Do you remember these celebrity horrors of 2022?

Iltalehti brought together the most exciting celebrity news of 2022 from Finland and the world.

Open palm at the Oscars

At the televised Oscar gala at the end of March, there was an arresting moment when the actor Will Smith punched the host of the event Chris Rock after this, Smith’s wife, an actress, joked Jada Pinkett Smith, for baldness due to alopecia. Just moments after the scene, Smith took the stage to collect the award for actor of the year for his role in King Richard.

The punch, seen on live TV, quickly became one of the most viewed videos on YouTube. Smith was banned from the Oscars for ten years for his act.

The trial of the century

The messy divorce of the actor couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard led to defamation charges on both sides, which were discussed in court since the beginning of summer. The trial, closely followed on social media, ended in Depp’s victory, as Heard was ordered to pay her ex-husband Depp more than $10 million in damages. Depp, on the other hand, was ordered to pay Heard two million.

In December, the couple unexpectedly settled their case out of court. With the new contract, Heard has to pay Depp “only” one million dollars.

Accusations on the streaming service

Already in 2020, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan signed a contract worth one hundred million dollars with the streaming service Netflix. In December 2022, the fruits of the collaboration were finally enjoyed when Harry & Meghan’s documentary was released to great fanfare.

In their documentary, Harry and Meghan, who previously had a career as an actress, accuse the British court of, among other things, racism, which partly made them leave their royal duties in 2020. The six-part documentary series has already become one of the most watched series on Netflix.

However, the main event in the royal news this year was the death of Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Elisabeth, who died in September at the age of 96, was the longest-serving monarch of the United Kingdom.

Fraud at Eurovision

A voting scandal was revealed in the Eurovision Song Contest when the juries of six countries were caught in a cheating attempt. According to the European Broadcasting Union EBU, judges from Montenegro, Poland, San Marino, Georgia, Romania and Azerbaijan had agreed in advance to vote for each other.

After the cheating attempt was discovered, the judges’ votes for those countries were re-counted. The fraud did not affect the final result: the overwhelming winner was the Ukrainian Kalush Orchestra with their song Stefania.

Kanye’s Compiled Mixes

During the year, rapper Kanye West has had time to shake things up with his antics. In January, West attacked a man who asked for an autograph and published a song in which he threatens to beat up his ex-wife, reality star Kim Kardashian’s dating partner Pete Davidson. In March, the concert planned for the Grammy gala was canceled due to the artist’s disturbing online behavior.

West’s at least extraordinary statements this year have included, for example, a declaration of love for the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. At Paris Fashion Weeks, the rapper wore a shirt with the racist text White Lives Matter. Due to his anti-Semitic comments, Kanye was also banned from his own Instagram and Twitter accounts.

The mix-up has become costly for West. The long-term collaboration with Adidas ended at the end of the year, when former employees of the clothing brand said that the artist had shown them revealing pictures and videos of Kardashian while they were still married.

Flour gang

In August, videos began to spread on social media showing Prime Minister Sanna Marin (sd) partying with people she knows from the public in a private apartment and nightclub in Helsinki. In addition to Marin, the videos, which contain wild dancing and the legendary “flour gang” exclamation, show several public figures, such as artist Alma, photographer and influencer Janita Autio, presenter Tinni Wikström and musician Olavi Uusivirta.

– I have danced, sung, celebrated and done completely legal things, Marin commented on the uproar. Marin also voluntarily participated in drug tests, the results of which were negative.

Numerous public figures both in Finland and abroad stood up to defend the prime minister. As a result of the dance commotion, Marinia has not only been criticized but also titled as the coolest politician in the world.

The ghetto mass interview

– Holy shit, dude! Are you serious?!

Rapper Gettomasa ie Aleksi Lehikoinen annoyed Keskisuomainen’s editor in November. Supplier Jemo Kettunen didn’t get far in his battery of questions before Gettomasa stopped the interview citing the journalist’s poor preparation.

The interview, which was published in an unusual format, sparked criticism on social media both of Gettomasa, who was considered arrogant, and of the journalist, who did his background work poorly. Some thought the confusing conversation was also planned.

The Bride’s Escape

The farm week of the Maajussille morsian program ended in an unexpected way, when Jonas bride-to-be staying at the farm Wolf and Sophia left for home in the middle of filming. The two had guessed Joonas and Linda’s that the distances have already converged to the point that the choice of country juss is clear.

– You have correctly concluded the situation. You can’t do anything to your feelings, Joonas, who is madly in love, told the program.

Sussi and Sofia packed their things while Joonas and Linda stayed alone at the farm in Kauhava. The couple who found each other through the program are still together.

A battle of champions

Jenni Vartiainen, Kaija Koo, Vesala and Ellinoora toured Finland at the end of the year as part of a joint concert tour. But when the name of the tour was revealed in April at Mestarit Areena, the commotion was ready – with the same name as the artist quartet Hector, Pepe Willberg, Kirka and Pave Maijanen toured already in the 1990s.

– We started this project with joy, with good intentions and on the assumption that all parties are on the side of the issue. We are sorry that the name of the tour has caused resentment, the artists preparing their tour apologized. In the end, the name of the tour was changed to the succinct Mestarit.

The Spede allegations

Lenita Airisto recalls an incident that took place with Pertti Spede Pasanen in his office in Lauttasaari in the early 1990s in her work Noitanainen ilosanoma, published at the beginning of the year.

– Lightning fast, Spede attacked me, knocked me onto the sofa and I felt how his tongue penetrated my mouth. This was not only extremely unpleasant, but also completely unexpected, Airisto writes.

Airisto received not only support but also comments questioning the accusations. After the book was published, Airisto told Iltalehte that more than one person had asked why he was bringing the matter up right now.

– Nothing will change if people are not held to account. And the main point here is what Spede tried to do to me. Rape attempts will not end if they are not reported by name.

Bad deal

Event industry entrepreneur and Diil winner Sointu Borg left the job he won in the program as the development director of Jaajo Linnonmaa’s fundraising company in the spring of 2022. In his first book published in the fall, Borg says that the promised job didn’t even exist.

– I have been working for several weeks without proper salary negotiations or employment contracts, Borg writes about his experience.

Linnonmaa commented on the uproar to Helsingin Sanomat saying that they tried to make the cooperation with Borg work for a long time.

– Unfortunately, this did not happen in the end, Linnonmaa said.

A puck fan in a gold dress

18-year-old Iida Vainio from Lappeenranta became public overnight after spectacularly welcoming the Olympic gold-winning Lions at Helsinki-Vantaa airport. Vainiota, dressed in a gold-colored sequined dress, was suspected on social media of being the hockey player’s wife or girlfriend, but she turned out to be a die-hard sports fan.

Shortly after this, Vainio got the opportunity of a lifetime when Aleksi Valavuori gave a woman who dreamed of working as a sports journalist the opportunity to make her own show on his popular streaming channel, Kultakorner.

Suhonen vs. social influencers

The clothing brand Ivana Helsinki, founded by Paola Suhonen, deleted all of its social media accounts on April 4, 2022. However, the departure did not happen quietly: Suhonen infuriated Finnish social media influencers with his statements, in which he labeled the influencer culture as, among other things, mutu-feeling shouting.

In exchange for Suhonen’s comments, influencers such as Stella Harasek, Eino Nurmisto, Emmi Nuorgam and Peppi Puljujärvi opened up about their experiences working with the Ivana Helsinki brand.

– It is especially sad to hear such belittling from a person whose work has been supported countless times over the years practically in the name of charity, because Ivana Helsinki has never agreed to pay for the cooperation, wrote the conkar influencer Jenni Rotonen in his Instagram stories.

Uproar in beauty pageants

When Rosanna Kulju, who piloted the Miss Helsinki beauty pageant for a long time, left her role as missus in 2021, the task was taken up by Janna-Juulia Vuorela, who won the pageant in 2018, and who is known for the Miss Finland pageant Mirella Merivirta. For the first time, the duo changed the name of the competition to Miss Helsinki New Era and said that in the future the competition will focus on business thinking and prepare participants for entrepreneurship.

However, the renewed competition was met with one uproar after another. The beauty and nail industry company Kohokukkia Oy, which was a partner of the competition, withdrew from the cooperation and its CEO Elia Leino from his jury seat. The reason for leaving the competition was the competition’s other partner, the underwear brand Change Lingerie, which has been accused in the past of, among other things, discriminating against transgender customers.

Later also secured a place in the final Lydia Isopahkala withdrew from the competition.

– I no longer feel that I can truly represent the competition and the organization. It’s sad to finish so close to the final, but I decided to listen to my heart, Lyydia wrote in connection with her Instagram post.