From Alec Baldwin to Jussie Smollett: 7 Biggest Celebrity Scandals of 2021
Hollywood humiliated itself in scandals both shocking and silly in 2021 as left-wing celebrities paid the piper for their hubris, falling from public grace in spectacular fashion.
Stars including Jussie Smollett, Alec Baldwin, Chrissy Teigen, and rapper Travis Scott face professional shame in ways that could permanently damage their careers. Of course, redemption is in the cards for any star who can parlay wokeness into a rehabilitation tale spun by a compliant entertainment media.
Criminal behavior was never much of an impediment to success in Hollywood. But run afoul the woke or #MeToo mafia and you could lose everything, as some left-wing celebrities have learned the hard way.
Here are 7 of the biggest celebrity scandals of 2021.
1. Jussie Smollett
It was all the way back in early 2019 when the Empire actor executed what turned out to be a hate hoax attack, falsely telling Chicago law enforcement that he had been assaulted by two Donald Trump supporters who, he claimed, poured bleach on him, put a noose around his neck, and declared, “This is MAGA country.”
(Maury Phillips/Getty Images for BET)
As we know now, Smollett staged the whole thing in a bid to garner sympathetic media coverage and thus boost his Hollywood career. This month, following a long and bizarre legal saga that saw charges mysteriously dropped then reinstated, a Chicago jury found the actor guilty on five counts of felony disorderly conduct for making false reports to police. Justice for Juicy, at last.
Smollett, who is a close friend of and campaigned for the Obamas, continues to maintain his innocence and intends to appeal the verdict. Politicians who believed Smollett’s lie and defended the actor include now-President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
2. Alec Baldwin
In the most shocking celebrity scandal of the year, Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed the cinematographer on the set of the indie western movie Rust. Or, according to Baldwin’s version of the story, the gun simply went off in his hand all by itself. Either way, Baldwin is facing the biggest crisis of his Hollywood career as well as a likely avalanche of lawsuits.
(Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for National Geographic)
The tragic irony of one of Hollywood’s most avid anti-gun activists causing the shooting death of a colleague may sound too far-fetched for a screenplay. But such was the case with Baldwin, who was a staunch anti-Second Amendment activist who repeatedly condemned the NRA.
Alec Baldwin once said the Second Amendment needs to be “rethought.” He also joined with Amy Schumer, Jimmy Kimmel, and more than 130 stars in 2018 to form the “No Rifle Association Initiative,” which aimed to take down the NRA.
3. Travis Scott
Rapper Travis Scott has claimed he was unaware of the gravity of the fatal stampede at his Astroworld Music Festival in Houton, Texas, saying he was performing on stage at the time. The tragic event resulted in ten people dead, including nine-year-old Ezra Blount.
(UZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP via Getty Images)
Travis Scott’s music events have a history of rowdy audience behavior and injuries, which suggests possible negligence on the rapper’s part as well as a seemingly callous disregard for his fans’ well-being. The rapper even reportedly attended a party the same night as the stampede.
The anti-Trump rapper is facing an exodus of business partners and sponsors who no longer wish to be associated with the star, including the Anheuser-Busch and Dior brands.
4. Chrissy Teigen
The pro-Biden celebrity made millions of dollars on her bubbly, likeable public image. But that all came crashing down when it was revealed it was just a facade and that she was in fact a mean-spirited cyberbully who had mercilessly hounded and even wished death upon her perceived rivals.
(Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Glamour)
When her corporate partners started bailing, Teigen put out a public apology. “I’m mortified and sad at who I used to be. I was an insecure, attention seeking troll. I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behavior,” she said
Not everyone bought it. Courtney Stodden, one of her bullying victims, dismissed it as “a public attempt to save her partnerships with Target and other brands.”
5. Chris Noth
The Sex and the City star was riding high on the show’s recently launched HBO Max reboot, titled And Just Like That, when his career suddenly imploded under a series of #MeToo accusations.
(Todd Williamson/Invision for Millennium/AP Images)
Noth, who backed Joe Biden’s bid for the White House, has denied allegations of rape and sexual assault, saying his encounters with his accusers were consensual. But that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from running for cover. CBS dropped him from its drama series The Equalizer and his talent agency no longer represents him.
6. Chris Harrison of The Bachelor
The long-time host of ABC’s The Bachelor learned the hard way that there’s no appeasing the left-wing cancel mob. The affable TV personality lost his job for merely expressing empathy for contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who faced unfounded accusations that she is racist because she participated in an antebellum-themed fraternity event when she was in college.
(Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
Harrison first apologized for not condemning Kirkconnell, but that wasn’t enough and so he went on hiatus. He attempted to make a comeback after seeing a “race educator” but that never happened, and he ultimately exited the show after 20 years as host.
7. Armie Hammer
He had it all — looks, money, stardom. He was even woke, declaring law enforcement in the U.S. to be “inherently racist” and publicly bashing then-President Donald Trump. But his Hollywood career self-destructed following lurid accusations of sexual abuse and rape.
(Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Hammer lost movie and theater roles and was dropped by his talent agency, the powerful WME. As persona non grata in Hollywood, he even saw movies he had shot prior to the scandal being shelved indefinitely. (One of them, Death on the Nile, will finally be released next year).
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