Cancel culture has become a staple in Hollywood.
While a lot of celebs deserved it — Roseanne Barr, Harvey Weinstein, and Shane Dawson are just a few names that come to mind — not every celeb deserved that same punishment.
RELATED STORIES
This largely includes female celebs who were scapegoated or simply treated unfairly.
With that being said, here are 10+ times female celebs were canceled for no good reason.
1. Demi Lovato
In 2020, the singer was canceled not once but twice for allegedly having a Finsta account where she trashed former BFF, Selena Gomez.
Despite solid proof that she really created it, a #DemiIsOverParty began trending on Twitter.
2. Taylor Swift
Taylor found herself branded a “snake” online after Kim Kardashian and Kayne West alleged that she was lying about not letting Kayne call her an [expletive] in his song.
This led her to go into hiding while she battled depression .
3. The Dixie Chicks
The all-female group, now known as The Chicks, were once on top of the charts with their hits, “Ready to Run” and “Landslide.”
But everything changed when they spoke out against president George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
This led to immediate backlash, with certain country stations refusing to play their music after fans complained.
They ended up posing naked on Entertainment Weekly with insults people hurled at them written on their bodies. This included “traitors” and “Saddam’s Angels.”
4. Janet Jackson
Not many can forget when Justin Timberlake accidentally exposed Janet’s breast at the Super Bowl Halftime show in 2004.
People were outraged since the incident happened live and couldn’t be censored. But it was Janet who got the blame, not Justin.
She had to make a public apology, while Justin returned to the Super Bowl to headline in 2018.
Three of her albums also tanked after the incident, resulting in her returning to acting with Nutty Professor II: The Klumps and Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? .
5. Kathy Griffin
While that infamous Donald Trump head photo was pretty bad, the treatment the comedian received was a lot harsher than other celebs who also took hits at the former president.
Snoop Dogg, for instance, shot a clown version of Donald Trump in a music video.
Was he canceled for it? Nope. But Kathy, with her infamous photo, certainly was.
She lost her job with CNN , for one.
She also lost many celeb friends, including Andy Cohen. She told The Cut that he wasn’t there for her after the incident.
6. Sinead O’Conner
The singer made a bold statement during her 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live. She sang a cover of Bob Marley’s “War” and tore up a picture of Pope John II.
“Fight the real enemy,” she said.
After much backlash, the singer explained that the stunt came from the church’s many years of sexual abuse allegations.
The singer’s career never recovered after that, with people calling her crazy.
It wouldn’t be until years later that Sinead’s allegations about the pope were proven correct.
7. Monica Lewinsky
Monica was publically shamed after her affair with Bill Clinton was revealed. While Bill was impeached, he walked away from the situation with his reputation relatively unharmed.
Monica, however, has been living under the shadow of the affair ever since.
When she finally returned to the spotlight after hiding for so long, she began a campaign against cyberbullying.
“Do I wish I could erase my years in D.C. from memory, ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’-style? Well, is the sky blue? But I can’t,” Lewinsky wrote in an op-ed for Vanity Fair .
8. Vanessa Williams
There’s a reason you don’t hear from Vanessa much anymore. During the ’80s, she was embroiled in scandal when Penthouse published nude photos without her consent.
This led to her being dethroned from Miss America after she was crowned as the first African American woman to win.
9. Rebecca Black
Regardless of how you feel about the singer’s “Friday” song, we can all agree that the internet cyberbullied her.
And this all happened when she was just 13 . To this day, her name is practically synonymous with the song and music video.
She eventually shared the impact that the bullying had on her at a young age.
“I just wish I could go back and talk to my 13 year old self who was terribly ashamed of herself and afraid of the world,” she wrote.
10. Winona Ryder
Before the actress returned to Hollywood with Stranger Things , she was on a hiatus from acting for a very long time.
While the world blames her infamous 2001 shoplifting incident , the bigger picture is she was actually dealing with mental health issues at the time.
11. Lindsay Lohan
For many years, Lohan’s personal life with rife with substance abuse issues, trips to rehab, and even a few run-ins with the law.
But even after she cleaned up her act, people had already written her off.
This is despite the fact that male celebs with similar backgrounds got off easy.
In a recently resurfaced interview , David Letterman had even gotten extremely rude when he asked her, “Aren’t you supposed to be in rehab now?”
12. Megan Fox
The actress has been branded difficult to work with ever since she publically spoke out against working with Transformers director, Michael Bay.
Following this, three crew members took Bay’s side, calling Megan “dumb as a rock,” and “trailer trash.”
13. Lizzo
During a live performance, Lizzo playfully tried to grab Harry’s butt while the two were on stage.
Upon seeing the video, many fans began shading Lizzo for what they deemed to be unwanted and nonconsensual sexual contact. In real life, Harry and Lizzo are best friends.
14. Elizabeth Olsen
Elizabeth Olsen was canceled for the most heartbreaking reason of all.
Back when her costar Chadwick Boseman passed, she was bullied off Instagram for not posting a tribute fast enough.
15. Jessica Biel
If you’re a ’90s kid, then you’ll more than likely remember Jessica from her time spent on the set of 7th Heaven .
Feeling rebellious, Jessica chose to break away from her squeaky-clean angelic image and pose nude in a men’s magazine.
After news of the photos began to spread, Jessica was treated like a pariah on set.
Jessica was informed by the network execs that if she had any hope of keeping her job, she needed to go and apologize to the man in charge — Aaron Spelling.
Sadly, this was all in vain and Jessica was swiftly terminated .
16. Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet first made a name for herself on The Cosby Show and was also cast in the spin-off series A Different World .
When Lisa became pregnant , the network execs felt that clashed with her onscreen image. In the end, Lisa was terminated.
17. Lana Del Rey
Lana Del Rey has been called submissive, anti-feminist, anti-women’s-rights, and pretty much every other name you could possibly think of.
After explaining in an Instagram post how plenty of other female artists like Nikki Minaj, Doja Cat, and Cardi B had made songs about being sexy — it only made people more upset.
18. Selma Blair
Selma Blair starred opposite Charlie Sheen on the short-lived sitcom Anger Management .
After growing impatient with Charlie’s total lack of work ethic, Selma took her complaints to the network executives. Unfortunately for her, Charlie Sheen heard all about it.
Charlie became irate, and wound up giving the network execs a crystal clear ultimatum:
Simply put, if Charlie showed up to work on Monday and Selma was still there — he would refuse to work.
Being that Sheen was the star of the show, the network had no choice but to cave to his demands, and Selma was fired.
