similarly, Lili Reinhart made some fans cringe when she posted a nude photo on Instagram with a caption about Breonna Taylor. "Now that my sideboob has gotten your attention, Breonna Taylor's murderers have not been arrested," she wrote. "Demand justice." While it's good to draw attention to cases of racist police violence, using nudity to do it felt...strange.
Mark Von Holden/Variety via Getty Images
She later apologized, writing, "I've always tried to use my platform for good. And speak up about things that are important to me. I also can admit when I make a mistake and I made a mistake with my caption. It was never my intent to insult anyone and I'm truly sorry to those that were offended." She continued in a second tweet, "I've tried very hard to be honest on my IGTV lives that I'm still learning and trying to be better. But I understand that my caption came off as tone deaf. I truly had good intentions and did not think it through that it could come off as insensitive."
32. In another attempt at allyship, I guess, Mark Ruffalo once inexplicably tweeted that "I said a prayer the other day and when God answered me back she was a Black Woman." This isn't offensive, but it felt weirdly performative to tweet about... as if he wanted brownie points.
Mike Pont / WireImage via Getty Images
33. Celebs can be super weird about activism in general, and I have to bring up a few more examples. Like, um, the time AnnaLynne McCord wrote a poem to Vladimir Putin about how things would be different if she were his mother. It's an odd response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and left fans wondering what the actual point was.
AnnaLynne McCord / Twitter / Via Twitter: @IAMannalynnemcc
34. Demi Lovato has made many impactful statements about disordered eating. Still, her statements fell flat when she called out local Los Angeles yogurt shop The Bigg Chill (known for its sugar-free, vegan, and gluten-free options) on her Instagram. She wrote, "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. Do better please. @DietCultureVultures." She then wrote, "So I think I'm gonna have to make that hashtag a thing. I will be calling harmful messaging from brands or companies that perpetuate a society that not only enables but praises disordered eating."
Mike Coppola / Getty Images
After fans — and the shop itself — pointed out that The Bigg Chill is known for its options for people with dietary restrictions (such as those with celiac or diabetes), Lovato doubled down, telling the brand they should label their sugar-free and vegan options as being "for celiac or diabetes or vegans." Fans were still disappointed in Demi's response, especially as she disparaged a small local business during the pandemic, when many businesses struggled. She later apologized, but said, 'My intuition said speak up about this, so I did. And I feel good about that. What I don't feel good about is some of the way it's been interpreted and how the message has gotten misconstrued.'
Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
35. And finally, Olivia Wilde made multiple comments suggesting Don't Worry Darling 's sex scenes were empowering toward women. In an interview with Vogue, she questioned, "Why isn't there any good sex in film anymore?" and brought up the lack of female pleasure in cinema. In an interview with Variety, Olivia Wilde declared, 'Men don't come" in the film — "only women here!' Her comments seemed to suggest that the sex scenes were a vital, feminist component to her film — and then the film came out. (Spoilers ahead.)
Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Karl Lagerfeld
In the film, Harry Styles's character traps his girlfriend, played by Florence Pugh, in a fake 1950s-style reality, taking her from her job and her family and friends, and also brainwashing and gaslighting her into thinking this is all normal. In that context, the movie's sex scenes feel highly coercive and uncomfortable rather than a celebration of women's pleasure. Wilde's comments feel especially off-color and reductive in that light...ESPECIALLY considering Pugh actively expressed her discomfort with the media's focus on the sex scenes, which Wilde contributed to.
Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
What's another time a celeb really thought they *said something* that fell super flat? Let us know in the comments!
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'That's when the whole Prince Of Darkness s*** started,' he continued. 'When people get excited about Halloween coming around each year, all I think is, 'Well, we used to have Halloween every f***ing night.'' Kelly Osbourne's Quotes About Dad Ozzy Osbourne's Illness Before His Death: 'My Biggest Fear' Ozzy Osbourne Bites a Bat During a visit to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1982, Osbourne somehow found himself biting off a bat's head. 'I thought it was one of those rubber bats,' he recalled on an episode of Night Flight. 'I picked it up and it was a real bat, you know?' When asked if the bat was alive when Osbourne picked it up, he replied it was 'until I bit the head off it.' In the 1992 documentary Don't Blame Me: The Tales of Ozzy Osbourne, Osbourne said he needed to get medical attention after the incident. 'The guy said, 'We better give you some precautionary rabies shots,'' he recalled. 'I had one in each rear, one in each arm, and one in the top of my leg – and I had to have that every night.' Ozzy Osbourne Visits the White House While attending the 2002 White House Correspondents' Dinner, Osbourne was thrilled to receive a shoutout from President George W. Bush. "Washington power brokers, celebrities, Hollywood stars, Ozzy Osbourne,' the president said when describing the crowd, before the musician stood on a table and started blowing kisses. Bush later joked, 'OK, Ozzy. Might have been a mistake." How Many Children Does Ozzy Osbourne Have? Meet the Late Rocker's Kids With Sharon and Thelma Riley Ozzy Osbourne Throws TV Out the Hotel Window In March of 2020, the Black Sabbath singer pushed a 50-inch TV set through a ninth-floor window of a Four Seasons in Prague. 'I ripped the television off the wall,' he recalled on his Boneyard radio show. 'It landed on the floor and f***ing exploded. It went like a bomb. … I had to pay three months for the room and the repair of the f***ing window.' Ozzy Osbourne's Love of Shaving Off Eyebrows According to Slade musician Noddy Holder, Osbourne came up with an idea of shaving people's eyebrows if they dozed off in the lounge of a tour bus. 'Ozzy Osbourne started that!' Holder shared on Planet Rock radio. 'If you passed out with Ozzy — whether you were drinking or whatever — he would shave your eyebrows. I could always keep up with Ozzy, so he never did it to me, but quite often he'd shave people's eyebrows. Of course, when they wake up in the morning and they look in the mirror, they know there's something wrong, but they don't realise their eyebrows have gone.' Ozzy Osbourne Throws Meat on His Audiences When concertgoers attended one of Osbourne's concerts, they were in for a literal show. 'I always liked old movies that used to have these custard-pie fights,' Osbourne explained in The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne documentary. 'It gave me this idea to throw, instead of pie, bits of meat and animal parts into the audience. I thought it was hilarious. [They'd throw back] sheep testicles, live snakes, dead rats, all kinds of things. Someone once threw a live frog onto onstage. It was the biggest frog I'd ever seen, and it landed on its back.' The Black Sabbath member ultimately got tired of the trend and explained, 'It got to the point where people expected me to do crazier and crazier things. … It ain't fun when you get them rabies shots.' Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne's Family Album Ozzy Osbourne Was Arrested for Urinating on Alamo Cenotaph In February 1982, Osbourne was arrested on charges of public intoxication after he allegedly emptied his full bladder on the Alamo Cenotaph, a national monument in San Antonio, Texas. Osbourne was banned from playing in San Antonio until he made a public apology to the city and donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the organization that maintains the Alamo grounds, in 1992. 'We all have done things in our lives that we regret,' Ozzy said at the time via Loudwire. 'I am deeply honored that the people of San Antonio have found it in their hearts to have me back. I hope that this donation will show that I have grown up.' Ozzy Osbourne Bites the Heads Off 2 Doves In March 1981, Osbourne attended a record meeting and was supposed to release doves in a grand gesture of peace. Band member Rudy Sarzo later revealed that Osbourne actually bit the heads off of two birds. 'He puts his hand in his pocket, pulls out another bird, looks at it and he just goes and bites the head off again — right in front of me!' Sarzo recalled to Yahoo. 'I gross-out, and he just laughs and keeps walking." Ozzy Osbourne Once Snorted Ants Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee recalled a 1984 incident when Osbourne allegedly snorted a line of ants in an effort to prove he was the wildest man of them all. "Full-on true,' Lee said on an August 2024 episode of 'This Past Weekend With Theo Von' podcast. 'I know people ask that all the time. They're, like, 'Dude, really?' I'm, like, abso-f***ing-lutely. You can't make that s*** up." Stars React After Ozzy Osbourne's Death at Age 76: Lady Gaga, Adam Sandler and More Ozzy Osbourne Kills 17 Cats At the height of his alcohol and drug addictions, Osbourne recalled the moment he killed more than a dozen innocent cats. 'I was taking drugs so much I was a f***ed,' Osbourne said via The Scotsman in 2007. 'The final straw came when I shot all our cats. We had about 17, and I went crazy and shot them all. My wife found me under the piano in a white suit, a shotgun in one hand and a knife in the other.' Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
How Many Children Does Ozzy Osbourne Have? Meet the Late Rocker's Kids With Sharon and Thelma Riley
Ozzy Osbourne was a legend in the heavy metal world, but he was also a father of six and a dedicated family man. The Black Sabbath singer died at 76 years old on July 22, 2025, his family confirmed in a statement. 'It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,' the statement read. 'He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.' Ozzy was survived by his wife, Sharon Osbourne, and their three children, Aimee, Kelly and Jack, as well as ex-wife Thelma Riley and their three kids, Elliot, Jessica and Louis. Kelly Osbourne and Sid Wilson's Relationship Timeline: From Friends to Lovers and More Below, Us Weekly shares everything to know about Ozzy's surviving children: Elliot Kingsley Ozzy met Riley in 1971 while she was working at a nightclub called Rum Runner in Birmingham, England. She had a 5-year-old son named Elliot at the time, whom Ozzy went on to adopt after he and Riley tied the knot later that year. The identity of Elliot's biological father has not been publicly revealed. While not much is known about Elliot, he is reportedly an actor and has appeared in stage performances of Romeo and Juliet and Fiddler on the Roof. Jessica Osbourne After Ozzy married Riley, the pair welcomed daughter Jessica in 1972. Today, Jessica leads a mostly private life in England. Though she never appeared on camera on her father and his second wife's MTV show The Osbournes, Jessica did call Ozzy in season 2 to share that he was a grandfather for the first time. She had given birth to a daughter named Isabella. Later, Jessica welcomed kids Harry and Kitty. Ozzy Osbourne and Sharon Osbourne's Family Album Louis Osbourne In addition to Jessica, Ozzy and Riley shared son Louis, who was born in 1975. Like his sister, Louis has mostly remained out of the spotlight. However, he was present for Ozzy's final Black Sabbath concert in Birmingham, England, on July 5, 2025. "I was sobbing at times. It was everything we wanted it to be and more," he wrote on Facebook after the show, according to BBC. "I had been anxious for months about this as I've been worried about my dad's ability to perform with his Parkinson's disease." Louis continued, "I just wanted it to be a dignified send off for him. But as soon as he started singing we knew he was gonna nail it." Louis met wife Louise in 2002, and the pair tied the knot in Ireland later that year. They now live in Birmingham, where Louis works as a label owner, DJ and producer. The couple shares two kids, Elijah and Maia. Aimee Osbourne After Ozzy and Riley divorced in 1982, he tied the knot with Sharon. The couple then welcomed daughter Aimee in London in September 1983. Aimee lived with her parents in California until she was 16 years old, moving out after they began filming The Osbournes with her siblings Kelly and Jack. "I had grown up around having a pretty well-known dad anyway, and ... I always really valued my privacy within that family," she said on New York's Q104.3 radio station. "And for me personally, and for who I am, you know, as far as morally and also just to give myself a chance to actually develop into a human being as opposed to just being remembered for being a teenager, it didn't really line up with what I saw my future as." Despite not agreeing with her family's reality TV path, Aimee followed in her dad's footsteps with her music career. She became the lead singer of the band ARO in 2015, with the band's first single, "Raining Gold," inspired by her experience as the daughter of a famous rockstar. "I wanted the song to touch on how overwhelming and isolating it feels to be constantly misunderstood and the importance of choosing to break free from that and just believing in yourself," Aimee told Rolling Stone. "It's so valuable to always try and put yourself in someone else's shoes. I hope this song reminds people of that." Kelly Osbourne Ozzy and Sharon welcomed daughter Kelly in London in October 1984. Kelly Osbourne Details Her Conversations About Parenting With 'Beat Shazam' Cohost Nick Cannon While appearing on The Osbournes from 2002 to 2005, Kelly began pursuing a music career. She released her debut album, Shut Up!, in 2002, followed by Sleep in Nothing in 2005. However, she ultimately followed in Sharon's footsteps by becoming a TV host and judge on Project Runway, Project Catwalk and Fashion Police. Kelly also competed on Dancing With the Stars in 2009 and finished in third place. Kelly began dating Slipknot's Sid Wilson in 2022. The pair welcomed son Sidney later that year. They also got engaged backstage at Ozzy's final Black Sabbath concert. "F*** off, you're not marrying my daughter," Ozzy jokingly told Wilson, as seen in a video shared via Kelly's Instagram. However, Wilson told her, 'Nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with you. So, in front of your family and all of our friends, Kelly, will you marry me?' Jack Osbourne Sharon and Ozzy welcomed son Jack in November 1985 in London. The family lived in the U.K. until Jack was 6 years old, at which point they relocated to California temporarily before going back to England. However, when Jack was 11 years old, they moved from England back to California. Kelly Osbourne Says Son's 'Terrible Twos' Have Left Her 'Exhausted': 'It's Insane' Jack has followed his own path, becoming a paranormal investigator. However, he still involved his parents in his career. His Travel Channel series The Osbournes Want to Believe features Jack showing Ozzy and Sharon footage of paranormal activity and asking for their input. Jack was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 26 years old in 2012. 'I have had some alternative therapy treatments over the years. I do not take traditional MS medication currently,' he said on 'The Osbournes Podcast' in 2024. Jack married actress Lisa Stelly in October 2012, and the pair welcomed daughters Pearl Clementine, Andy Rose and Minnie Theodora. He and Stelly divorced in March 2019, and he got engaged to Aree Gearhart in December 2021. Jack and Gearhart welcomed daughter Maple Artemis in March 2022. Solve the daily Crossword


Black America Web
3 hours ago
- Black America Web
A Psychologist Explains Why The Nicki Minaj Challenge Became A Viral Sensation
Source: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Getty Since #TheNickiMinaj challenge swept the internet last week amid the rapper's puzzling and pointed jabs at fellow music artists like SZA and Doechii, over one billion social media users have hopped on books, stacked dumbbells, and pool ledges to prove their physical aptitude on heels. The trend, that popped up seemingly out-of-the-blue and has now spread like wildfire, is an homage to a pose Nicki Minaj clocked in her 2013 music video, 'High-School,' balancing on sky-high beige heels beside a pool while rocking a long blonde wig and bubble-gum pink bikini. Twelve years later, an ordinary scene from an old rap video is now one of the most viral moments of the 2025 summer run, racking up over one billion views and counting. Every post appears aimed at outdoing the one before it, with TikTokers upping the stakes by balancing on increasingly outrageous household items like soda cans or cooking pots. So what's behind the latest wave of internet peacocking? We spoke to Columbia-trained psychologist, Bea Arthur, about why the high-heeled challenge has the social media world in a chokehold. Feminine Strength In A #TradeWife Era Arthur said that one of the driving forces motivating the trend's popularity is the 'brag-a-docious aura' of Nicki herself. 'One of the things that makes Black women so awesome and Black people so awesome is that we give ourselves confidence, that cockiness,' she said. The pose celebrates feminine prowess and seemingly superhuman strength, which is a visually captivating combination. 'The core strength in heels, it's so feminine. All the girls who were doing it in stripper shoes, I was like, 'Yes,'' Arthur said. 'And how they kept elevating it too. I think Ciara did it on three dumbbells,' she said. The pose is naturally defiant in a #tradewife era that demands women be more demure and submissive. Arthur said this trend calls forth a new message: 'The bad bitch will never die.' Showing Off Is In Our DNA Arthur, whose family is from Ghana, says that culturally, people of African descent tend to be 'shamelessly cocky,' a thread of gold we derived from our struggles. 'You look at hip-hop, we had to call ourselves kings. We had to put on gold. We had to flex, because it literally wasn't given.' She said in Black gay culture, we see the rise of the ballroom king and queen archetypes, who flounce about in a shamelessly vain way, but that's the magic marginalized people must tap into to create their own sense of value outside of systems of oppression. 'The human soul seeks balance at all times in our actions,' Arthur said. 'We seek to be understood, and we seek to be known on a subconscious level.' Participating in a trend like #thenickiminajchallenge is a chance to be seen and known by others, which is a form of self-regulation, albeit brief, she said. But seeking validation online can come with a dark side, especially for people who struggle with social isolation. Arthur said posting can cause spikes in dopamine, our brain's pleasure chemical, which can literally change social media from a pastime into an addiction. 'We're alone. Right? We're watching Netflix. We're scrolling. We're in the house. We're not connected. And so these likes feel like love.' she said. Social Media As Community Arthur said that it's no coincidence that TikTok's popularity took off during COVID when humans were socially and emotionally secluded for months. Viral trends give users an opportunity to feel a part of something, even if it's online and not in-person. 'We need community. We're social animals or tribal creatures, so we need to feel part of something and to be seen. These needs are innate, just like food and water,' she said. Being alone triggers cortisol, which is the body's stress hormone, to be more present in the blood, according to research. So viral trend participants may feel a sense of belonging and alignment by posting. 'That's why athletes love sports so much,' she said. 'Being with other people who love the game as much as you, is a beautiful thing, a necessary thing. Again, we are tribal social animals, but once it becomes ego serving, then it's an addiction, and then it's destructive,' Arthur said. SEE ALSO A Psychologist Explains Why The Nicki Minaj Challenge Became A Viral Sensation was originally published on