Blacklisting happens in the entertainment industry when a universal decision is made to not hire a person anymore. The 1950s was a huge time for blacklisting during the red scare, but it still happens today for different reasons. From DUIs to being total diva's onset, these celebs are rarely hired anymore.
Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber started his career on a high note. As a young kid on Youtube, he published multiple videos of him singing and playing guitar. Usher took note of the young kid and noticed his star quality. Soon, Bieber was all over the world. Of course, as he grew up and became a teenager, he started to get out of control and was making headlines for all of the wrong reasons.
Fall From Grace
This mugshot nearly broke the internet. What used to be a sickeningly sweet singer turned into a rough and rowdy teenager who felt like rules didn't apply to him. He was spitting on people, peeing into buckets, fighting paparazzi, and getting into altercations with anyone who looked at him funny. He eventually turned his life around and is now married, but it was a rough few years for him and no one really wanted to work with him.
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl was a very popular actress at the height of her career. Apparently, that demand got to her head and she became a classic Hollywood diva. She's been quoted as "horrible to work with" on and off-set, which is something you never want to have on your record.
Tough to Work With
According to people that worked with her, she would constantly question and edit her script without permission from the directors. She would refuse to leave her trailer if things weren't going her way, wore uncharacteristic outfits to shoots that the stylist did not approve of, and, of course, act like a bully to all lower-ranked employees. Heigl has been heavily blacklisted.
Mel Gibson
The Crazed Rant
As if he couldn't make things worse, he eventually went on an intense antisemitic rant to the press. Naturally, he was swiftly blacklisted and was without work for 10 years. He's slowly reprising his career and taking on some roles, but he leaves a bitter taste in most peoples' mouths.
Mo’nique
Mo'nique first rose to fame for the 2009 movie Precious. She played an abusive mother that was so convincing she even won multiple awards. People were amazed that such a new actress would have so much critical acclaim, but that all came crashing down when the fame seemingly got to her head. She was ultimately blacklisted...
Off-Screen Behavior
Her behavior off-screen was most troubling to producers and directors everywhere. Apparently, she was so difficult to work with during her 2010 campaign to help the film win an Oscar that she was blacklisted. Hollywood execs still hold onto that, and she's rarely gotten work since.
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen has always struggled with his demons throughout his career. Sadly, it seemed to have gotten the best of him and he suffered from some sort of psychotic break. He started giving out interviews that were crude and offensive.
Wild Outbursts
During this episode, Sheen was still working on Two and a Half Men. Once his outbursts became uncontrollable, he was not welcomed back to the show. He's gotten himself out of the spotlight, but he hasn't been welcomed back into Hollywood studios.
Vince Vaughn
Most people would say that Vince Vaughn was the first celebrity to be "canceled" in 2020. His inability to get out of 2000s humor partnered with his unnecessary political views dug out his grave for him. Before the 2020 scandals, he was already looking bad in the eyes of Hollywood producers.
Pigeon-Holed
He was seemingly unable to vary his acting abilities. Most people who tried to work with him would say that he flat out refused to grow as an actor, which is probably why he hasn't been in a decent movie for at least a decade. The recent scandals only pushed him deeper into the blacklist.
Tippi Hedren
Making A Choice
Hitchcock was furious about Hedren turning down his sexual advances, and he promised her that she would never work in Hollywood ever again. He froze her contract for two years until he decided to sell it. Unsurprisingly, the whole idea of Hollywood and movie stardom left a bitter taste in Hedren's mouth, so she dropped acting to campaign for animal rights
Cee-Lo Green
Cee-Lo Green became an extremely popular name after his pop hit “F*** You" flooded radio stations. He had previously gained fame under the moniker Gnarles Barkley (alongside producer Danger Mouse) but decided to drop the act. He got really popular and stayed relevant, even landing a seat as a judge on The Voice. He seemed like a nice guy yet a little stern at times, but that was far from the truth.
A Twitter No-No
Cee-Lo ended up sending out a homophobic Tweet in 2011 to a record producer who critiqued a song of his. He lost his seat on The Voice and eventually ran into some trouble with the law. He's taken a back seat in the music world but is still trying his best to become relevant once again.
Elisha Cuthbert
The most tragic "blacklist" is when an actor no longer has the star quality they used to have. This is currently what's happening with Elisha Cuthbert, who is famous for her roles in 24, House of Wax, and Girl Next Door. Her role as Kim Bauer on 24 was ranked first in Entertainment Weekley's poll titled '20 Most Annoying Characters Ever.'
Faded Away
Her last movie role was in 2017. She played Mary in Goon: Last of the Enforcers. Her only role right now is in Netflix's Ranch. Her only role in 2020 was on Canada's Drag Race.
Kirk Cameron
Kirk Cameron successfully finished up his role on Growing Pains and garnered thousands of fans. It didn't take long for him to decide to become a mouthpiece for American Christians. Sadly, he chose a more volatile path than most would have and used his platform to voice hateful militant opinions under the guise of Christianity.
Hateful Speech
Cameron never failed to tell any media outlet that interviewed him of his disdain for "sinners," which always included homosexuals and women. Naturally, Cameron hasn't found a job in Hollywood and will most likely stay on the blacklist.
Roseanne Barr
No one will forget Roseanne Barr's fall from grace. She had an extremely popular show that was a revamp of the original show that got her popular. The public loved it, but Roseanne had to go and ruin it by tweeting out racist things about Barrack Obama's former Senior Advisor.
Racial Divide
To make it worse, she fought people on whether or not she was acting racist and then continued to say more racist things. ABC swiftly canceled her season and revamped the show without her. She's been blacklisted ever since.
Rose McGowan
Weinstein Victim
Before everything came out, Weinstein blacklisted McGowan from working in Hollywood and even tried to bury her films. Luckily, Weinstein paid for his crimes but McGowan still paid for his actions. She still hasn't been offered any roles since.
Stacey Dash
Stacey Dash began her career as an actress, activist, and talk show host. She was most famous for her role in Clueless, which is still popular today. At one point, she drastically switched activism from the left to activism on the far, far right.
Heartless
Dash was so openly racist that she got fired from her job on Fox News. Even though she lost that platform, she was still given the spotlight from other media platforms and through social media. She has openly spoken about her hatred for the LGBTQ community and Jewish people. Needless to say, Hollywood will never, ever hire her again.
Martin Lawrence
Lawrence has committed some of the cardinal sins anyone (really any woman) in Hollywood would be blacklisted for, but he has yet to be completely blacklisted. He hasn't been the most well-liked guy for a while and has said some pretty nasty things (including completely disregarding a co-star sexual harassment lawsuit and saying that it was "bs.") but he hasn't stepped on everyone's toes yet.
Problematic Comments
Lawrence has been perma-banned from Saturday Night Live, though. He interrupted the live show to preach about how important feminine hygiene is. Not only is that super inappropriate, but it was extremely creepy. He was also "casually" homophobic and would make advances towards female castmembers on set. Sadly, the rest of Hollywood hasn't caught on to his antics just yet.
Vanessa Marquez
Vanessa Marquez's story is a sad one. The actor was made famous by her role in ER as Wendy Goldman alongside Geroge Clooney. After her contract with the show had ended, she wasn't finding work, and eventually began publicly blaming Clooney for being blacklisted. The allegation was proven to be false, but that didn't stop her.
Mental Health Struggles
What most people didn't know is that her mental health was severely declining. On Aug. 30, 2018, she was having a mental episode and the police were called to her home for a wellness check. They ended up shooting and killing her after she brandished a pair of scissors and a BB gun and chased them out of her apartment.
Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino is another one of Weinstein's victims. Her story was similar to McGowan's: she ignored Weinstein's advances, made it clear to him that she did not like him, and in turn, he got her blacklisted.
Another Victim
Unlike McGowan, Sorvino was swiftly taken off of the blacklist once her allegations were confirmed as true. She was less vocal than McGowan even though she stood by her fellow survivor.
Thora Birch
Thora Birch was a child star who was a bunch of hits, most famously for Hocus Pocus. Birch was quickly gaining popularity as a young child actress, but her career faltered when her father assaulted someone on the set of one of her films. Sadly, this didn't bode well for the actor, and she was never in any other big hits after that.
Jim Caviezel
Jim Caviezel is best known for his role as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, famously directed by Mel Gibson. The film made millions of dollars and received critical acclaim in the film community. Sadly, the overdramatization and hyper-violent imagery garnered intense backlash from the Christian community. Caviezel somehow took most of the anger and felt the repercussions. He has yet to be offered a full role in a film since.
Isaiah Washington
Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke broke into the scene in the '60s. She started dating Clint Eastwood, who was basically Hollywood's Godfather. After their intense breakup, Eastwood made sure that she never started working again. Her entire career was muddled and she was never able to reach the same stardom that she had prior to their relationship because of his blacklisting abilities.
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was a screenwriter for popular directors in the '30s and '40s. She had a helping hand in some of the best movies out of those decades. She was accused of having ties to communism and had her career completely ruined. In 1949, Parker received a 1,000-word letter, acknowledging her blacklisting for reasons tied to suspicion.
Beyonce
Queen B isn't exactly blacklisted, but two of her songs have been completely banned in China. "Run the World" was deemed too inappropriate by the Chinese government and they have since banned it from existing on any platform. Bey was also barred from entering Malaysia after she refused to comply with the countries strict dress code.
Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams' story is one of triumph and tragedy. She won Miss America in 1983 but was later completely degraded when old nude photos surfaced. She was stripped of her title and cast into the shadows of the entertainment world. She ended up releasing a song that helped bring her back into the spotlight but was never again crowned Miss America.
Natalie Maines
Oddly enough, only Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks was blacklisted. The band generally did fine, but Maines was not allowed to appear on TV. She was openly against Bush's decision to invade Iraq and made it known. Apparently, that was deemed unpatriotic and she was barred from working with a lot of TV stations.
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg has pretty much done it all. Hollywood still loves him, especially on his show with Martha Stewart (the two weirdest friends ever). Funnily enough, he was been banned from multiple countries for his marijuana hobby. The rapper is not allowed to enter or tour in the countries in which he has been banned. The newest addition to the list is Norway.
Orson Welles
Orson Welles was a fabulously popular man in the film industry. He directed Citizen Kane, which is still noted as one of the most important moves of all time. Back in the day, the US government was a little suspicious of the film. So much so that the FBI launched an investigation to make ties between Welles and communism!
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Bridges is super popular for his role in Airplane! but most people didn't know that he was actually blacklisted from Hollywood for a short time. Like many actors in the '50s, he was blacklisted for his apparent ties with communism and socialism. He was open about his liberal views, which raised suspicions of ties with Russia and communism. After 10 years, he was finally able to convince folks that he wasn't a Russian spy and went on to have a great career.
Lee Grant
Despite Lee Grant becoming extremely popular, she was still under the suspicion of being "unamerican." She was asked to testify against her husband to the House Un-American Activities Committee, which she refused to do. This was an incredibly difficult time for her. Somehow, she and her husband were able to clear themselves of any wrongdoing.
Ashley Judd
Like many women before her, Ashley Judd was blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein. She refused his advances multiple times. Once he was finally sick of her declining him, he made sure that she never worked in Hollywood again. Luckily, she had enough evidence to take him to court and they settled for a few million dollars. She was un-backlisted.
Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid is quite the character. He had some great films like Independence Day and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. He's been on a downward spiral ever since the '90s. He is now politically motivated and posts incredibly outlandish far-right videos and stories. He has been arrested multiple times for vandalism. He secured his spot on the blacklist after his wife, Evi, sent everyone in the Equity Actors Union a nude photo of herself holding guns.
Corey Feldman
Corey Feldman has been noted as an interesting character in the past few years. He was very outspoken about an underground pedophile ring way before it was confirmed to be true, and high-ranking Hollywood execs (most likely the ones involved!) blacklisted him. Sadly, it was a long struggle for him to be understood.
Azelia Banks
Banks is a volatile rapper who has gotten into drama with every major musician. She was finally "canceled" for her offensive, homophobic, fatphobic, and ableist takes on Twitter. No one misses her.
Lindsay Lohan
Everyone knows about Linsday Lohan's downfall. The child actor struggled with drug and alcohol abuse when she was a teenager and into young adulthood. She was difficult to work with, never showed up on time for filming (or at all), and was an unpleasant person to be around. She was barred from working in Hollywood, which was probably for the best. Now, she lives in Dubai.
Farrah Abraham
The 16 and Pregnant star took a huge turn for her incredibly narcissistic and abusive behavior towards anyone who disagreed with her. She was even kicked off of Teen Mom for the drama she caused on and off the set.
Perez Hilton
Perez Hilton, who got his name from Paris Hilton, is a "journalist" who pushes all celebrities' buttons. He isn't a paparazzi but he does use their photos for everything. He makes his money purely off of gossip, whether it's true or not. Most folks do not want to work with him.
Courtney Love
Courtney Love was never seen in the same light after Kurt Cobain's death. People questioned her involvement and whether or not she killed him. Her name is too tarnished for Hollywood films, so she was blacklisted. The music industry feels differently about her, though.
Pete Seeger
Unlike most Gold Age actors, Pete Seeger was suspected of being a member of the Communist party and actually was. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released much sooner.
Tara Subkoff
Tara Subkoff was yet another victim of Weinstein. Her story is the same: she refused his advances, and she was blacklisted after he decided that he was sick of her. She has yet to come back to the big screen.
Lena Horne
Lena Horne was a big part of the red scare back in the day. She, too, was accused of being connected to Communism and was blacklisted for her liberal views. She was able to make her own career outside of corporate Hollywood and was pretty successful! Sadly, her name was never cleared.
Josephine Baker
Josephine baker was infamous for her 1920s banana skirt dance. She was even the inspiration for Betty Boop! She had dual citizenship in France and America which put a target on her back for communist rhetoric. At one point, she was banned from re-entering America. Years later, the ban was lifted but she chose to stay in France with her 12 adopted children.
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Hepburn was arrested and held captive by the House Un-American Activities Committee. They tried their best to bring the starlet down, but she was never found guilty of any treason so they let her go.
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin, one of the fathers of film, was banned from America due to his un-patriotic efforts to support charities. After he was finally let back into the country, the FBI secretly followed him for years.
Arthur Miller
Famous playwright Arthur Miller was arrested after his release of "The Crucible" which details a 1600s style witch hunt. In the story, he drew obvious direct comparisons to the state of the film industry. He was questioned by authorities who manipulated him into admitting the true intention of the story. He was held in "contempt of Congress."
Judy Holliday
Judy Holliday built her career off of being the "ditzy" pretty girl. During the Red Scare, she was accused of ties to Communism (who wasn't?) but was able to get them off of her back by using her airhead attitude. She was so close to following in the footsteps of many others and only got out of it by playing dumb very well.
Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith played the Joker in the 1950's Batman film. He was also a popular character in The Twilight Zone. During the red scare, he was blacklisted over his possible connections to communists. He was never involved with the movement and luckily at enough proof to clear his name.
Lucille Ball
Hollywood would not be what it is today without Lucille Ball. That didn't keep her name clear from the red scare, though. She was asked to testify in front of the HUAC but was never arrested. She was still under suspicion of having communist ties, but honestly, she was way too busy to get caught up in that!
John Ireland
Actor John Ireland was blacklisted after he was slandered and defamed. He put himself in even more hot water when he fought back against the people defaming him. He was granted a cash settlement as it turned out he was telling the truth, and his career was restored.
Nat Hiken
Nat Hiken himself was blacklisted for hiring blacklisted actors. Apparently, Hollywood didn't appreciate his thought to go against the grain.
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes was a popular poet back in the day. He was blacklisted because his poetry would occasionally appear in communist papers. Sadly, these papers were never given permission to use his poems, but the folks who blacklisted him didn't care about that.
Gypsy Rose Lee
Gypsey Rose Lee was a famous burlesque dancer of the 1950's. She was eventually caught as a recular face as communist meetings. She was arrested and promptly blacklisted from the entertainment world.
Leonard Berstein
Leonard Bernstein is considered to be one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He, too, was suspected to have communist ties. It was never proven, but he was still blacklisted by major studios. That didn't hurt his career too much, though.