Not Ranked, but you be the judge.
7) R. Kelly
Despite a reputation that’s been damaged for years, R&B veteran R. Kelly faced a new day when he became the feature of Lifetime’s TV series Surviving R. Kelly, a documentary that reveals disturbing stories from past accusers, details about his marriage to the late singer Aaliyah (underage at the time), and creepy commentary from his brother who was already in jail. Events further escalated when Robert “Pied Piper” Kelly gave us all the greatest performance of his career by jumping up and shouting during his sit-down interview with Gayle King, creating a sad and memeful moment. Kelly’s official 2019 cancellation notice arrived when he found himself indicted on ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and 18 federal counts of child pornography, kidnapping, and forced labor. Finally, justice is served—and it only took the recognition of 30-plus years of ignored, neglected black women to get it.
6) The last season of Game of Thrones
At first, pride would not allow me to admit such a harsh truth: The last season of Game of Thrones was horrible. GOT‘s finale was a heartbreaker. Not for the same reasons stated by too-fast-to-say-trash internet trolls, but because it soon became clear that the creator/producers stopped caring. Case and point: For years the Night King had been developed to be an ultimate, unstoppable, silent supervillain, only to be destroyed in one episode by a rusty knife. Then, Daenerys set an entire city ablaze because of too much caffeine in her Starbucks, while lone series hero Jon Snow checked into rehab due to a disappointing script. With—at minimum—a proper ending, GOT had the potential to be a GOAT. Instead the series delivered the driest TV finale since the last season of Martin, canceling all possible 2019 watch party recaps.
5) Tekashi 6ix9ine
Rainbow-haired rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine was busy making popular shouting music, throwing up gang signs, and being a King Troll of the internet, until his arrest in late 2018. By the start of 2019 he was facing 37 years behind bars. The once proud Nine Trey Gangster, whose birth name is Daniel Hernandez, snitched on everyone—from fellow gang members to aliens from outer space to whoever shot Ghost—for a lighter prison sentence and a Popeyes chicken sandwich.
4) Bryan Singer
Despite facing allegations since 1997 (and making terrible X-Men movies), it wasn’t until 2019 that director Bryan Singer faced sexual assault accusations from four men. After no one believed Singer’s claim that media reporters of the alleged crime were homophobic, he later was fired from planned future projects placing a dark cloud on a commercially successful (yet still terribly trash) movie career.
3) Kodak Black
Kodak Black lived life like he was trying to get canceled. Disrespectful comments about dark-skinned women, numerous legal issues, and IG Live stories that at times could be confused with PornHUB, it was clear that the Florida rapper gave no f***s. However, in 2019 Kodak seemed to achieve a universal response of irritation from the public when he professed his sexual desires for actress Lauren London on (again) IG Live. London was also the long-term partner of then recently murdered rapper Nipsey Hussle. When news broke that Kodak had received a 46-month prison sentence for various criminal charges, there was a huge, unified “DGAF” shoulder hump from the general public.
2) Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman, and the whole Operation Varsity Blues staff and MOFO crew!!!
Rich white women joining together and using their wealth and influence to secure coveted college enrollment for their unqualified, spoiled children is the definition of privilege. Middle-class white America may have been shocked by the actions of Loughlin, their favorite Full House mom. But Black America looked at Huffman, who portrayed a crooked, racist attorney in the biopic When They See Us and felt a widespread “Yea, that’s about right.”
1) Jussie Smollett
Cue Tyra Banks’s “WE WERE ALL ROOTING FOR YOU!!!” gif. Personally, when first hearing the story of Empire TV star Jussie Smollett being the victim of a hate crime, I chose to keep quiet because last I checked not even a gay 2Pac craves a late-night Subway sandwich. Social media platforms were flooded heavy with pics of Smollett holding his right hand across his chest with the caption WARRIOR. That same public love took an immediate dive once stories surfaced of the incident being a fake. The alleged accusers were a sibling pair of Super Sayain Nigerian brothers who were as far from being white racist rednecks as Rachel Dolezal being cast in Living Single. As a result, Empire fired Jussie Smollett, social media support evaporated, and the only lesson learned was that fame is a drug stronger than any mentioned in a Rick James story.
