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19 Celebs Who Ruined Their Career In A Single Interview
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“I’ve never seen somebody fall into irrelevancy like that.” I'm a Senior Staff Writer based in New York City, where I've been covering classic BuzzFeed-style content since 2020. "Prince Andrew telling BBC he had no regrets about befriending Jeffrey Epstein, that Epstein was a great social and business connector for him, and that he couldn't have been attacking underage women on a certain date/time because he was at a pizza shop that night. Some believe this is the biggest trainwreck interview in the history of TV." He also said it couldn't have happened because he was at Pizza Express in Woking with his daughter Beatrice that afternoon/evening. For context, in the above comments, Trier was speaking about learning his father's true identity and finding out he was German. "Nazi," in this context, appears to be his way of stating he was German. Still, the ensuing comments do nothing to help his case. The women also defended Kelly, stating their parents were "trying to get money and scam." However, one woman, Azriel Clary — the one who had met Kelly at 17 — later testified against him, stating that she "was not honest in the interview" and that Kelly had coached the two women. The other woman, Joycelyn Savage, is still in a relationship with Kelly (who is now in prison) and claims the two are engaged. "Regardless of whether you believe he was innocent or guilty, choosing to go on global television and casually defend sharing his bed with children was a massive, self-inflicted mistake. The immediate public backlash was unprecedented. This directly led to the 2005 criminal trial against him for child SA, which essentially ruined his health, finances, and reputation forever. Even though he was acquitted, he completely misjudged how the public would perceive his lifestyle, and that single media appearance permanently damaged his legacy beyond repair." Macaulay Culkin has always denied that anything sexual occurred to him at the ranch, while Kieran does not answer questions about Jackson. "John Mayer's interview for Playboy destroyed his career. He was the biggest thing ever in the early-mid 2000s. He was practically America’s boyfriend. Then he did an interview and said Jessica Simpson was 'sexual napalm' and talked about how he doesn’t date Black women because 'my dicks a white supremacist.' I've never seen somebody fall into irrelevancy like that." Mayer later apologized for using the term, writing, "Re: Using the 'N word' in an interview: I am sorry that I used the word. And it's a shame that I did because the point I was trying to make was the exact opposite spirit of the word itself. It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using it, because I realize there's no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged." "This goes way, way back, like the '80s (yeah, I'm Gen X). There was a very famous sports announcer named Jimmy the Greek. I don't recall what brought it up, maybe a question on successful Black athletes. But it caused him to start in on a whole statement that basically boiled down to eugenics. How slavery made Black athletes stronger and faster than white athletes, but whites were all the coaches, etc. He went on and on. He was fired by CBS shortly after that, and his career was over." The clip has since been edited by people online, zooming in on D'Elia's face as he basically realizes he could be in trouble. It does not appear that Murray ever publicly addressed Davis's accusations. "I used to love Jimmy Fallon, and his interview with Conor McGregor took that love away." It doesn't appear Fallon has replied to the controversy. "Tom Cruise eventually recovered, although I think a lot of people still look at him with a side eye. But his couch jumping on Oprah and then calling a reporter glib for pointing out that Scientology...discourages its members from taking medications to treat mental illness." "People have always kinda known that Quinton Tarantino was an asshole, but the interview where he specifically flamed Paul Dano and Matthew Lillard really cemented the fact that he is a prick." "He lost the Oscar because he was so obnoxious in his campaign. I do believe Michael B. Jordan’s win was well-deserved, though." Baldoni denied the allegations, sued the New York Times for libel, then sued Lively and her partner Ryan Reynolds, accusing them of a smear campaign. A judge dismissed Baldoni's cases and many aspects of Lively's case, mostly due to legal reasons like filing in the wrong jurisdiction. The two settled in May of this year. Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.