15 of the biggest scandals
in the music industry
Who can forget Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's infamous performance during the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show in 2004?Getty Images Entertainment/Frank Micelotta
Almost every celebrity has garnered worldwide attention for what may appear to be the wrong reasons at some point in their career.
In fact, some of our favorite artists and musicians are living proof that being in the public eye isn't easy, and that not even tremendous amounts of fame and fortune can save them from being involved in some crazy controversies.
From minor he-said, she-saids to murder, here are some of the biggest scandals in the music industry to date.
Kim Kardashian exposes Taylor Swift.
When Kanye West released his latest album, "The Life of Pablo," in 2016, his fans were quick to point out an interesting shout-out that he gave to his good frenemy, Taylor Swift, on the song "Famous."
"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b--h famous," the line read.
To the surprise of no one, the lyrics caused quite the stir. Swift was offended and deemed the song misogynistic; West claimed she had given him permission to use the line; Swift denied having heard the line prior to the song's release.
Months later, Kim Kardashian took to Snapchat to defend her husband, and released a series of videos that appeared to show the "1989" singer giving West the OK to use the lyrics. Swift quickly fired back in a scathing Instagram post in which she called the videos character assassination, and it's safe to say that the two artists have yet to bury the hatchet.
Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift's VMAs speech.
Kanye West and Taylor Swift have had a rocky relationship since the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Moments after the "1989" singer was awarded a VMA for Best Female Video, West rushed the stage in the middle of her acceptance speech, grabbing the mic to say, “Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you — I'll let you finish — but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."
Not surprisingly, his outburst was met with a load of backlash, and he later apologized and admitted to having had a few too many drinks before the ceremony.
Milli Vanilli loses a Grammy for lip-syncing.
Lip-syncing is pretty common in the music industry, but not many artists have been known to be stripped of awards because of it. So when it happened to Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli in 1990, their names became synonymous with one of the biggest music scandals of the 90s.
After winning a Grammy for Best New Artist earlier that year, the German pop duo was forced to give it back after it was discovered that their breakout album, "Girl You Know It's True," featured vocals that didn't belong to either of them. Shortly after the controversy, Pilatus and Morvan recorded a follow-up album that only sold around 2,000 copies in the US.
Chris Brown assaults Rihanna.
Following the 2009 Grammy Awards ceremony, Chris Brown and his then-girlfriend Rihanna were involved in a brutal physical altercation that sent the Barbadian singer to the hospital bruised and bloody. Brown turned himself in shortly after the incident and was later sentenced to six months of community service and one year of counseling.
Though the fame of both artists has skyrocketed in the years following the incident, Brown has been unable to shake the event's stigma almost a decade later.
Lisa Lopes burns down Andre Rison's home.
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, the fiery rapper and third member of TLC, made headlines in 1994 when she started a fire in her then-boyfriend Andre Rison's home. After getting into a heated argument with Rison, Lopes set fire to the former Atlanta Falcons player's expensive shoes in his bathtub. The fire quickly spread throughout his home, eventually burning it to the ground. Lopes was later charged with arson, and sentenced to five years probation and therapy at a halfway house.
Tupac and Biggie are murdered.
The two hip-hop icons became friends when they met in 1993, but were torn apart by a rivalry between their labels in the mid-90s.
While driving to a party in Las Vegas in September 1996, Tupac was murdered after 14 shots were fired into the vehicle he was driving in with Suge Knight, the founder of Death Row Records.
Less than six months later, Biggie was shot and killed as well, when an unknown individual pulled up next to his SUV and fired five shots at the rapper.
Twenty years later both murders remain unsolved, but many suspect that Knight may have had something to do with both incidents.
Sean "Diddy" Combs' is allegedly involved in a club shooting.
In 1999, the rapper/producer was allegedly involved in a shooting inside of a New York nightclub.
Diddy and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, were arrested in connection with the shooting — initially caused by a dispute inside the club — that injured three people, including Natania Reuben, who was shot in the face. The charges against Lopez were dropped within an hour as it turned out that she wasn't involved in the incident. Diddy, however, was charged with gun possession and bribery, but later acquitted when his friend and fellow rapper Jamal "Shyne" Barrow confessed to the shooting.
Ashlee Simpson lip-syncs on "Saturday Night Live."
In 2004, Ashlee Simpson gave a memorably awkward performance on "Saturday Night Live," where she was meant to perform three songs from her first album, "Autobiography."
She sang her first number, "Pieces of Me," without an issue, but when she took the stage again for another song, the vocals for "Pieces of Me" began to play again. Simpson resorted to a pretty awkward hoedown before wandering off stage.
Ten years later it was explained in an interview that the singer didn't originally plan on lip-syncing, but after suffering a mishap during rehearsal for the show her team quickly decided that lip-syncing would be the best course of action.
R. Kelly's is allegedly involved in sex crimes.
In 2002, two years after a report by the Chicago Sun Times was released, a video surfaced showing R&B singer R. Kelly urinating on and engaging in sexual acts with an underage girl.
The Grammy winner had been accused by multiple women of having sexual relationships with minors over the course of several years, and was eventually brought to trial in 2008 — and found not guilty — by Chicago police.
Michael Jackson is accused of child molestation.
Michael Jackson was first accused of child molestation in 1993, when a 13-year-old boy came forward and claimed to have been abused by the pop icon.
Jackson was investigated by police, but no charges were filed against him as the investigation proved inconclusive. The singer was accused of the same crime a decade later, when a documentary crew filmed him discussing his relationships with young boys, and went on trial in 2005 before being acquitted of all counts later that year.
Drake is accused of not writing his own lyrics.
It all started with a subtweet.
Rappers Drake and Meek Mill went head-to-head in 2015 after a tweet, which has since been retweeted over 130,000 times, saw Mill claiming that Drake doesn't write his own lyrics. He went on to accuse the rapper of using a ghostwriter named Quentin Miller, who has since spoken out and denied the claims, despite his name appearing in a few of Drake's song credits.
Drake responded to Mill's accusations during a broadcast on his Beats 1 OVO Sound radio show by releasing a diss track called "Charged Up." Days later, he followed that up with another diss track called "Back to Back." He addressed the claims later that year in an interview with The Fader, saying that music is a "collaborative process."
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake expose a little too much skin at Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake took the stage during the Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show in 2004, when a wardrobe malfunction quickly led to the performance going down in infamy.
Towards the end of the performance, as the two artists danced together, Timberlake "accidentally" exposed Jackson's breast, on cue with the "Rock Your Body" lyric, "Bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song."
The event is now known as "Nipplegate," and the "wardrobe malfunction" prompted over half a million viewers to file complaints against the Federal Communications Commission, which was later slapped with a fine of $550,000.
Beyoncé lip-syncs at the Inauguration.
Beyoncé raised eyebrows and questions after some accused her of lip-syncing when she performed at the 2013 inauguration of former president Barack Obama. The singer faced criticism when a spokesperson for the Marine Corps Band admitted that Beyoncé was singing along to a pre-recorded performance of the "Star-Spangled Banner."
During a press conference for the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which she was set to perform at the following month, Beyoncé addressed the crowd by belting out the song and following the short performance with an explanation.
"I practice until my feet bleed and I did not have time to rehearse with the orchestra," she said. "Due to no proper sound check, I did not feel comfortable taking a risk. It was about the president and the inauguration, and I wanted to make him and my country proud, so I decided to sing along with my pre-recorded track, which is very common in the music industry. And I'm very proud of my performance."
Miley Cyrus twerks on Robin Thicke.
Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke set social media on fire following their joint performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, when a performance of Thicke's song, "Blurred Lines," turned a little racy.
The former Disney star began twerking against Thicke on stage, becoming the subject of tons of criticism and think pieces in the weeks that followed. Robin Thicke's wife at the time, Paula Patton, filed for divorce shortly after, while Cyrus eventually called off her engagement to actor Liam Hemsworth.
Remy Ma goes to jail.
Back in 2008, rapper Remy Ma was sentenced to eight years in prison after being involved in a shooting with a former friend. After claims of being robbed by a member of her entourage, the New York MC was involved in an argument that ended with her friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph being shot twice. Remy Ma, whose real name is Reminisce Mackie, was later found guilty of two charges of assault.
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