Overshadowed by Controversy: Difference between revisions

* "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.