Warning: This post discusses violence, sexual assault, predatory behavior toward children, and rape.
Some have faith in the justice system, but for the rich and powerful, it's all about the almighty dollar. Between hiring exceptional PR companies that manage to scrub heinous pasts from public cognition and high-power attorneys that work loopholes to get charges dropped, there are many celebrities who've evaded accountability in the public eye.
Perhaps the best example of this is the current sitting president. Between his first term and his second, he became a felon, encouraged an insurrection, and was found liable for sexual abuse. Yet, here we are, four years removed from his initial exit from office, in his second term.
A recent post in the r/AskReddit sub asked, "What celebrity keeps getting away unscathed with awful behaviour?"
From Ye and JK Rowling to Logan Paul and Ellen Degeneres, Reddit users named off a long list of celebrities who they felt have escaped repercussions for their actions for too long. Here are 29 celebs who've managed to dodge accountability despite being incredibly problematic.
Note: some entries have been edited and condensed for clarity.
1. "I’m pretty sure the Paul brothers, Logan & Jake Paul, are brazenly awful by design. They figured out how to monetize being infuriatingly despicable pieces of sh*t. Lots of people will pay money hoping to see Mike Tyson knock one of them out. It's a balancing act, and they, unfortunately, do it well."
2. "Literally Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. It’s actually wild that Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes were in conservatorships for literally over a decade and lost their freedom, plus a lot of their fanbase. And then, for almost 10 years, Ye has been acting like this with no threat of a conservatorship and no major loss of his fame."
3. "That guy from The Apprentice."
4. "I’d put Conor McGregor above almost all these people. He’s got a lot more rapes than title defenses that’s for sure."
5. "Jerry Seinfeld. He was 35 years old and getting his girlfriend out of her high school exams to go do whatever grooming sh*t he was doing. Like a real-life Andrew Bernard. Sickening."
6. "Jack Nicholson. He beat up a sex worker because he didn't want to pay her and she insisted. He settled out of court, but she sustained permanent injuries after he banged her head on the floor."
7. "Anthony Kiedis admitted to statutory rape of a 14-year-old when he was 23 or 24 in his own autobiography, and I don’t think he was ever arrested. If that’s what he’ll tell you, just imagine what he’s not telling."
8. "Jennifer Lopez."
9. "Cristiano Ronaldo, for raping a woman in 2009. Her name is Kathryn Mayorga. He legit admitted to raping her during interrogation. There is even a picture of them being touchy at a club in 2009. Very disappointing coming from someone who is a big fan of his game. He’s the reason I fell in love with the game of football. He was a great inspiration to me because of his insane work ethic."
10. "Jimmy Savile."
11. "Jim Bob Duggar."
12. "Hulk Hogan. If he gets any retribution, it's usually just a slap on the wrist. He recently made an appearance on Monday Night Raw and the crowd booed the sh*t out of him. I'm almost certain that in a year or so they'll try to bring Hogan out to shill something else."
13. "Mark Wahlberg. He blinded a man in a racially motivated attack and now does dad movies with fellow scumbag Mel Gibson."
14. "I think people forget how badly Tom Cruise treated Nicole Kidman and Katie Holmes. Scientologist, basically a representative of that church, which is extremely exploitative, but he also uses his cult to be a nasty little man to the women in his life."
15. "Elon Musk."
16. "How many women has Chris Brown hit while still getting radio play and awards?"
17. "It astounds me that Ashton Kutcher co-founded Thorn, a nonprofit organization that works to protect children from sexual abuse, then went on to write a letter of support for Danny Masterson. The hypocrisy is ridiculous."
18. "Pierre Woodman in France has NOT ONCE paid for any of the 2,000+ rapes he filmed because in France if you film intimidation, bullying, deception, and even if she says 'no' multiple times in the video, but still has sex with you, it's 'consent.' Sadly, he's been doing it since the '90s, and no one can do anything about it."
19. "Brad Pitt harmed Angelina Jolie in front of their kids on their private plane."
20. "Dr. Dre has a history of physically abusing women. Look up what he did to Dee Barnes. He didn't just slap her, as Eminem said. He also threw her down a flight of stairs and smashed her face into a wall. He's a scumbag."
21. "Ted Nugent kept a 13-year-old girl as a sex slave and wrote songs about her."
22. "Iggy Pop is still pretty popular, and according to 'Please Kill Me' by Legs McNeil, he had (has) a thing for 13-year-old girls."
23. "I think the big issue is J.K. Rowling already made tons of money, and many more people aren't chronically online, so they'll like Harry Potter and buy Harry Potter things so she'll keep living in her black mold-filled house with her dragon hoard of cash."
24. "Justin Timberlake.
25. "Ellen DeGeneres. A horrible narcissist who created a toxic and hostile work environment for everyone around her."
26. "Jared Leto. My friend was getting preyed on by him in the 30 Seconds To Mars days when she was 16. He knew and did not care. He got her number and texted for years after every time he visited town on tour. Just my own personal confirmation. I can only assume the rumors are true, and he's done much worse."
27. "Love his work, but I didn't think the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trial made him look as good as everyone else seems to. It's obvious there would be a power imbalance between the two of them, and Depp's team played the PR game pretty masterfully both in and out of court.
28. "James Corden"
