Top Ten Celebrity Meltdowns, Scandals, and Oddities of the Decade

This decade allowed for us to revel in our favorite celebrities making complete fools of themselves. From saying things we were amazed by to doing things that were downright shameful, this decade allowed us the power of YouTube, and the world of repeat, remix, and defame will never quite be the same. Transparency has only really begun, and we’re going to see more amazing feats come out of this yet. Below are some of the best meltdowns, scandals, and oddities from all over the net. I know it’s a Top Ten list, but it was just too hard to cut some of these out ~ so my list counts down the top ten, and then goes up from 11 – 23.

10. Tom Cruise – Two instances of being lost in a delusional world of his own creation are here for us to think about, understand, interpret, and ultimately discard. First is his classic rant on Scientology which puts cultists to shame everywhere. When they say, “Don’t drink the kool-aid” they mean it. AND if you do drink the Kool-Aid don’t drink the entire damn pitcher ~ Save some for your crazy friends! Being insane makes a body thirsty.

10a. Second on the Tom Cruise train is him in love with Katie Holmes on Oprah (remix version below because the original is unavailable – if you know where to find it please comment it below.)

9. I Hate Huckabees – David O. Russell trying to direct Lily Tomlin. So here is a question… When you watched I <3 Huckabees (or not for most people) did you really think ~ wow this movie must have had some major battles happen on it? Because after watching that movie I felt pretty benign.

8. Alec Baldwin loses it with his daughter. Maybe a bit over harsh, but I can’t help but think it has some real merit. Full disclosure: I love Alec Baldwin, and can’t nay say the man. He’s just so damned charming.

Supposedly this is the reply she sent back to him.

7. Christian Bale on the set of Terminator 4 tells off the Director of Photography on the set. This has been argued about by many people on how terrible and normal this outbreak was. Everyone has a bad day now and then I suppose. In the end it really is just worth a listen to hear the venom.

6. Gary Busey at a photo shoot losing it (as per usual). I’m glad everyone saw in Gary what I saw in Gary. A real genius. One who knows exactly what he’s doing, but is also being completely himself. At once snarky, hilarious, insane, and candid. His role in Point Break was where I first learned about what he was capable of, and between movies, reality shows, and cameos ~ I’ve seen him just get better and better.

5. Tyra Banks gets mad at one of her contestants. I love this video and it actually makes me like Tyra; which I never really thought would happen.

4. Vanilla Ice a.k.a. Rob Van Winkle created an awesome song. I listened to it all the time, and when he came out against his own song I still thought Vanilla Ice was the man. When he got a million tattoos I thought to myself, well there must have been a Mike Tyson-esque reason. I think the guy has been famous, around fame, and in love/hate with fandom for too long. Being in that world sounds tough to say the least. In this first bit Vanilla Ice gets egged on by a round table on television to destroy his ‘Ice Ice Baby’ video.

4a. Vanilla Ice on Surreal Life angry at Ron Jeremy for backstabbing

3. Michael Richards, “50 years ago we’d have you upside-down with a fucking fork up your ass.” Did you ever think you’d find out Kramer was racist? Neither did I, and seemingly neither does he.

3a. The Apology. Somewhere in the middle of the apology he says, “Get to the force field of hostility” – I’m not sure what he’s getting at here, and you can tell he’s more like a deer in headlights. He tries to get to why he said what he said, but bizarrely can’t find why he said it. Maybe another interview today would show where he has come from since then.

2. David Hasselhoff Drunk Video (full 6-minute version). This video is at once terrifying, mesmerizing, and for people who love meltdowns… well, amazing. Perhaps even better is that I may just get to meet the man featured below. Two of my friends hang out with him all the time, what luck!

1. Kanye Wests’ Shenanigans: I’m Gonna Let You Finish, Upstaging Justice, Going postal in 2007 MTV awards, and his Katrina speech. There is just no one out there trying to be on people’s mind more than Kanye West. At every turn he pulls stunts, gets mad, gets sad, wears his heart on his sleeve, and in the end can’t see outside himself. He wants everyone to realize once and for all that he’s the next living Elvis, and if we let him have his way maybe it’ll happen. Although, to truly do that he’s got to fall hard, and that means he’d really have to outdo himself in the next decade. I’m making him number 1 on the meltdown list because not only is he a force with

I’m Going to Let you Finish

1a. Going postal in 2007 MTV awards

1c. Crashing the EMA’s award show and upstaging Justice (eerily similar to I’m going to let you finish…)

1d. This is probably my favorite Kanye video, and counts as a meltdown in my book even though it’s the good humanitarian sort. It was a real call to arms, an empowering battlecry against Bush, and was a real emotional moment from the hurricane Katrina aftermath.

Counting back up from 11 – 26 now,

11. Jeff Conaway loses it on Celebrity Fit Club 3. Two things I’ve never heard of before in this sentence are Jeff Conaway and Celebrity Fit Club, but his meltdown is absolutely amazing.

12. Tarantino is pretty awesome in this paparazzi exchange. What can you do – you just gotta like this guy sometime.

13. Ed Harris introduces “A History of Violence” at the Toronto Film Festival with Violence

14. Billy O’Reilly wants to do it live

15. Britney Spears has had a fair amount of entanglements in the public eye, and yet it’s really hard to find them on YouTube. Which goes to show you the power of having great attorneys. That said, I think Britney is awesome, and I even went to her concert… and I blogged about how money that experience was. Since there is nothing great hear I figured I’d just do tribute to the best Britney Spears fan video ever made.

15a. And a little slideshow of Britney paparazzi moments.

Britney Spears Rages, Attacks Paparazzi – More free videos are here

16. Dennis Green head coach of the Cardinals in 2006 gives permission to crown the Bears’ ass.

17. Anna Nicole Smith Drunk on American Music Awards. This is one of the first celebrity videos I remember watching on YouTube.

18. Courtney Love flashes audience a few times during David Letterman show

19. Kathy Griffin actually being hilarious on New Years. Usually she’s really unfunny to me, but this little interaction actually made me think different.

20. Joe Kinnear turns the air blue in a furious rant at the Daily Mirror.

21. Ashlee Simpson gets the wrong song played for her at SNL

22. Don Imus: Referred to members of Rutger’s women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”

A couple of things to be aware of just so you know where I’m coming from.

23. Bjork is followed by press for too long, and gets mad at them

Finally… if you’re still here I wanted to come clean about people that I think are the best even though some of their shenanigans could have probably landed them in the meltdown list.

1. I think Keanu Reeves can do no wrong. Even when he does do wrong (like have a rock band) I think it just adds to the perfection. I’m not really sure why, but Keanu doesn’t only get a blank check in my book I would be honored if I ever had the chance to work with him on a movie. While I’m at it let me propose a brilliant merging of two great talents. Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson and Keanu. I’m telling you – I would do this in less than a heartbeat. That would be the best movie of all time. EVEN/ESPECIALLY if it were a remake of Kindergarten Cop.

2. Michael Jackson was my favorite growing up. My first CD when we were making the jump from tapes to those new contraptions was History. His fall from grace was absolutely devastating. I watched Captain EO at Disneyworld like everyone else goes to the Sistine Chapel. That was my mecca. RIP.

3. My brother and I watched Pee Wee Herman everyday. We watched it as much as possible. On the day in question for Pee Wee – where questionable decisions were made – we were at the community pool. All of our parents were doing the usual things. Then something odd happened. All the parents started hiding newspapers. I was a kid and could have cared less about a newspaper, but suddenly getting a newspaper was the most important thing in the world. It took me two days to finally get my little hands on that article. It was terrible. Another fall from grace.

4. Chris Farley is my favorite comedian of all time. His death hit me like a freight train. His years on SNL were my years watching SNL. His segments always made me die laughing. I could go on for awhile, but it’s just idolization really. In the end – I’m sad that he was sad.

I knew my favorite stars were in the distance somewhere living lives behind closed doors. Sure there were photos, interviews, and that sort of thing. But nothing real surfaced that often with much substance, and when it did I usually missed the broadcast. For our newest generation we can watch it all happen today, tomorrow, as long as the internet keeps it alive. That’s a real game changer. Thanks decade for providing a completely new way of seeing celebrities, and keeping the conversation about them going on seemingly in perpetuity.