I'm Flabbergasted By How These 23 Celebs Fumbled Their Careers In The Wildest Ways Possible

Some celebrities spend years building the kind of careers most people could only dream of, then somehow manage to throw it all away with one completely avoidable bad decision. So, we asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us which celebs fumbled their careers in the dumbest way imaginable, and the answers were painfully specific...

Note: Some responses were pulled from this Reddit thread.

1. "Lori Loughlin and the college admissions scandal with her two daughters 😬."

In 2019, Lori and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were charged in the massive college admissions scandal after paying $500,000 to secure their two daughters' fraudulent admission to USC as purported athletic recruits. Neither daughter was actually a competitive rower, so Lori pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two months in prison.

2. "Armie Hammer. He was all set up for a big career, and the only thing he had to do was, like, not have a cannibalism fetish..."

Armie was being positioned as a Hollywood leading man when alleged private messages containing graphic sexual and cannibalistic fantasies began circulating online in 2021. Multiple women later made abuse allegations against him, which he denied, but he ended up leaving several major projects before being dropped by his agency and publicist. In 2023, the Los Angeles County district attorney declined to file charges, citing insufficient evidence. But career-wise, the damage from the scandal was irreversible.

3. "Prince Andrew. He had the opportunity to do nothing or anything with his life, and either way, he'd still have been wealthy and lived an extremely comfortable life. All he had to do to secure the most comfortable life ever was not be a pedophile."

Prince Andrew voluntarily agreed to the 2019 BBC Newsnight interview meant to address his alleged relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre's. Andrew denied the allegations, but his answers about PizzaExpress and his supposed inability to sweat were widely mocked. Within days, Buckingham Palace announced he was stepping back from public duties. And this will go down as one of the most disastrous attempts at repairing a reputation.

4. "Stephen Rannazzisi was on a hit show called The League, and his career was taking off. Then he lied about escaping the World Trade Center on 9/11. He tried to come across as a hero but torpedoed his career."

For years, Stephen claimed he had been working for Merrill Lynch on the 54th floor of the South Tower when the first plane hit on 9/11, and said narrowly escaping inspired him to quit corporate life and pursue comedy. In 2015, he admitted he'd made the whole story up. He actually wasn't at the World Trade Center, since Merrill Lynch had no offices there, and the company had no record of ever having employed him. He was actually working in Midtown that day 😭.

5. "DaBaby going on a random homophobic tirade about his gay fans during a performance."

During the rapper's 2021 Rolling Loud Miami set, DaBaby suddenly made homophobic comments and spread misinformation about HIV/AIDS while talking directly to the crowd. The fallout was almost immediate: Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, and other festivals dropped him from their lineups, and he later apologized to the LGBTQ+ community. The fact that he was literally in the middle of his own performance when he just...started saying it??

6. "Matt Lauer, who famously interviewed Bill O'Reilly about sexual misconduct BEFORE Matt himself got found out. 🤷🏽‍♀️"

Here's the part that makes Matt's downfall especially wild: just two months before NBC fired him following a complaint of inappropriate sexual behavior, Matt interviewed Bill O'Reilly about the sexual harassment allegations that had led to O'Reilly's own firing from Fox News. Matt actually pressed him on the allegations and the intimidation his accusers may have felt. Then, in November 2017, NBC fired Matt amid his own sexual misconduct scandal. You genuinely could not write the irony any better.

7. "Nicki Minaj going full MAGA after being a gay icon and literally being an immigrant herself. I will never understand it."

This one is still unfolding, but the political whiplash is fascinating. Nicki, who immigrated to the US as a child and previously criticized Trump's family-separation immigration policy, has since become one of his most outspoken celebrity supporters. By 2026, she was calling herself Trump's "No. 1 fan" and publicly embracing her MAGA image. It's a shocking shift for an artist with such a massive LGBTQ+ fanbase, and some longtime fans have made it very clear they're done with her now.

8. "Thom Brennaman losing his broadcasting career over a hot mic and then having to call a home run in the middle of his apology will never stop being baffling to me."

In 2020, longtime Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman was caught on a hot mic using a homophobic slur during a game. He later tried to apologize on air, but right in the middle of it, Nick Castellanos hit a home run, forcing Thom to abruptly switch back into announcer mode and deliver the now-infamous "drive into deep left field" call. The Reds suspended him, Fox removed him from its NFL broadcasts, and he later resigned. The entire sequence was so surreal that his apology became a meme.

9. "Gina Carano just wouldn't stop tweeting."

Gina played Cara Dune on The Mandalorian and had a major role in the Star Wars universe, but her controversial social media posts repeatedly created backlash. In 2021, Lucasfilm cut ties with her after a post comparing the US political climate to the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust, and her agency, UTA, also dropped her. Gina later sued Disney and Lucasfilm, and the case was settled in 2025. But losing your Star Wars role because you wouldn't stop posting is certainly a choice.

10. "Gilbert Gottfried tweeting jokes about a tsunami in Japan while literally being the voice of the Aflac duck."

In 2011, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, Gilbert tweeted a string of jokes about the disaster. That was already enough to create backlash, but Gilbert also happened to be the longtime voice of the Aflac duck, and Japan was the insurance company's most important market. Aflac fired him almost immediately after 11 years as the voice of its mascot.

11. "Jimmy the Greek. He was a popular sports reporter who attributed the strength of Black athletes to their heritage as the descendants of enslaved people. DONE!"

Jimmy had been a regular CBS sports commentator for roughly 12 years when, during a 1988 television interview, he suggested that Black athletes' success was connected to breeding practices during slavery. He also warned that if Black people moved into coaching jobs, there would be little "left for the white people." CBS fired him the next day. And after 12 years on national television, he was gone.

12. "Jeremy Clarkson basically losing Top Gear over a hot dinner is so painfully on brand."

In 2015, a BBC investigation found that Jeremy Clarkson physically and verbally attacked Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon after a dispute involving the lack of hot food at a hotel. The BBC ultimately didn't renew Jeremy's contract. And to put the stakes into perspective, Top Gear was a massive international brand, but Jeremy still lost his job over CATERING.

13. "Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher writing letters of support for their rapist friend was pretty damn awful."

After the couple's former That '70s Show costar Danny Masterson was convicted of raping two women, Ashton and Mila faced backlash when character letters they'd written to the judge before his sentencing became public. The couple then posted an apology video explaining that Masterson's family had asked them to write the letters and that they hadn't intended to undermine the victims' testimony. Instead of ending the controversy, the video just created even more backlash...

14. "Antonio Brown went from maybe a Hall of Fame NFL wide receiver to a running joke because of all his fucked-up antics."

Antonio's career has enough controversies for an entire separate article, but his final Buccaneers game is hard to beat. In January 2022, he removed his jersey and shoulder pads, flashed a peace sign to the crowd, and left the field in the middle of a game against the Jets. Tampa Bay terminated his contract days later, but Antonio disputed that he did that because he had been too injured to continue playing. But watching an NFL star exit mid-game remains one of the most bizarre career exits ever broadcast live.

15. "Chris Harrison hosted other people's drama for almost 20 years, and then ended his own career in one interview."

While speaking with Rachel Lindsay in 2021, former The Bachelor host Chris defended Bachelor contestant Rachael Kirkconnell amid controversy over photos of her at an antebellum-themed party. Instead of shaming her, he criticized the "woke police." The interview sparked massive backlash, causing Chris to apologize and step aside, but months later, his permanent departure from the franchise was announced.

16. "There's an alternate universe where Eliot Spitzer is president and Al Franken is VP right now."

Before becoming governor of New York, Eliot built a reputation as a hard-charging prosecutor and had even prosecuted prostitution rings. Then, in 2008, he was linked to a prostitution ring himself and identified as a client of a high-priced escort service. He resigned as governor days after the story broke. I truly don't know how you can prosecute the exact type of operation you're secretly patronizing and expect it to end well.

17. "Paula Deen admitting to using the N-word in her own deposition. Like, girl, you are under oath and representing a multimillion-dollar brand."

Paula had spent years building a wildly successful Southern comfort food empire when a deposition from a discrimination lawsuit became public in 2013. When asked under oath whether she had ever used the N-word, Paula answered, "Yes, of course," before trying to explain when she'd used it. Food Network declined to renew her contract, and multiple major companies cut ties with her. Her own words immediately dismantled the cozy public image she'd spent years selling.

18. "Isaiah Washington getting in trouble for using a homophobic slur and then REPEATING THE SLUR while denying it."

Isaiah was already facing backlash over a homophobic slur used during an on-set dispute involving his Grey's Anatomy costars. Then, while addressing the controversy backstage at the 2007 Golden Globes, he used the slur again while denying he'd directed it at T.R. Knight. Isaiah later apologized, and ABC declined to renew his Grey's Anatomy contract.

19. "Billy Bush losing his career over the Access Hollywood tape while the other guy on it became president."

Billy was heard laughing and participating in the now-infamous 2005 Access Hollywood conversation in which Donald Trump made lewd comments about women. When the tape leaked during the 2016 election, NBC suspended and later fired Billy from Today. Trump apologized for his comments, stayed in the presidential race, and won the election weeks later. So, somehow, Billy's career was immediately derailed by a tape when the main speaker went on to become the literal president.

20. "Megyn Kelly turned a segment about offensive Halloween costumes into the reason her own show got canceled."

In 2018, Megyn was hosting a televised discussion about controversial Halloween costumes when she questioned why blackface was racist and said it had been considered acceptable when she was growing up if someone was dressing as a character. She apologized after widespread backlash, but NBC canceled Megyn Kelly Today days later.

21. "Charlie Sheen was the star of Two and a Half Men and made millions, but blew it all on partying..."

By 2011, Charlie was the star of the massively successful Two and a Half Men and one of television's highest-paid actors. Then his relationship with co-creator Chuck Lorre completely imploded, with Charlie publicly attacking him amid an increasingly chaotic series of interviews and statements. Charlie was fired from the show, and his feud with Lorre became almost as famous as the sitcom itself. He was making an absurd amount of money on one of TV's biggest shows and publicly went to war with the man creating it 😃.

22. "Kathy Griffin looking at that fake severed Trump head photo and apparently thinking, 'Yep, post it.'"

In 2017, Kathy posed for a photo holding a bloody fake severed head made to resemble Donald Trump. The backlash was immediate, and CNN fired her from the New Year's Eve special she'd cohosted with Anderson Cooper for years. Kathy quickly apologized and said she'd gone "too far." People still find it wildly shocking that she thought an image like that could possibly go over well.

23. And lastly, "Every time I recall an embarrassing or cringey memory, I remember that Rachel Dolezal is still out there and I instantly feel better."

Rachel was president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP when questions about her racial identity exploded into national news in 2015. In an interview, a reporter showed Rachel a photo of a white man she'd publicly identified as her father and asked whether he was actually her dad. She avoided the question and eventually walked away from the interview. Her white biological parents publicly said Rachel was white, and she resigned from her NAACP position.

If you know of any other public figure who ruined their career in a truly baffling way, share it in the comments or submit it in the anonymous form below. Your submission may end up in a future BuzzFeed Community post!

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.