Bieber vs. Clinton.
Madonna vs … Canada?
And Alec Baldwin being his own worst enemy.
What did these celebs even do?
Keep watching to find out.
From the moment hits like "Think of Me" and "Like A Virgin" struck gold in the '80s, self-absorbed
songstress Madonna has hinted that everything is about her.
And even though her status has faded somewhat, her narcissism hasn't.
Take for example a 2019 show in Miami, where Madonna was two hours late, prompting one
fan to launch a class action lawsuit against the musician when he couldn't get a refund.
At Her Madgesty's next show in Las Vegas, she referenced the irate plaintiff, declaring:
“A queen is never late.”
Two years earlier, Madonna had an excuse when a crashed video delayed her Manchester show,
yet she still criticized her impatient audience.
But live audiences aren't her only target.
In 2020, she took on Canada, a country she tweeted was, quote, "boring" after learning
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle planned to live in the Dominion, She made efforts to
throw a wrench in their plans, luring them to sublet her New York apartment, saying:
"Don’t run off to Canada.
It’s so boring there."
Angry Canadians responded accordingly.
That same year, while lounging in her opulent bathtub complete with rose petals, Madonna
posted a reel on Instagram where she said that COVID-19 was:
“The great equalizer.
And what’s terrible about it is what’s great about it.”
Not so equalizing were her palatial surroundings, upsetting viewers who deemed her arrogant.
Instagram has since deleted the video for spreading false information about the coronavirus.
Other snooty escapades abound, but the classic remains her 1994 appearance on "The Late Show
With David Letterman," where she dropped a cascade of f-bombs for no other reason than
to be controversial.
Steven Seagal is an absolute legend — in his own mind, that is.
On one occasion, the actor bragged about training CIA operatives in Japan while filming "Under
Siege 2" and in another instance, he told an executive he read the most incredible script
ever written – one that was penned by himself.
On the set, the megalomaniac was difficult to work with.
John Leguizamo, who worked with him on "Executive Decision," recalled Seagal declaring that
he was in control of the whole set.
"I thought he was kidding.
And he Aikido-ed me against the brick wall and Pow!"
Seagal also tried to pull a prank when hosting "Saturday Night Live" in 1991, said "Better
Call Saul" star Bob Odenkirk, a writer on the sketch comedy at the time.
On Howard Stern, Odenkirk recalled Seagal wanting to alter a Hans and Franz bit where
he would beat up the bodybuilding duo.
Seagal even created a sketch that turned into an eight-minute rumble involving Exxon executives.
"At the very end, he turns to camera and says, 'This is what happens when you pollute the planet!"
Odenkirk said the audience was mystified.
Not surprisingly, Seagal is also close friends with another brutish egomaniac named Vladimir
Putin and has been a Russian citizen since 2016.
Fortunately, that means he's no longer America's problem.
One of Alec Baldwin's most defining moments was his portrayal of a brash, arrogant, and
foul-mouthed motivational salesman in the 1992 movie "Glengarry Glen Ross."
“‘Cause the good news is you’re fired!”
However, that cameo might not have been much of a stretch for the actor, as it seems he
possesses those same traits.
Take that moment in 2011 at LAX when he was punted from an American Airlines flight for
refusing to stop playing a game on his cellphone when passengers needed to turn off their electronic devices.
A passenger told the New York Post:
"He was just crazy, he just flipped out, the guy has problems."
Three years later, Baldwin was a raging handful for cops who called him, quote, "arrogant
and loud" after ticketing him for driving in the wrong direction of a one-way street.
And in 2018, he pleaded guilty for second-degree harassment after fighting with a Saab driver
over a parking spot he wanted for his Escalade.
All of his previous actions seemingly culminated when Baldwin reportedly accidentally killed
a cinematographer in 2021 with a prop gun on the set of the movie "Rust."
Although not charged with a homicide when the gun turned out to have fired a real bullet,
one arms expert claimed Baldwin ignored safety protocols.
Furthermore, critics interviewed by Fox News claimed a televised interview designed to
tell Baldwin's side of the story was an attempt to absolve himself of responsibility.
"Alec Baldwin is not the victim.
And he clearly didn't do that interview to make Halyna Hutchin's's family feel better."
It helps to be arrogant in the notoriously Darwinian rap industry, and Nicki Minaj has
that turf covered nicely.
Her most pivotal target was '90s hip-hop queen Lil' Kim, whose poses Minaj appropriated onto
her own promo pictures for her 2007 mixtape, "Playtime Is Over," kicking off a lengthy
feud that ended when Lil' Kim threw in the towel in 2018.
Minaj has also thrown ample shade at Cardi B in a lengthy on-off series of altercations
that culminated at a party held in 2018 during New York Fashion Week.
And as a judge on "American Idol," she squared off against fellow panelist Mariah Carey,
no stranger to vanity herself.
But if there's a weakness to Minaj, it's her uncontrollable tendency to fly off the handle
after an award snub.
In 2015, she bickered about losing an MTV VMA award, tweeting that she would have won
if she were a different type of artist.
Unfortunately, the tweet caught the attention of Taylor Swift, who thought the shot was
meant for her, launching another Minaj ruckus.
When she lost a best new artist Grammy in 2012, Minaj went ballistic on the award show,
tweeting, in part:
"They gave it to the white man Bon Iver.”
Little did she know, Bon Iver is actually a band.
It's hard to tell whether Justin Bieber's arrogance stemmed from achieving top-pop status
so early in life, or whether he believes his privileged position atop the entertainment
heap makes him immune to all the drama that comes with stardom.
“Are you gonna say anything?”
“Yeah, I’ve just never interviewed a seven year-old before.”
Either way, his shenanigans don't exactly make for good press.
But Bieber urinating in a janitor's bucket while inexplicably cursing President Bill
Clinton's name in 2013 was somewhat unnerving, if not mildly amusing.
And getting nailed for his graffiti on the wall of a historic hotel in Rio de Janeiro
demonstrated how willing he was to push boundaries.
On the other hand, at Anne Frank's historic hideaway in Amsterdam, which he visited in
2014, Bieber was quickly forgiven for scrawling in the guestbook, quote, "Hopefully she would
have been a belieber," the teen idol's colloquialism for his fan base.
But hefty fines for vandalizing a neighbor's house and a DUI in Florida showed that karma
has a way of leveling the playing field.
Which was why a statement he put out in 2015 was so refreshing, saying:
"I didn't want to come off arrogant or conceited or basically how I've been acting in the past
year, year and a half.
[...] I'm not who I was pretending to be."
He's kept his word so far, and matrimony to Hailey Baldwin seems to have helped.
As a musician who's received more than a million gold and platinum song certifications and
the owner of a lucrative fashion operation, it's obvious Rihanna puts a lot of work into
her products, which makes it an even bigger shame that she doesn't exert that effort into
being more civil with her fans.
One example of that disregard took place in 2016 at a U.K. festival, when she angered
fans by starting her show an hour late and allegedly lip-synced part of her set.
She repeated these nuances at a subsequent engagement in Belgium.
While the fake vocalizing can't officially be confirmed, her tardiness was most likely
attributable to her being pampered extensively in her dressing room.
This was made even more opulent thanks to a tour rider that demanded six Archipelago
Black candles, dark blue or black Icy Chiffon drapes, a large plush animal throw rug, a
humidifier, and four square vases of white tulips.
And for fans who get too close, beware of her golden microphone, which she uses to swat them away.
Rihanna's also been known to show contempt for fans who feel inspired by her designs
and share their wares online.
One such admirer displaying work influenced by Rihanna's Fenty line received a frowny-face
critique from the singer.