Top 10 Controversial TV Moments of the 2010s
#10: Steve Harvey Announces the Wrong Winner “Miss Universe 2015”
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For someone used to working on game shows, you’d think Steve Harvey would be a pro at this point. But it just goes to show that everyone makes mistakes. When announcing the winner at the 2015 Miss Universe competition, Harvey first declared it to be Ariadna Gutiérrez, Miss Colombia. However, he later realised that the winner was in fact Pia Wurtzbach, Miss Philippines - much to Gutiérrez’s disappointment and Harvey’s embarrassment. Harvey later explained that he misread the information on the card given to him, but nonetheless it’s gone down in the years since as a mix-up of major proportions.
#9: The Finale “How I Met Your Mother” (2005-14)
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It’s never good when a great TV series ends with a resounding thud. But that’s exactly what many fans of “How I Met Your Mother” felt they got with the show’s final episode, when Ted finally met the titular Mother Tracy. Rather than have the two live happily ever after, the showrunners instead abruptly killed Tracy off, so that Ted could end up with Robin. After getting to know Tracy over the course of season 9, fans were outraged that the writers discarded her so flippantly. You’ve definitely messed up when the “mother” in “How I Met Your Mother” isn’t really that important by the end.
#8: Miley Cyrus Twerks on Robin Thicke “30th MTV Video Music Awards” (2013)
It’s safe to say that since Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus has been keen for people to see how far she’s come. But if her performance with Robin Thicke at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards was an attempt at that, it didn’t exactly go her way. In a performance of the hit song, Blurred Lines, Miley infamously twerked against Thicke and sparked a media frenzy in the process. Some called the performance provocative and raunchy, some felt that Miley was appropriating black culture in her performance, and others were just baffled at what they were witnessing. Fortunately for Miley, it doesn’t seem to have affected her career in the long run.
#7: Brian's Death & Resurrection “Family Guy” (1999-2003; 2005-)
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For many viewers, “Family Guy’s” later episodes haven’t measured up to the subversively funny humor of its initial seasons. So perhaps that’s why Seth Macfarlane and the writers decided to shake things up by killing off one of their most beloved characters, Brian Griffin. “Family Guy” has certainly been no stranger to controversy - with one episode, “Partial Terms of Endearment”, banned from Fox. But the outrage at Brian’s death caught the writers by surprise, with a petition immediately calling for him to be brought back. Brian was soon resurrected, which Macfarlane claims was the plan all along.
#6: Megyn Kelly’s Remarks on Blackface “Megyn Kelly Today” (2017-18)
Megyn Kelly is many things, but a daytime TV host wasn’t one of them. Having already received criticism for her infamous interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on her Sunday Night show, the former Fox news anchor shot herself in the foot again on her morning show “Megyn Kelly Today”. In an all white panel discussing blackface, Kelly said that when she was a kid, it was alright to do blackface for certain costumes. Kelly later apologised for the statements and expressed support for more progressive views, but it couldn’t save her show, which was cancelled just three days later.
#5: Josh Duggar Abuse Allegation “19 Kids & Counting” (2008-15)
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The Duggar family was supposed to epitomize the good old wholesome American family. But the reality was something far different. In 2015, reports emerged that Josh Duggar, the eldest of the “19 Kids”, had molested five underage girls as a teenager. Further revelations that his parents Michelle and Jim Bob were aware of the crimes and did nothing to intervene sparked even more outrage. Josh’s sisters Jill and Jessa came forward as two of the victims in an interview with Megyn Kelly. All of this quickly led to the cancellation of “19 Kids and Counting”, and although a spin-off “Counting On” soon replaced it, the Duggar family has never been the same since.
#4: Sansa’s Treatment “Game of Thrones” (2011-19)
Despite being acclaimed as one of the greatest TV shows of all time, “Game of Thrones” hasn’t been immune to criticism. Jaimie’s rape of Cersei, and the show’s controversial ending, received consierable pushback. However, nothing was more controversial than Sansa’s rape by Ramsay Bolton in season 5. Many critics and fans felt that it was unnecessary, and undermined the growth of Sansa’s character throughout the series. Actress Sophie Turner defended the decision, saying that the show was trying to be realistic in terms of its roots in medieval history. But many viewers remained dissatisfied.
#3: Hannah’s Death “13 Reasons Why” (2017-)
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Much like sexual abuse, the topic of self-harm and suicide can also be a difficult subject to portray onscreen. In 2017, the creators of the Netflix TV series “13 Reasons Why” were called out for what some saw as a messy handling of the issue. The season one finale shows Hannah slitting her wrists, which many felt was unnnecessarily graphic. The show was also accused of glamorizing suicide to its mostly teen audience. Reports soon spread of teen suicides increasing after the show’s release, with some parents specifically blaming “13 Reasons Why”. Since the controversy, Netflix has cut the suicide scene, but many said it was too late.
#2: Roseanne Barr’s Tweet “Roseanne” (1988-97; 2018)
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2018’s revival of “Roseanne” was a huge hit with both fans and critics. But then Roseanne Barr thought it would be a good idea to send out a Tweet comparing Valerie Jarrett, former advisor to Public Obama, to a combination of “the muslim brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.” It elicited a firestorm of criticism, including from co-star Sara Gilbert and writer Wana Sykes. Barr apologized, then said she hadn’t known that Jarrett was black, and blamed the incident on sedatives. It wasn’t enough for ABC, who cancelled the show and replaced it with “The Connors”, starring the rest of the cast.
#1: Wrong Best Picture Announced “89th Academy Awards” (2017)
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The Academy Awards have had their fair share of memorable moments over their nine-decades long run. But nothing compares to what happened in 2017 when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced that “La La Land” had won the Best Picture Oscar. The problem? The real winner was “Moonlight”, with Beatty and Dunaway reading from the wrong card. They’d been handed the envelope for Actress in a Leading Role by accident. By the time the mistake was corrected, the producers for “La La Land” were already thanking the Academy. Worse, the mistake distracted from “Moonlight’s” historic win, as the first movie with an all-black cast, and the first LGBTQ-related film, to win Best Picture.
