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In 1968, Andy Warhol announced that "In the future everyone, will be famous for 15 minutes". What he should have said was everyone will be hated on the Internet for 15 minutes. Thanks to social news formats like Twitter and Reddit, we now have access to breaking scandals as and when they happen.
Earlier this year, author Jon Ronson wrote So You've Been Publicly Shamed. In his book, he looks into our ever-growing fascination with public humiliation and shaming online. Judges have the power to hand out sentences but often the Internet takes on their own form of punishment. Hundreds of YouTube videos engage in public shaming and our own vigilantism has become almost a form of entertainment.
When a single photograph goes viral, then almost overnight a person can have their life ruined to the point where they would have to relocate entirely. These following twenty people discovered this the hard way. They each have had their fair share of hate on the Internet and in some extreme cases this even involved serious death threats.
20. Josh Duggar
TLC is a channel notorious for making awful people famous. This year they had a sudden setback when one of their most-watched shows, 19 Kids and Counting, was pulled off air. The reason behind this drastic decision was because one of the stars of the show, 27-year-old Josh Duggar, admitted to shocking revelations surrounding child molestation. Aged 14-years-old, he molested seven young girls including his two sisters, Jessa and Jill.
To make matters worse, his parents Jim Bob and Michelle gave an interview to Megyn Kelly on Fox which was a disaster. They openly admitted that the church, which Duggar was sent to for rehabilitation and correction, didn't think it was that big a deal. The Duggars then continued to update social media with family events prompting hundreds of outraged comments. Many wrote they were "disgusted" that he still had access to young children. The social media backlash is still ongoing.
19. Mary Snell & Britton Engel
In 2013, the Internet did not respond well to an awful case of animal cruelty. Mary Snell of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, placed her puppy in a small see-through bag so she could show her friends on Facebook how small the 8-week-old Chihuahua was. Her 21-year-old son, Britton Engel, then took the picture and posted it online. Outraged Facebook users quickly reported the pair to the police.
The pathetic stunt was capable of killing the puppy, named Baby, yet Snell showed little remorse. She told reporters, who appeared outside her home, that she just wanted the small creature to hold still long enough so she could take the picture. Snell and her son were charged with felony animal cruelty. Still to date this disturbing picture is shared online along with hateful comments aimed at the family.
18. Pamela Foreman
Pamela Foreman was a Christian YouTube user, going by the name of TamTamPamela, who shocked the world after the Japanese Tsunami in 2011. She uploaded a video online thanking God for sending the Tsunami and claimed the disaster was, "God literally waking people up and saying 'You are going to hell'".
The uproar online was so severe that she was even sent death threats. Her personal phone number and her home address were also posted online. According to the internet rumours, she went into hiding and the YouTube account has since been removed.
17. Melissa Bachman
In 2013, Melissa Bachman became public enemy number one when she posted pictures online of her beside a dead lion. Bachman, who worked as an American TV presenter, did not just stalk and kill the King of the jungle but several other big game animals. She had uploaded all the pictures, which also included alligators and zebras, to her Facebook under the album title "Africa 2013".
South Africa pleaded for Bachman to be denied future entry into the country. They sent a letter to the South African government stating, "She is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation, this country prides itself on. Her latest Facebook post features her with a lion she has just executed and murdered in our country." They had the support of the entire internet who started hate campaigns against her. This even lead to her losing work after she was removed as a contestant on the National Geographic show, Ultimate Survival Alaska. There had been a petition with 13,000 signatures for her removal.
16. Jennifer Ringley
Jennifer Ringley is a long-term internet personality and lifecaster. Between the years of 1996 and 2003, she set up cameras around her home and people could log in and view her entire life online. There was no filter, meaning that some days fans would even catch her in the midst of sexual intercourse.
Jennicam, as her website was named, was visited by 3 million visitors on average each day. With the money made from the views, her fans watched her move out of her college dorm and buy into a luxury apartment. In 2003, she cancelled the website citing PayPal's new anti-nudity policy. Many have held her personally responsible for "dumbing down the internet" as she pioneered essentially reality TV so early on. Basically, Ringley could be held responsible for the Kardashian craze but nobody deserves that kind of accusation.
15. Jack Jones
Jack Jones is a British internet prankster who often uploads his assaults on the public to his Vine or Facebook account. His standard prank is walking up to women, announcing they are now an item and grabbing for their hands or stealing hats from innocent passers by. His YouTube account receives thousands of hits but none of the benefits go to the people who are forced to feature in his clips, as he pushes the camera right in their face.
It did not go well when he took his pranks over to America. He climbed inside a guys car in a parking lot and putting on a funny voice said, "Hello my friend, I have come here to work and clean the car." The owner of the vehicle shouts at him to get out the car and eventually he has a gun pointed right in his face. Although Jones managed to get away unhurt, it is just a reminder that when you are forcing yourself onto people without permission then eventually you are going to meet the wrong person
14. Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber should never Google himself because the Internet is full of hate for the Where Are You Now? singer. The heavily tattooed, pot-smoking, DUI charged, 21-year-old has been trying to shake off his "cute popster" image for years, and he's going the right way. Even 'Beliebers', a name given to die hard fans of his, are growing up and approaching their early twenties.
Bieber suffers from the common celebrity disease which is: overexposure. Not a week goes by without a new scandal or controversial comment reported to have come from him. The Canadian born singer has a current estimated net worth sitting at $200 million, so we're not too sure he'll be that upset over his status as the most hated pop star on the Internet.
13. Jessica Tridevil
Last year the Internet went crazy when a three-breasted woman, who went by the name of Jessica Tridevil, appeared from nowhere. She claimed that the surgery she underwent to add to her assets was in a bid to have her own reality television show. The story went viral around the world with people imagining all kinds of Total Recall fantasies but sadly it was all a hoax.
Alisha Hessler is the woman behind the persona of Tridevil. She was rumbled by 10 News when they received an incident report from Tampa International Airport. When Hessler reported her baggage as stolen the property receipt listed a prosthetic breast as one of the contents. Nice try Hessler, but your fifteen minutes of fame are up.
12. Curtis Lepore
Curtis Lepore was the frontman for hardcore band GHOSTxSHIP for five years until 2012. He then became a Vine star who grew a huge following of eight million followers. The 32-year-old also dated Jessi "Smiles" Vazquez and the pair were one of the first Internet celebrity couples. Adored by millions together they had the world at their feet.
That was until October 2013, when Lepore allegedly raped Vazquez. She stated that when she was recovering from concussion, Lepore came over to help her and then raped her. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $100,000 bail, the rape charges were later dropped and he took a plea deal where the rape charges were dropped and replaced with felony assault. The Internet backlash was so intense that Lepore was dropped from a television project alongside Rainn Wilson.
11. Perez Hilton
Perez Hilton is known online as the "Blogger From Hell." His website PerezHilton.com posts celebrity scandals and embarrassing pictures receiving an average of 8 million hits per day. PageSixSixSix.com named it "Hollywood's Most-Hated Website".
Born Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr is an out gay man yet he is notorious for outing other celebrities. Many gay rights communities have criticised his tactics in outing people without consent or prior warning. Kim Ficera of AfterEllen.com wrote, "I have to question the character of a man who attacks others on such deeply personal levels, without provocation and for self-benefit, monetary or otherwise."
10. The Jenner Sisters
Kendall and Kylie Jenner once revealed they don't know what life is like not being famous. The twosome first appeared on Keeping Up With The Kardashians in 2007, when they were just little girls and now they have grown into global pop culture monsters. They are everywhere on the Internet right now and people are getting quite sick of their "famous for being famous" celebrity.
Earlier this year, 18-year-old Kylie Jenner purchased a $2.7 million five-bedroom mansion in Calabasas, California to share with her rapper boyfriend, Tyga. 19-year-old Kendall Jenner purchased her own $1.4 million, two-bedroom Los Angeles condo. They have the world at their feet and it appears this Kendall and Kylie craziness is not going away anytime soon.
9. Walter Palmer
Walter Palmer is a dentist from Minnesota who made the biggest mistake of his life when he paid $50,000 to embark on a guided hunt in Zimbabwe. Here he stalked a 13-year-old lion, named lovingly by locals as Cecil, and show him down with a bow and arrow. The endangered beast was left to suffer for forty hours alone until they returned with a rifle to finish him off. They then skinned and beheaded his body.
His death caused a huge public outcry. Cecil was a big attraction for tourists visiting the Gwayi Conservancy of Hwange District. What Palmer did was illegal although he remains adamant that he thought his hunt was perfectly legal. The website for his dental practice had to be taken down after receiving more than 3,400 vicious reviews. His practice was boarded off and he fled with his family into hiding.
8. Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus has been through quite the transformation over the past few years. From squeaky-clean Disney star to pot-smoking, undressing, wild child. Her outfit choices have been a discussion point online with many people trying to work out exactly what goes on in this girls head.
The Wrecking Ball singer has been focusing less on her music and more on courting controversy including naked photo shoots and rubbing herself sexually with a giant foam finger at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. The 22-year-old has just released her new album, Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Pets. Yes, really.
7. Nash Grier
17-year-old Nash Grier is an Internet celebrity and Vine personality with over nine million followers online. He caused outrage when he uploaded a Vine which featured an OraQuick at-home oral HIV test ad and then himself screaming into the camera: "faaaaag!"
YouTube star Tyler Oakley tweeted to his two million followers: "Promoting a false stereotype that HIV only affects gays to his millions of teen fans is extremely dangerous." In a separate tweet he also wrote: "Call me and people like me, 'fag' all you want, but spreading false information about deadly diseases is next level." Grier did apologise for his homophobic outburst in a public statement saying he "was young, ignorant, stupid and in a bad place,” and he has “nothing against anyone or anything that promotes equality.”
6. Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan is a treasured Hollywood superstar, a kung fu comedy genius, animal rights activist and proud fundraiser for many children's charities - and China hates his guts. Chan gave an anti-protest speech in 2012 which for China, a proud country of free speech, was a massive insult.
His social media is littered with comments from those who believed he had sold out to the government. Weibo is China's answer to Google and basically Chan is like the Bieber of their own Internet. With the love we feel for him over here, he will always be loved at least somewhere in the world.
5. Matt Forney
Blogger Matt Forney actually embraces the fact that he is the most hated man on the Internet. The 26-year-old is an online troll who first started his blog MattForney.com to keep as an online diary of his hitchhiking trip around America. He then noticed that his posts which were offensive towards women were getting quite the attention online. One of his previous articles was: Why Fat Girls Don't Deserve To Be Loved. When people started to react badly to his work, he just grew in notoriety and currently receives around 150,000 hits per day.
His most recent article, Why Girls Rarely Mean No When They Say No reads: "When dealing with girls, always remember the “broken windows” theory of crime: if you let someone get away with small infractions, you make it more likely that they’ll commit bigger ones as time goes on. If you violate a girl’s boundaries in small and petty ways, she will gradually warm up to whatever degrading acts you want her to perform." Not only is his work disgustingly objective and misogynistic it's also socially damaging.
4. Taylor Chapman
27-year-old Indiana born Taylor Chapman, who had previously worked as a spokeswoman for top restaurant chains, took it upon herself to make a video of her racially abusing Dunkin' Donuts employees. She went into the store to complain to an overly polite employee that she had not received a receipt for her last purchase. She announced, "This is all being under video surveillance."
She then complained about a female employee who she had already had spoken to. She addressed her as, "a complete c*** sand n***** w***e." She then went on to say, "So I hope your happy with your f*****g sand n***** w***e self. Cause I'm about to nuke your whole f*****g planet from Mars. You think y'all tough Arabs bombin' the trade center? I'll show you tough." She then announced that she hoped her video got a million hits on Facebook. Well, be careful what you wish for because it did and she was arrested in 2011.
3. Noel Biderman
Noel Biderman is the former CEO of Ashley Madison, a website which specialises in setting up extra-marital affairs. The slogan of the website was: Life Is Short, Have An Affair. He resigned in July after hackers exposed the identities and personal data of almost 30 million online members. The hackers, who are still unknown, also published Biderman's personal emails which detail that he also enjoyed multiple affairs.
Avid Life Media have now taken over the company but still face a lawsuit which claims that the personal data leak could have been prevented had they taken, "necessary and reasonable precautions to protect its users' information, by, for example, encrypting the data." The ongoing court case has been reported as a class-action suit which is seeking $760 million in damages.
2. Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian is possibly the most hated celebrity on the Internet. Her "famous for being famous" career, which stemmed from an x-rated video tape made with an ex, has placed her on our newsfeed for what feels like forever. Each year we cross our fingers and hope the Kardashian trend will die out but it's a bug, with big eyelashes, that can not be squashed.
Kim is the most popular celebrity on Instagram with 45 million followers. Yet just one look at the comments and it's apparent that they are not all fans. With ever photo comes online abuse as people campaign against her. She is worth an estimated $85 million, which is not too bad for a woman who got famous for having a big booty and maybe that alone is why we all hate her.
1. Hunter Moore
Hunter Moore has landed himself the title of "the Internet's most hated man" after being named and shamed as the operator of a revenge porn website, IsAnyoneUp.com. He published naked photographs of thousands of women without their consent creating himself a revenue of $10,000 a month.
Women would plead with Moore to remove their images, which were often submitted to his site by ex-boyfriends seeking revenge, but these requests were ignored. The victims also suffered further harassment when their home location and social media details were also published alongside the images.
Finally, in 2014, shortly after the "Fapgate" incident, the FBI raided his home in Sacramento, California that he shared with his parents. In February 2015, Moore plead guilty to aggravated identity theft and aiding unauthorized access of a computer. He also agreed to three years of supervised probation, a minimum $500,000 fine and an order that he delete all the data on computers that were seized. He will be sentenced in September this year.
Sources: entrepreneur.com, thesmokinggun.com, mattforney.com, huffingtonpost.com,
afterellen.com, wtsp.com, reason.com
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