Today, comment threads can make or break you, something these sketchy celebrities never had to deal with …

It takes a certain kind of human to change the course of the planet. There are heroes, villains, inventors and go-getters who spend an entire life’s work being more so than the commoner, directing their own path to enact world-defining outcomes. But as reality goes, being human means making mistakes.

Then there’s the Internet, indiscriminately cataloging lapse of judgments and delivering them to a connected audience for instant critique. The mass of twisted and tangled fibers is relentless in its influence and continually forces visionaries to be more accountable for wrongdoings than they might have been in the past. One slight misstep of today, and an empire of labor can come crashing in on itself.

So what if something like the Internet were around the entire time current trailblazers were forming their paths? Would it have embellished careers with irreparable damage to the point their transformative influence would no longer be a factor? How exactly would we be any different as a society, if they were never given a chance to do what they’ve done, all in the name of a weekly village shaming in the electronic courtyard?

The following celebrities have all done horrendous things ranging from small time hustling of a business partner to all out unforgivable rape of countless women. They’re also, for better or worse, defining icons in our current popular culture and have managed to build viable careers with public ignorance acting as their biggest supporter. Some have apologized and made things right, others ignore the acts altogether, but the one thing in common is they were all never held accountable like they would be now. Because the Internet.

Steve Jobs


While working for Atari in the early ‘70s, Jobs asked friend Steve Wozniak — who would later co-found Apple with him — to help with an engineering issue. Claiming he would give Wozniak half the reward after completion, Jobs never actually told him how much he received and scammed Wozniak out of $2,150, a fact he never knew until a book was later written about Jobs. He has said the deception brought him to tears, but that it was just the way Jobs was, as his reputation around Silicon Valley is for ruthlessly harvesting ideas, repackaging them and brilliantly selling them to consumers with a less than ethical approach.
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Mark Wahlberg


In 1988, at age 16, Mark Wahlberg attacked a middle-aged Vietnamese man all in the name of racial supremacy. While delivering hateful slurs, Wahlberg beat the man unconscious with a stick and was eventually caught, charged with attempted murder and jailed for the assault. “I did a lot of things that I regretted and I certainly paid for my mistakes,” Wahlberg said of the incident. It wasn’t until he began doing right by others, he says, and mentoring city kids that he felt guilt grew to a place of forgiveness. The victim himself has even forgiven Wahlberg. A pardon is still under review.
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Dr. Dre


After selling Beats Electronics to Apple, Andre “Dr. Dre” Young inched himself closer to being the first billionaire in rap. The climb to the absurd level of money-tinged power isn’t without hiccups, however, as Dre is still haunted by the Jan ‘91 beating of Pump It Up host Dee Barnes. He once told Rolling Stone, “It ain’t no big thing – I just threw her through a door.” Singer and ex-girlfriend Michel’le also claims he beat her until her nose was broken while they were together and often had to hide black eyes at performances. He’s since apologized, but are those ever enough?
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Bill Cosby


One of America’s most iconic TV dads is allegedly (yeah, right, “allegedly”) a drugging/raping scumbag, and claims of his creepiness date back to the late ‘60s. As the rumors of his inner-circle goes, many knew about his behavior and often cracked jokes about inviting Cosby to parties. His habitual assaults never made it anywhere close to the public eye and spent many decades in secrecy. For now, most of the events have reached statute of limitations, so it’s unlikely he’ll ever see his day in court — but where the law failed, public shaming has taken over. Finally.
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John Lennon


Politically oblivious, desperate for attention and hotheaded are ways John Lennon is rarely categorized in the arena of public opinion. Once thought of as a pseudo-messiah for the hippie generation, the Beatles musician rarely lived his personal life the way he portrayed himself to be in public. Well documented, his fits of domestic rage were mercilessly taken out on his first wife Cynthia and later Yoko Ono. His son Julian has also proven claims against the “Imagine” singer of emotional abuse and neglect. “Imagine all the people / Living life in Peace,” he sings. Huh …
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Paul Walker


The first of several Fast and The Furious movies was released in 2001 and nitro-boosted the entire cast into screen-racing deities. Later, in 2006, Paul Walker (then 33 years old), met his eventual fiancé Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell — a 16-year-old sophomore in high school. While different cultural standards may be at odds with the 17-year age gap, federal law clearly makes it criminal to engage in a sexual act with another person between the age of 12 and 16 if they are at least four years younger. Twitter would have went in on the inappropriate relationship, without question.
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Hillary Clinton


Tales of Hillary Clinton being a an abusive spouse towards Bill have appeared in published reports such as the Washington Post, Washingtonian, Newsweek and the biography “Hillary’s Choice” — written by influential author Gail Sheehy. Punching, scratching and home décor launch-fests are all said to have happened for reasons ranging from the pervasive Monica Lewinsky scandal to Bill hosting singer Barbara Streisand over as a guest to the White House. Both Bill and Hillary have been publicly vocal about their disdain for domestic violence, but have always kept mum about their own. Do as I say, not as I do?