It’s always a shame when an actor you like doesn’t get cast anymore, but some of these individuals had nothing else to blame but themselves for their blacklisting.
Justin Bieber
Bieber would have been a media wildfire if he was invited onto any film set. His antics, general bad behavior, and diminishing popularity got him blacklisted before he even started.
Mo’nique
Mo’nique saw her first serious Hollywood break when she played an abusive mother in the 2009 movie ‘Precious’. Her acting was not the problem behind her blacklisting, it was her unwillingness to work with her executives during the 2010 campaign to win Precious an Oscar. Mo’nique feels like she has been wrongfully blacklisted, but the Hollywood executives feel like this was the right decision.
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson’s downfall started with a horrific accident he caused while driving drunk. After that event, Gibson went on an antisemitic tear to the press. Gibson claims, 10 years after the incident, he is reformed and ready to go back on the big screen. However, Hollywood executives seem to disagree.
Charlie Sheen
Sheen struggled with drinking and drug abuse for a significant time during his tenure on Two and a Half Men. His career seemingly fizzled out when he unintentionally came forward about his instability in an interview with Good Morning America. The interview made Sheen look manic and unhinged, so much so that he wasn’t invited back to continue Two and a Half men.
Katherine Heigl
Heigl had been heavily sought out for lead roles in very important movies just a few years ago. Nowadays, Heigl can’t find work, and it’s not because she’s a bad actor. Heigl was quoted to be horrible to work with on set. She would continually question and edit her script without permission from the directors. She would refuse to leave her trailer, wear uncharacteristic outfits to shoots, and generally act like a menace to all lower-ranked employees. For this reason alone, Heigl has been blacklisted.
Dorothy Parker
Parker was a very important screenwriter in the 1930s and 40s. She wrote some incredible screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock but was accused of having ties to Communism, which destroyed her career pretty much instantly. In 1949, Parker received a 1,000-word letter, acknowledging her blacklisting for reasons tied to suspicion.
Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn was torn down for reasons outside of his personal sphere. Vaughn’s downfall came from his inability to vary his acting techniques. Vaughn played the same character in every movie that he was in, he was never quite able to dump his goofy persona, even when acting in dramas. This is evident by his terrible season on True Detective.
Jim Caviezel
Caviezel was best known for his role as Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, directed by Mel Gibson. The movie made a bunch of money and received critical acclaim, but the overdramatization and hyper-violent imagery was met with backlash from the community. Caviezel has had a few small roles since The Passion of the Christ, but he has yet to be offered a full role in a film since.
Tippi Hedren
Hedren began as a fashion model but was quickly picked up by Alfred Hitchcock to star in two of his films, The Birds, and Marnie. Hitchcock made numerous sexual advances on Hedren, which were never reciprocated. Hitchcock was furious about Hedren turning him down, and he promised her that she would never work in Hollywood ever again. Hitchcock froze her contract for two years until he eventually sold it. Hedren returned to her career many years after the incident, but the whole experience soured her idea of Hollywood, and she dropped acting to campaign for animal rights.
Cee-Lo Green
Cee-Lo Green became an overnight sensation when he released the pop hit “F*** You.” This landed him some serious accolades, he was offered a seat on the voice and was even given his own show. However, after going on a homophobic rant, Cee-Lo was decapitated by the media almost immediately. Chances are, he won’t be succeeding in anything any time soon.
Kirk Cameron
After finishing his role in Growing Pains, Cameron began voicing his hateful militant Christian opinions in every opportunity he could find. Cameron loved telling media outlets about his disdain for “sinners,” primarily homosexuals and women. Needless to say, Cameron can’t find a job, and will likely never find one ever again.
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr was canceled promptly after her former show was picked back up for reunion season. She has shared her racist views on social media far too many times. Once she tweeted something particularly racist about Barrack Obama’s former Senior Advisor, ABC canceled her reunion season of Roseanne, and she has been blacklisted ever since.
Isaiah Washington
Washington was erased because of his outward homophobic beliefs. Once, on the set of Grey’s Anatomy, he referred to his homosexual coworker using a slur, which got him suspended from the set. After Grey’s Anatomy won a Golden Globe, Washington referred to the same coworker using the same slur, which got him completely fired and X’ed out of the business.
Thora Birch
Burke was a child star who was increasing in popularity. That is, until her father and agent assaulted one of Burke’s co-stars on some ulterior motive. Burke was fired shortly after that incident. She has appeared in a few other smaller roles since then, but she never regained her childhood fame.
Sondra Locke
Locke made her first appearance in the 1960s. She quickly met and started dating Clint Eastwood, who arguably had Hollywood in the palm of his hand at the time. They went through a messy breakup, and it’s considered that Clint Eastwood used his dominant celebrity status to tear Locke’s career down. She eventually started working again, but she was never in the same position as before.
Stacey Dash
Stacey Dash started as an actress, activist, and talk show host. She switched from a hopeful democratic position to a racist conservative opinion during the course of Barrack Obama’s presidency. Dash was so openly racist and anti-progressive that she got fired from her job at Fox News (believe it or not). She continues to spew hate, now using social media as her platform. Dash has recently spoken about her hatred for homosexuals, transgendered individuals, and Jewish people. Yeah, she shouldn’t be on TV anymore.
Rose McGowan
Rose McGowan was one of the first people to come forward about Harvey Weinstein’s horrific acts. Terribly, Weinstein had so many Hollywood elites in his back pocket, his victims were stifled and blacklisted as soon as any of them wanted to step forward and continue the conversation about him. McGowan settled with Weinstein outside of court, but that did not stop Weinstein from blacklisting her and attempting to bury her films. McGowan has not been offered an important role since.
Beyonce
Beyonce isn’t blacklisted in the way you think… Two of Queen B’s songs have been banned in China! “Run the World” was deemed inappropriate with the Chinese government. Beyonce was also banned from entering Malaysia for not complying with their strict dress code guidelines for women.
Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams, the former Miss America 1983, was ostracized for the discovery of some nude photos that had been taken several years before, consensually. Williams was stripped of her title and cast from the entertainment sphere. Years later, she released a song that brought her back into the spotlight, but she was never returned her rightful title of Miss America.
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 has, however, been perma-banned from Saturday Night Live for interrupting the show to preach about his perceived importance of feminine hygiene. Aside from being a total creep to women on set, and being “jokingly” homophobic on occasion, Lawrence has been allowed to stay within the Hollywood sphere.
Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks was placed on television blacklist when she openly spoke out against President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Despite her “unpatriotic” views, the Dixie Chicks did not suffer as a band.
Snoop Dogg
Snoop has never been blacklisted from acting, but he has been blacklisted out of a few countries for smoking a bunch of weed. He was recently banned from Norway for trying to bring weed in through customs.
Orson Welles
Orson Welles was exercised from the film industry following the release of Citizen Kane, which is considered to be the most important movie that was ever made. The plot of Citizen Kane was so heavily criticized and taken literally that the FBI launched an investigation to connect him with Communism.
Lloyd Bridges
Bridges was incredibly popular in the 1950s, but he was blacklisted for the same reason that Lena Horne was. After clearing his name nearly 10 years after his blacklisting, he starred in Airplane!, which is still considered a classic to this day.
Lee Grant
Grant seemed to be an unlikely candidate for the blacklist because of her high performance. She was asked to testify against her husband to the HUAC, both were taken off the list once their innocence was cleared.
Vanessa Marquez
Marquez starred in the show ‘Er’. She claims that George Clooney caused her blacklisting, which was proven untrue. She suffered from serious mental health issues and was recently shot and killed by the police in her LA home.
Mira Sorvino
Sorvino was another victim of Weinstein, but she made it out just fine. She was un-blacklisted shortly after her allegations were confirmed.
Ashley Judd
Judd was blacklisted after refusing advances from Weinstein, she later took him to court and settled for a few million dollars and was un-blacklisted shortly after.
Randy Quaid
Quaid starred in Independence Day but was blacklisted after his wife sent everyone in Equity actors union a naked picture of herself holding guns.
Corey Feldman
Feldman was blacklisted after his outspoken reference to the underground pedophile ring that now has been confirmed in Hollywood. When Feldman made these accusations, nobody believed him, but in recent history, his words have been taken very seriously.
Azelia Banks
Banks has and will butt herself into any Hollywood event uninvited. Recently, she was canceled for her offensive, homophobic, fatphobic, and ableist opinions that she felt inclined to share on twitter.
Lindsay Lohan
The stress of life in the spotlight caused Lohan to snap on more than one occasion in her career. Now, she can’t get hired to do anything.
Farrah Abraham
Abraham has become a stain on the red carpet since she was released from Teen Mom. She is the type of person who gets kicked out of every party she crashes.
Perez Hilton
Hilton isn’t technically the Hollywood type, but he does involve himself as the most successful member of the paparazzi. Hilton makes his money off of celebrity gossip, naturally, celebrities feel some type of way about this behavior.
Courtney Love
Following the suspicion after Kurt Cobain’s death and her questionable involvement, Love has been blacklisted from the big screen, but not the music industry.
Pete Seeger
Seeger was an open member of the Communist party residing in America. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released very early.
Tara Subkoff
Subkoff was another unfortunate victim of Weinstein’s reign of terror over Hollywood. She has yet to return to acting normally.
Lena Horne
Lena Horne was part of the unfortunate and inaccurate blacklisting trend that popped up doing the Red Scare. Horne was accused of being connected to Communism in the 1950s and was blacklisted for her socialist/liberal views during a very politically conservative time in American history. Shortly after, she cultivated her own successful career outside of the general public sphere that lasted until she passed away.
Josephine Baker
Baker was famous in the 1920s from her famous “banana skirt” dance. She had dual citizenship in France and America but was accused of engaging in communist rhetoric, so she was banned from re-entering America. Several years later, she was allowed to return with her 12 adopted children, but instead, she took a permanent residence in France.
Katharine Hepburn
Hepburn was never officially blacklisted, but she was arrested and held captive by the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee). They tried to scare her away from ever making another movie, but she knew they had nothing on her.
Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin was banned from America for a long period of time because of his un-patriotic (humanitarian) efforts to support charities. He was let back in but was followed by the FBI and permanently banned from America after that (only on reason of suspicion).
Arthur Miller
Miller was arrested after he released “The Crucible,” which dictated a 1600s style witch hunt, drawing direct comparisons to the current state of the film industry. He was manipulated by the authorities until he confessed to the intention of the movie and was held in “contempt of Congress” because he couldn’t name any names for them to pursue.
Judy Holliday
Holliday had the fortunate (unfortunate?) opportunity to paint herself as a “ditzy pretty girl” when the Red Scare struck Hollywood. When she was confronted for involvement, she played dumb and got off the hook, most likely because of institutionalized misogyny.
Burgess Meredith
Meredith played the Joker in the 1950’s Batman and was a key character in The Twilight Zone. During the red scare, Meredith was blacklisted over the suspicion of his involvement with communism. He was not involved with the communist movement and was later acquitted for lack of evidence.
Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball played Lucy in “I Love Lucy,” and in 1953, Ball was asked to testify in front of the HUAC, fortunately, her interviewer was a big fan of the show and didn’t arrest her.
Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert was listed during the red scare but was fortunately looked over because of his efforts during WWII.
John Ireland
Ireland was blacklisted and then he fought against the authorities by suing for slander and defamation. He was granted a cash settlement and he continued to act.
Nat Hiken
Hiken was blacklisted for hiring blacklisted actors for his 1955 movie Car 54.
Pert Kelton
Kelton’s career was practically stifled immediately because of the blacklist. She was accused of having communist ties after her first appearance on the screen, after that, she never saw another role.
Will Geer
Geer never saw a full blacklisting, but his roles significantly fell off when he was being investigated by the HUAC. He finished his career early because of the downturn.
Langston Hughes
Hughes was blacklisted because his poetry was occasionally used in communist papers, without his consent.
Gypsy Rose Lee
Lee was a burlesque dancer who attended communist meetings, she was arrested and blacklisted.
Leonard Berstein
Bernstein is considered to be one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He was suspected to be a communist but that was never proved. He was blacklisted anyways.
John Garfield
Garfield was arrested on conspiracy and refused to name any names (he didn’t know anyone involved with communism). His career died immediately, and he ended up committing suicide.
Burl Ives
Ives was considered a communist because of his involvement with American labor unions. This was proven untrue and he was able to continue his career as a folk singer and actor.
Uta Hagen
Hagen was affiliated with the blacklisted producer Paul Robeson. By association, she was blacklisted as well.
Artie Shaw
Shaw was a renowned clarinetist and bandleader. He attended communist meetings and was blacklisted because of that.
Dashiell Hammett
Hammett was a proud member of the America Communist Party. When challenged in court, he did not deny his involvement and was locked up for five months.
Daniel Trumbo
Trumbo was seriously affected by the red scare in Hollywood. The allegations against him were completely baseless, and he ended up getting permanently blacklisted.
Brendan Fraser
Fraser was beloved in the late 90s all the way into the early 2010s. He, unfortunately, met his screen demise when he presented some allegations against Philip Burke. Fraser claimed that he had been sexually assaulted by Burke on the night of the Golden Globes award ceremony. Burke was the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and whether the allegations were true or not, Fraser has not appeared in a film since. He now spends his time in his mansion outside of NYC, raising his kids and horses.