If there’s one thing we can always count on in Hollywood, it’s bad celebrity publicity stunts. As outrageous as it seems, these celebrity publicity stunts all helped boost album sales, movie sales, etc. Crazy how that works, right? Sometimes even A-listers have to resort to insane tactics.
1 Joe Jonas & Demi Lovato’s Relationship
Remember JEMI? Well, looks like it was a big stunt… that Demi wasn’t in on. Joe Jonas was supposedly approached by Disney publicists and asked to "date" Demi as a way to bring in ratings for their upcoming movie at the time, Camp Rock 2. Joe and his father ended up telling Demi about the fake relationship and it all went downhill from there. Shortly after, Demi checked into rehab to "seek medical treatment for emotional and physical issues she has dealt with for some time." I feel for Demi on this one because we all know how broken she was at the time, making this number one on the worst celebrity publicity stunts list.
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2 Paris Hilton’s Sex Tape
One week before her reality show The Simple Life was set to debut, Paris’ sex tape "leaked." Within days, the entire world went from barely knowing who she was to obsessing over her (remember this was in 2003). Rumors had already been circulating about this tape’s existence and Paris declared to the press that there was no such thing, anywhere. Then, weeks later, when it did "leak," Paris filed a lawsuit against Soloman (the man in the video) and thus, verified authenticity and drew even more attention to the video, keeping her in the headlines. The premiere of her show drew in 13 million viewers. Nice numbers, bad stunt.
3 Kanye West’s 2009 VMA Interruption
I can’t believe it’s been four years since that infamous VMA show already. I’ll never forget Kanye’s "I’mma let you finish" speech to Taylor Swift, who had just won Video of The Year. It was so bizarre that it just had to be staged, right? Well, judging by Taylor’s reaction, she hadn’t been clued in. It was talked about for months and even if you’re not a huge Swift fan, you’ve gotta admit this stunt was just plain out mean!
4 Charlie Sheen’s Melt down
Remember when Charlie Sheen was all anyone could talk about? He had this very big, and very public meltdown on Twitter, and everyone just grabbed their popcorn, sat back, and enjoyed the show. (Well, at least I did!) It was definitely entertaining and actually very believable at first… but as it later turned out, it was all fake. The meltdown was due to some issues in Two and a Half Men, and he made sure we all knew it! The show was heavily promoted and he even got his new show, Anger Management. Was it worth looking so crazy, though?
5 Frank Ocean’s Sexuality Reveal
Kudos to Frank Ocean for opening up about his sexual orientation. That takes a lot of courage and I’m sure he wanted to do it at the right point of his life. It just so happened that the right point of his life was two weeks before his album release. He gained 500k Twitter followers and even pushed up his album. That’s a win, right? This only makes the list because of how obvious the stunt was… sigh.
6 Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress
I’ll admit: Gaga knows how to make headlines. Just when you thought you had seen it all, Gaga shows up to the VMAs wearing raw meat. Yes, raw meat. I’m talking dress, headpiece, and shoes. Sure, this was years ago but it still makes the list for worst celebrity publicity stunts because who’ll ever get over that? Not me! P.S I’m not denying her talent. If raw meat boosts your sales, go for it!
7 Mike ‘the Situation’ Sues Abercrombie & Fitch
Remember when A&F tried to pay Mike Sorrentino (Jersey Shore’s Situation) to stop wearing clothes from their store?! They claimed that he would ruin their image. Well, Mike sued the A&F franchise for $4 million dollars, accusing them of trademark infringement, unfair competition and false description. He claimed to be entitled to a share of A&F’s profits for distancing himself. What I still don’t get is why A&F had a problem with him wearing their clothes in the first place. I mean, they sold graphic tees that used his trademark phrases GTL and they even had a The Fitchuation tee. The whole thing was just a big mess, but it did get The Situation and Abercrombie’s name in the tabloids and drew in a lot of attention.
8 Kim Kardashian’s 72 Day Marriage
I know, I know, Kim denies this was a publicity stunt but c’mon… how could it not be?! Even Kris Humphries said he was left feeling "used and totally blindsided." If you look at the timing of it all, the marriage was, from start to finish, strategically planned. They planned the wedding insanely quick so it could occur during the NBA’s off-season and sold their wedding to People Magazine who were the number one bidders. Maybe it’s just because I’m a sucker for happy endings, but this quick over and done marriage sure does sound like a big ol’ publicity stunt.
9 Kanye West & 50 Cent’s Rap Feud
Kanye’s recent "feud" with TV host Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t his first. A few years ago, Kanye and 50 battled it out for who would sell more copies of their record which were being released on the same day. 50 vowed to retire from music if West’s "Graduation" outsold his album, "Curtis." It did. (by more than 250,000 copies) West then blurted out to GQ that it was a complete publicity stunt. There was no "personal beef" between the two; it was all made up to boost sales. Genius or no?
One thing’s for sure, there’s never a dull moment in Hollywood. It seems like every little thing is planned out to a tee. Publicity stunts do give them what they want though, so maybe we can’t blame them. Would you be able to live that life?
