100 Most Talked About Scandals of the Decade

Golfer Tiger Woods publicly apologized for his infidelity that led to his divorce from Elin Nordegren.

Actress Lindsay Lohan checked into rehab and served time in jail for violating probation.

Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell of Delaware denied she was a witch, though she admitted dabbling in witchcraft.

The 40-year marriage of Al and Tipper Gore broke up over rumors of infidelity.

Voicemail tapes catch Mel Gibson ranting about his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, the mother of his love child, as well as his dropping the N-word.

Katy Perry sang a version of her hit “Hot ‘n Cold” with Elmo on “Sesame Street” in a low-cut dress.

Lady Gaga’s meat dress at the MTV Video Music Awards outraged animal rights activists.

The Republican National Committee’s reputation suffered a hit when it was revealed in March that the committee reimbursed the expenses of a donor at the club Voyeur in West Hollywood.

“Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria filed for divorce from San Antonio Spurs star guard Tony Parker.

Pop singer and former Disney Channel child star Demi Lovato left a world tour with the Jonas Brothers to check into rehab.

Chinese iPhone workers committed suicide at Foxconn factories in China over work pressure and difficult working conditions.

New York Democratic congressman and mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner, married to Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin, was caught sexting via Twitter.

Action movie superstar and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted to fathering a child out of wedlock. This led to the separation from his wife Maria Shriver.

Republican Rep. Christopher Lee, who is married, was exposed by Gawker.com for using Craigslist to seek sex. He was forced to resign.

International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a maid at New York City hotel and had to resign. The prosecutor later asked that the case be dismissed.

Presidential candidate Herman Cain was accused of unwanted sexual advances by multiple women.

Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was accused and later found guilty of molesting underage boys.

Former presidential candidate John Edwards was indicted on charges that he used campaign funds to cover up an extramarital affair.

Illegal phone hacking by reporters forced Rupert Murdoch to shutter one of his newspapers.

Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Italy’s prime minister amid a sex-party scandal.

Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh was suspended after stomping on Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith during a game on Thanksgiving Day.

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and National League most valuable player Ryan Braun tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

The University of Miami football program was brought to its knees by a wide-ranging scandal that included prostitutes provided to players, a booster who paid for an abortion, and players paid to hurt opponents.

Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash was caught in a sex scandal that involved an underaged teen. Clash eventually resigned.

A sex tape that featured former wrestler Hulk Hogan was made public.

CIA Director and general David Petraeus resigned after his affair with biographer Paula Broadwell was revealed.

Nine Secret Service agents were forced to resign or leave their jobs after they were caught with prostitutes in their hotel rooms while they were working at the U.S. Embassy in Colombia.

The Boy Scouts of America kept a file of the names of 7,819 scout leaders who allegedly preyed on boys. An attorney representing the victims said the files went back to 1944 and also included the names of 12,254 victims.

Actor John Travolta was accused of sexual assault by three male masseuses. All three eventually dropped their cases.

Ginger-haired royal Prince Harry was photographed nude in Las Vegas after playing a game of strip billiards.

Music impresario and “America’s Got Talent” and “X-Factor” judge Simon Cowell and New York socialite Lauren Silverman became parents of a love child.

Celebrity chef Paula Deen was fired by the Food Network for using the N-word.

After years of denials, champion bicyclist Lance Armstrong admitted to talk-show host Oprah Winfrey to doping to enhance his performance.

New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez became suspected of murder. He was eventually charged with murder, found guilty, and committed suicide in jail.

JP Morgan was hit with various scandals in 2013, ranging from dubious recruiting forays in China, manipulation of electricity markets, to paying billions related to the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.

About 4,000 passengers aboard the Carnival Triumph were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for four days in February without power or working toilets, an unfortunate episode dubbed the “poop cruise.”

The Google love triangle involved company co-founder Sergey Brin, who had a fling with the company’s marketing manager, who was involved with another Google executive.

Multiple women came forward, accusing comedian and “America’s Dad” Bill Cosby of sexual assaults that go back decades.

“7th Heaven” series actor Stephen Collins admitted in a tape made during a marriage therapy session that he molested children.

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was caught on video assaulting his wife Janay Palmer in an Atlantic City elevator.

Actress Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton were among the celebrities whose nude photographs were hacked.

Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was caught making racist comments, prompting an investigation by the NBA. Sterling eventually sold the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

A cyber invasion roiled Sony Pictures, which was subsequently forced to use fax machines, communicate via posted messages, and pay employees with paper checks.

The Environmental Protection Agency revealed that Volkswagen, then considered a model of automotive integrity, programmed engines to alter readouts on emissions results.

A wide-ranging scandal involving FIFA, international soccer’s ruling body, began when the Department of Justice indicted 14 high-ranking soccer officials on racketeering and corruption charges that eventually engulfed organization head Sepp Blatter, who announced his resignation.

CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli was pilloried for jacking up the price of a drug used by HIV patients by 5,000% to $750 a pill. He would eventually be arrested for securities fraud involving his activities at another company.

The New England Patriots were caught reducing the air pressure in footballs to gain an advantage in a scandal called “Deflategate” that led to the suspension of quarterback Tom Brady for four games.

A bombshell tell-all in October 2015 revealed that a graduate assistant at the University of Louisville helped arrange sex parties for the school’s men’s basketball team.

Dallas Cowboys courted controversy by signing alleged woman assaulter Greg Hardy.

Pop star Ariana Grande was seen on a video licking donuts displayed in a California shop and ranting about how she hates America. She later apologized for what she called a display of bad behavior.

University of Missouri football team went on strike to protest racist tensions at the school, refusing to practice or play until the school’s president stepped down, which he did.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was indicted for the Republican’s alleged attempts to hide a trail of money paid to a student he allegedly molested when he was a teacher in Illinois.

The Veterans Administration dealt with a slew of problems in 2015, among them refusal to fire officials who stole $400,000 from the agency and claims the administration was blocking promised benefits. Whistleblower allegations claimed that one in three vets had died while awaiting to be enrolled in the VA’s benefits program.

After a video of the incident surfaced, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was accused of allegedly covering up the shooting by city police of an African-American teen during his campaign for re-election.

Wells Fargo’s aggressive sales tactics led to the creation of millions of fake customer accounts.

Roger Ailes was forced out as chairman and CEO of Fox News after former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit alleging sexual harassment became public.

Pharmaceutical company Mylan faced congressional scrutiny after the company had increased the price of the EpiPen, an emergency treatment of severe allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock), since it bought the company that made the device in 2007.

Batteries for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 had to be recalled because they were exploding. The Federal Aviation Administration eventually banned the devices from domestic flights.

The hoverboards favored by pre-teens and teens were recalled after some battery packs on the self-balancing scooters caught fire.

Airbnb, one of the symbols of the gig economy, was accused of racism and of running afoul of local zoning ordinances.

Mexican-themed fast-food chain Chipotle suffered a public relations disaster when reports revealed the presence of norovirus in its food. The food was infected by sick employees.

Yahoo suffered several PR blows in 2016, including CEO Marissa Mayer’s insensitive jokes about layoffs, the hacking of 500 million accounts, and revelations the company allowing the FBI to view private emails.

Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte was caught in a lie when he said he was robbed at gunpoint during the Olympics in Brazil.

More abuse stories regarding male actors surfaced in 2016. Johnny Depp was accused of abusing ex-wife Amber Heard, and Brad Pitt was accused of abusing his son Maddox. Both Depp and Pitt got divorced from spouses Heard and Angelina Jolie.

An “Access Hollywood” tape with Donald Trump and Billy Bush participating in lewd, vulgar, and appropriate remarks about women got the presidential candidate in hot water, and Bush stopped doing a segment for the “Today” show.

Theranos closed its labs amid a federal probe that looked into claims about its blood-testing technology.

An investigation by the Indianapolis Star revealed sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar, the former coach of the U.S. gymnastics team.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended from the professional tennis tour for nine months. She also lost an endorsement deal with Nike.

A doping scandal involving Russian athletes led to the team being banned from the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Comedian Kathy Griffin nearly scuttled her career after she was filmed showing a severed dummy’s head that resembled President Donald Trump.

Poor logistics for the Fyre Festival on Great Exuma island turned the event into a fiasco, becoming the subject of two documentaries about the chaotic festival.

United Airlines experienced a public relations nightmare and was the subject of an attempted boycott when the carrier dragged a bloodied passenger off an overbooked flight.

“The O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly was dropped by Fox News after it was revealed the commentator paid five women hush money to suppress sexual harassment charges.

Rapper R. Kelly was accused of forcibly housing women at his homes in Chicago and Atlanta, not letting them eat without his permission, and forcing them to perform sex acts.

Comedian Bill Cosby, accused of sexual assault, walked free following a mistrial in Pennsylvania.

Criminal probes were launched against Uber, claiming the ride-sharing service was allegedly using software to avoid regulators in areas where it was operating illegally. Travis Kalanick was forced to step down as CEO following allegations that a culture of sexual harassment existed under his leadership.

Facebook faced scrutiny following reports that bogus accounts on the social media platform linked to Russia purchased ads that sought to influence the U.S. election.

Longtime “Today” show anchor Matt Lauer was fired amid sex misconduct allegations.

Kevin Spacey was fired from the long-running Netflix series “House of Cards” and removed from the already completed film “All the Money in the World” over sexual assault and misconduct claims made by men.

More than 100 actresses came forward to accuse Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct going back decades, leading to the #MeToo movement.

Equifax, one of the big credit-scoring companies and supplier of information to financial companies, was hit by a major data breach in which the information of 145 million people was accessed without permission. CEO Richard Smith resigned in the wake of the hacking.

Samsung top corporate officers were caught in a bribery scandal that eventually brought down South Korea’s president.

The woes at Wells Fargo continued in 2017, when the California-based bank said it charged about 570,000 customers auto insurance they did not need. The bank’s head of consumer banking and 70 senior managers lost their jobs.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt was released by the team after a video surfaced of him assailing a woman in a hotel in Cleveland.

The reboot of Roseanne Barr’s “Roseanne” show was going well until the star wrote a racist tweet, scuttling the show.

Great Britain Prime Minister David Cameron said the British lost their bid to host the World Cup soccer tournament because the Russians bribed officials at FIFA, soccer’s ruling organization.

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer was suspended during a scandal-tainted season that included his mishandling of domestic charges against a former wide receivers coach. He then retired.

Robinson Cano of the Seattle Mariners, one of the greatest second basemen ever, was suspended for 80 games for using performance-enhancing drugs.

The scandal-plagued University of Louisville men’s basketball program was stripped of its national title following an investigation that found a former assistant coach helped arrange sex parties for players, recruits, and the recruits’ fathers.

Reports became public about sexual misconduct at Google, including executive Andy Rubin who helped develop the Android operating system. This led to an employee walkout.

Tennis great Serena Williams had an outburst during the final of the U.S. Open, when an umpire deducted a point for various code violations, including receiving coaching from the stands. After the match, which Williams lost, she accused the umpire of sexism.

News show host Megyn Kelly lost her segment on the “Today” show after she made blackface comments that some considered insensitive.

The University of Maryland’s football coaching staff and medical personnel were accused of not reacting quickly enough when an offensive lineman collapsed and died from heatstroke during practice. Head coach DJ Durkin was fired as a result.

Comedian Kevin Hart stepped down as host of the Academy Awards after homophobic tweets he made surfaced.

Facebook suspended its relations with data-analysis firm Cambridge Analytica after the British company that was linked to the Trump presidential campaign improperly obtained data to serve the Trump bid. This was a violation of Facebook’s advertising partner terms.

Messages obtained by The New York Times showed Boeing officials knew about serious problems in its 737 Max plane years prior to the crashes that killed 346 people. The disasters led to an FBI investigation, and to the grounding of planes.

A college admissions scandal, in which Hollywood stars and other wealthy families paid thousands of dollars to get their kids into colleges, was made public. Among those involved were Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett committed a hate-crime hoax in January, when he claimed he was assaulted by Trump supporters on a Chicago street. After an investigation failed to support his claims, he was arrested though charges were later dropped.

Porn star Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit seeking to invalidate an agreement made with President Trump from speaking publicly about an alleged affair with the president was dismissed. The scandal first became public in January 2018.

The wide-ranging scandal of sex-ring operator Jeffrey Epstein, who died while in prison last summer, pulled in Britain’s Prince Andrew, who was kicked out of Buckingham Palace.