Two actors’ behavior was so abhorrent, their characters were killed off their hit shows so that they could never, ever come back!

As a staff writer at BuzzFeed, I write about all things celeb, pop culture, and books.

Warning: This post mentions rape, sexual abuse, the use of racial and anti-gay slurs, and substance abuse.

When the flight landed, law enforcement was waiting to question Thornton, who was reportedly wearing a Wheel of Fortune sweatshirt.

Responding to TMZ's post about the alleged incident, Thornton's lawyer, Allison Hart, said that the chatroom was "not unlawful" and that "there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content." Hart added, "My client never viewed, downloaded, or consumed any child pornography, whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time."

The lawyer also said, "[Thornton has] become active in suicide-prevention advocacy since losing a close family member to suicide two years ago, and he has spent time visiting chat rooms offering support to individuals suffering from suicidal ideation."

Per TMZ, Thornton said that an acquaintance from a suicide prevention group sent him a link to a different chat room, and he left after finding out what it was. 

Hart and Sony Pictures Television have not responded to BuzzFeed's request for comment.

Amidst the scandal, Hammer dropped out of the J.Lo-led rom-com Shotgun Wedding. In a statement to Variety, he said, "I'm not responding to these bullshit claims, but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic. Lionsgate is supporting me in this, and I'm grateful to them for that."

A rep for the film said, "Armie has requested to step away from the film, and we support him in his decision."

She continued, "He enters your life in such a big way. He's such a captivating person. He has such a presence, and he's aware of that, and he uses it in such a way that most women would think, 'Oh my gosh, this is amazing,' but especially young women, that's kind of the scary part — how good he is at active manipulation and making you feel like he's never felt this way about anybody. ...

He quickly grooms you in the relationship. He kind of captivates you, and while being charming, he's grooming you for these things that are darker and heavier and consuming. When I say consuming, I mean mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, just everything."

She alleged that he became "obsessive," and it got to the point that she "wasn't safe." She also claimed that he did drugs and drank "all the time" and put her in "dangerous situations."

She said, "You end up doing things that are very out-of-character for you, including sex acts." After they broke up, she admitted herself to a "30-day partial hospitalization program for PTSD and trauma."

Hammer's reps didn't respond to Page Six's request for comment at the time.

Describing her experience seeing the alleged DMs, she said, "I saw these screenshots, and my stomach just dropped, like, holy fuck. Because he would say things to me...weird stuff...like, 'I want to eat your ribs.' The scariest part of it is that I did love him in a way. I would've let him kind of do anything. He had a certain hold over me."

She spoke up to hold him accountable and to support the other women who were speaking out.

Lorenze also told DailyMailTV, "Once, he said, 'If you did not tell me to stop, I would eat a piece out of you.' And he was serious, too. It was like he actually wanted to eat my flesh away. He wanted to find a doctor in LA, so that he could remove one of my ribs, as 'you do not need it' and then barbecue it and eat it while I watch. He said that more than once. He was very serious."

In a statement, Hammer's lawyer, Andrew Brettler, said, "All interactions between Mr. Hammer and his former partners were consensual. They were fully discussed, agreed upon in advance with his partners, and mutually participatory. The stories perpetuated on social media were designed to be salacious in an effort to harm Mr. Hammer, but that does not make them true."

The LAPD investigated Hammer for sexual assault after Effie reported it.

Hammer's lawyers told the Guardian, "From day one, Mr. Hammer has maintained that all of his interactions with [the accuser] – and every other sexual partner of his for that matter – have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory. [Her] attention-seeking and ill-advised legal bid will only make it more difficult for real victims of sexual violence to get the justice they deserve."

 In 2023, prosecutors declined to charge Hammer because "due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter, [they] are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt."

He also claimed that, when he was 13, his youth pastor sexually abused him.

He said he was a victim of "this cancel-culture, woke-mob business."

Hammer attempted a comeback with the controversial 2026 thriller Citizen Vigilante.

A few days later, he appeared on the Late Show With David Letterman to apologize. He said, "I was at a comedy club trying to do my act, and I got heckled, and I took it badly and went into a rage. For me to be in a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this. ... You know, I'm a performer. I push the envelope; I work in a very uncontrolled manner on stage. I do a lot of free association, it's spontaneous, I go into character."

Kyle Doss, one of the audience members Richards targeted, told Today, "He apologized on camera just because the tape got out. He could have contacted me easily. He could have got a hold of me and apologized, but he didn't."

However, Richards did call civil rights and social justice activist Reverend Al Sharpton. Sharpton told CNN, "I [told Richards] you need to sit down and deal with this. This is not about accepting an apology; this is about starting a process to really deal with the continual problem of racism in this country. ... I think that what he did was so injurious that he has to sit down with a group and decide how he tries to ... deal with healing the obvious problem he's got in his own mind and his own heart, because it couldn't come out of you if it wasn't in you."

In 2024, while promoting his memoir Entrances and Exits, Richards told People, "I was immediately sorry the moment I said it onstage. I'm not looking for a comeback. My anger was all over the place, and it came through hard and fast. Anger is quite a force. But it happened. Rather than run from it, I dove into the deep end and tried to learn from it. It hasn't been easy. Crisis managers wanted me to do damage control. But as far as I was concerned, the damage was inside of me. ... I'm not racist. I have nothing against Black people. The man who told me I wasn't funny had just said what I'd been saying to myself for a while. I felt put down. I wanted to put him down."

Barr didn't stop there. She also posted and retweeted far-right conspiracy theories about Soros. 

In a statement, his spokesperson told the New York Times, "George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary as a 13-year-old child by going into hiding and assuming a false identity with the help of his father, who managed to save his own family and help many other Jews survive [the] Holocaust. He did not collaborate with the Nazis. He did not help round up people. He did not confiscate anybody's property. Such false allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honors the truth. They are an affront to Mr. Soros and his family, who, against the odds, managed to survive one of the darkest moments in our history."

On the MSNBC town hall Everyday Racism in America, Jarrett said, "This should be a teaching moment. ... I'm fine. I'm worried about all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers coming to their defense. The person who's walking down the street minding their own business, and they see somebody cling to their purse or want to cross the street, or every Black parent I know who has a boy who has to sit down and have a conversation, 'the talk' as we call it, and as you say, those ordinary examples of racism that happen every single day. I think that's why I'm so glad to be here this evening talking with all of you."

Barr later tweeted, "I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter. ... I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste."

She also hosts The Roseanne Barr Podcast.

However, Loughlin didn't suffer long-term damage to her acting career. In 2021, she reprised her When Calls the Heart role on the spin-off, When Hope Calls. Her full-time return to the original series was announced in 2025.

In a statement, Sheen said, "It is a big day of gladness at the Sober Valley Lodge because now I can take all of the bazillions, never have to look at whatshiscock again, and I never have to put on those silly shirts for as long as this warlock exists in the terrestrial dimension."

He was replaced by Ashton Kutcher for the final four seasons.

Sheen later expressed regret over his behavior, telling Fox News Sunday, "There was 55 different ways for me to handle that situation, and I chose number 56. And so, you know, I think the growth for me post-meltdown or melt forward or melt somewhere — however you want to label it — it has to start with absolute ownership of my role in all of it. And it was desperately juvenile...I think it was drugs or the residual effects of drugs...and it was also an ocean of stress and a volcano of disdain. It was all self-generated, you know."

He said, "[CBS] chose to make a moral decision as opposed to a financial one. But people were really frightened that they were signing off on what could have had devastating consequences. This was not a game. This was drug addiction writ large. This was big-time cocaine and in his own words, an 'epic drug run' that could have ended with either his death or someone else's."

Sheen's biggest credit since being fired was Anger Management, which ran for 100 episodes.

He and Lorre reunited for the 2023 HBO Max series Bookie. In his documentary aka Charlie Sheen, the actor said, "What I've come to really embrace in all this time since…so much of the anger in my personal life, and the anger and the frustration of two failed marriages and four new children and not finding any real success in those pursuits, I decided to take out on Chuck."

Later that night, Smith took home the Best Actor award. 

Four months later, Smith addressed the slap in a YouTube video. He said, "I've reached out to Chris, and the message that came back is that he is not ready to talk — and when he is, he will reach out... I will say to you, Chris: I apologize to you. My behavior was unacceptable, and I'm here whenever you're ready to talk... I spent the last three months replaying and understanding the nuances and the complexities of what happened in that moment. I can say to all of you, there is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment...to handle a feeling of disrespect or insults."

In her memoir Worthy, Pinkett Smith said, "I thought, ‘This is a skit.' ... I was like, ‘There's no way that Will hit him.' It wasn't until Will started to walk back to his chair that I even realized it wasn't a skit... We had been living separate lives and were there as family, not as husband and wife. But when I hear Will yell 'wife' in the chaos of the moment, an internal shift of 'Oh shit...I am his wife!' happens instantly."

Previously, she spread misinformation about voter fraud and shared a meme criticizing mask-wearing during the pandemic on Twitter.

In 2025, Disney and Lucasfilm settled a wrongful termination lawsuit with Carano.

Additionally, Deen denied using the n-word in reference to her restaurant's servers, adding, "Because that's not what these men were. They were professional Black men doing a fabulous job." 

In a statement, her lawyer, Bill Franklin, said, "Contrary to media reports, Ms. Deen does not condone or find the use of racial epithets acceptable. She is looking forward to her day in court."

In an apology video that was later deleted, Deen said, "Inappropriate, hurtful language is totally, totally unacceptable. ... I've made plenty of mistakes along the way but…I beg for your forgiveness."

In a second video, she said, "[I want] people to understand that my family and I are not the kind of people that the press is wanting to say we are… Your color of your skin, your religion, your sexual preference does not matter to me."

A judge later dismissed Jackson's racial discrimination suit because, as a white person herself, Jackson was not a victim of alleged discrimination against Black employees. Her sexual discrimination suit was also dismissed with prejudice. 

Deen went on to compete on Dancing With the Stars in 2015. She later began hosting new shows, like Positively Paula and Paula Deen's Sweet Home Savannah. These shows are not on Food Network.

Since then, Armstrong has been the subject of several documentaries as well as the 2015 biopic The Program. He also competed on Stars on Mars, a Fox reality show where celebrities live in a Mars simulator, in 2023.

The incident spurred Knight to publicly come out as gay. He told People, "I guess there have been a few questions about my sexuality, and I'd like to quiet any unnecessary rumors that may be out there. While I prefer to keep my personal life private, I hope the fact that I'm gay isn't the most interesting part of me."

Washington apologized for his behavior, telling People, "I sincerely regret my actions and the unfortunate use of words during the recent incident on-set. Both are beneath my own personal standards. I have nothing but respect for my coworkers and have apologized personally to everyone involved."

He continued, "I apologize to T.R., my colleagues, the fans of the show, and especially the lesbian and gay community for using a word that is unacceptable in any context or circumstance. I marred what should have been a perfect night for everyone who works on Grey's Anatomy. I can neither defend nor explain my behavior. I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help. ... I know a mere apology will not end this, and I intend to let my future actions prove my sincerity."

He also planned to meet with representatives from GLAAD.

Washington went on to star on The 100 for five seasons. In more recent years, he hosted Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk on Fox Nation and appeared in the Christian movie series God's Not Dead. He also became an outspoken Republican.

On Twitter, Elton John — who founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992 — said, "We've been shocked to read about the HIV misinformation and homophobic statements made at a recent DaBaby show. This fuels stigma and discrimination and is the opposite of what our world needs to fight the AIDS epidemic. The facts are: HIV has affected over 70 million people globally: men, women, children and the most vulnerable people in our communities. In America, a gay black man has a 50% lifetime chance of contracting HIV. Stigma and shame around HIV and homosexuality is a huge driver of this vulnerability. We need to break down the myths and judgements and not fuel these.

You can live a long and healthy life with HIV. Treatment is so advanced that with one pill a day, HIV can become undetectable in your body so you can't pass it onto other people.

Homophobic and HIV mistruths have no place in our society and industry and as musicians, we must spread compassion and love for the most marginalised people in our communities. A musician's job is to bring people together."

DaBaby (kind of) apologized on Twitter, writing, "Anybody who done ever been effected by AIDS/HIV y'all got the right to be upset, what I said was insensitive even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies But the LGBT community... I ain't trippin on y'all, do you. y'all business is y'all business."

His next album, Baby on Baby 2, reportedly sold 16,500 units in its first week, a sharp decline compared to his previous album, Blame It on Baby, which sold 124,000 album-equivalent units during release week. Basically, his first post-controversy album only sold 13% of the units that his previous album sold! His other recent activities include supporting Trump (2022), pleading guilty to misdemeanor simple battery (2024), and performing in Russia (2025).

He continued, "I always thought Holly Robinson Peete was gorgeous. Every white dude loved Hilary from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And Kerry Washington. She's superhot, and she's also white-girl crazy. Kerry Washington would break your heart like a white girl."

He also made sexual comments about Washington.

"Mayer did say one smart [thing] in the interview: 'I think the world would be better off if I stopped doing interviews.' Amen," Ford said.

Simpson also responded to the interview. On The View, she said, "He'll never have this napalm again. ... My phone has been ringing. It's more embarrassing because I'll walk into a restaurant or something, and I'll notice that more men are looking at me, and I feel like they're undressing me."

She also said that Mayer apologized to her, but "at this point, it doesn't really matter."

He continued, "While I'm using today for looking at myself under harsh light, I think it's time to stop trying to be so raw in interviews… It started as an attempt to not let the waves of criticism get to me, but it's gotten out of hand and I've created somewhat of a monster. I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock. I don't have the stomach for it."

He also told the New York Times, "The elephant in the room is that we're sort of talking about the double-headed dragon of the [controversial sexually explicit] Rolling Stone interview and the Playboy interview. ... What has to happen for a guy to believe that he's totally well-adjusted and be that far out of touch? My GPS was shattered, just shattered."

He obsessed over the idea of outsmarting the "clichéd rock star" trope. He said that his big mouth was his "own grenade" and that he became "a Mack Truck without brakes."

During his break from the spotlight, he quit drinking and started therapy. 

She said, "I was at a prayer meeting yesterday, and you gotta appreciate how scared folks on that side of the equation are. I mean, from their vantage point, and I really shouldn't say 'their' because it's mine too, we are nearly at the end of time. And from our vantage point, we're gonna be, uh…once Prop 8 [which intended to ban same-sex marriage in California] gets instated, and once preachers are held at gunpoint and forced to marry the homosexuals, then I'm pretty sure that will be the signal for Jesus to come on back."

She released the following open letter: "I do not, nor have I ever, said or believed that God hates homosexuals (or anyone else). I said that some of His followers believe that. I believe intolerance comes from fear, and these folks are genuinely scared. When I said 'Twitter that Michelle Shocked says "God hates [slur],"' I was predicting the absurd way my description of, my apology for, the intolerant would no doubt be misinterpreted. The show was all music, and the audience tweets said they enjoyed it. The commentary came about ten minutes later, in the encore.

And to those fans who are disappointed by what they've heard or think I said, I'm very sorry: I don't always express myself as clearly as I should But don't believe everything you read on facebook or twitter. My view of homosexualty has changed not one iota. I judge not. And my statement equating repeal of Prop 8 with the coming of the End Times was neither literal nor ironic: it was a description of how some folks - not me - feel about gay marriage. The show, and the rant, was spontaneous. As for those applauding my so-called stance that 'God Hates [slur],' I say they should be met with mercy, not hate. And I hope that what remains of my audience will meet that intolerance with understanding, even of those who might hate them. 

Folks wonder about my sexuality, but denying being gay is like saying I never beat my husband. My sexuality is not at issue. What is being questioned is my support for the LGBT community, and that has never wavered. Music and activism have always been part of my work and my journey, which I hope and intend to continue. I'd like to say this was a publicity stunt, but I'm really not that clever, and I'm definitely not that cynical.

But I am damn sorry. If I could repeat the evening, I would make a clearer distinction between a set of beliefs I abhor, and my human sympathy for the folks who hold them. I say this not because I want to look better. I have no wish to hide my faults, and - clearly - I couldn't if I tried."

In a second statement, she added, "I stand accused of forsaking the LGBT community for a Christianity which is – hear me now - anathema to my understanding of faith. ...  To be clear: I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of any so-called faith preaching intolerance of anyone."

She told the Scotsman, "I want to tell the story in Edinburgh about a boldness and audacity. It's not a victory lap, but it is a story of resilience. What is my relationship to the audience coming to see the show? Am I relating to them as if they are all the bootleggers because that's been my experience, or am I relating to them as the people that nurtured and sustained me so that, after being canceled for 13 years, I still have a platform to tell my story? I'm nervous because I don't know who I am talking to."

Williams told Investigation Discovery, "Jerry came back home. He said, 'Come outside. I want to show you something.' He pulled this paper out, and I looked at it, and it said, 'marriage license.' And I looked at it, and I said, 'You mean we're married?' And he said, 'No, no, no, no. We're not married. We're gonna get married.' And I said, 'What?' And he caught me by my arm, and he turned me around, and he said, 'Myra, I love you, and I wanna marry you.' I think I just melted..."

When her father, J.W. Brown, discovered that she and Lewis had eloped, he "got his gun."

Williams told the LA Times, "That was not a happy moment. Daddy felt very betrayed by that. I was his 13-year-old little girl... The minute Daddy left the house, my mother called [Sun Records founder] Sam Phillips and said, 'Oh my God, you're not gonna believe what's happened, Sam.' Mom said, 'Jerry and Myra have gotten married. And Jay [J.W.] has his pistol. He's on his way to Sun Records. You better get Jerry out of there.'"

So, Phillips ran Lewis off, telling him, "I don't care where you go, just go." During the three or four days he was gone, Phillips convinced Brown to accept the marriage.

Williams said, "Sam Phillips was a real talker, let's put it that way. He could convince you that whatever you were seeing wasn't there. ... There was just no choice. I mean, killing Jerry was not an option. It was his first thought, but it wasn't an option."

However, Lewis continued making music and doing theater, and around 10 years later, he staged a comeback as a country singer.

Williams was 14 when she gave birth to their son, Steve Allen Lewis, who drowned in a swimming pool at age 3 in 1962, and 18 when she had their daughter, Phoebe. In 1970, at 26, she filed for divorce, alleging Lewis had abused her and committed adultery — stating she'd been "subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable."

Williams co-wrote the 1982 book Great Balls of Fire: The Uncensored Story of Jerry Lee Lewis, which was made into a movie starring Winona Ryder as Williams and Dennis Quaid as Lewis. She also published her memoir, The Spark That Survived, in 2016.

If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453(4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger as a result of domestic violence, call 911. For anonymous, confidential help, you can call the 24/7 National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or chat with an advocate via the website.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here. 

If you or someone you know has experienced anti-LGBTQ violence or harassment, you can contact the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs hotline at 1-212-714-1141.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) and find more resources here.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; GoodTherapy.org is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy.