WThe Boycott against Xiao Zhan Incident, also known as the 227 Incident, is a 2020 online controversy that originated between the fans of Chinese actor Xiao Zhan and Archive of Our Own users in Mainland China. The incident started when internet censorship group Great Firewall of China blocked the fan fiction publishing platform Archive of Our Own in the country, due to concerns of the actor's fanbase regarding vulgar and explicit content from the site. The controversy lead to cyber violence and boycotting against Xiao Zhan, his fans, endorsed products, luxury brands, and other Chinese celebrities involved with the actor.
WThe Burning Sun scandal, also known as Burning Sun gate, is a 2019 entertainment and sex scandal in Seoul, South Korea, which involved several celebrities, including Korean idols of popular K-pop groups, and police officials. It was the largest scandal to hit the K-pop industry. The allegations of sex crimes involved added to the country's "epidemic" of what is called molka, a Korean word for the online distribution of unconsented sex videos taken of women, and the scandal became fodder for political parties, who argued over how to handle it.
WThe casting couch is a euphemism for the practice of soliciting sexual favors from a job applicant in exchange for employment in the entertainment industry, primarily acting roles. The practice is illegal in the United States. Predominantly male casting directors and film producers use the casting couch to extract sex from aspiring actors in Hollywood, Bollywood, Broadway, and other segments of the industry. The term casting couch originally referred to physical couches in the casting office, but is now a metonym for the phenomenon as a whole. Depictions of casting couch sexual encounters have also become a genre of pornography.
WOn October 7, 2016, during the 2016 United States presidential election, The Washington Post published a video and accompanying article about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and television host Billy Bush having "an extremely lewd conversation about women" in 2005. Trump and Bush were in a bus on their way to film an episode of Access Hollywood, a show owned by NBCUniversal. In the video, Trump described his attempt to seduce a married woman and indicated he might start kissing a woman that he and Bush were about to meet. He added, "I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything." Commentators and lawyers have described such an action as sexual assault.
WElsagate is a neologism referring to the controversy surrounding videos on YouTube and YouTube Kids that are categorized as "child-friendly", but which contain themes that are inappropriate for children. Most videos under this classification are notable for presenting content such as graphic violence, sexual situations, fetishes, obscene language, drugs, alcohol, injections, toilet humor and dangerous or upsetting situations and activities.
WFrank Farian (né Franz Reuther; born 18 July 1941 in Kirn is a German record producer and songwriter who founded and was the voice behind the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M. and the Latin pop band No Mercy. His practice of creating bands with visual images distinct from their recorded performances, as he did with his band Milli Vanilli, has led to controversy throughout his career. He owns the record label MCI and several subsidiaries.
WEric Francis Coppolino is an American investigative reporter who specialized in corporate fraud and toxic torts litigation, and also the former astrologer for the New York Daily News and Marie Claire magazine.
WThe Hello Pappy scandal, alluding to the nickname of television personality Willie Revillame and the Hello Garci scandal, was a scandal surrounding an incident during the August 20, 2007, episode of the Filipino variety show Wowowee, broadcast by ABS-CBN. During the episode, a technical error occurred during the final jackpot round of the show's "Wilyonaryo" segment which raised allegations within the media that the segment was, or could have been, rigged by the producers. The incident prompted an investigation by the country's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and was also the catalyst of an on-air feud between Revillame and Joey de Leon, a personality from the rival GMA Network.
WCharles William Ingram is a former British Army major who gained infamy for his appearance on the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. In episodes recorded in September 2001, Ingram correctly answered fifteen questions to win the show's maximum prize of £1 million, but was denied the winnings due to suspicion of cheating. Following a lengthy trial at Southwark Crown Court, Ingram was convicted on a single count of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception. He was subsequently convicted of an unrelated offence involving insurance fraud in 2003, and ordered to resign his commission as a major by the Army Board.
WThe Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk chatrooms was a South Korean entertainment and sex scandal publicized in 2019 as part of the Burning Sun scandal. The two scandals were tied together by the release of revealing KakaoTalk messages that exposed alleged crimes at the Burning Sun nightclub, and separately, by K-pop singer and entertainer Jung Joon-young and his friends and colleagues.
WMan vs. Wild, also called Born Survivor: Bear Grylls, Ultimate Survival, Survival Game, or colloquially as simply Bear Grylls in the United Kingdom, is a survival television series hosted by Bear Grylls on the Discovery Channel. In the United Kingdom, the series was originally shown on Channel 4, but the show's later seasons were broadcast on Discovery Channel U.K. The series was produced by British television production company Diverse Bristol. The show was premiered on November 10, 2006, after airing a pilot episode titled "The Rockies" on March 10, 2006.
WMilli Vanilli was a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, All or Nothing in Europe, reconfigured as Girl You Know It's True in the United States, achieved international success and brought them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 21 February 1990.
WMinami Minegishi is a Japanese idol, singer and actress, represented by Production Ogi. She was a member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48, and its subunit no3b. She is noted for having the longest tenure among the group's original members from 2005 to 2021.
WFabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan is a French singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and model. He was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, with Rob Pilatus, selling multi-platinum albums around the world. However, he was later involved in one of the largest scandals in pop-music history when it was revealed that neither he nor Pilatus had actually sung on any of Milli Vanilli's recordings. After the scandal, the group reformed as Rob & Fab in the 1990s with limited success. Morvan had a solo comeback in the 2000s, releasing his first solo album, Love Revolution.
WOur Little Genius is an unaired game show that was created by Mark Burnett, and was originally scheduled to premiere January 13, 2010 on Fox. Hosted by Kevin Pollak, the series was to feature children answering questions on expert subjects to win money for their families, with their parents able to ask experts for advice.
WLouis Jay Pearlman was an American record producer. He was the creator of successful 1990s boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. In 2006, he was accused of running one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in US history, leaving more than $300 million in debts. After being apprehended, he pled guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. In 2008, Pearlman was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He died in federal custody in 2016.
WRobert Pilatus was a German singer, dancer, model, and rapper. He was a member of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli with Fabrice Morvan.
WQuiz Show is a 1994 American detective docudrama produced and directed by Robert Redford, and written by Paul Attanasio, based on Richard N. Goodwin's 1988 memoir Remembering America: A Voice From the Sixties. It stars John Turturro, Rob Morrow and Ralph Fiennes, with Paul Scofield, David Paymer, Hank Azaria and Christopher McDonald appearing in supporting roles.
WThe halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004, from Houston, Texas, on the CBS television network, is notable for a moment in which Janet Jackson's breast — adorned with a nipple shield — was exposed by Justin Timberlake to the viewing public for approximately half a second. The incident, sometimes referred to as Nipplegate, led to an immediate crackdown and widespread debate on perceived indecency in broadcasting.
WTwenty-One is an American game show originally hosted by Jack Barry that aired on NBC from 1956 to 1958. Produced by Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions, two contestants competed against each other in separate isolation booths, answering general-knowledge questions to earn 21 total points. The program became notorious when it was found to be rigged as part of the 1950s quiz show scandals, which nearly caused the demise of the entire genre in the wake of United States Senate investigations. The 1994 movie Quiz Show is based on these events. A new version of the show aired on NBC in 2000 with Maury Povich as host.
WAman Verma is an Indian television anchor and actor. As an anchor, Verma is best known for hosting the game show Khullja Sim Sim on Star Plus from 2001 to 2004. His other hosting duties were with Mini Mathur in the first season of Indian Idol on Sony TV and Zee TV's Zee Cinestars. He has also acted in Bollywood movies. Verma was also seen in Life OK's show Hum Ne Li Hai- Shapath as ACP Diler Kumar. He also participated in the ninth season of Indian reality series Bigg Boss.
WDuring his career as a film producer, Harvey Weinstein, formerly of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company (TWC), exploited his influential position to commit criminal sexual acts including rape.
WIn August 1992, American filmmaker and actor Woody Allen was accused by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow, then aged seven, of having sexually molested her in the home of her adoptive mother, actress Mia Farrow, in Bridgewater, Connecticut. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegation.