5 Celebrities Who Suffered Big Time Because of PR Disasters

Most popular celebrities make millions from their work in movies, TV shows, brand endorsements, and even social media posts. The celebrity’s brand value plays a key role in helping them land these assignments. And marketing or PR is pivotal in elevating their brand value and helping celebrities stay in the public eye. However, controversies can get celebrities embroiled in never-ending problems and derail their career beyond redemption.

So, let’s take a look at 5 celebrities who suffered big time because of marketing or PR disasters and ended up losing money, projects, and reputation.

1. Lea Michele

Lea Michele posted a tweet supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020. Replying to this tweet, her former “Glee” co-star Samantha Ware accused her of making her life a “living hell” while the filming of the hit show was on.

The issue soon blew out of control for Lea as the food delivery service Hello Fresh ended its relationship with her. The company even tweeted about it saying that it doesn’t condone racism or discrimination of any kind. Although Lea apologized to anyone who might have been hurt by her comments, it wasn’t received too well by her fans as several other stars also joined Ware in speaking out against her racist behavior.

2. Isaiah Washington

Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington lost his job on the hit TV show after he was caught passing a homophobic slur in 2007.

The incident took a heavy toll on the actor as he ended up suffering major financial losses. The incident almost cost him his career as he admitted to the Huffington Post that he had no money left to pay for an agent or a publicist. Although he reprised his role in the show much later in 2014, his career could never really take off after this unexpected jolt.

3. Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp’s divorce from his wife Amber Heard became one of the major highlights of 2022. But the Pirates of the Caribbean star has been involved in some or other controversy for quite some time now.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a crew member of the movie “City of Lies” sued Johnny for allegedly punching him twice. Consequently, the movie was pulled in August 2018, a month before it was supposed to be released. In the divorce case against his wife, Johnny revealed that he had lost around $750 million due to poor money management.

4. Louis C.K.

Comedian Louis C.K. came under heavy criticism after The New York Times carried out an expose where it detailed several counts of sexual misconduct against Louis toward multiple women. He promptly released a statement admitting that the allegations were true and apologizing to the women. Following the scandal, Louis was quickly dropped by management company 3 Arts and touring agency APA.

However, troubles for Louis were hardly about to end as Netflix, HBO, FX Networks and FX Products severed ties with him. The Orchard even announced that it would no longer be distributing Louis’ upcoming movie ‘I Love You, Daddy’. According to Forbes, Louis lost about $30-$35 million from his two-special deal with Netflix. He is also said to have lost up to $5 million per year from the FX deal.

5. Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson is a classic example of a fine career ruined because of disastrous PR blunders. Gibson was arrested for drunken driving in 2006. To escalate things to a whole new level, he also made certain anti-Semitic remarks to the police officer who pulled him over.

Mixed with a politically charged environment, the irresponsible conduct from Gibson came under heavy criticism and he found it incredibly challenging to continue going following this event.

The problems from Gibson were far from over after he was caught again in 2010 for abusing his girlfriend. In the tape found by Radar Online, Gibson was heard making lewd and racist comments against his then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

Wrapping Up

And that was a wrap of some of the most well-known celebrities who lost big time because of their PR disasters. Just like any directorial project, celebrities too need a marketing or PR team to keep them in the news for all the right reasons and help them strike rapport with their audience. Once a PR blunder goes out of hand, there’s no way to control it. Therefore, identifying and staying out of contentious issues is the best way to deal with such PR disasters.

We’ll be back with more awesome videos. Till then, stay tuned!