Controversy-Proof Image: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
Musicians from certain genres can survive scandalous controversies that would destroy or cripple other, pure mainstream, artists. For instance, any pop artist who said or did anything politically controversial, or something that were legally reprehensible and possibly career ending, could normally be survived by Alt/Rock, [[Heavy Metal (Music)|Heavy Metal]], or [[Hardcore Hip Hop]]/[[Gangsta Rap]] artists. Pop artists come under scrutiny and they have to backpedal, clean up their image etc. With the other aforementioned genres, it probably ''helps'' their image. Sure, the [[Moral Guardians]] will whine real loudly, but nothing will ever come of it. The artist's image and fanbase remain intact.
 
This could also be true for actors and athletes who are probably charismatic and charming enough that the general public won't care about what ever scandal is plaguing them -- if they don't rally behind them for it. A good example is probably [[David Letterman]], as opposed to Tiger Woods. Whether or not this is fair is up for debate.
 
Compare [[No Such Thing Asas Bad Publicity]]. Contrast [[Convicted Byby Public Opinion]] (where it doesn't matter if someone even ''was'' guilty of something wrong, everyone seems to hate them anyways), [[Contractual Purity]]. Somewhat related to [[The Tyson Zone]], where celebrities get so bizarre that we stop being surprised about their latest escapades.
{{examples}}
 
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* The black metal episode of ''[[Bones]]'' had Booth offering to charge the various metal band characters with assaulting a federal officer and such in exchange for information. There was a similar bit in an ''[[NYPD Blue]]'' with a rapper who needed the "street cred."
* R. Kelly is a good example. People thought his career was doomed thanks to his statutory rape/and child porn case. But then he released his album ''Chocolate Factory'' which became one of his biggest albums amidst the controversy - so much so the media stopped scrutinizing him when they realized he wasn't going to be another sensationalized [[Michael Jackson]] train wreck.
* Mentioned in ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'': When a Yeerk inspector comes to see how Visser Three is doing, they decide to run a major smear campaign, as this often works on humans "but not actors or politicians. They're like immune".
* CM Punk was like this in his early Indie wrestling days: his willingness to cross several lines (insulting audience members with below the belt comments, homophobic references, casual swearing, and other mean spirited insults and put-downs) in order to get the crowd to boo him didn't do much to hurt his standing as one of the top wrestlers in the country. Which in turn led to an incident in 2011 (when Punk's contract was about to expire and the WWE was deciding whether or not to renew it), when Punk yelled at a fan and called him homo and the video of the incident ended up on TMZ. The WWE and Punk quickly apologized and it didn't hurt Punk's image at all with fans or his standing with the WWE, who promptly resigned Punk to a lucrative new contract.
** Brutally subverted with several wrestlers: Chris Benoit's reputation turned to mud after he killed his wife and son and then himself; similarly, Steve Austin's image never quite recovered when he was arrested for spousal abuse. The later claimed it was an incident born of 'roid rage, running before the cops arrived.
* The backlash against [[Bodycount]] for their song ''Cop Killer'' was initially [[No Such Thing Asas Bad Publicity]], leading their debut album to go gold. Long-term, though, they quickly faded from the mainstream, although they have released several albums since.
** Former lead singer Ice-T now enjoys a second career as an actor, most recently on ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'', where he plays...a police detective.
* Rapper T.I. still has a very strong career despite all of his run-ins with the law, though his latest arrest is certainly taking a toll on his fanbase.
* Child porn and other crimes overwhelmingly viewed as [[Complete Monster|heinous]] by the public will kill the career of most. The few exceptions like [[The Who|Pete Townshend]] and Pee Wee Herman still carry the stigma of the [[Convicted Byby Public Opinion|accusation]].
* When [[Margaret Cho]] appeared on ''[[Dancing With the Stars]]'', some tabloid ran an article about how the stars were scandalous backstage, and she was included. But since this is ''[[Anything That Moves|Margaret]] [[Ethical Slut|Cho]]'' we're talking about, the effect wasn't really the same.
* [[Chris Brown]] is managing to pull his career back together after his arrest for assaulting then-girlfriend [[Rihanna]] and his sentence to five years probation. His image is not completely as clean as it was before, but he definitely still has a fanbase (with some fans even blaming Rihanna for the abuse).
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* A similar incident occurs on ''[[The Boondocks]]'' when rapper Gangstalicious is charged with assault and possibly raps about it in a song called "Play it for the Jury", which the judge allows into evidence and is indeed played for the jury.
* The [[Telltale Games]] game ''Hector: Badge of Carnage'' has the main character bribe a street punk by offering to frame him for various crimes that will help his street cred. You end up stealing his pants and charging him with indecent exposure. He is quite happy since a sex crime is much better than a run-of-the-mill assault and battery.
* Mario Lopez has continued to host numerous TV shows (such as ''Extra'') since his ''[[Saved Byby the Bell]]'' days ended even though he infamously cheated (if not well throughout the relationship) on his wife Ali Landry virtually a day after their wedding (the marriage was annulled shortly thereafter).
* Tom Brady didn't suffer any effects to his squeaky-clean image after he cheated on his pregnant girlfriend and then left that girlfriend for the other woman. Some fans even congratulated him for it.
* Sports announcer Mike Tirico is one of the top personalities on [[ESPN]] (calling ''Monday Night Football'', the PGA Tour, the NBA, etc.) even though back in the early 1990s, he was suspended by ESPN for sexual harassment. In fact, Tirico's perverted tales have been documented in several "behind the scenes" books regarding ESPN.