History OvershadowedByControversy / RealLife

* Creator/JKRowling created a generational pop-culture phenomenon with the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' franchise. Since 2019, her reputation has been soured by her support of transphobes and her criticisms of trans rights, which led to her being condemned by many of the film's actors. Rowling's subsequent statement that she considers all support for the ''Harry Potter'' franchise an endorsement of her beliefs led to more critical reappraisals of it in light of her views. In particular, her descriptions of goblins were reanalyzed as antisemitic, the house-elves' HappinessInSlavery was highlighted, and various characters' names were considered excessively stereotypical and offensive. This all culminated in multiple calls to boycott all of the ''Wizarding World'''s products released since her views went public, including the ''Film/FantasticBeasts'' film series and the ''VideoGame/HogwartsLegacy'' video game (which also highlighted the issues the franchise has with goblins appearing to be anti-Semitic caricatures).

* The vuvuzela is a kind of horn that is deeply integrated in UsefulNotes/{{South Africa}}n culture, but it is ''extremely'' infamous internationally for the loud, monotonous drone it produces when blown, to the point that it can cause permanent hearing loss to unprotected ears. Vuvuzelas received intense backlash at the 2010 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup World Cup]] that was hosted in South Africa that year, and there was even a case where a teenage boy's local neighbour became so frustrated with him blowing his vuvuzela during that year's World Cup [[OffingTheAnnoyance that he decided to kill him]] by gunshot. As a result, many major sports leagues worldwide, as well as the Olympic Games, officially banned their use at their events afterwards.

* The vuvuzela is a kind of horn that is deeply integrated in UsefulNotes/{{South Africa}}n culture, but it is ''extremely'' infamous internationally for the loud, monotonous drone it produces when blown, to the point that it can cause permanent hearing loss to unprotected ears. Vuvuzelas received intense backlash at the 2010 [[UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup World Cup]] that was hosted in South Africa that year, and there was even a case where a teenage boy's local neighbour became so frustrated with him blowing his vuvuzela during that year's World Cup [[OffingTheAnnoyance that he decided to kill him]] by gunshot.
* Advertising agency Fallon [=McElligott=] was a respected, award-winning company until its childish response to a critique of one of its ads. A woman wrote to complain about an ad for ''Series/Dynasty1981'' that said, "Bitch, Bitch, Bitch", calling it sexist. In response, an agency executive sent her a photo of an African boy kissing cow's butt, saying, "As the enclosed photo clearly illustrates, the Dinka tribe of East Africa has a rather barbaric ritual that has apparently been going on for centuries. I pass it along to you believing that you will be able to deal with these people in the same firm, yet even-handed manner in which you dealt with us." Another executive, Tom [=McElligott=], called her a "brave missionary to the Dinkas." The resulting PR storm led to the agency losing a client, and this whole incident has remained an embarrassing footnote in the company's history.

* British food writer Jack Monroe has become known for allegations that she misappropriated donations from fans and failed to send out Patreon rewards, and for controversy over her repeatedly giving dangerous household and cooking advice. This included a published book that had to be edited in re-prints to remove suggestions such as using a mallet and hammer to open a can of food; and a brand partnership to promote air fryers, where she recommended pouring liquid into the air fryer (a serious fire hazard.)

* British food writer Jack Monroe has become known for allegations that she misappropriated donations from fans and failed to send out Patreon rewards, and for controversy over her book ''Thrifty Kitchen.'' The book in question contained household tips that could be very dangerous (such as using a mallet and hammer to open can of food), which had to be removed from the e-book and reprints of the published book.

* British food writer Jack Monroe has become known for allegations that she misappropriated donations from fans and failed to send out Patreon rewards, and for controversy over her book ''Thrifty Kitchen." The book in question contained household tips that could be very dangerous (such as using a mallet and hammer to open can of food) and was re-printed to remove them.

* British food writer Jack Monroe has become better known for allegations that she misappropriated donations from fans and failed to send out Patreon rewards.

* British Prime Minister UsefulNotes/TonyBlair's political legacy has been largely overshadowed by his highly unpopular foreign policy. Despite Blair's domestic accomplishments like reducing poverty with expanded welfare, refunding social programs that were previously gutted by the Conservative Party, expanding LGBT rights, introducing a minimum wage and overseeing a peaceful end to UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, his reputation took a massive hit following his unpopular hand-in-glove support for the American Government during UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Blair's decision to deploy UK troops during the US-led Iraq War was especially controversial due to the war's rationale being discredited and the conflict further destabilizing the Middle East. To this day, many in both the Labour and Conservative parties vilify Blair as either a war criminal or a lapdog to internationals.

* Film director Creator/DavidORussell is nowadays more well known for verbally abusing cast and crew (at one point, it escalated to physical during the filming of ''Film/ThreeKings'' when he headbutted Creator/GeorgeClooney after the latter confronted him for his abusive behavior and called Creator/LilyTomlin sexist names during filming of ''Film/IHeartHuckabees'') and sexually assaulting his 19-year-old niece in 2011 than for his own work.

* Mexican Voice Actor Creator/MemoAponte started his career in dubbing with the Latin Spanish dub of WesternAnimation/FindingNemo as a child, and had a pretty prolific career thereafter, with some of his most recognizable roles including Phineas Flynn in WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb, Dash Parr in WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1 and Cody Martin in the Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody. However, most of his career has since been overshadowed by accusations of sexual abuse by many of his former girlfirends, which caused [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor his work offers to immediately cease]], and mostly because of the content he uploads unto his [=YouTube=] channel, including appearances from underage girls[[note]]One of which admitted to being sixteen ''on camera''[[/note]] and most infamously his cosplay videos, which are often panned for involving doing overly sexual and digusting stuff while being dressed as characters whose target audience is ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids children]]'', which has also managed as of recently to cross over to the United States.

** Despite being venerated as a Saint in the mainstream Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II's name has been tainted by claims of negligence or cover-up during allegations of sex abuse by priests. While he declared it as a grave felony in Canon Law, he is still looked at with suspicion due to his association with convicted child molester Marcial Maciel. Not helping matters was his election of Theodore [=McCarrick=] as Cardinal given the allegations that he ignored warnings from Vatican and Church officials over [=McCarrick=]'s history of sexual assault.
** Pope Benedict XVI, having a short pontificate sandwiched between John Paul II and Francis, probably wouldn't have been remembered for much in any case, but he had the bad luck to be on the throne when decades of [[PedophilePriest child sexual abuse by priests]] were exposed, which also implicated him in a massive cover-up to save the Church's reputation (though there's some evidence that John Paul was complicit as well). He's also known as the Pope Who Quit, i.e. abdicating his seat while still alive (not unprecedented but extremely rare; the previous most recent Pope to do it of his own free will was Celestine V in ''1294''), paving the way for his successor. References to him in popular culture that isn't to the scandal or his uncanny resemblance to [[Franchise/StarWars Darth Sidious]] are few and far between. His membership in the Hitler Youth also got some attention, though it was downplayed as it was mandatory for German boys of his age and he reportedly took pains to be as little involved as possible.

* The Evolution Fighting Game Tournament is the most prestigious fighting game tournament on the planet, where people come from around the world to compete, and it's seen as ''the'' event of the year for the UsefulNotes/FightingGameCommunity. However, sometimes the tournaments attract attention for the wrong reasons:

* Rainfurrest was a UsefulNotes/FurryFandom convention formerly held in Seattle, Washington. It was created in 2007 to give the Pacific Northwest a new furry con after the demise of Conifur Northwest. However, the 2015 incarnation quickly became known both inside and outside the fandom for extreme misconduct. Attendees - and some event staff - were caught abusing drugs and vandalizing the hotel, and other attendees were found to be wandering around the con and public spaces in the Hilton hotel wearing fetish gear (some were even spotted wearing ''used adult diapers''). Two staffers were charged with assault (one sexual, the other regular), and the whole con nearly ended prematurely when a guest tampered with a smoke detector to hotbox their room. In the end, the Hilton [=SeaTac=] sent the con organizers letters announcing that they would no longer host Rainfurrest, and other regional hotels filed suit. The organizers tried to move Rainfurrest to another hotel for the 2016 incarnation, but the reputation of the 2015 incidents caused the con to terminate for good and its staff to disperse. Nowadays, both inside and outside the fandom, the [[CondemnedByHistory legacy of Rainfurrest seems to be limited entirely to the misdeeds of its last installment]].

* The first thing that comes to the mind of the average ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fanfic writer when they hear the name Farla, is ''not'' that she is the author of ''Lucki'' and several other fics, but her yearly January review storm where she proceeds to go CausticCritic on all new ''Pokémon'' stories posted in that time frame. And of those reviews, she is most infamous for her insistence that Pokémon names and the word itself ''not'' be capitalized.

* British Prime Minister UsefulNotes/TonyBlair's political legacy has been largely overshadowed by his highly unpopular foreign policy. Despite Blair's domestic accomplishments like reducing poverty with expanded welfare, refunding social programs that were previously gutted by Conservative Party, expanding LGBT rights, introducing a minimum wage and overseeing a peaceful end to UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, his reputation took a massive hit following his unpopular hand-in-glove support for the American Government during UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Blair's decision to deploy UK troops during the US-led Iraq War was especially controversial due to the war's rationale being discredited and the conflict further destabilizing the Middle East. To this day, many in both the Labour and Conservative parties vilify Blair as either a war criminal or a lapdog to internationals.

** UsefulNotes/HerbertHoover's reputation was irreconcilably tainted by TheGreatDepression beginning on his watch and the perception of him being unable to properly address it, which in turn led to him ultimately losing badly in his re-election attempt in 1932. Nowadays, he is largely only remembered as the one-term president that badly mishandled the Great Depression.

* These days, Creator/JoshTrank is known less for his aspirations to become the "next Creator/StevenSpielberg" and more for his egotistical, brash and volatile (if not outright unstable) personality. This is primarily thanks to ''Film/FantasticFour2015'''s [[TroubledProduction hellish production]], which saw Trank turn into an abusive PrimaDonnaDirector who clashed with both [[HostilityOnTheSet his cast and crew on set]] and [[DearNegativeReader detractors online]]. After the film was released, Trank found himself becoming a pariah within Hollywood as a result of getting imprisoned in Movie Jail due to the film's poor financial performance and overwhelmingly negative critical reception, which led him to drop out of/get fired from a Boba Fett-centric ''Franchise/StarWars'' spin-off project. Trank made something of a comeback with Creator/TomHardy vehicle ''Capone'', which received [[SoOkayItsAverage lukewarm reviews at best]].

*** Fashion designer UsefulNotes/CocoChanel is a legend in the fashion world, but she is not without controversy throughout her career; the most infamous and well-known controversy is that, allegedly, she was a [[LesCollaborateurs collaborator]] with the Nazis during World War II, even dating one of them. Then there is Hugo Boss: famous for their luxury suits and perfumes for men, infamous for the (false) claim that their eponymous founder created the [[PuttingOnTheReich Nazi uniforms]].

* Creator/LouisCK's longtime career as a comedian and actor took quite a toll in November 2017, when he got caught in the [=#MeToo=] movement after numerous women accused him of sexual misconduct, which he eventually admitted to. He tried to make a comeback afterward, but in December 2018, leaked audio from a Long Island stand-up set revealed him apparently making jokes at the expense of transgender people and the victims and survivors of the 2018 Parkland shooting. As a result, this killed off whatever respect the public (specifically his former fans) had left for him. He self-released his 2020 special ''Sincerely Louis C.K.'' to generally favorable reviews, but its eventual win for Best Comedy Album at the 2022 [[UsefulNotes/GrammyAward Grammy Awards]] led to strong controversy[[note]]it occurring not long after Creator/WillSmith's altercation with Creator/ChrisRock at the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s and its ensuing fallout didn't help matters either[[/note]], seemingly indicating that his reputation has yet to fully recover.

* Elon Musk's purchase of Website/{{Twitter}} in 2022, and subsequent mismanagement of the website, has eclipsed his other achievements as founder of [=SpaceX=] and owner of Tesla. Arguably, the most scandalous decision was the one in which he allowed users buy verified checkmarks without actual proof of identity, which opened the floodgates to trolls buying the checkmark and using it to impersonate various celebrities and companies.[[note]]Most notably, a prankster pretending to be pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced that insulin will be free, leading to the corporation losing ''$15 billion'' in market capital.[[/note]] Compounding this are Musk's other controversial decisions like reinstating accounts previously banned for hate speech and fraud, firing the entire moderation team, and rebranding the site to "X", all of which led to a mass exodus of advertisers and users. And even before acquiring ownership of Twitter, he was already controversial for being a ConspiracyTheorist and [[DisappearedDad a deadbeat father]] to many of his children.

* The [[Creator/BlizzardEntertainment BlizzCon]] 2018 convention is mostly remembered for the intense fan backlash to the revelation that the then-latest game in the ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'' franchise, ''VideoGame/DiabloImmortal'', was to be [[MobilePhoneGame mobile]]-[[NoPortForYou exclusive]] after teasing fans of a new ''Diablo'' game being in the works for several months, thereby leading fans to believe they were working on ''VideoGame/DiabloIV'' (which was later announced at [=BlizzCon=] 2019); their decision to announce it as TheClimax to a convention aimed at Blizzard's most dedicated audience, [[DidntThinkThisThrough which is all but exclusively made up of]] [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] [[DidntThinkThisThrough gamers]] who had paid $200 each to attend the event in hopes of seeing a mainline ''Diablo'' game; and Blizzard designer Wyatt Cheng impulsively and insensitively asking "Do you guys not have phones?" in response to the crowd's booing when he confirmed there were no plans for a PC port, which revealed that he had been [[DidntSeeThatComing taken by surprise]] by [=BlizzCon=] attendees' negative reaction. Cheng's question rapidly became a [[MemeticMutation meme]] used to mock corporations failing to understand their audiences.

* The [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2019 convention accidentally doxed over 2,000 journalists and gamers with their website leaving their personal information available with just a single link click. They didn't help themselves at all by calling it a "website flaw," as if it were only some arcane loopholes that let people access the page rather than a link openly displayed on the main page. A class-action lawsuit was quickly put together, and it was put in serious question whether E3 had been completely killed by the incident, as it seemed unlikely anyone would be willing to hand over their information again. They tried to regain trust, but a [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID]]-related cancellation in 2020, a disastrous 2021 online-only event, and two cancellations in as many years prevented it.

* The [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2019 convention accidentally doxed over 2,000 journalists and gamers with their website leaving their personal information available with just a single link click. They didn't help themselves at all by calling it a "website flaw," as if it were only some arcane loopholes that let people access the page rather than a link openly displayed on the main page. A class-action lawsuit was quickly put together, and it was put in serious question whether E3 had been completely killed by the incident, as it seemed unlikely anyone would be willing to hand over their information again. After a [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID]]-related cancellation in 2020, a disastrous 2021 online-only event, and two cancellations in as many years, the event ended up cancelled entirely.

* The [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2019 convention accidentally doxed over 2,000 journalists and gamers with their website leaving their personal information available with just a single link click. They didn't help themselves at all by calling it a "website flaw," as if it were only some arcane loopholes that let people access the page rather than a link openly displayed on the main page. A class-action lawsuit was quickly put together, and it was put in serious question whether E3 had been completely killed by the incident, as it certainly seemed unlikely anyone would ever be willing to hand over their information again. After a 2020 cancellation due to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic prevented the organizers from regaining people's trust and an online-only event in 2021 proved disastrous, E3 2022 and 2023 were both cancelled due to lack of interest, leading to the convention ending permanently.

* The [[UsefulNotes/ElectronicEntertainmentExpo E3]] 2019 convention accidentally doxed over 2,000 journalists and gamers with their website leaving their personal information available with just a single link click. They didn't help themselves at all by calling it a "website flaw," as if it were only some arcane loopholes that let people access the page rather than a link openly displayed on the main page. A class-action lawsuit was quickly put together, and it was put in serious question whether E3 had been completely killed by the incident, as it certainly seems unlikely anyone would ever be willing to hand over their information again.

* The Booth family was an English American theatrical family in the 19th century, with its members including Junius Brutus Booth, the patriarch of the family; Edwin Thomas Booth, one of the foremost American Shakespearean actors of his day known for his role as Hamlet; and UsefulNotes/JohnWilkesBooth, a brother of Edward's who starred in less serious fare and achieved infamy for being the assassin of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln. After Lincoln's assassination, the infamy associated with the Booth name forced Edwin to take a break from the stage for many months. He also had been feuding with John Wilkes before the assassination (Edwin was a Unionist while John Wilkes supported the Confederacy) and disowned him afterward, refusing to have his brother's name spoken in his house. He even wrote a public letter apologizing for the actions of his brother. Junius Brutus Booth, for his part, wrote a series of angry drunken letters to UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson. In one of his letters, he demanded the release of two pirates, lest he cut the President's throat while asleep. He recanted the letter, and given that he and Jackson were good friends, the "threat" was very likely Booth's clumsy attempt at a joke.