Long history of pop stars acting badly
Why can’t pop stars behave? Since the beginning of time, they have been throwing tantrums, flashing their private parts in public spaces and fighting the law (the law usually wins). We take a look at some of the biggest offenders.
Justin Bieber:
He may not be making much music these days, but the 19-year-old Canadian pop star is making plenty of headlines. In January, Bieber was charged with DUI, driving with an expired license and resisting arrest by police in Miami after drag racing a yellow Lamborghini through a residential neighborhood. Bieber also recently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor vandalism charge for throwing eggs at a neighbor’s house in Los Angeles, and he’s also been accused of assaulting a limo driver in Toronto and roughing up a photographer back in Miami. The kid is prolific.
Jim Morrison:
The Doors frontman liked to get a rise out of his fans. But in 1969 Miami police alleged that he crossed the line when, during a concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium, he inquired if 10,000 of them would like to see some personal anatomy. There was never any proof that Morrison actually exposed himself, but a year after the incident he was sentenced to six months in prison for indecent exposure and using profanity. He died in Paris while his appeal was pending. In 2010, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist finally put the matter to rest by pardoning the Lizard King.
Lady Gaga:
You don’t want to take her out to the ballgame. The pop singer was allegedly banned from the New York Yankees clubhouse in 2010 after she attended a game dressed in underwear, then proceeded to drunkenly slur her words and repeatedly grab her breasts while meeting the team. Just a week before, Gaga went to a Mets game dressed in a bra and flipped off photographers, prompting security to move her into comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s box. “This woman is a jerk,” was his response. “You give people the finger and you get upgraded? Is that the world we’re living in now?”
Britney Spears:
The pop singer’s “Mickey Mouse Club” facade began to crack in 2004 after her shotgun Las Vegas wedding with childhood friend Jason Alexander (no, not that one). They were married for 55 magical hours before the union was annulled. “It was me being silly, being rebellious, and not really taking the responsibility of what I was doing, you know?” Spears explained. That was nothing compared to the antics to come: Two years later, she suffered several mental breakdowns after her separation from her second husband, backup dancer Kevin Federline; partied with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan sans underwear; lost visitation rights with her two children; shaved her head; smashed out the windows of an SUV with an umbrella; and released the single “Work Bitch.”
Paul McCartney:
The former Beatle spent 10 days in a Japanese jail in 1980 after he arrived in that country with his band Wings — and half a pound of marijuana. He claimed it was “too good to flush down the toilet” (the weed, not the band). The tour was canceled, and after doing his time, the singer was deported. “It was the daftest thing I’ve done in my entire life,” McCartney said later. Not counting “Ebony and Ivory.”
Ozzy Osbourne:
He famously bit the head off a bat onstage, snorted a row of ants up his nose and, before a 1982 concert, lifted up his dress (don’t ask) and proceeded to relieve himself on the Alamo memorial in San Antonio. But in 1989, Ozzy attempted to strangle his wife, Sharon, after a five-day drinking binge. “I used to black out a lot,” he said. “And my biggest fear was waking up in a police cell and having an old lady say to a police officer, ‘Yes, that’s the guy who ran my husband down,’ or, ‘That’s the guy who hit my son over the head with an ax.’ It used to terrify me, and then it happened.”
James Brown:
In 1988, the soul singer led cops on an interstate car chase that ended after police shot out two tires on his pickup, months after he was arrested on drug and weapons charges. In 2004, Brown was arrested on domestic violence charges after an argument with his wife of three years, Tomi Rae Brown, who allegedly told him she had never divorced her previous husband. From the looks of his mug shot, he must have felt really bad.
Chuck Berry:
The rock ’n’ roll maverick got an early start, earning an armed robbery conviction while still in high school. Years later, in 1959, he served three years at the Indiana Federal Prison for transporting a 14-year-old prostitute across state lines for “immoral purposes.” His response? “She was anything but innocent.” In 1994, Berry was sued by 60 women for allegedly videotaping them in the bathroom of his restaurant in Missouri. Charges were dropped when he agreed to financially compensate the victims.
Jerry Lee Lewis:
The Killer lived up to his name more than once. Two of the serial bigamist’s ex-wives died under unusual circumstances (he was never charged). Meanwhile, he shot his own bass player and stabbed the editor of a country music magazine with a broken bottle. Then there was the time in 1976 when he showed up at the gates of Graceland in his new Lincoln Continental, intent on killing Elvis, but somehow ended up smashing a Champagne bottle in his own face instead.
Boy George:
The Culture Club singer went through a rather long rough spell before recently cleaning up his act, hitting bottom when he was convicted for assault and false imprisonment of a 29-year-old Norwegian male escort in 2007, whom he handcuffed to a wall and beat with a chain after accusing him of hacking into his computer. George was sentenced to 15 months in jail. Two years earlier, police found cocaine in his New York home, resulting in a community service conviction that saw him picking up trash in the streets.
Rick James:
In 1994, the Super Freak was jailed for assault and false imprisonment after he and his girlfriend were accused of kidnapping a 24-year-old woman and burning her with a crack pipe while forcing her to perform sexual acts … for six days. All this happened while James was on parole for kidnapping a music executive and beating her during a 20-hour period. He served two years in Folsom Prison.
Wendy O. Williams:
In 1981, the singer for punk pioneers the Plasmatics caught the attention of Milwaukee police for appearing onstage at the Palms nightclub wearing nothing but shaving cream and electrical tape while simulating fellatio and masturbation with a sledgehammer. And you wonder where Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus get it from.