2017 Biggest Scandals

2017+Biggest+Scandals

Samarah Peters, Freshman Liason

Celebrities love being in the spotlight, but when it’s for something scandalous, not so much.  Since 2017 is coming to an end –  and we all know that 2017 was one crazy year – here are the five biggest celebrity scandals that happened this year.

Number OneThe Weinstein scandal. The powerful Hollywood movie producer is one of the most thanked people in Oscar speeches but all of that changed when Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment by over 50 women. Harvey denied every  allegation, but it’s hard to believe when dozens of women have stated that Harvey forced women to massage him and even watch him naked. He apologized for the three decades worth of harassment, and the pain he caused. Apparently, he is going to sue The New York Times. Many of these allegations do not have proper proof, like someone feeling violated because they knocked on Harvey’s door and he answered in a bathrobe… but Harvey opened the floodgates and the #metoo movement that followed.  We have to wait for more facts, hopefully they come soon. This scandal still seems to be going on, and more drama is on the way.

Number TwoThe Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial. First of all, this commercial has nothing to do with Pepsi. They apologized for what seemed to be  ‘abusing’ the intensity of the Black Lives Matter movement, even though this all had nothing to do with Kendall. Drama started quickly that Kendall was the “bad guy”, but all she did was give a cop a Pepsi. That didn’t have anything to do with Kendall assuming she could solve hundreds of years of black oppression with a soft drink, it just meant that we should all sit down and share a Pepsi. The Tweets following were all “Should’ve gave the cop a Pepsi so I wasn’t arrested” or “Well, Kendall can save us all.”

Number Three – College Basketball coaches paying players. Auburn assistant Chuck Person, USC assistant Tony Bland, Arizona assistant Book Richardson, Adidas executive Merl Code and clothing company owner Rashan Michel were arrested after an FBI investigation uncovered various crimes.  Richardson, Evans, Bland, and Person were caught paying their players. “The most important part is that you … don’t say nothing to anybody … don’t share with your sisters, don’t share with any of the teammates, that’s very important ’cause this is a violation … of rules. But this is how the NBA players get it done,” Person was caught saying, knowing very well what he did was wrong. Not only that, but multiple players on the team accused Person of bribing them dozens of times. Not only Person, but the rest were caught giving their players money to stay in the game, or say no to other teams.

Number Four – United Airlines. Dr. David Dao was forcibly pulled out of his seat and dragged off the plane when he refused to be bumped off his flight. United wanted to remove Dao from the flight in order to make room for commuting crew members. The company has since promised it will no longer use officers to forcibly remove paying customers from its flights. The incident occurred on April 9, and United has been reeling from the backlash ever since. Dao’s video went viral, and he settled for an undisclosed amount of cash.  United Airlines has apologized for the way they treated their passenger, but I do not think we’ll be giving them a second chance so quickly. The scream of that man was the scream of anyone who has flown coach.

Number Five Melania Trump plagiarizing Michelle Obama. Melanie Trump, the new lady in the office gave her speech at her husband’s inauguration, but it was soon found that she copied former lady, Michelle Obama’s speech Then, this being slightly hilarious, Melania copied a line from the kids’ animation My Little Pony. Instead of hate being brought to Melania, the staff took the fire, but no one was fired for the plagiarism in the speech.