Winston Churchill is often referred to as one of the best Prime Ministers England has ever had. On top of that, he led the Allies to a victory during WWII. And that's that, right? Anyone who was on the "right" side of history during that terrible time in history is always in the right. Well...not quite.
He might have had a hand in the destructive Bengal famine of 1943, and even if he didn't, don't get him started about his feelings toward Hindus. Even worse, he "certainly believed in racial hierarchies and eugenics," as reported by biographer John Charmley. For instance, Churchill said the following in the late '30s: "I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place." BIG yikes.
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, most famous for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Even though he began the first steps in abolishing slavery, he wasn’t so peachy keen. Lincoln was actually quite racist and regularly used slurs to describe African-Americans. He even initially opposed the Emancipation Proclamation and only later supported it to preserve party unity.
Despite being one of the most beloved American leaders, modern theorists and historians point out a dark shadow clouding his legacy that most people tend to ignore: white supremacy. Malcom X was one of the first to shatter the rose-colored glasses, saying in 1964 that Lincoln did "more to trick [black people' than any other man in history," according to Smithsonian Magazine.
John F. Kennedy... He was a great president, sure (although there's still an ongoing debate about that fact), but he was a terrible husband. Notorious for his numerous affairs, Kennedy just couldn't seem to keep it in his pants. Although, if we looked as good as JFK, we probably would, too. Just kidding, we still wouldn't. Kennedy's administration had to deal with countless challenges, one of the biggest being the infamous 1962 Cuban missile crisis of which his response is still contested by political commentators to this day.
The UK national archives describe Kennedy's refusal to turn the Cold War nuclear as respectable, but "his disastrous attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs invasion embarrassed the White House and alienated Cuba. Some historians have blamed Kennedy for the missile crisis developing in the first place, claiming that the president made an enemy of Cuba and presented a weak, inexperienced image that encouraged the Soviet Union to take advantage." Sure, he responded to Russia well, but he sorta started the whole thing anyway!
Gandhi was one of the most peaceful men in the world, who constantly preached love and hope to all. But like many leaders or people who offer unsolicited advice, he didn't practice what he preached. For example, he routinely instructed married couples to take a cold bath to avoid urges while carrying on an affair with his physician... No lie.
Even worse, his affair occurred after he took a vow of chastity. But that's not even the worst part. While breaking his vow of chastity and offering hypocritical tips, Gandhi managed to sleep with numerous young girls, sometimes multiple at a time. He really should have taken his own advice!
According to American history, Christopher Columbus was the first person to "discover" North America and was deemed he’s considered a great traveler because of it. That being said, he’s a huge jerk. The way he treated native peoples was appalling. He enslaved and mutilated them, going as far as to say that they “should be good servants.”
Plus, his legacy is a lie. He definitely wasn't the first person to discover America. For one, Native Americans already occupied the land (obviously,) and the Vikings landed in America centuries before Christopher Columbus was even born. This guy seriously needed to check his privilege, pride, and massive ego.
Although it would probably break our tiny elementary school hearts, Roald Dahl wasn't the lovable storyteller we think he was. While it's true that a lot of books he wrote are now considered quintessential children’s classics — including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda — don't expect him to attend your Bar Mitzvah.
Why? He was a notorious antisemite. BBC writer Hephzibah Anderson describes the author as "an unpleasant man who wrote macabre books — and yet children around the world adore them. Perhaps this shouldn't surprise us..." We can separate the art from the artist and keep sharing his stories with children, or we can move on to a different author with better morals...
Charlie Chaplin, the film legend and comedy star, was a master of slapstick comedy. He was also a master of marrying teenagers — three of his four wives were in their teen years. And the one that wasn't lied and said she was, which raises some eyebrows of its own.
Other than being generally creepy, Chaplin ruined his reputation with accusations of communist sympathies. While his political leanings push some critics over the edge, we all should be more concerned about his predatory instincts. Sure, maybe he was communist. And he was definitely weird.. which is worse? We should all know the answer.
John Lennon is many people’s favorite Beatle, mostly since he promoted peace later in his life. While he’s responsible for many musical hits, he also had some bad interpersonal issues. It’s now well known that he beat his first wife, Cynthia — a fact that he didn’t deny. That's already bad enough...
He also had numerous affairs during both of his marriages on top of being a nasty abuser. He was the most popular band member at one point but his career took a sharp turn down south after his most infamous affair with Japanese artist and musician Yoko Ono. Now everyone has some qualms with him and aren't afraid to gossip about him online.
Even literal saints can't catch a break. Mother Teresa has been canonized by the Catholic Church, but some folks are not as enthusiastic about her legacy as others — especially the late writer Christopher Hitchens. But then again, who did he even like? Despite her humanitarian record, he and others take issue with this beloved mother of all.
Critics like Hitchens primarily have a problem with Mother Teresa's belief in the spiritual value of suffering — including the suffering of those she aimed to help. According to Hitchens, Mother Teresa lead an organization that was a "cult that promoted suffering and did not help those in need." Plus, Hindus don't really like her either for trying to take advantage of the poor by converting them to Christianity.
John Wayne is a western hero, but he was far from a hero in real life. In a 1971 interview, he stated, “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.” He has to be kidding, right?
Yeah, he wasn't. And to further prove that he's racist, he went after Indigenous people, too. "There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves," he commented while discussing Midnight Cowboy. Unfortunately, these weren't isolated instances, and his terrible racist attitude led USC to remove his exhibit from their property.
Some people talk about the "dark side" of Steve Jobs — his cruelty to employees, his cruelty to his daughter, and his cruelty in general. But I would say there's nothing about this tech genius that isn't dark. Who in their right mind would say that the invention of the iPhone has been a net positive for humanity?
And it's this kind of person who inspired scammers like Elizabeth Holmes to drop out of college and basically steal money from investors to fund her pipe dream. There's much to be said about how many of her business decisions were inspired by Jobs... Any of which are definitely hit or miss.
Eric Clapton is one of the greatest guitarists ever, made obvious by his three-time inductee status to the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, he's also incapable of holding his liquor. Once in the '70s, Clapton, who was visibly drunk, began ranting at a concert about "keeping Britain white."
Clapton has a history of spouting all of his controversial opinions into the world, including his most recent unhinged rant about the 2020 pandemic. After taking the first COVID-19 vaccine, Clapton started spreading the debunked opinion that "secret messages" were "being hidden inside YouTube videos with the goal of driving mass compliance with COVID precautions," as reported by Billboard in 2022.
Thomas Jefferson was one of the founding fathers of the United States, and he was also our third president. He famously wrote “all men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence — which, as we all know, is one of America's most beloved and heralded documents celebrating freedom and equality.
Too bad he didn't actually hold the values of equality and freedom for everyone. As a slave owner, he obviously didn’t really think all men were equal. Not only did Jefferson own slaves his entire life, but he also engaged in a long-term affair with one of them. As a man who clearly held all the power in that relationship, there were so many things wrong with him that we're getting upset just thinking about what really went down.
Say it ain’t so, Dr. Seuss! Even though he was responsible for classic picture books like The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, and Green Eggs and Ham, he was also responsible for several WWII-era cartoons that were less-than-flattering towards the Japanese. And people of color. Pretty much anyone marginalized wasn't safe.
Back in 2021, the Dr. Seuss estate decided they would stop printing select titles deemed controversial due to its racially charged content, including And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. His estate claimed that the title would be pulled from shelves for "egregious racial and ethnic stereotypes" that are "hurtful and wrong," as reported by the New York Times.
T.S. Eliot is one of the best poets of the 20th century, most known for his 1922 poem The Waste Land, which includes lines like “this is the way the world ends/not with a bang but a whimper.” But in all of his authorial glory, T.S. Eliot was also unfortunately known for being anti-Semite.
In 1933, he called “free-thinking Jews undesirable.” Eliot also only married his first wife so he could stay in England, even though he hated being with her. We could list so many things about this man that would make the hours you spent analyzing his overly confusing poetry feel like a total waste of time.
Shakira move aside—Elvis had hips that didn't lie before you make it cool — or did they? This King of Rock ‘n Roll made women swoon, but he also worked his magic on underage girls through lies and manipulation. For example, when he and his wife first met, Priscilla was 14 where Elvis was 24...
They spent all their time together after they met and were basically inseparable the whole time. If that's not in the very least suspicious, we don't know what is. So next time grandma cranks up Hound Dog on the radio, stop and think about who we're allowing to be successful despite their sins against humanity.
Henry Ford is an industry visionary, and we can’t deny that. He is responsible for creating Ford Motor Company, but there’s more you should know about him. Ford was anti-Semitic. He bought and used Dearborn Independent as a platform to rant. He even insisted that Jewish people started World War I.
If you agree with Hitler, you’re in the wrong, okay? Point blank, no questions asked. You're the jerk and there's no defending you. Even though might have made some cool things or done something revolutionary, anyone sympathizing with Ford also becomes a Adolf sympathizer. We don't make the rules — just enforce them.
Frank Sinatra had a voice that made women weak at the knees. He influenced music in a way that many musicians can only dream about. That being said, he also had strong ties with the mafia and was extremely abusive. During an argument with actress Ava Gardner, he fired at a mattress to threaten her.
If that's not bad enough, right after assaulting her, Sinatra then threatened to take his own life. Red flags as far as the eye can see! Even if you were in the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean surrounded by crusty crabs and seaweed, you'd be able to see the red flags flying all around this guy.
Along the same lines of Adolf sympathizers — no matter who they are — are in the wrong and will always be in the wrong. Michael Jackson is the King of Pop and dominated the charts with hits like “Thriller.” But he also dominated headlines for other reasons...
When the things he did to children behind closed doors at his Neverland Ranch were released to the public, his reputation suddenly soured. Michael Jackson mega-fans were shocked that their pop idol was capable of such horrors... It wasn’t until after he died that people started to come forward, saying the accusations were true. After that, there was no denying it anymore.
Ernest Hemingway was (and still is) one of the best American writers that’s ever lived, writing classics like The Sun Also Rises and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway was also bipolar and would start fights all the time. James Joyce got in bar fights, and he’d have Hemingway fight for him.
His children also considered him a horrible father due to his mood swings. As described by Angela O'Donnell, Ernest Hemingway was a "brilliant writer and a terrible person>" She goes on to write, "He was selfish and egomaniacal, a faithless husband and a treacherous friend. He drank too much, he brawled and bragged too much, he was a thankless son and, at times, a negligent father."
The great, “wise” Greek philosopher, Aristotle! We say “wise” because, in his mind, women weren’t humans. They were “deformed men.” Aristotle stated that women had fewer teeth than men (they don’t), rendering them incomplete. Women also didn’t contribute to the continuation of the human race because it was men who shaped children into human beings.
"Brave thinkers" like Aristotle probably delayed women's rights for hundreds to thousands of years because of his assumptions regarding women. Plus, many modern philosophers debunk his major theories and denounce his defense of slavery as "beneficial" to society's operation. THIS was the greatest thinker of his time? Yeah, no thanks.
Don King is one of the biggest hype men in boxing, but some people may not remember that he’s a killer King shot a man in the back after he caught the man breaking into one of his gambling houses. The other was the 1967 killing of an employee by stomping them to death.
That's probably one of the most horrific ways to die we've ever heard of! Who knows what else the guy did behind closed doors that never came to light... King was convicted of nonnegligent manslaughter and spent three years and 11 months in prison before being pardoned, probably without good cause.
Johnny Cash changed the music landscape forever, and it’s hard to imagine life without this rugged outlaw. Being an outlaw, it may not surprise some that Cash was the cause of the 1965 wildfire at Los Padres National Park. This disaster ended up killing 49 of the park’s 53 endangered California condor vultures.
Cash was later quoted as saying, “I don’t care about your yellow buzzards.” Yeah, that's pretty terrible. The Earth should be respected, especially the wildlife within. And brushing of literal arson is not something you can just brush off because you're a celebrity... unless you're Johnny Cash, apparently.
Chuck Berry was one of the first legends inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 1986 because he laid the groundwork for the sound we all know. However, it wasn’t all great for Berry. He was convicted of armed robbery before he graduated high school. He had multiple legal issues, including taking a 14-year-old girl across state lines and tax evasion.
Later in 1987, he was charged with assaulting a woman at a New York hotel, with damage reported as "lacerations of the south, requiring five stitches, two loose teeth, [and] contusions of the face." Somehow he was let off with a $250 fine after pleading guilty... but that doesn't mean we'll think of him the same ever again.
Albert Einstein is one of the smartest men that’s ever lived, but he was also a pretty mean guy to his wife. He left a list of rules for her if they were to stay married like a misogynistic prenup. These rules included cooking three meals and delivering them to his room.
On top of that, she would forgo traveling with him (or sitting with him in public), and that she’d stop talking if he told her to stop. That poor woman couldn't do anything with his permission, which highlights some pretty big issues with ego, misogyny, and general poor strength of character.
Alexander Graham Bell is the man who invented the first practical telephone, but there was a darker side to the man we never hear about. Bell was involved in campaigns to eliminate deaf people. Why? He feared that deaf people would take over America. Like, how does anyone come up with this stuff?
Plus, Bell wasn't actually the first inventor of the telephone anyay. A woman named Elisha Gray spoke out and asserted she was the technology's true inventor, which called everything about Bell into question. Now, there's an ongoing debate on whether Bell was actually a genius inventor or just a selfish copycat.
Ulysses S. Grant is known as a notorious drunk, but that wasn’t all the skeletons in his closet. Grant was so concerned that African Americans and white people wouldn’t get along that he wanted to buy the Dominican Republic, where all four million recently freed African Americans would live. That’s not even all.
Apparently, he also banned all Jewish people from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. It's crazy to read that so many beloved historical figures were so avidly against Jewish people. Everyone focuses on Hitler, but there are way too many anti-semitic people living right next door...
Being an early American civil rights leader, you’d expect Du Bois to be pretty tolerant. Nope. The first red flag popped up when he accepted a five-month-long trip to Germany with the condition of not criticizing their treatment of Jews. That's not off to a really good start, no matter what you say...
When he returned, Du Bois wrote that the German hatred was “a reasoned prejudice or an economic fear.” Du Bois also spoke highly of Rudolph Hess, Hitler’s right-hand man. While he didn't necessarily condone the mass death to Jewish people in the very least, he definitely cross the line into racism against them.
We really hate to write about this one, but... it has to be said. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most influential men in history, but even he isn’t without his faults. Nobody's perfect, including the King. While many know about him plagiarizing his doctoral thesis, the most surprising aspect of his life is his frequent extramarital affairs.
He reportedly had affairs with over 40 women, and there have been claims that he watched a friend hurt a woman without interfering. Um... that doesn't sound very loving or equitable?! Keep in mind that while he fought for a very honorable cause, there are so many things that our idols did wrong that we must hold them accountable for.
Enid Blyton is a beloved children’s book author who wrote stories like The Famous Five and The Secret Seven. However, she wasn’t as great as everyone thought no matter how good her stories were. Even her own daughter called her an “arrogant, insecure, pretentious" person "... anbd without a trace of maternal instinct.”
Even worse, Blyton cheated on her first husband, which led to him filing a divorce against her. Sounds reasonable enough, but Blyton couldn't take it. Afterward, she refused to allow him over to see their children, most likely out of pure spite. People who can't own up to their faults and accept the consequences of their actions are typically not that great...
Woodrow Wilson was very clearly a white supremacist. There's really no dancing around the subject... In fact, Wilson actually sent an envoy to France during World War I to inform African American troops that their situations at home wouldn’t improve when they returned. Way to rub your racism in the face of veterans defending their country.
All this despite the fact that these people were fighting courageously and sacrificing themselves for the country. just to get a message that they wouldn't have any better life changes when they returned. Plus, Wilson also regularly conducted raids on immigrants and activists. If that's not proof enough, go read a history book.
The Dalai Lama and Tibetan monks may push messages of peace, equality, and happiness, but there’s more behind their actions than we may realize. Lamas are known to own slaves — thousands of them. Even the Party chief in Tibet called the Dalai Lama a “wolf in monk’s clothes, a devil with a human face.”
The quote speaks for itself and now we feel like there's nobody in the world we can look up to... After fleeing to India, it’s said that the Dalai Lama no longer owns slaves, but that doesn’t make the situation that much loess horrifying. At least he's changed his ways for the better.
Alfred Hitchcock is celebrated as one of the best film directors out there, but he was a pretty horrible person. Big surprise. During Birds, he had one actress mauled by real-life birds to create realistic scars and wounds. That's outright sadistic behavior, even for a man. He was also incredibly creepy outside of the film set.
From stalking the same woman he mauled on set to hiring assistants to follow her around and make sure she wasn't going out with any men, Hitchcock was so obsessed with this woman it was actually scary. We cannot allow men like this to be celebrated in society and get away with their terrible behavior that endangers women.
Roosevelt led the country for a good amount of time, and that’s how most people remember him. For others, however, he’s remembered as being incredibly racist. At one point, he was quoted saying that Americans should “ultimately crowd out the Mexicans.” Additionally, he said, “It was out of the question to expect them [Texans] to submit to the mastery of the weaker race.”
To be real, there are very few Americans in history who were actually good people. United States history is notoriously white-washed and one-sided, glossing over our own war crimes, racism, and general atrocities committed against marginalized groups. Teddy Roosevelt is no different, unfortunately. But if there's ever a good historical figure from America, let us know. We'd be interested to see at least one.
Nelson Mandela is undoubtedly a beloved historical figure — if not one of the most beloved in history next to Martin Luther King, Jr. or Ghandi — but his track record isn’t clean just like the rest of these guys. Many people may not know that Nelson Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe, a group that’s responsible for unlawful violence.
This group has reportedly committed over 100 acts of sabotage, over 100 deaths, and other atrocious acts that we doubt anyone would want to hear about... But it's important to let everyone know about the mistakes of the past so we don't ever repeat them in the future. That's the goal, at least.
