Celebrity turkeys of 2019

By Mark Gray 9:40am PST, Nov 25, 2019

Nobody is perfect, that we know. But some people — including celebrities — have made some really big blunders or boneheaded decisions that warrant attention. In honor of Thanksgiving, Wonderwall.com is taking a look at the biggest celebrity turkeys of 2019, starting with Khloe Kardashian's ex Tristan Thompson. On Feb. 17, the NBA star had a party at a rented house in Los Angeles, and Kylie Jenner's then-BFF, model Jordyn Woods, attended. There, the two got very close — so close that Tristan kissed her. Mind you, at the time, he was still dating Kylie's sister Khloe — the mother of his daughter, True — and Jordyn was still Kylie's longtime BFF and practically a family member. Khloe ended things with Tristan, who'd cheated before, and Jordyn was kicked out of the Kardashian-Jenner clan's lives; she later claimed she wasn't a homewrecker. Later in the year, Tristan blamed the Kardashian-Jenner family for making the story as big as it was, and he also started posting flattering comments on Khloe's Instagram, but she didn't bite. Keep reading for more celebrity turkeys of 2019…

Hannah Brown thought she'd found her happily ever after when Jed Wyatt proposed to her on the season finale of "The Bachelorette" in 2019. She said yes, and all was well. But not long after the finale was filmed, Hannah found out that Jed had a girlfriend when he went on the show. The musician and singer-songwriter Haley Stevens were apparently four months into a relationship when he flew to Los Angeles to compete for Hannah's heart. People magazine even published a a photo of a note that Jed left for Haley before he headed to L.A. "Haley, you're truly an amazing person," the note read. "Someday we will be thankful for all of this. You know where my heart will be. See you at the dock, J." Hannah dumped her fiancé before the season finished airing and, needless to say, fans of "The Bachelorette" aren't the biggest fans of Jed anymore.

Southern California was burning (literally) in October. More than 10,000 buildings and homes were evacuated and 700 acres were reduced to ashes. There was a tremendous fear that the Santa Ana winds would make the fires spread and decimate even more areas. But for some reason, model Sofia Richie decided to use her Instagram to speak about how the wind was affecting her hair. "Santa Ana winds — messy bun," Scott Disick's girlfriend captioned a snapshot on Oct. 28. Fans bombarded her comments, pointing out how tone deaf the caption was. She tried to do some damage control later that day, writing on social media, "Sending my love and prayers to everyone affected by the fires. Tonight's wind is going to be brutal. Please stay safe." But it was too little too late.

Rapper T.I. made headlines in November when he said in an interview that he accompanies his 18-year-old daughter, Deyjah Harris, to the gynecologist every year to ensure that she's still a virgin. Say what?! The rapper made the controversial revelation while speaking on the "Ladies Like Us" podcast. A ton of listeners shredded T.I., arguing that he was invading his daughter's privacy and his social media pages were overrun with critical comments. As his quotes went viral, podcast hosts Nazanin Mandi and Nadia Moham deleted the episode. As comments reached a fever pitch, his daughter ended up unfollowing her father on Instagram. She also "liked" several tweets calling T.I. possessive and controlling.

These two finally ended things for good in October, but it took far too long to get there. "Jersey Shore" star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro and girlfriend Jen Harley, the mother of his toddler daughter, went back and forth with their toxic relationship all year long, continuing to reconcile after multiple breakups. Their drama literally started as they rang in the New Year when Jen allegedly threw an ashtray at Ronnie's head during a New Year's Eve fight. After that, she said he ransacked her house. They both accused each other of infidelity along the way too. Yet they continued to get back together. Finally, they split (for good?) days after their latest reunion following a disturbing argument in October in which police used a taser on Ronnie and handcuffed him to a gurney in the wake of a misdemeanor domestic violence incident to which he's since pleaded not guilty.

It took Gina Rodriguez not one but two times to get it right. In October, the "Jane the Virgin" actress said the N-word on Instagram while singing along to a Fugees song. She even giggled after uttering the verse. Fans weren't having it, so Gina deleted the video and made an attempt at an apology. "I just wanted to reach out and apologize. I am sorry," she explained on social media on Oct. 15. "I am sorry if I offended anyone. My singing along to the Fugees, to a song I love that I grew up on, I love Lauryn Hill. And, um, I really am sorry if I offended you." Fans weren't moved by her somewhat passive-aggressive apology, so she issued another one later that day. "The word I sang, carries with it a legacy of hurt and pain that I cannot even imagine. Whatever consequences I face for my action today, none will be more hurtful than the personal remorse I feel," she wrote in a Notes app statement, adding that the "lesson" she's learned is "humiliating." "I feel so deeply protective and responsible to the community of color, but I have let this community down. I have some serious learning and growing to do and I am so deeply sorry for the pain I have caused."

Beep, beep, beep. Hear that? That's the sound of Mario Lopez attempting to back up after making some controversial comments about transgender children. "My God, if you're 3 years old and you're saying you're feeling a certain way, or you think you're a boy or a girl or whatever the case may be, I just think it's dangerous as a parent to make that determination then," he told conservative commentator Candace Owens in June on her YouTube show. "It's sort of alarming and, my gosh, I just think about the repercussions later on." He added, "You don't know anything about sexuality yet … You're just a kid," words that drew criticism for incorrectly conflating gender identity and sexual orientation. Mario also spoke about the #BelieveWomen hashtag, calling it a "dangerous hashtag because people lie and sometimes those people are women." After his comments made headlines, Mario didn't back down from his thoughts on #BelieveWomen, but he did totally backtrack on his comments about kids. "The comments I made were ignorant and insensitive, and I now have a deeper understanding of how hurtful they were," he said. "I have been and always will be an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ community, and I am going to use this opportunity to better educate myself. Moving forward I will be more informed and thoughtful."

Months after a scandal involving Prince Andrew's old friendship with businessman Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, resurfaced in August in the wake of the pedophile financier's suicide, the royal gave a disastrous interview to the BBC that was widely branded a "car crash." The Duke of York offended many viewers when, in the November sit-down at Buckingham Palace, he failed to show a lack of remorse concerning his friendship with the dead alleged sex trafficker and also seemingly minimized Epstein's behavior by saying he "conducted himself in a manner unbecoming." Andrew also angered people when he failed to explicitly sympathize with Epstein's victims — one of whom has long claimed the financier forced her to sleep with Andrew when she was 17 (the prince denies it) — during his interview with journalist Emily Maitlis. On Nov. 20, Andrew announced that he was taking a "step back from public duties for the foreseeable future."

Jenni "JWoww" Farley's boyfriend, Zack Carpinello, publicly apologized in October for getting flirty with "Jersey Shore" star Angelina Pivarnick while JWoww was inebriated during a wild night out earlier this year. MTV cameras caught the flirtatious interaction. "I made mistakes that I cannot take back, which I take full responsibility for," Zack wrote on Instagram. "Jenni does not deserve any damage from anybody else. This is on me. I sincerely apologize to Jenni. I apologize to Angelina as well." JWoww broke up with Zack after watching the video when it aired on "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation" in October. "I feel disrespected by someone I called a friend and by someone who stated they loved me," she said. The duo appeared to be working things out in the weeks following their split.

Michael Che didn't know when to let off the gas. The "Weekend Update" co-anchor received backlash two weeks in a row for jokes he made on "Saturday Night Live." In late October, he referred to transgender reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner as a "fella." Just as the dust settled from that joke (one that many didn't find funny), Michael was accused of being sexist and ageist for telling several jokes about a woman who gave birth at 67. After his first punchline, he said he actually preferred others and proceeded to say those too.

For months, former "Teen Mom" star Jenelle Evans and her now-estranged husband David Eason denied that he killed their dog, Nugget, after it nipped at their daughter. Jenelle also, however, told investigators that David killed the dog. In typical Jenelle fashion, she then started changing her story, saying she heard a gunshot but didn't see anything. After that, she backtracked more and said she didn't hear anything. After that, she said she didn't know where the dog was and she "couldn't remember" if David told her he killed Nugget. Then (because this story continues), police said Jenelle told them she made up the dog-killing story for publicity because she "did not know where her dog was." Finally, in September, they admitted during an interview that he did indeed kill the dog. The next month, Jenelle filed for divorce.

Tyrese Gibson just can't get over Dwayne Johnson. After The Rock's "Fast & Furious" spinoff, "Hobbs & Shaw," opened in August, Tyrese took to social media to slam Dwayne, claiming the opening was a failure. "I have to show my respects for one thing…. He tried…….. Folks called me a hater…. Attacked me for speaking out…..Breaking up the family clearly doesn't have the value that one would assume it does," Tyrese wrote, referring to the new film's $180 million debut. "You know what maybe just maybe… The Rock and the crew will come dance with us again for #Fast10 we can all hug it out and get back to giving the true fans who have supported this franchise for 20 years WHAT they want……..No hating I'm just pointing out the facts." The movie, by the way, was a huge success that raked in $700 million internationally. It was also one of the top 10 highest grossing films of the year. In October, Tyrese refused to talk about The Rock in an interview.

Liam Neeson seems to always be on the up and up, but he made a big, big blunder in early February when he told a story about his reaction after learning a friend was raped 40 years ago. Liam said he wanted to kill a "black bastard" after learning of the incident. The backlash against the actor for his racist comment built all month. On Feb. 5, Liam went on "Good Morning America" to attempt to explain. "I thought I was defending her honor," he said, adamant that he isn't a racist or bigot today. He told host Robin Roberts that back then in the moment, he didn't think about the fact that he could have killed a totally innocent person. Liam added that he knows he was wrong and that he realized that a few days later when his "primal hatred" subsided. On Feb. 5, just a few hours after his "GMA" interview, the red carpet for Liam's film "Cold Pursuit" was canceled. The comments were akin to kryptonite. Co-star Michelle Rodriguez tried to support Liam, but she had to apologize after public outcry.

Steve Harvey felt the wrath of Twitter when he argued that money was more important than integrity. The comments came while he chatted with Mo'Nique on his talk show in February. The two were arguing over her claim she'd been blackballed in Hollywood, largely due to her refusal to go on a press tour for Lee Daniels' film "Precious" in 2009. "Before the money game, it's called the integrity game and we've lost the integrity worried about the money," she told Steve. He shot back, "If I crumble, my children crumble, my grandchildren crumble. I can not for the sake of my integrity stand up here and let everybody that's counting on me crumble so that I can make a statement. There are ways to win the war in a different way." We understand what you were trying to say, Steve, but there are also ways to win that argument in a different way.

Was Aaron Carter flipping dogs? That seemed to be the case, at least based on an Instagram video he posted. In August, the singer showed off the new 10-month-old English bulldog that he adopted from Los Angeles's Lancaster Animal Care Center. "This is my new buddy. So by the way, if I can't keep him, I am going to be listing him," he said in the now-deleted video. "If anyone wants to have my English bulldog, he's being sold for $3,500." Aaron later insisted it was a joke… ya know, because jokes about flipping rescue dogs for profit are always cool jokes.

It feels wrong to come down on Kevin Hart considering he's recovering from an awful car accident, but his baffling blunder, widely seen as homophobic, needs to be pointed out. In September, HBO released a clip from its show "The Shop" featuring Lil Nas X, Kevin and others. After the show's host asked the "Old Town Road" rapper why he felt it was important to him to come out as a gay man while his single soared, Kevin repeatedly interrupted the music star as he answered. "He said he was gay, so what?" Kevin said (to be fair, others agreed with him). The host then pointed out the relevancy of the question. Lil Nas X said he was "grown up" to "hate" homosexuality. Kevin chimed in, "Hate what?" Lil Nas X gave him the perfect answer: "Come on now. If you really from the hood, you know." Many saw Kevin as the bully who wasn't letting the young rapper tell his story. As is usually the case, Twitter was not too kind to Kevin.

This is not rock 'n' roll. "School of Rock" star Joey Gaydos Jr. was arrested four times in five weeks in the early spring for allegedly heisting a few guitars and an amplifier. He's now facing charges of larceny and grand theft. Police claim Joey, 27, went into several music stores in Florida and asked to test out guitars. He would then allegedly leave with them and try to sell them to area pawn shops.