Whether it's getting caught up in the sweeping wave of the #MeToo movement, acting like a
total diva, or just being downright racist, there are plenty of ways a Hollywood star
can kill their career.
All of that and more happened to these actors, whose phones may not be seeing much use in
2019.
Roseanne
During the 1980s, Roseanne was so popular that it once beat out The Cosby Show as television's
number one show.
In 2018, ABC ordered a reboot which drew in so many viewers the network announced a second
season renewal the day after the premiere.
Then, on May 29th, the show's eponymous star went on a bizarre and racist Twitter tirade
about Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to former President Obama.
The show was cancelled immediately.
ABC Entertainment’s president Channing Dungey said in a statement:
"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values,
and we have decided to cancel her show.”
Disney CEO Robert Iger subsequently tweeted:
"There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.”
That same day, Roseanne's agency, ICM Partners, dropped her as a client.
Roseanne took to Twitter to defend herself.
She tweeted:
"I'm not a racist, I never was & I never will be.
One stupid joke in a lifetime of fighting 4 civil rights 4 all minorities, against networks,
studios, at the expense of my nervous system/family/wealth will NEVER b taken from me."
Louis CK
On November 9th 2017, the distribution company behind Louis [LOO-ee] C.K.’s I Love You,
Daddy canceled the film's New York premiere due to what they called “unexpected circumstances."
His planned guest appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was also canceled.
Later that day, the world found out why, when The New York Times published a report which
revealed the comedian faced allegations of "sexual misconduct" by five women.
In a lengthy statement released the next day, Louis C.K. admitted that the stories were
true.
He added:
"The power I had over these women is that they admired me.
And I wielded that power irresponsibly."
His career unravelled immediately.
The stars of I Love You, Daddy refused to promote it, and it was quickly decided that
the film wouldn’t be released at all.
FX, Netflix, his publicist and Universal Pictures all cut ties with the disgraced comedian on
the same day.
HBO dropped him from a comedy special and TBS canceled C.K.'s animated series The Cops.
Kevin Spacey
Although Netflix juggernaut House Of Cards received mixed reviews after Kevin Spacey’s
ousting from the show in 2017, the network had no choice but to forge ahead without him
after 15 men came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault against
the actor.
But that’s not all.
According to an article posted to Gloucestershire Live in November 2018, London police are currently
investigating six sexual misconduct and sexual assault complaints against the actor.
And in September 2018, CNN reported that both the Los Angeles District Attorney's office
and the LA County Sheriff's office had two additional sexual assault cases against the
actor "under review."
Despite his talent as an actor, Spacey’s name in Hollywood remains toxic.
Bella Thorne
While Bella Thorne’s Shake It Up co-star Zendaya has gone on to enjoy massive success
with roles in Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman, Thorne herself has been
relegated to the usual middling teen fare, and her Hollywood career hasn't gone well
so far.
She was the lead in Freeform drama Famous In Love, but that show was canceled after
the second season.
The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Thorne and showrunner David King "clashed on multiple
occasions" as she portrayed "diva-like behavior" on set.
In 2017, she starred in Amityville: The Awakening, which made a grand total of $742 at the domestic
box office.
In 2018, she starred in the black comedy Assassination Nation, which did better at the box office,
but still fell well below Hollywood expectations, earning only around a million dollars.
“Everybody was kinda just like, blecch, you know.
Nobody was really there.”
Seems Thorne can't count on her tens of millions of Instagram followers to show up at the box
office.
Alden Ehrenreich
Okay, so we’re not saying Alden Ehrenreich will never work again, but tentpole Hollywood
blockbusters might be off the table for a while.
Sadly, you can't be the lead in the worst-performing Star Wars movie in the franchise's box office
history and expect the offers to keep rolling in.
It also doesn't help that Disney and Lucasfilm are reportedly licking their wounds and canceling
spin-offs in the wake of the poor performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
A month before the film premiered, Ehrenreich had let it slip to Esquire that he was signed
up to play the lovable smuggler for three movies.
Unfortunately, we can probably assume those movies won't be happening anytime soon, if
ever.