History OvershadowedByControversy / RealLife

* In April 2018, Creator/MollyRingwald wrote an essay in ''The New Yorker'' reflecting on the [[ValuesDissonance perceived sexist, racist, and homophobic elements]] in Creator/JohnHughes' films, the same director who made her a star in the 1980s. Almost immediately, a backlash ensued, alienating what little fans she had left, provoking speculation that Ringwald was latching onto the [=#MeToo=] movement to regain her lost relevance.

* Creator/MollyRingwald wrote an essay for the New Yorker in April of 2018, reflecting on the [[ValuesDissonance perceived sexist, racist, and homophobic elements]] of the films of Creator/JohnHughes, the same creator who made her a star in the eighties. Almost immediately, a backlash ensued, alienating what little fans she had left and provoking speculation, on the both the left and right wing, that Ringwald was latching onto the MeToo movement to regain her lost relevance.

* The Daily Mail is known for its [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment controversial viewpoints]], but more so for its ridiculously sensationalist [[MoralGuardians moral guardian]] behaviour. This has contributed to Wikipedia's ban on using it as a legitimate source.

* It is difficult to bring up the late British Prime Minister UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher without mentioning how strict her administration was. For example, her unflattering views of the Irish during UsefulNotes/TheTroubles and her siding with MoralGuardians (especially Mary Whitehouse).

* As the head of Creator/MiramaxFilms and Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany, Harvey Weinstein oversaw the production of some of the most acclaimed films since the '90s like ''Film/PulpFiction'' and ''Film/ShakespeareInLove''. While there were some earlier controversies surrounding him,[[note]]His cutting of films, his often petty and incompetent handling of releases, and his lobbying of Academy voters for his OscarBait films.[[/note]] these were overshadowed when allegations of his history of sexually harassing women such as Creator/AshleyJudd and Creator/RoseMcGowan came to light in an October 2017 article in ''The New York Times''. This article encouraged a number of women to come forward with similar allegations against him, including Creator/LeaSeydoux, Creator/CaraDelevingne, Creator/AngelinaJolie and Creator/GwynethPaltrow.[[note]]The latter starred in Weinstein's BreakthroughHit ''Shakespeare in Love'', which she noted was very much TeethClenchedTeamwork on her part, while Jolie straight up admitted that she went out of her way to never work with Weinstein ever again.[[/note]] Then a ''New Yorker'' article by Ronan Farrow had a number of actresses, including Creator/AsiaArgento, accuse him of rape, alongside an audio recording of him ''admitting to groping women''. Soon, a number of Weinstein's friends and clients began siding with the victims and refused to associate with him any further, he was fired from his own company by a board of directors that included his ''own brother'', Bob Weinstein, who later described Harvey as "a sick man" and "a world-class liar", his wife announced that she was leaving him, and [=TWC=] began scrubbing his name away from any further projects. The fallout also led to a wave of accusations against other celebrities and powerful men, which became known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weinstein_effect Weinstein effect]].

* Creator/EtceteraGroup is one of the most prolific dubbing studios in Latin America They are famous for dubbing several popular animated shows, including ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', as well as nearly every animated adaptation of Creator/DCComics. It's hard not to talk about the company without bringing up the numerous pay disputes against several prominent voice actors like Kaihiamal Martinez and Creator/RubenLeon, most of whom no longer work for the company.

* Creator/EtceteraGroup is one of the most prolific dubbing studios in Latin America They are famous for dubbing several popular animated shows, including ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', as well as nearly every animated adaptation of Creator/DCComics. It's hard not to talk about the company without bringing up the numerous pay disputes against several prominent voice actors like Kaihiamal Martinez and Creator/RuebenLeon, most of whom no longer work for the company.

* Columbine High School in Colorado, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida (and by extension, the towns of Newtown and Parkland, which the latter two are located[[note]]Columbine, however, is rarely ever referred to as the Littleton shooting[[/note]]) are all primarily known for being the sites of deadly mass shootings. Virginia Tech, however, is a massive university that's well-known enough to avoid being known ''exclusively'' for the shooting, even if that is still it's primary claim to fame. Most other school shootings have been all but forgotten today and tend to avoid this reputation.

* As the head of Creator/MiramaxFilms and Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany, Harvey Weinstein oversaw the production of some of the most acclaimed films since the '90s like ''Film/PulpFiction'' and ''Film/ShakespeareInLove''. While there were some earlier controversies surrounding him,[[note]]His cutting of films, his often petty and incompetent handling of releases, and his lobbying of Academy voters for his OscarBait films.[[/note]] these were overshadowed when allegations of his history of sexually harassing women such as Creator/AshleyJudd and Creator/RoseMcGowan came to light in an October 2017 article in ''The New York Times''. This article encouraged a number of women to come forward with similar allegations against him, including Creator/LeaSeydoux, Creator/CaraDelevingne, Creator/AngelinaJolie and Creator/GwynethPaltrow.[[note]]The latter starred in Weinstein's BreakthroughHit ''Shakespeare in Love'', which she noted was very much TeethClenchedTeamwork on her part, while Jolie straight up admitted that she went out of her way to never work with Weinstein ever again.[[/note]] Then a ''New Yorker'' article by Ronan Farrow had a number of actresses, including Creator/AsiaArgento, accuse him of rape, alongside an audio recording of him ''admitting to groping women''. Soon, a number of Weinstein's friends and clients began siding with the victims and refused to associate with him any further, he was fired from his own company by a board of directors that included his ''own brother'', Bob Weinstein, who later described Harvey as "a sick man" and "a world-class liar", his wife announced that she was leaving him, and [=TWC=] began scrubbing his name away from any further projects. The fallout also lead to a wave of accusations against other celebrities and powerful men, which became known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weinstein_effect Weinstein effect]].

* While UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus wasn't the first to discover America, his voyages ''did'' lead to a greater contact with the Old and New Worlds, (hence the term ''Columbian'' exchange) and kick-started the colonization of the Continent by European powers. However, it also lead to the mistreatment and death of several indigenous people, of which Columbus himself had a part in. As a result, a ''significant'' portion of the population in the United States has opposed the celebration of Columbus Day. Other countries in the Americas outright changed the name of the day to "Indigenous Peoples Day" or other similar names in direct reference to said mistreatment.

* UsefulNotes/{{The Pope}}s

* UsefulNotes/BillClinton oversaw the largest economic expansion since the end of the postwar period (even if a lot of the .com stuff was a speculative bubble), signed a far-reaching trade deal with America's then-largest trading partners Canada and Mexico, helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement which all but ended UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, oversaw the Oslo Accords that led to direct Palestinian control over some the disputed territories with Israel, and became the first American president in at least a century to balance the federal budget (and the last). So what is he most remembered for? A sex scandal that led to him being only the second president in American history to be impeached. Note however that this did '''''not''''' hurt his popularity at the time; in fact, it backfired on his opponents, as many people saw the impeachment as a nakedly partisan power-grab – Clinton's approval rating ''increased'' during the hearings, and he left office as one of the most popular presidents of the modern era.
* UsefulNotes/RichardNixon's presidency has been overshadowed by the Watergate affair. Other memorable events during his administration, even good ones like him opening relationships with China, have been forgotten except for history buffs.

* UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler, Nazism and extreme right-wing ideologies have been permanently discredited since the revelation of UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust.

* As the head of Creator/MiramaxFilms and Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany, Harvey Weinstein oversaw the production of some of the most acclaimed films since the '90s like ''Film/PulpFiction'' and ''Film/ShakespeareInLove''. While there were some earlier controversies surrounding him,[[note]]His cutting of films, his often petty and incompetent handling of releases, and his lobbying of Academy voters for his OscarBait films.[[/note]] these were overshadowed when allegations of his history of sexually harassing women such as Creator/AshleyJudd and Creator/RoseMcGowan came to light in an October 2017 article in ''The New York Times''. This article encouraged a number of women to come forward with similar allegations against him, including Creator/LeaSeydoux, Creator/CaraDelevingne, Creator/AngelinaJolie and Creator/GwynethPaltrow.[[note]]The latter starred in Weinstein's BreakthroughHit ''Shakespeare in Love'', which she noted was very much TeethClenchedTeamwork on her part, while Jolie straight up admitted that she went out of her way to never work with Weinstein ever again.[[/note]] Then a ''New Yorker'' article by Ronan Farrow had a number of actresses, including Creator/AsiaArgento, accuse him of rape, alongside an audio recording of him ''admitting to groping women''. Soon, a number of Weinstein's friends and clients began siding with the victims and refused to associate with him any further, he was fired from his own company by a board of directors that included his ''own brother'', Bob Weinstein (who later described Harvey as "a sick man" and "a world-class liar"), his wife announced that she was leaving him, and [=TWC=] began scrubbing his name away from any further projects. The fallout also lead to a wave of accusations against other celebrities and powerful men (some of who also became overshadowed), which became known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weinstein_effect Weinstein effect]].

** The Academy Awards honoring the achievements of 2014 and 2015 gained more attention for the troubles over the issue of racial diversity amongst the acting nominees -- as they were all white -- and online protests and planned boycotts that ensued in response than the actual nominations. All of this ended up becoming the butt of many, ''many'' jokes by the latter ceremony's host, Creator/ChrisRock. On the bright side, at least Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio [[ThrowTheDogABone finally]] [[MemeticMutation got an Oscar]].

*** The last and biggest controversy came at the ceremony's end, when Creator/WarrenBeatty and Creator/FayeDunaway erroneously announced that ''Film/LaLaLand'' won Best Picture instead of ''Film/Moonlight2016'', the actual winner, the first time this mistake had been made in the Awards' history. The error, resulting from Beatty being mistakenly handed the Best Actress envelope, which ''La La Land'' ''had'' in fact won, rapidly became the defining moment of the ceremony in pop culture.

* As the head of Creator/MiramaxFilms and Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany, Harvey Weinstein oversaw the production of some of the most acclaimed films since the '90s like ''Film/PulpFiction'' and ''Film/ShakespeareInLove''. While there were some earlier controversies surrounding him,[[note]]His cutting of films, his often petty and incompetent handling of releases, and his lobbying of Academy voters for his OscarBait films.[[/note]] these were overshadowed when allegations of his history of sexually harassing women such as Creator/AshleyJudd and Creator/RoseMcGowan came to light in an October 2017 article in ''The New York Times''. This article encouraged a number of women to come forward with similar allegations against him, including Creator/LeaSeydoux, Creator/CaraDelevingne, Creator/AngelinaJolie and Creator/GwynethPaltrow.[[note]]The latter starred in Weinstein's BreakthroughHit ''Shakespeare in Love'', which she noted was very much TeethClenchedTeamwork on her part, while Jolie straight up admitted that she went out of her way to never work with Weinstein ever again.[[/note]] Then a ''New Yorker'' article by Ronan Farrow had a number of actresses, including Creator/AsiaArgento, accuse him of rape, alongside an audio recording of him ''admitting to groping women''. Soon, a number of Weinstein's friends and clients began siding with the victims and refused to associate with him any further, he was fired from his own company by a board of directors that included his ''own brother'', Bob Weinstein (who later described Harvey as "a sick man" and "a world-class liar"), his wife announced that she was leaving him, and [=TWC=] began scrubbing his name away from any further projects. The fallout also lead to a wave of accusations against other celebrities and powerful men, (some of who also became overshadowed which became known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weinstein_effect Weinstein effect]].

* The Mandalay Bay Hotel, one of the most iconic resorts in Las Vegas, is now primarily known for being the location where a mentally deranged man shot 58 people dead and injured 500 others at a country music festival.

* As the head of Creator/MiramaxFilms and Creator/TheWeinsteinCompany, Harvey Weinstein oversaw the production of some of the most acclaimed films since the '90s like ''Film/PulpFiction'' and ''Film/ShakespeareInLove''. While there were some earlier controversies surrounding him,[[note]]His cutting of films, his often petty and incompetent handling of releases, and his lobbying of Academy voters for his OscarBait films.[[/note]] these were overshadowed when allegations of his history of sexually harassing women such as Creator/AshleyJudd and Creator/RoseMcGowan came to light in an October 2017 article in ''The New York Times''. This article encouraged a number of women to come forward with similar allegations against him, including Creator/LeaSeydoux, Creator/CaraDelevingne, Creator/AngelinaJolie and Creator/GwynethPaltrow.[[note]]The latter starred in Weinstein's BreakthroughHit ''Shakespeare in Love'', which she noted was very much TeethClenchedTeamwork on her part, while Jolie straight up admitted that she went out of her way to never work with Weinstein ever again.[[/note]] Then a ''New Yorker'' article by Ronan Farrow had a number of actresses, including Creator/AsiaArgento, accuse him of rape, alongside an audio recording of him ''admitting to groping women''. Soon, a number of Weinstein's friends and clients began siding with the victims and refused to associate with him any further, he was fired from his own company by a board of directors that included his ''own brother'', Bob Weinstein (who later described Harvey as "a sick man" and "a world-class liar"), his wife announced that she was leaving him, and [=TWC=] began scrubbing his name away from any further projects. The fallout also lead to a wave of accusations against other celebrities and powerful men, which became known as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weinstein_effect Weinstein effect]].
* For over two decades, Creator/JossWhedon was a much-beloved creator, known for his well regarded works in both television, such as ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', and film, such as Marvel's ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''. Whedon was well-liked not just for the quality of the works themselves, but for their inclusion of strong female protagonists and his activism for women's rights in real life, and while there'd long been questions over just how sincere his belief in feminism was, they weren't loud enough to cost him his fanbase. That all changed in 2017, shortly after he was signed to finish direction of ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' following Creator/ZackSnyder's departure, when his ex-wife released a tell-all expose that Whedon's public male-feminist persona was actually an act and he was really a lecherous serial philanderer who had driven his wife to serious depression due to how often he cheated on her. Soon much of Whedon's fanbase was siding with his ex, to the point that his largest fan site completely shut down out of respect for her, and Whedon became just another name on the list of celebrities exposed for sexist behavior in the 2010s.

* UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump
** Trump's speech announcing the opening of his 2016 presidential campaign, which marked his full entry into politics after having been a businessman and TV personality (not counting an exploratory seeking of the nomination of the Reform Party for the 2000 presidential election) is best remembered for the remarks towards Mexican illegal immigrants in it.
** Trump's August 15, 2017 press conference on infrastructure is best remembered for his highly controversial post-conference remarks regarding the alt-right rally in Charlottesville three days prior, where he blamed both the right-wing protesters and left-wing counter-protesters for the rally turning violent, despite the fact that the right-wingers contained literal neo-Nazis and Klansmen in their ranks, and the vast majority of the violence, including a ''murder'', were done by the right-wingers.

* UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin is the man who returned UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} to world power status after the disasters of the 1990s. Unfortunately, his authorizing invasions of Chechnya and Georgia under justifications that remain murky, the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula (which most of the world refuses to recognize de jure), the pro-Russian paramilitary factions in UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}, Russia's anti-LGBT laws, and his reputation as a petty authoritarian with a lack of tolerance for political opposition have given him many detractors, inside and outside of Russia. There is also the matter of Putin's friendship with UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, perhaps the most controversial American president in modern times, and the Russian government's interference with the 2016 Presidential Race to get Trump in the White House. Such incidents included hacking the Democratic National Committee's computers, and a near-certainty that Trump -- or at least the highest levels of his campaign -- colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election; the latter issue is currently under investigation.

** Trump's August 15, 2017 press conference on infrastructure is best remembered for his highly controversial post-conference remarks regarding the alt-right rally in Charlottesville three days prior, where he blamed both the right-wing protesters and left-wing counter-protesters for the rally turning violent, despite the fact that the vast majority of the violence, including a ''murder'', were done by the right-wingers.

* British TV presenter Creator/JimmySavile. During his lifetime, he was quite popular as a host and fundraiser for humanitarian causes, even being knighted for his goodwill. He died as a celebrated entertainer with people gathering to watch his funeral procession in the streets. Only a year after his death a revealing documentary outed him as a sexual predator who had molested hundreds of young women, many of them only teenagers. The report caused an outcry and many people reported similar incidents. As a result, Savile's name became so tainted that virtually all memorials, tributes and statues to him have been removed and destroyed. Even archive footage of him, or downright ''references'' to him in comedy shows, have been removed from the BBC site, making him effectively an UnPerson at this point. It seems unlikely that his name or image can ever be shown again without creating controversy. The controversy would go on to engulf the entire Creator/{{BBC}}, after it came out that many higher-ups at the station knew exactly what Savile was but [[TreacheryCoverup kept silent to save the network's reputation]].

** Trump's August 15, 2017 press conference on infrastructure is best remembered for his highly controversial post-conference remarks regarding the alt-right rally in Charlottesville three days prior. Trump blamed both the right-wing protesters and left-wing counter-protesters for the rally turning violent, despite the fact that the vast majority of the violence, including a ''murder'', were done by the right-wingers.

** Trump's August 15, 2017 press conference on infrastructure is best remembered for his highly controversial post-conference remarks regarding the alt-right rally in Charlottesville three days prior.

* British TV presenter Creator/JimmySavile. During his lifetime, he was quite popular as a host and fundraiser for humanitarian causes, even being knighted for his goodwill. He died as a celebrated entertainer with people gathering to watch his funeral procession in the streets. Only a year after his death a revealing documentary outed him as a sexual predator who had molested hundreds of young women, many of them only teenagers. The report caused an outcry and many people reported similar incidents. As a result, Savile's name became so tainted that virtually all memorials, tributes and statues to him have been removed and destroyed. Even archive footage of him, or downright ''references'' to him in comedy shows, have been removed from the BBC site, making him effectively an UnPerson at this point. It seems unlikely that his name or image can ever be shown again without creating controversy.

** To make a case of how influential UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was, you only need to go back to 1938 when a Belgian by the name of Hendrik De Man proposed a plan to reform the government in the times of the great depression. It was meant to oppress fascism thanks to the introduction of a social democracy of 5 classes controlled by technocrats. This man and his followers, who perpetrated a socialism that would reform the Belgian nation into a better one, called themselves national socialists. After UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 they realized just [[ThoseWackyNazis how unfortunate it was as a name to have]] and they renamed themselves as ''demanists'', after the creator of their ideology, to get rid of all the fascist and Nazi connotations they had.

[[folder: Actors and Filmmakers]]

* It is difficult to bring up the late British Prime Minister UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher without mentioning how strict her administration was. For example, her unflattering views of the Irish during Usefulnotes/TheTroubles and her siding with MoralGuardians (especially Mary Whitehouse).