A Reddit post asked users to name "a horrible thing that a famous person did that everyone forgot about" and has drawn a long list of controversial celebrity and political stories.
The r/AskReddit post had more than 2,100 upvotes as of publication. Some of the most popular responses were allegations or events that have been documented in news reports, court records, or autobiographies. At the same time, several commenters also repeated claims that could use more context.
One of the top comments brought up comedian George Lopez and said he cheated on his wife after she donated a kidney to him. Lopez's ex-wife, Ann Serrano, donated a kidney to him in 2005 after he was diagnosed with a genetic condition. Later in 2010, the couple announced that they were ending their 17-year marriage, and Serrano filed for divorce in 2012. The official cause, however, was irreconcilable differences.
ABC News reporting on the divorce did not support the claim that adultery was the cause of their split.
Another highly upvoted comment was in reference to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Reddit users claimed he filed divorce papers against his first wife while she was recovering from cancer surgery. FactCheck.org, on the other hand, reported that Gingrich and Jackie Battley were already separated and in divorce proceedings when she was hospitalized in 1980. Battley had undergone cancer surgery earlier and was recovering from surgery to remove another tumor. Gingrich has also said that the two argued during the hospital visit.
Another top comment referenced Naomi Campbell's testimony at the 2010 war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.
Campbell testified that she had a pouch containing "dirty-looking stones" after a 1997 dinner Taylor and Nelson Mandela also attended. She said she did not know whether they were diamonds or whether Taylor had sent them. Prosecutors wanted her to testify because they believed the stones could prove Taylor actually did possess conflict diamonds.
Another example was former U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident. Kennedy's car went off a bridge and killed Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy did not report the accident to police until the following morning, so several hours had passed after the crash. He later said he didn't have the moral strength to report it immediately.
Several commenters mentioned Karl Malone and a paternity case involving a then-13-year-old girl, who later gave birth to Demetress Bell. Malone was 20 at the time, according to Louisiana Illuminator. No statutory rape charges were filed. Malone was 20 at the time, according to Louisiana Illuminator. No statutory rape charges were filed.
The thread also mentions actor and musician Anthony Kiedis. In his 2004 autobiography, Scar Tissue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers singer admitted that he had sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl when he was 23. The criticism of him doesn't seem to have died down over the years.
