Overshadowed by Controversy: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* The ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' episode "Dennō Senshi Porigon", more commonly referred to as "Electric Soldier Porygon", went down in history as the anime episode that led to over 600 Japanese children being hospitalised for seizures and resulted in regulations imposed on subsequent animated programmes. The controversy [[Misblamed|extended]] to Porygon itself, even though the species, an artificial Pokémon developed using programming code, ''had nothing to do with the incident at all''; the flashing pattern was due to an exploding missile detonated by Pikachu's lightning attack. Regardless, Porygon has never been featured in any anime episode since.

* [[4Kids! Entertainment]] is more infamous for their numerous unnecessary changes to the anime series they localised, often bordering on [[Macekre]]. Not to mention that 4Kids! half-heartedly attempts to make the series more appealing to Western audiences by removing any traces of Japanese culture from their source materials.

 

* ''[[The Brown Bunny]]'' is a film known mostly for being booed harshly at the Cannes Film Festival and the subsequent media catfight between [[Roger Ebert]] and the director. The film was later [[Recut]] and given a wide release, and Ebert gave the recut a three star review.

* ''[[Cannibal Holocaust]]'' was notorious to a degree that it forced director Ruggero Deodato and the actors to explain that nobody died in production and the gore was just special effects. There is still a great deal of controversy to this day relating to the cruelty against animals.

* [[Charlie Chaplin]], while arguably an iconic and influential comedian to this day, had his reputation nearly plummet to the ground when he made no secret about his sociopolitical beliefs, especially during the height of the [[Red Scare]] where paranoid witch hunting against anyone and anything suspected or accused of being remotely socialist or communist was rife during the 1940s to 1950s. To further discredit Chaplin, FBI commissioner [[J. Edgar Hoover]] used Chaplin's affairs with various women as a leverage against the comedian, and on top of that, the Feds wanted Chaplin out of the country owing to [[Cold War]] fears. Chaplin denied of being a communist and maintained that he was a "peacemonger" (and later an "anarchist"), accusing the United States government and "powerful reactionary groups who, by their influence and by the aid of America's [[Strawman News Media|yellow press]]" of curtailing his civil liberties, but the damage against him had been done, and he vowed never to return to the States. Public perception towards Chaplin changed for the better however, and re-releases of his films garnered praise in the States in his later years. He received an honorary Oscar following a visit to the States in 1972, his first stay in the US since his deportation.

* ''[[The Passion of the Christ]]'' became more well known for its gratuitously visceral portrayal of [[Jesus]]' passion and death as well as accusations of anti-Semitism than [[Mel Gibson]]'s efforts at a period-accurate retelling of the crucifixion. The film's violence also caused controversy in the Philippines when the Movie and Television Rating and Classification Board reportedly gave the film a reluctant yet dubious PG-13 rating due to its religious content (especially as the Philippines is predominantly Catholic), and even some French bishops were also disturbed by the portrayal as a "distortion of Christian teaching" and questioned the necessity of said violent scenes.

* It's hard not to think about Filipino comedian [[Vice Ganda]] without the leagues of critics who take umbrage at his style of comedy, deriding it as a denigrating form of defamation at the expense of those targeted by Vice's sarcasm. Fans of the [[GMA Network]] variety show ''[[Eat Bulaga]]'' would brag about how their hosts' style of comedy is more "[[Blatant Lies|wholesome]]" than Vice's crass comedy club gags, and it shows with comments on videos about ''[[It's Showtime! (Series)|It's Showtime!]]'' and ''Bulaga'' critiquing Vice's edgy sense of humour. In fairness there has been those far worse than him, but still...

* Despite being well-received by critics when it was shown at international film festivals, the 2020 French film ''Mignonnes'' (''Cuties'') became the subject of controversy and government scrutiny over its portrayal of pre-teen girls. The film's writer and director Maïmouna Doucouré described ''Cuties'' as a commentary on social media and girls being pushed to grow up too fast (e.g. the likes of [[Bratz]] and girl groups such as [[The Pussycat Dolls]] pushing for a borderline mature image towards youngsters), but regardless of its stated intentions and Doucouré contending that the film has been a victim of the so-called [[Convicted by Public Opinion|cancel culture]], it was savaged on social media for what was seen as [[Unfortunate Implications|sending the wrong message]], with netizens taking umbrage at the film's release using the hashtag #CancelNetflix, threatening to cancel their subscriptions over the film's content and/or review-bombing the film on sites such as IMDB in protest. Some groups, such as the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, claimed that it sexualised young girls, and politicians labelled it as "child porn" or something that would "whet the appetite of [[Paedo Hunt|pedophiles]] [and] help fuel the child sex trafficking trade". One particular point of contention was the promotional poster, which had the girls strike a risqué pose; following backlash, it was replaced with a different, more innocuous poster. The film's content also prompted other countries to give ''Cuties'' a harsher age rating, with the Japanese Netflix giving it an R18+ as if it was an adult movie, and Turkey [[Banned in China|banning]] it outright. However, it can be argued that this is part of a larger moral panic concerning children's welfare in general, particularly with the kids' videos and COPPA debacle on YouTube sparking similar controversy prior.

* Not only was ''[[Saving Christmas (film)|Saving Christmas]]'' derided as a hammy Evangelical Christian film for its [[Anvilicious]] premise, its reputation soured even further when [[Kirk Cameron]] vainly called for netizens to add positive reviews in an attempt to save the film's positive ratings from the "haters and atheists"; Cameron instead got the opposite response, with trolls review-bombing the living daylights out of ''Saving Christmas''.

* The 2014 FIFA biopic ''[[United Passions]]'' had the misfortune of being released just as when the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal was taking place. Director Frédéric Auburtin lamented about how he was commissioned to direct a propaganda piece on behalf of a corrupt organisation, adding that he tried to strike a balance between "a Disney propaganda film [and] a Costa-Gavras/Michael Moore movie" only for [[Executive Meddling]] from FIFA to prevail which further skewed the film's tone in their favour, and both Auburtin and the cast described it as a disaster, especially as Sepp Blatter was sugar-coated as a heroic figure vowing to stamp out corruption in the association (Spoiler alert: he isn't). A bemused [[John Oliver]] lampooned the film in a segment on his show ''Last Week Tonight'', wondering "Who makes a sports film where the heroes are the executives?"

* Fellow ''Red Alert 3'' alumna Jenny McCarthy would also share a similar fate with Carano as McCarthy became more infamous for her promotion of the conspiracist anti-vaccination movement, particularly the discredited belief about theomersal and its link to autism, than for her stint on ''Playboy'' and later theatrical appearances.

* The 1946 Disney film ''[[Song of the South]]'' based on the equally controversial ''Uncle Remus'' stories became better known for its racist caricatures of black people in a plantation than for "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah", the film's animated sequences and Splash Mountain. Such was the film's notoriety that Disney, in an effort to maintain its family-friendly image, wanted little or nothing to do with the film. It permanently locked it up the Disney vault as well as outright declining to release it on their Disney+ service; said animated portions from the film were however made available in their ''Disney Sing-Along Songs'' releases, and the film as a whole is released on home video in various European and Asian countries. The controversy also spilled over (pun not intended) to the [[Splash Mountain]] ride, which will be retooled into a ''[[Princess and The Frog]]''-themed ride amid the George Floyd protests as many have came to view the ride's theme to be of poor taste in light of civil rights and racism controversies.

 

* ''[[Fanny Hill]]'' is well known for having been a subject of obscenity tests and for having been banned in America from inception until a 1966 Supreme Court case ruled that the book has redeeming social value. When it was published in 1748, it got the author arrested on obscenity charges.

* ''[[Lolita]]'' is unfortunately more famous for the controversy that surrounds it than the actual content and quality of the novel: Vladimir Nabokov went through many publishers who refused to publish it, and after it was published, it was banned in many places for being "pornographic" or "an instruction manual for paedophilia" (which it is not). Even for people who aren't familiar with the history of the book, a lot of the covers/jackets make it look like erotica. It also gave rise to the term "loli" or "[[lolicon]]", which are taboo words in their own right (even though it has also been used in a legitimate, non-paedophilic context e.g. those so-called "[[Elegant Gothic Lolita|Lolita fashions]]" popular with some cosplayers); [[Google]] won't auto-complete them if you try to search for those terms, and would attempt to block out anything remotely resembling paedophilia, occasionally warning users that such content can and will land them a jail sentence. [[TV Tropes]] reflexively banned it in counterfeit moral outrage during their [[Think of the Advertisers!|purge of revenue-threatening material]] after [[The Second Google Incident]], and only restored its page when they realized that leaving it censored was worse for their image than having it on the wiki. It also didn't help that the underground Tor site ''Lolita City'', which was seized by the FBI for hosting child pornography, was named after the novel.

* ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' had an ongoing controversy that the publication of this book inspired over slavery, particularly in the years leading up to the [[American Civil War]]. However, few people have actually read the book. At the time of release, the outrage was from the Confederacy side because of the very overt anti-slavery theme of the book; on years after the war, the controversy was because of the belief that the book was actually racist instead of [[Fair for Its Day]] on its condemnation of slavery, not helped by actually racist creators using the names of the black characters from the book to name [[Uncle Tomfoolery|Afro-American characters who acted silly and subservient to whites]] in [[Minstrel Shows]] when the book characters were not like that.

 

* Most people associate ''[[Toddlers and Tiaras]]'' with the arguably [[wikipedia:Child beauty pageant#Criticism|exploitative and creepy nature]] of child beauty pageants (said controversies have led France to [[Banned in China|ban]] beauty contests for minors under 13). The episode where one child contestant was made to dress up like [[Julia Roberts]]' [[Squick|prostitute]] character in ''[[Pretty Woman]]'' unsurprisingly courted controversy, and so does the case of one stage mum making her young daughter's chest resemble that of [[Dolly Parton]] and another mother asking her daughter to smoke fake cigarettes on stage.

** Perhaps the best known of these contestants was Alana Thompson, who went under the stage name Honey Boo Boo and eventually was the subject of the [[Reality Show]] ''[[Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo]]''. On top of what amounts to abusive practices on part of her mother such as feeding her with "Go-Go Juice" – an [[Gargle Blaster|unhealthy cocktail of Red Bull and Mountain Dew]] – it was later revealed that Alana's mother, June Shannon, had a relationship with a convicted [[Paedo Hunt|sex offender]] Mark McDaniel, which led to ''Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo'' being cancelled. Alana and her mother's notoriety as ''Toddlers'' participants and in their own spin-off show also earned them [[Snark Bait]] status, often becoming the butt of parodies such as those in ''[[South Park]]'' and internet memes, portraying them as low-brow, white trash scum as a commentary on reality television and what went wrong with American society.

* For a while, Peruvian talk show Laura Bozzo was just as known for the trashy talk shows she hosted (which was often compared to Springer's) as she was for her legal problems, because she was accused of being part of a corruption network during Alberto Fujimori's government and being closely associated with Vladimir Montesinos, Fujimori's infamous main assessor.

 

* The 1944 song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" was initially a Christmas staple due to its winter setting, only for some modern audiences to view it as [[Values Dissonance|trivialising date rape]]. Said negative reaction was however criticised as an example of [[Political Correctness Gone Mad]], and public consensus has it that the song shouldn't be banned for its (alleged) content.

** [[Eminem]] angrily acknowledged the controversies Manson faced in his song "The Way I Am", rapping "When a dude's gettin bullied and shoots up his school, and they blame it on Marilyn..." referring to either Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold, who was alleged to have been driven by Manson's shock rock despite evidence to the contrary. Manson himself made a cameo appearance in the music video for the song.

* Speaking of Eminem, his angst-ridden work especially during the early 2000s has made him a controversial figure. Eminem's no-holds-barred lyrics outraged politicians and watchdog groups alike for what they saw as misogynistic, violent and/or homophobic themes in his songs, which Eminem did respond to in kind. Eminem's exploits have also garnered scrutiny from the United States Secret Service twice: once for lyrics directed towards George W. Bush ("Fuck money, I don't rap for dead presidents. I'd rather see the president dead, it's never been said but I set precedents."), and another towards Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka.

* A number of songs gained notoriety for this due to their [[Backmasking|purported backwards messages]]. An often-cited example of this was [[Led Zeppelin]]'s "Stairway to Heaven" and [[The Eagles]]' "Hotel California", alleged by conservative Christian groups to have sinister satanic messages when played backwards. Some artists actually do this deliberately either to satirise the moral panic as in the case of [["Weird Al" Yankovic]], or as an [[Easter Egg]].

* "You're Pitiful" by [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] got embroiled in a somewhat minor controversy when Atlantic Records persistently refused to grant permission for Yankovic to parody James Blunt's "You're Beautiful", believing that the parody might create the impression of Blunt as a "[[One-Hit Wonder|one-hit wonder]]". Yankovic isn't actually legally obliged to seek permission as per ''Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.'', instead doing so out of principle to avoid any feuds with record labels or the original artist. The ensuing controversy led Yankovic to release "You're Pitiful" as a free MP3 download on his MySpace page, which fan sites mirrored and made a semi-official cover art of, based directly on the artwork for the original song. Still needing a lead parody for ''Straight Outta' Lynwood'', Weird Al recorded [[Chamillionaire]] parody "White & Nerdy", which went on to be Yankovic's most popular song, and his first top 10 Billboard hit.

* It's hard to think about Mexican-American pop singer [[Selena]] (full name Selena Quintanilla-Pérez) without bringing up her untimely death in the hands of her assistant [[Loony Fan|Yolanda Saldívar]], with whom she had a falling out over Saldívar's underhanded control over the singer's business ventures. On the morning of March 31, 1995, Saldívar shot and killed Selena after a financial dispute, her death later compared to the likes of [[John F. Kennedy]], [[John Lennon]] and [[Elvis Presley]] in terms of cultural impact. [[Jennifer Lopez]]'s portrayal of Selena in the [[Selena (film)|1997 biopic]] is considered to be her breakout role, and [[Selena Gomez]] owes much of her influence to Quintanilla, with Gomez herself being [[Named After Somebody Famous|named after the singer]].

* Rapper [[B.o.B]] of "Airplanes" and "Price Tag" fame became far better known in the mid-to-late 2010s for his [[Cloudcuckoolander]] conspiracy theories, also somehow convinced in the belief that [[What an Idiot!|the Earth is flat]]. It got to the point where he recorded a diss track entitled "Flatline" which was not only primarily directed against astrophysicist [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]], but was also riddled with antisemitic, anti-Masonic and anti-science rhetoric, promoting [[Holocaust]] denial and alleging that the Freemasonry and reptilians among others are conspiring towards a "New World Order". Needless to say, the track was overwhelmingly panned for B.o.B's twisted and demented beliefs, with the Anti-Defamation League condemning the song as hateful and denigrating towards Jewish people. As a result, his career plummeted to near-irrelevance as his later albums made next to no impact, and he is now viewed as either a washed-up flash-in-the-pan or a complete joke.

* Hardcore rapper [[6ix9ine]] (pronounced as "six-nine"), born Daniel Hernandez, gained notoriety for his controversial public persona, characterised by his distinctive rainbow-colored hair, extensive tattoos, legal issues, and public feuds with [[Justin Bieber]] and other celebrities. Not helping matters was his felony charge over the use of a child (a 13-year old girl to be precise) in a sexual performance, which, if not for his plea bargain, would have landed him a three-year prison stretch and be registered as a child sex offender (perhaps disturbingly enough, he has been involved in an number of children's charities and even spent a day with a terminally ill eight-year old girl who wanted to see him). His role as a witness for the prosecution in the Nine Trey Gangsters trial has made him a pariah in the eyes of the hip-hop industry, and to top it all off, he is also effectively [[Persona Non Grata|blacklisted]] from working with most major artists and publications.

* [[Kanye West]]'s association with [[Donald Trump]] made him a pariah among the African-American community, whose view of Trump is nothing short of disdainful. West did at points backpedal on his pro-Trump sentiments, though his sincerity was also put into question, with some viewing these bombastic and/or eccentric statements as a possible result of a mental illness or as part of an elaborate publicity stunt.

* Another musician associated with Trump and the Republican Party, [[Ted Nugent]] is a psychedelic rock and hard rock musician known less for his music than his controversial views and misogyny; it seems he never met a right-wing controversy he wouldn't promote. Although, this is indeed reflected in his music, including some notorious songs that portray rape and statutory rape in a positive light. He has so many albums with [[Contemptible Cover]]s that [https://www.houstonpress.com/music/ted-nugents-top-10-tasteless-album-covers-6782331 at least one newspaper] was able to compile a top 10 list of them. (Be warned, this link has no illustrations, but looking up the covers may require Brain Bleach.) A gun rights activist, he has spoken out against the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who became gun control activists, calling them "mushy brained children" and stating that "the evidence is irrefutable: They have no soul.” He has been in trouble for poaching more than once, is believed to hold [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canned_hunt “canned hunts”] on his own estate, referred to Heidi Prescott of the Fund for Animals as a "worthless whore" and a "shallow slut", asking "who needs to club a seal, when you can club Heidi?" (This resulted in a lawsuit ruled in Prescott’s favor where he was ordered to pay $75K in damages.) A staunch conservative and [[Conspiracy Theorist]], he claimed President [[Barack Obama]] and his Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]], "should be tried for treason & hung”. Among other attacks directed at the, he shared a video of Facebook with depiction of Clinton being shot by her 2016 Democratic presidential primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, commenting "I got your guncontrol [sic] right here bitch.” (At least one of these comments also got him in hot water with the Secret Service, and caused Fort Knox to cancel one of his concerts scheduled to be held there.) Recently (as of 2020) he claimed the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] was a hoax and a lie, recanting this opinion only after ''testing positive for it himself'' in April of 2021.

* The Welsh metal band [[Lostprophets]] saw its reputation plummet to the ground when former lead vocalist Ian Watkins was charged with possession of child pornography and attempted rape of an ''infant'' in 2012. As a result of this disturbing felony, not only were the band's works pulled from circulation, the remaining members left the group as [[Old Shame|they wanted nothing to do]] with Watkins, later reforming as [[No Devotion]]. The ensuing controversy spilled over to the pop band [[Steps]] when a member [[Name's the Same|whose name is also Ian Watkins]] (though he goes by the stage name "H") was mistaken for the now-disgraced Lostprophets vocalist and began receiving hate mail from those who blindly accused him of paedophilia as a result of his name.

 

== Toys ==

* [[Barbie]] is a recurring butt of controversy for a number of reasons:

** Her body image as an hourglass fashion model is one point of contention. If Barbie-like proportions were applied to a typical teenage girl, she would've been dead by then; this led to [[The Moral Substitute|a more realistic substitute]] called "Lammily" and versions of the Barbie doll with more diverse proportions, termed by the company as 'tall', 'petite', and 'curvy'.

* The Entertech line of water guns boasted "The look! The feel! The sound, so real!" on their commercials in reference to its close resemblance to actual firearms, on top of them being far more powerful than the cheap hand-powered squirt guns played by children. While not the first toy guns to closely replicate their real-life counterparts, this selling point unfortunately led to its scandalous downfall, no thanks to highly publicised incidents of children getting shot and killed by police officers who mistook the Entertech toys for actual guns, as well as real criminals utilising Entertech guns in bank robberies. This led legislators to impose stricter rules on the manufacture and sale of toy weapons, specifically the Federal Toy Gun Law requiring them to be visually distinct from real guns by giving them a blaze orange colour. This controversy spilled over (pun not intended) to the NES Zapper, which while made to more closely resemble a ''[[Star Wars]]''-esque futuristic blaster gun than an actual pistol to begin with when it was first released to coincide with the NES's North American debut in 1985, was re-released in 1989 with an orange colour scheme to comply with federal gun safety laws.

 

* ''[[Custer's Revenge]]'' was an unauthorized third-party game for the [[Atari 2600]] in 1982. It gathered quite a bit of negative attention, particularly from feminist and Native American groups, as the objective involved raping an Indian woman. From the next generation of consoles onward, manufacturers require approval for games to be released on their machines, enforced by various [[Copy Protection]] and [[Digital Rights Management]] schemes to lock out unlicensed games. In Atari's case, the [[Atari 7800]] employed a mandatory code signing mechanism where all licensed 7800 games had to be digitally signed by Atari for them to boot, following concerns by Atari about pornographic video game developers exploiting the 7800's graphical capabilities to display more realistic smut.

** The developers of the game even tried to release a new [[Perspective Flip]] version of the game with Custer as the victim, only to find two wrongs ''definitely'' did not make it right.

** Besides wanton violence, ''GTA''{{'}}s sexual content also came under intense scrutiny, most notably the (previously) [[Dummied Out]] "Hot Coffee" minigame where CJ engages in casual sexual intercourse with a number of women. The minigame, which was discovered and re-enabled by Dutch software engineer Patrick Wildenborg, sparked significant controversy especially in the United States, where now-disbarred lawyer [[Jack Thompson]] and senator Hillary Clinton campaigned against the game and called for stringent ESRB regulations. And contrary to initial statements by Rockstar that the mod was the product of "hackers" who made "significant technical modifications to and reverse engineering" the game, this would be proven [[Blatant Lies|untrue]] when similar code was found in the console versions, and could be re-enabled through a third-party tool. It is later revealed that there was some tension within the company over the contested scenes, and Dan Houser lamented about the [[Double Standard|double standards]] in the United States with sex and violence keeping them from pushing the boundaries of the video game medium. They were however forced to hastily disable the minigame as the potential Adults Only rating the scenes would garner were not worth the decreased sales.

** ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'' [[Sarcasm Mode|didn't disappoint]] [[Moral Guardians]] either, with its drunk driving sequences and the usual violence. Sensationalist media played up on a number of incidents allegedly inspired by ''GTA IV'', like when a bunch of teenagers were arrested after participating in a crime spree in New Hyde Park, New York, and when a Thai man shot and killed a taxi driver in apparent imitation of the game, which led to the series as a whole being banned in the country. In a more recent incident, an eight-year old boy (unwittingly) shot and killed her 90-year old grandmother, again apparently being desensitised to the game. A minor controversy also ensued when British tabloid ''The Sun'' played up on the presence of the in-game website "Little Lacy's Surprise Pageant", which was seized by authorities as a child pornography site in the game's lore (Little Lacy Surprise being a fictional brand of children's underwear in the series, with said brand supposedly hosting a child beauty pageant). Visiting the site on the in-game web browser gives the player an instant five-star wanted level, satirising intense law enforcement response and raids against suspected paedophiles, though in no way does the game (or the series in general for that matter) encourage or put players in the role of a sex offender, for much the same reason as to why [[Hide Your Children|there are no children]] to be seen in the games in the first place, though the series did paedophilia-related jokes from time to time with no apparent criticism.

** On top of the series being the butt of numerous controversies and lawsuits, it was reported that series co-writer Dan Houser cited changing sociopolitical attitudes as the reason why he left the company, as he felt increasingly uneasy with satirising modern American society without attracting controversy or offending anyone.

* In a similar vein to ''Postal'', ''[[Hatred]]'' became so reviled by even video game journalists and some gamers that it was initially rejected from [[Steam]] due to its gratuitous and no-holds-barred brand of sociopathic violence, only for Gabe Newell to apologise and have it re-listed. [[Epic Games]] reportedly sought to disassociate themselves from the issue by requesting to have the Unreal Engine logo removed from marketing material. (While the ''[[Unreal (series)|Unreal]]'' series is known for its graphic violence, it is rooted more in science-fiction fantasies rather than real-world apathy towards people.)

* Besides ''Night Trap'', ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' was the scapegoat of parents and politicians for its visceral violence and subject matter. ''Mortal Kombat''{{'}}s digitised sprites based on footage from live actors made for what was at the time photorealistic violence which ''Encyclopedia Britannica'' described as "delighted young players but disturbed parents." Both games ultimately served as the catalyst for what is now the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.

* ''[[Thrill Kill]]'' for the PlayStation was billed to be the "new ''[[Mortal Kombat]]''", with the technical feat of up to four players fighting in the same room as its selling point, but the gratuitous violence and hardcore sex content, which garnered a rare "Adults Only" (AO) rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, was too much for [[Electronic Arts]] to swallow, ordering Paradox Development to scrap the game; former Paradox employees who worked on the game eventually leaked beta and pre-final builds of the game to a scene group, and the game engine was later reused for ''[[Wu-Tang Clan|Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style]]'', ''X-Men: Mutant Academy'', ''X-Men: Mutant Academy 2'' and ''Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Arena''.

* Perhaps hypocritically enough, EA [[No Such Thing as Bad Publicity|purposely courted controversy]] for ''[[Dante's Inferno (video game)|Dante's Inferno]]'' by staging a fake protest where twenty protesters picketed at E3 2009 and condemned EA for what was viewed as a sacrilegious and insensitive game. EA later confirmed that it was just a publicity stunt to drive up hype, only for ''actual'' Christian bloggers to condemn the video game giant for pulling off such a tasteless stunt.

* ''[[Kingpin: Life of Crime]]'' also had the unfortunate timing of being released shortly after the Columbine tragedy. Xatrix Entertainment, later known as Grey Matter Interactive and merged with Treyarch, was faced with mounting pressure from legislators and [[Moral Guardians]] who were scrambling to seek the truth as to what motivated Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold into going on [[Going Postal|a blood-drenched rampage]]. American senators debated on the game's obscene content, and the National Institute on Media and the Family singled out ''Kingpin'' in its 1999 report on video game violence. Xatrix responded by implementing a [[Bowdlerise|safe mode]] option upon installation where players can opt for a censored experience devoid of blood and with bleeped-out profanities. Xatrix CEO Drew Markham assured in an install-time message that the game "was never intended for children" and was made "with mature themes made for a mature audience." Regardless, many retailers have chosen not to stock the game, making it a commercial failure and leading to Xatrix's demise; they would later reform as Grey Matter Interactive which only developed a few games before shutting down for good.

* The Atari 2600 game ''[[Dragster]]'' was a short but sweet game by [[Activision]], which simulated drag racing in as far as what the hardware of the time could muster. It became better remembered in recent years as the game which now-disgraced player Todd Rogers claimed to have a 5.51 second time; subsequent analysis of the game's assembly code and revelations about Rogers' other dubious high score records led Twin Galaxies to [[Persona Non Grata|permanently ban him]] from their leaderboards, as well as the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' to strip him of his titles.

* While ''[[Minecraft]]'' drew in players of all ages due to its sandbox-style world creation and its blocky, pixelated aesthetic, its creator, Markus "Notch" Persson, became embroiled in a number of controversial statements about feminism and "white privilege", leading to accusations of him being an alt-right sympathiser. This led to the parodic "Hatsune Miku created ''Minecraft''" meme by fans of the game who sought to distance themselves from Notch and his ideologies. Similarly, series owner [[Microsoft]] [[Unperson|removed]] most if not all references to him from the games as a result of the controversy.

* ''[[JFK: Reloaded]]'', while marketed as an accurate recreation of the [[Who Shot JFK?|Kennedy assassination]] according to the Warren Commission's findings, was harshly criticised as depicting the assassination in a video game setting was viewed to be in extremely poor taste. Late Senator Ted Kennedy condemned the game as "despicable", and Joe Lieberman, who also happened to have co-led the Senate hearings which formed the basis of the [[Media Classifications|ESRB]], "was sickened by the game."

* The vulgar humour and adult themes in [[Acclaim]]'s ''BMX XXX'' was universally viewed as one of the worst (if not ''the worst'') gimmicks to grace a sports game. It was said that Acclaim somehow had the brilliant idea of having [[Z-Axis]] [[Executive Meddling|turn]] what was going to be an extremely subpar game [[Sex Sells|into a raunchy sex comedy]], breasts, babes and all, in a vain and puerile effort to drum up publicity and make up for the lacklustre gameplay, likely under the impression that immature men would grab a copy and play it for the smut regardless of the game's actual quality. The late extreme sports athlete Dave Mirra, whose namesake video game series formed the basis for ''BMX XXX'', balked at the decision and sued Acclaim for the use of his name and likeness, forcing Acclaim to release the game without the Dave Mirra branding. Sony also forced Acclaim to censor the PS2 release as they "didn't feel that the topless nudity fundamentally added to the gameplay experience". The obscenity controversy and negative reception towards ''BMX XXX'' eventually contributed to Acclaim's downfall and bankruptcy.

* ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront (series)|Star Wars Battlefront II]]'' garnered the attention of legislators over its use of loot box mechanics and prompted ''Star Wars'' series owner [[Disney]] to force EA into toning down the use of microtransactions by removing the lootbox mechanic in favour of paid cosmetic items.

* Despite receiving critical acclaim from mainstream gaming press, ''[[The Last of Us Part II]]'' was [[Critical Dissonance|savaged]] by a number of gaming circles for its inclusion of LGBTQ+ content and themes, branding it a "[[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|social justice warrior]]" or a "woke" game as some perceive it as [[Anvilicious|pervasive agenda-pushing]] not unlike films featuring female, LGBT and racially diverse cast members. Kotaku's Riley MacLeod saw the controversy as a weak point with Metacritic's aggregation system, where he stated that the site "fails to take into account the diverse critical opinions of the game", instead focusing on the overall scores and seemingly padding it out to make the game appear better than it is, than the actual content of the review and provide a more even assessment of the game's critical both in the eyes of the press and the gaming public. It also didn't help that, like what happened with the ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' remake, the game's cast members were unfairly harassed and trolled by self-styled "edgelords" who take offense at anything remotely "diverse" or "feminist". Considering the disconcertingly divisive sociopolitical atmosphere in the United States in this day and age, the homophobic and anti-feminist sentiment thrown at ''The Last of Us Part II'' is unsurprising.

** The other part of the controversy was due to leaks of the game revealing that one of the main characters of the first game got [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|a very ignominious death at the hands of the new playable character]], while the other remaining characters received extreme [[Character Derailment]] compared with their previous characterization (and the actual release of the game revealing that the game has a bleak [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] story–with a lot of [[Shoot the Dog|figurative and literal dog shooting]]–with a [[Bittersweet Ending]] very high in the bitter that gave little emotional resolution). The leaks forced a definite release date of the game after some years in [[Development Hell]], and the ensuing takedowns of leaks and early critics only irritated gamers that were already angry with both Sony and Naughty Dog. The above was not helped by the heads of the project responding to their harassment by calling any critics that didn't like the game "regressive" and "misogynists", [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|whenever they actually were or not]] due to lumping the people criticizing the game for their narrative choices with the misogynistic trolls mentioned above.

* A lot more has been said about [[Electronic Arts]]' questionable if not abhorrent business practices than for the merits of the games they publish. From acquiring independent studios and eventually liquidating them if they underperform, to the recent backlash towards microtransactions and [[Loot Boxes]], EA has earned a lot of scorn and ridicule amongst the gaming community, to the point that they have earned the [[Medal of Dishonor|dubious honour]] of being the "worst company in America" for two straight years. And yet their games still sell somehow, partly due to more impressionable gamers or to those who are just too uninformed or complacent to care.

* The 2007 video game ''[[Resistance (series)|Resistance: Fall of Man]]'' got embroiled in a controversy involving Sony, Insomiac Games and the Church of England, the latter accusing Sony of desecration and copyright infringement over its use of the Manchester Cathedral in a level from the game where the protagonist has to fend off waves of Leapers in a shoot-out taking place inside the cathedral. The Very Reverend Rogers Govender and other church officials were dismayed beyond belief to see the cathedral being reduced to a shooting gallery, and called for Sony to make a statement of apology, complete withdrawal of the game or modify the level in question to avoid any visual similarities to the cathedral, and financial support to groups who are trying to reduce gun crime in the city, which was also a point of discussion in the ensuing controversy. Sony however maintained that Insomniac's portrayal wasn't firmly rooted in reality and has no connection "between contemporary issues of 21st century Manchester and a work of science fiction in which a fictitious 1950s Britain is under attack by aliens." Sony did issue a formal apology over its use of the Cathedral and has since pledged not to use it in subsequent titles, though church officials felt it wasn't enough and drafted a set of guidelines to be followed by media companies on what (not) to do with fictional portrayals of places of worship. Though perhaps ironically enough, the whole desecration row both benefited Sony, Insomiac and the church itself, as ''Resistance'' was financially successful as a result of the controversy, and the Cathedral experienced a surge in tourism from both teenagers who wanted to know what the fuss was about and tourists in general who saw photos of the church.

 

* ''[[Any Bonds Today?]]'' was a 1942 [[Propaganda Piece|propaganda film]] commissioned by the United States Department of the Treasury to Warner Bros.; it would later be known more for its [[Values Dissonance]] in the form of Bugs Bunny donning a blackface than the film encouraging Americans at the time to buy war bonds and contribute to the Allied military effort.

* Media coverage of the 2019 Spanish animated feature ''[[Elcano & Magallanes: First Trip Around the World]]'' was skewed more towards the outrage it generated when Filipinos took umbrage over its [[Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle|depiction]] of [[Lapu-Lapu]] and the Battle of Mactan in a decidedly villainous light. [[Misplaced Nationalism]] ensued when Filipinos, whose elementary school textbook knowledge of their country's history is [[The Theme Park Version|a little distorted]] to say the least, took to social media and bashed the living daylights out of the film, the catch being that most of the outrage came from those who [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|hadn't even watched the whole film yet]], and were motivated more by [[Serious Business|blind patriotism]] and the [[GIFT|typical keyboard-warrior mentality]] than sincere and level-headed perception of history.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' has an [[In-Universe]] example with Russ Meyers Sr., the creator of Itchy and Scratchy (well, sort of). While most regard him as a beloved cartoonist (often portrayed as this reality's equivalent of [[Walt Disney]]), he was also criticized for a controversial cartoon called "Nazi Supermen are Our Superiors". Oh, and as revealed in one episode, [[Plagiarism in Fiction|he was a plagiarist.]]

* John Lasseter was known for directing pioneering works such as ''[[Toy Story]]'', ''[[A Bug's Life]]'' and ''[[Cars]]'' among others, but his reputation as an influential animator went down the drain when allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced accusing him of "grabbing, kissing, [and] making comments about physical attributes" towards female colleagues, and that Pixar had minders reminding Lasseter to lay off of his perversions. In fairness, he did more or less admit to his "missteps", but still it left a sour taste on those who grew up with the films he directed. The controversy with Lasseter may have also accounted for the removal of a mock blooper scene in recent home media releases of ''[[Toy Story 2]]'' that featured the Prospector suggestively enticing a pair of [[Barbie]] dolls with a role in ''[[Toy Story 3]]''.

* ''[[PAW Patrol]]'' suffered from this during Summer 2020, when it was also caught up in the sociopolitical upheavals of the 2010s-2020s particularly during the wake of the George Floyd protests, where the show was criticised for promoting "copaganda" through its positive portrayal of Chase, the police pup, and also when the show's Twitter account announced that they would go dark in memory of Floyd. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed the show was cancelled due to "cancel culture", but the show denied any such cancellation. This led to "Chase's Ultimate Rescue" episodes temporarily being pulled, and the Nick Jr. website changing an icon of Chase (used to represent ''PAW Patrol'') to an icon of Marshall, the fire pup.

* [[Walt Disney]] is hailed as the godfather of American animation, having been behind such seminal works like ''[[Mickey Mouse]]'', ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' and many others, but in recent years his legacy has been peppered with accusations of racism, sexism and antisemitism (which [[Seth McFarlane]] is more than happy to throw potshots at in ''[[Family Guy]]''), as well as the fact that the company which bears his name has infamously lobbied to keep Mickey out of public domain, not to mention that the company's sway and influence over global culture gave Walt the dubious honour of being a purveyor of [[Eagleland Osmosis|American cultural imperialism]] (e.g. the criticism towards [[Disneyland]] Paris). Much of the accusations leveled towards him were addressed by both his peers and historians, however: The Walt Disney Family Museum acknowledges the ethnic stereotypes present in at least some of his films during his heyday, and it wasn't unique to Disney either as studios like [[Warner Bros]]. has made similarly insensitive content before. In addition, Walt regularly donated to Jewish causes and hired Jewish and black people as well.

 

* The Ford Pinto was an economy car deserving of merit, if not for its [[Achilles' Heel]] that is the gas tank flaw which [[Every Car Is a Pinto|made the car combust in a rear-end collision]], and the subsequent controversy ensuing from it. Ford reportedly decided that paying out on wrongful-death lawsuits would be cheaper than fixing it.

* Fashion designer [[Coco Chanel]] is arguably the most famous couturier in history, having popularised the little black dress, Chanel No. 5 and a few others. She was however known for her alleged anti-Semitism and collaboration with the Nazis, which unsurprisingly soured her reputation post-mortem, particularly when more details about the less-savoury aspects of her life were declassified in the 2010s. The company which now bears her name tried to refute and downplay her role as a Nazi agent, though the stigma still remains.

* Same goes with Hugo Boss, whose eponymous founder designed the uniforms worn by Nazi officers and utilised slave labour (from concentration camp inmates no less) in producing them.

* 5G cellular technology also had its reputation tainted no thanks to the above-mentioned pandemic. The reason? [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Conspiracy Theorist]]s accusing the radio standard of somehow facilitating the spread of the virus. This got to the point where paranoid and gullible people bought into the canard and left comments blindly accusing 5G for causing the disease (even though there's substantial evidence to the contrary, and 5G coverage hasn't been that widespread yet even in areas where it was deployed), and some took it [[Up To Eleven]] by [[What an Idiot!|raiding]] cell sites and firebombing the masts to knock them offline. Unsurprisingly, those who attempted to do such an imbecilic act were arrested for their antics, and social media users joked about how they were unable to get cellular coverage as a result of such idiocy-induced terrorism. Not helping matters are charlatans who are quick to cash in on the scare by selling (phony) deterrents against 5G radio waves in the form of USB-OTG devices to be plugged on a cellphone, and those spreading [[Chain Letter]]s on Facebook and elsewhere alleging a sinister scheme linked to 5G and vaccines against COVID-19, sometimes using the "satanic panic" canard for added shock value.

** Such mass paranoia over cellular technologies are nothing new, however. Back when cellphones and text messaging started gaining mainstream adoption in the late 90s to early 2000s, fears about electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellular towers and cellphones themselves started circulating on the internet and through word of mouth, and some cashed in by selling so-called "anti-radiation" decals meant to be placed on cellphones, purportedly to mitigate the radiation coming from said devices.

* As mentioned in the ''Toddlers and Tiaras'' example, child beauty pageants have earned something of a dubious reputation no thanks to controversies over age-appropriateness, working conditions and issues with sexualization of children participating in such contests. While some pageants are more or less innocuous and are by no means malicious in nature such as in the case of the "Little Miss Philippines" segment in ''[[Eat Bulaga!]]'', with which notable actresses such as [[Ryzza Mae Dizon]] and [[Ice Seguerra]] first became famous for, the over-the-top and borderline paedophilic things stage mothers have their daughters subjected to has led some jurisdictions to either restrict or outright ban pageants for children under 13.

* Once well-established as a leading and prestigious authority in human and natural superlatives, the ''[[Guinness Book Of World Records]]'' has since been viewed with scorn and ridicule over the past few years at least in some circles:

** Amongst gaming circles, the ''Records'' has also become something of a joke especially in light of the Billy Mitchell and Todd Rogers high score scandals. Mitchell in particular had his title stripped by Twin Galaxies due to issues as to the veracity of his records, but these were dubiously reinstated by Guinness shortly after. Their lack of expertise in games and overall reputation as an adjudicator of superlatives has led some gamers, one of them being speedrunning commentator Karl Jobst, to call for Guinness to stay out of video gaming as the community has already established reputable authorities to moderate and verify gaming records.

** A number of categories and records were also retired due to ethical and safety concerns, particularly with food and more dangerous stunts. The "youngest mother" record in particular was removed out of respect for a South American mother whose [[Squick|childhood pregnancy]] was an unfortunate story of its own.

* Junípero Serra was praised for establishing Franciscan missions in and around what was then Spanish-occupied California, and was beatified by [[The Pope|Pope John Paul II]] on 25 September 1988 in the [[Vatican City]]. His missionary work was however tainted and criticised especially in later years by Native American groups who accused the priest of genocide, subjugation and forced conversion of Indigenous American groups into Catholicism. Such was the outrage that several monuments erected in his honour were either [[Off with His Head|decapitated]] or otherwise desecrated in protest of Serra's alleged atrocities. Other Native Americans however were more positive towards Serra and his canonisation to sainthood, and had no ill feelings towards his missions in California.

* Photobucket used to be the go-to place to upload albums upon albums of images and videos for those who need to embed images on a website or forum, but don't have their own web space to host them to. But not only was the $399 subscription fee–first implemented in 2017 and required for users to embed images–tantamount to extortion (they later changed it to $4.48 to $11.48 monthly, but still...), it was also seen as a ''nightmare'' for internet historians, archivists and those who had years if not decades worth of irreplaceable images now replaced with watermarked versions due to Photobucket's draconian business model. This ultimately cemented Photobucket's contemporary reputation as a now-washed up and has-been image host, especially as the likes of Imgur have overshadowed it.

* Marcial Maciel was once a respected priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement, having been hailed as "the greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church" and as a prolific recruiter of new seminarians. There were however numerous reports of not only youths being sexually abused by him, but several scandalous relationships with women, one of them being a minor at the time. The Legion has since distanced themselves from their now-disgraced founder, though not without acknowledging at least some of his atrocities, but the damage has been done regardless as some priests and seminarians left the congregation and several schools and centers of formation closed. Such was Maciel's notoriety that his name became a derisive byword for [[Pedophile Priest]] in his native Mexico.

* Wernher von Braun remains a polarising figure in the aerospace industry, as while his contributions to space engineering and rocket science are of no small matter, such as being the principal architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon, his association with the Nazis (of whom he developed the V-2 rocket for), particularly the SS, was something he couldn't easily shake off even after his death. One science- and engineering-oriented Gymnasium in Friedberg, Bavaria was renamed in response to calls for von Braun's name to be removed, especially in 2012 when a concentration camp survivor named David Salz denounced von Braun and called for the school to "do everything to make this name disappear from this school". Though to von Braun's credit, he explained that he defected to the Americans instead of the Soviets as a result of his desire to share his knowledge of rocket science to those who followed the [[Bible]], perhaps in atonement for what he did with the V-2.

 

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