Celebs Whose Bad Behavior Came Back To Haunt Them In 2024

This article includes references to substance abuse, child abuse, and sexual assault.

When historians look back at 2024, there will be an awful lot to unpack about the year that was. While America's presidential race tended to dominate the headlines, there was also a lot of celebrity news in the spotlight, from Taylor Swift's massively successful Eras Tour — and her romance with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce — to the long-awaited arrival of the "Wicked" movie, the second "Bennifer" split, and so much more. 

Meanwhile, fans also said goodbye to several stars. Some of these exits were not entirely unexpected — 91-year-old music producer Quincy Jones, for example — yet some were tragically well before their time, including One Direction's Liam Payne, "Friends" star Matthew Perry, beloved fitness guru Richard Simmons, and Shannen Doherty of "Beverly Hills, 90210" fame, to name just a few.

During the year, there were also a considerable number of celebrities who found themselves in the spotlight due to their misdeeds. This list includes some major music moguls, a disgraced former matinee idol, a notorious conspiracy theorist, a comedian from a popular TV show, and even a former mayor of New York City. To find out more about the poor choices these folks made, and the consequences they faced, read on for a rundown of some celebs whose behavior came back to haunt them in 2024.

During the 2010s, Armie Hammer was one of Hollywood's hottest rising stars, headlining major motion pictures, including 2017's Oscar-nominated "Call Me by Your Name." In January 2021, an Instagram account shared text messages that the married actor had allegedly sent, featuring disturbing descriptions of kinky sex and fantasies of cannibalism. One ex, Courtney Vucekovich, confirmed the latter when she told Page Six, "He said to me he wants to break my rib and barbecue and eat it." Suddenly, more accusations emerged, as did reports of Hammer exiting various film and television projects, while his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Elizabeth Chambers, issued a statement via Instagram in support of his alleged victims. When a woman came forward to claim that Hammer had raped and physically abused her, he was dropped by talent agency William Morris Endeavor.

Fast-forward to 2024. In the years since then, Hammer's fall from grace had been something to behold. This downfall has included a scandalous TV docuseries called "House of Hammer" in which exes and his own family members dished dirt on him, a retreat to the Cayman Islands with reports he was supporting himself by selling timeshares, and being sued by American Express over an unpaid credit card balance of more than $60,000. 

In August 2024, Hammer shared a video of himself via Instagram, back in Los Angeles, alongside the truck that he'd bought himself in 2017. "Since being back in LA, I have put about $400 or $500 worth of gas in it, and I can't afford it. I can't afford the gas anymore," he lamented, revealing he was planning to trade in the gas-guzzler for an energy-efficient hybrid.

Thanks to his Infowars media empire, Alex Jones has become America's pre-eminent conspiracy theorist. Over the years, he's made countless dubious claims, including his assertions that chemicals covertly added to drinking water resulted in gay frogs, that the government controls the weather in order to weaponize it against citizens, and, of course, his frequent insistence that the tragic Sandy Hook school shooting was "completely fake," and that everyone involved in the "hoax" were bogus "crisis actors."

Eight families who lost their children in the massacre sued Jones. When the case went to trial, Jones was trounced; the jury awarded the families damages of nearly $1 billion. As of December 2024, Jones has yet to pay a dime of that settlement, which had grown to $1.5 billion as Jones attempted to protect himself by filing for bankruptcy. The families subsequently agreed to accept a far smaller sum by offering Jones the option of paying them $85 million over a 10-year period. 

At a bankruptcy auction, Jones' Infowars was sold to satirical news site The Onion, which planned to boot him out of Infowars' headquarters in Austin, Texas, and relaunch the whole thing as a parody. A judge, however, blocked that sale due to claims that the $1.75 million paid was too low, with the legal wrangling set to continue into 2025. 

There have been whispers about Sean "Diddy" Combs' shady behavior for years, but the you-know-what hit the fan in March 2024 when federal Homeland Security agents raided the billionaire music mogul's Beverly Hills mansion. Among the items seized by authorities were more than 100 bottles of baby oil, which were allegedly earmarked for use in Combs-orchestrated orgies dubbed "freak offs." In September, he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, with prosecutors alleging a years-long pattern of kidnapping and drugging women and coercing them into engaging in sexual activity. 

It all began in late 2023 when singer-model Casandra Ventura sued him over shocking allegations of sexual and physical abuse, which led to several other women launching similar suits — including one from a woman who claimed to have been underage when Combs and others sexually assaulted her. Following Combs' arrest, he was hit with more than 100 new allegations and even more lawsuits; one of these included the heinous accusation that Combs raped a 10-year-old boy who was auditioning for his TV reality competition, "Making the Band."

To emphasize the seriousness of the prosecution's case, he was denied bail three times due to evidence indicating that he'd engage in witness tampering if released. As of December 2024, Combs remained behind bars at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center until the start of his trial in May 2025. During that time, he entered a plea of not guilty and repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.

One of the numerous lawsuits filed against Sean "Diddy" Combs named another famous rap mogul, Jay-Z. In that suit, the anonymous accuser claimed that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by both men during a 2000 house party after the MTV VMAs. She was allegedly just 13 years old at the time. 

Jay-Z — whose real name is Shawn Carter — has denied the accusations. "My lawyer received a blackmail attempt, called a demand letter, from a 'lawyer' named Tony Buzbee," he said in a statement posted to social media, characterizing the lawsuit as a shakedown. "What he had calculated was the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle. No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!"

When the accuser went public, giving an interview to NBC News, she admitted her story may contain some inconsistencies but insisted she was assaulted as she'd claimed. However, Jay-Z's lawyer, Alex Spiro, pointed to those inconsistencies as reason to throw out the whole lawsuit. "We are asking the Court to dismiss this frivolous case today," Spiro said in a statement to Page Six. Meanwhile, one day after the lawsuit's allegations made headlines, Jay-Z accompanied his wife, Beyonce, and daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, to the premiere of Disney's "Mufasa: The Lion King."

Justin Timberlake may be a married husband of two — he and wife Jessica Biel share sons Phineas and Silas — but he's also demonstrated a disappointing shady side. His various scandals over the years have included allegations that he cheated on Biel with actor Olivia Munn in 2010 and his hand-holding PDA with "Palmer" co-star Alisha Wainwright in 2019.

In June 2024, Timberlake was pulled over in the Hamptons after cops witnessed him running through a stop sign and then driving erratically. After performing abysmally in field sobriety tests, he was placed under arrest on suspicion of DUI; he reportedly told cops he'd had just one martini. 

When Timberlake appeared in court the following month, he entered a guilty plea to a charge of driving while ability impaired. He was sentenced to perform 25 hours of community service, pay a $500 fine, and make a public safety announcement. He apparently fulfilled the latter in a statement he made to reporters outside the courthouse after sentencing. "Even if you had one drink, don't get behind the wheel of a car," he said, as reported by Variety. "This is a mistake that I made, but I'm hoping that whoever's watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake. I know that I certainly have." He also told reporters that he regretted getting behind the wheel in the condition he was in. "I did not live up to the standards that I try to hold for myself," he added, via the Associated Press.

Country star Morgan Wallen has been no stranger to controversy over the years, and his shady side has been well-documented. However, his earlier scandals paled in comparison to what took place in April 2024, when he and some pals were imbibing on the rooftop bar at Chief's, the Nashville watering hole owned by country music star and devotee of aviator shades Eric Church. 

As Nashville's WSMV4 reported, in the midst of their drunken revelry, Wallen impulsively hurled a chair off the roof, laughing uproariously as it crashed down on the busy street six stories below. As (bad) luck would have it, the chair nearly hit a pair of Nashville's finest on the sidewalk, who didn't find the flying chair to be nearly as hilarious as Wallen did. The officers arrested him and charged Wallen with several felonies — each of which carried up to two years in prison. After he was released on bail, he tweeted a statement of contrition. "I'm not proud of my behavior, and I accept responsibility," he wrote.

When Wallen finally appeared before a judge that December, he entered a guilty plea. He was sentenced to seven days behind bars, which he'd serve in a DUI education center. He was also placed on probation for two years and ordered to pay court fees and a $350 fine.

Canadian fashion designer Peter Nygård was once known for his successful line of women's apparel and his own flamboyant personal style. These days, he's better known as a convicted sex offender, having been found guilty of four counts of sexual assault at his November 2023 trial.

For Nygård, his downfall began with his 2020 arrest on multiple charges of racketeering and sex trafficking — including accusations of trafficking minors. According to the nine-count grand jury indictment, that had been going on for decades. "Mr. Nygård vehemently denies the allegations and expects to be vindicated in court," his attorney, Jay Prober told NBC News at the time.

Clearly, that was wishful thinking; in September 2024, 83-year-old Nygård was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In his sentencing, reported BBC News, Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein described Nygård as a "sexual predator," adding, "He used his wealth and his power to commit four sexual assaults." 

The 2020 murder of Chicago rapper King Von came back to haunt hip-hop star Lil Durk in 2024. That September, Lil Durk — whose real name is Durk Derrick Banks — was charged with his alleged involvement in a 2022 murder-for-hire scheme targeting rapper Quando Rondo, in retaliation for the latter's alleged connection to the demise of rapper King Von.

According to the New York Post, Rondo wasn't injured in the 2022 shooting, but his 24-year-old cousin, Saviay'a Robinson, suffered fatal injuries. Not long after that, it was reported reported that an affidavit from an FBI agent claimed that Lil Durk — suspected of having deep ties to Chicago criminal gangs — was behind another murder-for-hire plot, offering cash for the killing of the men behind the 2021 murder of his brother, Dontay Banks.

Rolling Stone reported that Judge Patricia Donahue denied his lawyer's proposal that the rapper be freed on $3.3 million bail, citing her concerns over public safety were he to be set loose. "The allegations are not that the defendant personally pulled the trigger," she said, identifying Lil Durk as the ringleader who'd been pulling all the strings behind the scenes. "The allegations are that the defendant exercises a significant amount of control over others."

Comedian Jay Johnston has appeared in such TV series as "Mr. Show with Bob and David," "The Sarah Silverman Program," "Arrested Development," and, from 2011 until 2021, as the voice of antagonist Jimmy Pesto in Fox animated hit "Bob's Burgers." His most recent appearance, however, wasn't in a TV show or movie, but in a courtroom in front of a judge. 

Back in 2021, his face was featured in a tweet issued by the FBI, suspected to be one of those to have committed violence during the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. He was subsequently identified and arrested in 2023. According to court documents obtained by Global News, he used a stolen police shield to protect himself and others from Capitol Police. "Johnston then participated with other rioters in a group assault on the officers defending the LWT entrance," the document stated.

That finally caught up with him in October 2024, when Johnston was sentenced to a year in prison for his participation in the insurrection. In the sentencing memorandum from his attorney (via USA Today), Johnston admitted that his actions not only placed him in legal peril but had also slammed the brakes on his career, claiming he "was subsequently publicly dropped from various projects and has effectively been blacklisted by the film and television industry."

Singer and rapper Sean Kingston is best known for his 2007 hit "Beautiful Girls," but there was nothing beautiful about the day in May 2024 that he and his mom were arrested after a SWAT team raided his rented mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mother and son were charged with fraud, stemming from a lawsuit from Ver Ver Entertainment, claiming he refused to pay the tab for the installation of a mammoth 232-inch television. The company claimed Kingston asked for credit and a low-down payment in exchange for having Canadian pop star Justin Bieber (with whom he collaborated in the 2010 track "Eenie Meenie") appear in commercials for the company — which never happened.

The Associated Press offered more details, with authorities claiming that was just the tip of the iceberg; in fact, Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, were alleged to have ripped off more than a million bucks worth of stuff in recent months, including cash, jewelry, furniture, and a Cadillac Escalade. "It is amazing what you can get away with if you are a celebrity," attorney Dennis Card, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ver Ver Entertainment, told AP. "He creates this larger than life, 'I am rich' persona. His mother is a necessary component in this. He presents himself as a family-oriented guy, 'I'm taking care of my mom,' but she knows full well what is going on."

Kingston and Turner were subsequently arraigned; according to the federal indictment, each was facing up to 20 years in prison.

As lawyer for Donald Trump during the waning days of his first stint as president, Rudy Giuliani was tasked with proving in court that Joe Biden's election as America's 46th president had been fraudulent. While the former New York City mayor didn't win a single case, his false claims of a stolen election caught up with him in 2024 when he was disbarred. 

As consequential as that may seem, Giuliani took an even bigger hit when he went to court to fight a defamation lawsuit brought by Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, two Georgia election workers whom he'd falsely accused of committing election fraud. He lost that case and filed for bankruptcy the day after he was ordered to pay the women $146 million in damages.

That bankruptcy unfolded over the course of 2024, with Giuliani repeatedly missing deadlines and basically ignoring his obligations — to the point that the judge overseeing the case threw it out entirely. "Transparency into Mr. Giuliani's finances has proven to be an elusive goal," said Judge Sean Lane, citing Giuliani's repeated pattern of "uncooperative conduct," reported PBS News. He was ordered to turn over his New York apartment, valuable sports memorabilia, 26 expensive watches, and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz SL 500 that had once been owned by screen legend Lauren Bacall. In November 2024, Giuliani appeared in federal court to explain why he had yet to relinquish $11 million worth of assets, while the judge allowed his lawyers to remove themselves from his employ. During that court appearance, Giuliani took the opportunity to complain. "I don't have a car. I don't have a credit card," he said, raising his voice in agitation, reported Politico. 

If you or anyone you know needs help with substance abuse, child abuse, or sexual abuse, contact the relevant resources below:

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

• The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

• The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).