Chris Rock
Chris Rock landed himself on this list after his appearance at the 2022 Academy Awards, where he made, what he thought was an innocous joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s haircut while introducing the award for best documentary. He said, “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see ya.”
However, the actress has been outspoken about dealing with Alopecia, hence the haircut, so she did not seem pleased at all by Rock’s remarks. Rock moved on, but Jada’s husband Will Smith took to the stage and – shocking audiences and Rock alike – slapped the presenter across the face, before striding back to his seat. Though the broadcast cut sound in America, other countries shared unedited footage that showed Will yelling at Rock from his seat, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—ing mouth”
“I’m going to, okay?” Rock responded, resuming with presenting the award, and noting, “That was the … greatest night in the history of television.”
Sam Elliott
In a March 2022 episode of the WTF with Marc Maron Podcast, Sam Elliott slammed the film The Power of the Dog, saying it was a “piece of s**t,” Western with “allusions of homosexuality.” A western movie veteran himself, Elliott compared the film’s characters to Chippendales dancers who “wear bow ties and not much else,” and are “running around in chaps and no shirts.” He also insulted New Zealand director Jane Campion, saying, “What the f**k does this woman from down there know about the American West?”
Campion responded, “I think it’s really unfortunate and sad for him because he’s really hit the trifecta of misogyny and xenophobia and homophobia. I don’t like that. I think he was being a little bit of a b-*-t-c-h. Plus he’s not a cowboy, he’s an actor.”
After much backlash, on April 10, 2022, Elliott apologized while speaking at Deadline‘s Contenders TV event. “I told the WTF podcaster that I thought Jane Campion was a brilliant director, and I want to apologize to the cast of The Power of the Dog, brilliant actors all. And in particular Benedict Cumberbatch. I can only say that I’m sorry and I am. I am,” he said.
He went on to add, “I wasn’t very articulate about it. I didn’t articulate it very well. And I said some things that hurt people and I feel terrible about that. The gay community has been incredible to me my entire career. And I mean my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”
Kanye West
Despite dating a host of models and actresses himself, Kanye West seems to be spiraling due to ex Kim Kardashian dating Pete Davidson. In January 2022, West dropped a song called “My Life Was Never Eazy” with rapper The Game on which he says, “God saved me from that crash/just so I can beat Pete Davidson’s a**.”
West publicly removed rapper Kid Cudi from his album due to his association with Davidson, and offered comedian Michael Che double the pay to stop working at Saturday Night Live with Davidson. Che responded with his own wild Instagram post, poking fun at West’s demands.
West also lashed out at singer Billie Eilish in a since-deleted Instagram post, after she paused a show on her Happier Than Ever tour to help a fan who had trouble breathing, saying, “I wait for people to be okay before I keep going.” She never mentioned Travis Scott, or the tragedy at the Astroworld Festival. However, West, who thought an insult was implied, wrote, in all caps, and with no punctuation, “Come on Billie we love you please apologize to Trav and to the families of the people who lost their lives no one intended this to happen trav didn’t have any idea of what was happening when he was on stage and was very hurt by what happened. Trav will be with me at Coachella, but now I need Billie to apologize before I perform.”
For her part, Eilish simply commented on the Instagram post, “literally never said a thing about Travis. was just helping a fan.”
He also attacked Davidson’s good friend, Machine Gun Kelly, in a bizarre rant shared to Instagram. Like many of his posts against Davidson, West refers to the actor as “skete.” In another since-deleted post, the message read, “THIS AINT ABOUT SKETE PEOPLE IT’S ABOUT SELLING YALL A NARRATIVE SKETE JUST PLAYING HIS PART IN FROZEN 3 ACCEPT ITS NOT IN THE THEATERS THIS TIME ITS ON DAILEY MAIL TELL BOB AND THE ENTIRE DISNEY STAFF YOU WAISTED YOUR MONEY ON STARWARS AND MARVEL BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES MONEY YOU WILL NEVER CONTROL THE HIGHSCHOOLS NO ONES EVER HEARD A MACHINE GUN KELLY SONG BOB.”
He also posted a paparazzi photo of Kardashian from The Daily Mail, saying he had bought the coat she is wearing in the photo. Many of his posts also talk about fighting for his family, like this screenshot of him trending along with the caption, “I DIDNT WAKE UP AND FIGHT FOR MY FAMILY TO TREND OVER THE SUPER BOWL BUT IT HAPPENED THE SUPER BOWL BRINGS FAMILIES TOGETHER FOR EVERYONE MARRIED HOLD YOUR SPOUSE CLOSE MAKE SURE THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU LOVE AND APPRECIATE THEM BECAUSE THERES A SKETE LURKING IN EVERY DIRTY A** ALLEY WAITING TO HELP DESTROY YOUR FAMILY AND WALK AROUND IN CALVIN KLEINS AROUND YOUR CHILDREN I WISH MY WIFE WAS WITH ME AND OUR CHILDREN SITTING AT THE 50 YARD LINE @kimkardashian ALWAYS REMEMBER WEST WAS YOUR BIGGEST W.”
West went on a social media tirade on Super Bowl Sunday 2022, calling Davidson a “d**khead,” among other insults, and posting a photo of Davidson and captioning it, “No, you will never meet my children.” Many of the posts from his Super Bowl Sunday tirade have already been deleted, but he has not stopped, thanking his fans and posting, “THANK YOU GUYS FOR YOUR SUPPORT OF MY FAMILY MY FAMILY MEANS MORE TO ME THAN ANY OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENT IN LIFE IF ANYONE LOVES ME AND MY FAMILY IF YOU SEE SKETE IN REAL LIFE SCREAM AT YHE LOOSER AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS AND SAY KIMYE FOREVER.”
