From cringe to controversial: Top seven moments social media got the best of celebrities

Every once in a while, a celebrity or public figure messes up so monumentally on social media, even the best of PR teams are not able to rein in the storm that their clients end up causing.

Despite their best efforts, or lack thereof, many celebrities in the age of technology have ended up on the wrong side of online discourse; sometimes getting away with a slap on the wrist, while in more drastic situations, social media’s unforgiving axe has struck mercilessly on thriving careers.

These seven instances involving various celebs make for great proof in defence of social media marketing firms all over the world:

Gal Gadot

One of the ways Covid was the gift that kept on giving; Gal Gadot assembling various celebrities like they were the avengers of the pandemic.

While the Wonder Woman star has had bigger fish to fry in terms of controversies, her “Imagine” moment on social media came to be awkward at first, and amusing at last.

Tragedy struck when she got together other famous names like Kristen Wiig, Mark Ruffalo, Pedro Pascal, Natalie Portman, Amy Adams, and many more, for a social media rendition of John Lennon’s famous peace anthem, Imagine.

While the video was intended to boost morale during a period of global doom and uncertainty, people went on to criticise it for the tone deaf posturing of rich people trying to pose as part of the general community from the comfort of their mansions as the real general public battled death and disease in the real world.

On the other hand, it did make for good entertainment after all as familiar faces tried to synchronise with each other for the lengthy footage, but ended up singing off-key and appearing extremely awkward.

Nevertheless, the Israeli native told InStyle that “the pandemic was in Europe and Israel” before the US became aware of it “in the same way.”

She further added, “I was seeing where everything was headed”, which is why she told Wiig, who helped organise the video project, “Listen, I want to do this thing.”

Many parodies, memes, and one Wikipedia page later, Gal Gadot’s “Imagine” controversy has in turn become, perhaps rather justly, the gift that keeps on giving.

Gina Carano

Actress and former MMA athlete, Gina Carano ended up being an extreme case of social media scandals.

Back in 2021, Carano came out as a right winger, even going as far as to peddle one of the main talking points from President Donald Trump and his allies — that of the 2020 US elections being rigged in favour of Trump’s opponent, Joe Biden.

By the time she fully settled in as a Trump supporter in the public sphere, the former professional fighter was starring on the Star Wars spinoff TV series, The Mandalorian, opposite Pedro Pascal.

What proved to be the final nail in her coffin was an Instagram story, where she compared being hated for her “political views” to the treatment Jewish people received at the hands of Nazi soldiers during the Holocaust.

Branding the post as anti-semitic, X (then known as Twitter) trended the hashtag #FireGinaCarano for hours, until it eventually resulted in her ouster from the show.

A spokesperson for Lucasfilm, the studio behind the development of The Mandalorian, said in a statement, “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future.”

Once a fan favourite, thanks to her role on the Emmy winning TV series, Gina Carano has since largely disappeared from public consciousness, and it is entirely likely that you were reminded of her just now.

Adam Levine

The Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine copped criticism for his weird online behaviour in leaked DMs.

Having been married to model Behati Prinsloo since 2014, the vocalist who also shared two daughters with his wife at the time, was caught exchanging flirty texts with another model while Prinsloo was pregnant with their third child.

While Adam Levine did not lose his career, or even his marriage, due to the scandal, his flirting did become the butt of several memes and jokes online, which was in many ways a worse outcome perhaps as his awkward slip up refused to die down.

Armie Hammer

Once a mainstream name, Armie Hammer saw his thriving career go up in flames once his weird online behaviour was exposed in the midst of various sexual assault allegations.

According to The Guardian, “Hammer was accused of rape and physically abusive behaviour in 2021 by a woman, known as Effie, who claimed he raped her in 2017”, while the victim also shared multiple screenshots of the disturbing texts which she had received from the Call Me by Your Name star.

Among several details, the most bizarre and frightening one was the string of texts in which Hammer admitted to being “a 100% cannibal”.

Whereas an alleged voice note from the Golden Globe nominated actor, featured in the 2022 documentary House of Hammer, revealed, “My bet was going to involve showing up to your place and completely tying you up and incapacitating you and then being able to do whatever I wanted to every single hole in your body until I was done.”

Following the initial leak, more women came forward with their horrific online encounters with Hammer, who apparently had a preference for calling his sexual partners “kittens”, as discovered via the scandal.

While Armie Hammer has maintained his innocence to this day, denying any and all allegations, in a twisted depiction of how things stand in the contemporary world guided by online discourse, the bizarre and outlandish social media scandal took away much of the spotlight in what was inherently a case of serious abuse.

Sydney Sweeney

The name on everyone’s lips these days, Sydney Sweeney’s humble beginnings in the world of social media controversies were certainly less dire than they are now.

While the Euphoria actress is currently being accused of every right wing talking point under the sun, thanks to her latest allegedly-eugenics-propagating ad campaign for American Eagle, as well as the discovery that she is a registered Republican.

Donald Trump and JD Vance’s defence of the Emmy nominated star probably did not help the matter either, as the poster boys of everything that Sweeney has garnered the recent backlash for are the last people she needed on her side.

However, many moons ago, the actress and producer went viral for a brief moment of weakness online.

When her name was trending due to people mocking her looks on social media, Sweeney went on Instagram live to address the several mean and trolling comments.

Breaking down in tears, she said during the livestream, “Apparently I am trending on Twitter right now for being ugly. I would never actually do this ever, but I think it’s really important for people to see how words actually affect people.”

Despite the emotional side of it, while some users sympathised with her, others were less keen about the whole thing due to it coming off as rather awkward and what people thought was the embodiment of “‘pick me’ energy”.

Though not too drastic or bizarre, this slightly weird moment is probably what Sydney Sweeney is currently remembering as simpler times.

Vanessa Hudgens

The final name on this list concludes the countdown on the same note with which it began; the dreaded Covid pandemic.

Vanessa Hudgens came under fire for her incredibly tone deaf rant on social media, during which she downplayed the devastating effects of coronavirus.

During an Instagram live session in March 2020, the High School Musical alum proceeded to share her thoughts about the onslaught of pandemic at the time, saying, “I get it, I respect it.”

“But at the same time, like, even if everyone gets it, like yeah, people are gonna die, which is terrible, but like, inevitable?” she continued.

Her terrible and shortsighted reading of what was a very delicate situation at the time, as people lost their lives to the disease in the worst cases, attracted backlash from every corner of social media.

Vanessa Hudgens followed up the scandal by issuing an apology to her millions of followers on Instagram shortly after.

“This has been a huge wake up call to the significance my words have, now more than ever. I’m sending safe wishes to everyone to stay safe and healthy during this crazy time,” she wrote.