1.
Probably my favorite celeb tweet of all time was when a fan asked Bebe Rexha where she’d go if she could time travel. Rexha replied, “I would go to Paris 1940s.” For context, Paris was under Nazi occupation in the 1940s.
2.
A close second is when a fan tweeted at Gina Rodriguez asking her to “please help a struggling Latina sister who can’t afford to pay her tuition.” Rodrigeuz replied, “Have you looked into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund? There are a few places to look for help mama lets research.”
3.
Similarly, back in 2019, a fan tagged Khloé Kardashian in a tweet that said, “So I realized I have to work 20 hours in order to afford @khloekardashian jeans…and I’m in love with them…catch me picking up extra shifts.” Khloe tweeted back, “Awwwwww this is so cute!!!! I’m so happy you enjoy them.”
4.
In yet another out-of-touch example, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016, Zac Efron tweeted out a photo of himself captioned: “I’m grateful for a couple things today: Martin Luther King Jr. & 10 million followers on IG.”
5.
Lorde also caused controversy when she posted an Instagram photo of a full bathtub and captioned it with Whitney Houston lyrics back in 2018. Houston died in a bathtub in 2012.
6.
Then there was the time Demi Lovato tweeted, “about to put this airline on BLAST” in 2015…on September 11, no less.
7.
This one isn’t problematic, but it’s a hilarious head-scratcher that I can’t believe was actually posted. After John McCain died, Lindsay Lohan posted a selfie on Snapchat captioned, “RIP John McCain feel better xoxo 💋🙏.”
9.
Celeb tributes to fallen visionaries are lovely in theory, but sometimes they miss the mark. Like after Stephen Hawking died, and Kirstie Alley tweeted, “You had a good go at it..thanks for your input.”
10.
And am I the only one who thought Alec Baldwin’s posting a photo of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins as a “tribute” — a year after he held the gun that killed her — was weird? It was captioned “one year ago…” as if it was some kind of nostalgic TBT. It feels especially weird considering he was later charged with involuntary manslaughter for the killing (he is awaiting trial).
11.
While obviously it’s important to talk about George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, some of the celebrity reactions (particularly from white celebrities) were…head-scratching, to say the least. One of the weirdest examples was Heather Morris (y’know, from Glee), who took to Instagram to share a dance piece she’d choreographed in Floyd’s honor. The dance started with over 30 seconds of Morris just staring at the camera with tears in her eyes.
12.
Similarly, on the surface, Lili Reinhart posting on Instagram about Breonna Taylor seems like a good thing. Except…she posted a nude photo, captioning it, “Now that my sideboob has gotten your attention, Breonna Taylor’s murderers have not been arrested. Demand justice.”
13.
In another attempt at allyship, I guess, Mark Ruffalo once inexplicably tweeted that “I said a prayer the other day and when God answered me back she was a Black Woman.”
14.
Celebs posted a lot of head-scratching things during lockdown, but one of the worst has to be Vanessa Hudgens’s video saying she “respects” coronavirus and that “Like yeah, people are going to die, which is terrible…but inevitable?”
15.
Sometimes, celebs pipe in about political issues when they really shouldn’t. Like when Kristy Swanson tried to get involved in the whole wall debate during the Trump presidency and claimed, “my nephew ARMY was blown up by the cartel because of their tunnels, he died 3 times.”
16.
In fact, I’m starting to think celebs should just…stay quiet when it comes to some events. Especially after seeing AnnaLynne McCord’s poem to Vladimir Putin about how things would be different if she were his mother. It’s an odd response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to say the least.
17.
Speaking of Russia and the Ukraine, the Weeknd had some truly unfortunate timing when he teased upcoming news in February 2022. Unfortunately, his tweets — including “LET’S GOOOOOOO” — came at the same time reports were first emerging about Russia invading Ukraine, leading many to believe his tweets were in reference to that.
18.
There have been a million celeb apology videos, and usually, they do help controversy die down just a bit. But occasionally, there is a celeb “apology” so bad that it makes the entire thing that much worse. Perhaps one of the worst examples is Miranda Sings’ tongue-in-cheek ukelele apology after she was accused of inappropriate behavior with minors. In a 10-minute video, Miranda (real name Colleen Ballinger) played the ukelele and sang, denying the accusations and overall making light of them.
19.
In 2020, Lana del Rey posted a lengthy statement on Instagram called “Question for the culture” that quickly became infamous. In the statement, she called out artists like Cardi B, Doja Cat, and Kehlani for sexually explicit music and asked why she got so much backlash for “glamorizing abuse” when she was just a “glamorous person singing about the realities of what we are all now seeing are very prevalent emotionally abusive relationships all around the world.” While, IMO, she made some good points in the full statement, her name-dropping of almost entirely BIPOC artists and then saying, “There has to be a place in feminism for women who look and act like me,” led to some pretty intense backlash.
20.
Fans were not happy with Taylor Swift after she inserted herself into a conversation about diversity in music. After Nicki Minaj’s video for “Anaconda” was not nominated for a VMA for Best Video, Nicki took to Twitter to complain, writing about Anaconda’s impact and saying, “When the ‘other’ girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination” and “if your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.”
Swift, whose video for “Bad Blood” was nominated, then tweeted at Nicki, “I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot.” Fans were divided on whether Minaj had actually called out Taylor and criticized her for making a valid issue about diversity into a headline about a “feud.” Minaj tweeted back, “Huh? U must not be reading my tweets. Didn’t say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this.”
21.
And finally, we’ll end on perhaps the most infamous celeb social media fail — when a whole bunch of celebrities thought it was a good idea to take part in a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” only days into lockdown.
What celeb social media fail do you still think of from time to time? Let us know in the comments.
