What happened in 2014?
What DIDN’T happen is the better question, my friend.
This year was the year of the celebrity leak. Videos of celebrities being violent in elevators were leaked, confessions to sex crimes were leaked and the private nude photos of hundreds of celebrities were hacked, stolen and subsequently leaked to the world. Come take a trip down Metro’s WTF Happened Memory Lane of 2014 and re-gasp all the gasps you gasped in 2014.
Fresh off the coattails of the glamor and class of the Met Gala, something quite the opposite went down on a short elevator ride at the Standard Hotel in New York City. Footage of what appeared to be Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Solange leaked and took over the Internet like wildfire. What was perhaps the most WTF about this moment was how stark it stood in contrast to the usually expertly controlled air-tight image Beyonce and her team have developed. Who knew that a low resolution, mute video, could have such an impact.
Take one lead actor in a wholesome family television show, add a dash of him admitting to molesting young girls on tape and what do you get? A full-blown WTF scandal. Stephen Collins, most well known for his role as a pastor and father in “Seventh Heaven,” was taken over by a wave of controversy when a tape of him admitting to molesting girls as young as 11-years-old.
This is perhaps both the freshest and oldest scandal to come to light this year. As of this post nineteen women have come forward with allegations of rape and sexual assault against the comedian. Bill Cosby will likely never recover from this scandal, and his enduring silence on the matter isn’t helping him out. Here’s the video of Cosby asking an AP reporter to edit out his non-response to a question regarding the accusations.
We’re not sure why Kim Kardashian’s naked body would be able to break the Internet, especially considering that it’s her naked body that started her road to stardom. Despite this Kim posed naked for Paper Magazine and the photos were met with impersonations, editing, and stirred the internet into an all out gawking frenzy. Kim may not have broken the Internet, but she certainly made a dent. The celebrity nude photo leak of 2014, also known as “the Fappening” and “Celebgate” was perhaps the largest single leak of nude photos ever. One of the most public leaks happened to America’s sweetheart and most-down-to-earth-celebrity ever, Jennifer Lawrence. Lawrence later spoke out about the leak in an interview with Vanity Fair saying: “It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. Just because I’m a public figure, just because I’m an actress, does not mean that I asked for this.” In October, Kesha accused and later filed a lawsuit against music producer Dr. Luke for sexual and physical abuse. The singer-songwriter, claims that the abuse has been occurring for about a decade. Some of Kesha’s biggest hits such as “Blow,” “C’mon” and “Die Young” (all club staples) were written by Dr. Luke. What complicated the matter further was when Lady Gaga came forward about bring raped by an unnamed producer and Kesha claimed it was Dr. Luke. Despite denying this, Gaga could be dragged into the lawsuit. And the award for the strangest interview to happen in 2014 goes to… the progeny of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow and Jaden Smith. (Side note: Willow’s name is based off her father’s name,“Will,” and Jaden’s name based off his mothers, “Jada.” And now you know!) The duo talked about everything one might talk about if one was high on LSD. Willow claimed to be a master of time: “I mean, time for me, I can make it go slow or fast, however I please, and that’s how I know it doesn’t exist.” And Jaden claimed to be reading “ancient texts” that “can’t be pre-dated.” Wow. Remember Renee Zellweger? The loveable actress from “Cold Mountain,” “Chicago,” and “Bridget Jones Diary?” Well, the Renee Zellweger you thought you knew is no more as she has an entirely different face and is practically unrecognizable. After debuting her new face at a red carpet event, the internet let out an audible gasp as they scrabbled to try and figure out who the hell this person was that claimed to be Renee. They found out that it was in factRenee Zellweger. Perhaps the greatest gift the former Mr. and Mrs. Martin have given to us (aside from the nonsense first name “Apple” and the wonderfully horrible “Goop.com”) is the wonderfully nonsensical term “Conscious uncoupling.” The couple announced their uncoupling via a statement on Goop.com and introduced the world to another word for “divorce” before the world knew it needed one. Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice and his wife were caught on tape in an Atlantic City elevator having a dispute that ended with Rice punching his wife and knocking her unconscious. The aftermath was explosive: Rice’s contract with the Ravens was terminated and the NFL indefinitely suspended him and the already tepid public opinion of the NFL got colder. As of Deceber 1st Rice’s indefinite suspension has been repealed by a Federal court, making him eligible to play again. Janay Rice recently spoke out about the event in an interview, calling the incident “One bad night” that “just happened to be on video.”
