A Role-Ending Misdemeanor refers to where a performer or creator who engages in bad behavior on or off the job is fired in order to protect a company or project's reputation — or, if independent, is forced to either reduce their public activity or outright leave the public scene because their image is too deeply tarnished.
This could be anything from a nasty confrontation with cast or crew, discovering a bad drug habit, off-set incidents making the rounds on the news or the latest in a long string of misdemeanors (or felonies) catching up to them. Creators with a reputation for being difficult can get the boot simply because no one will work with them any longer. Creating media is still a job, after all: you have to show up on time and perform competently or you'll be shown the door. If this person is a cast member on a long-running TV show, the character will probably be Killed Off for Real, Put on a Bus, or put into Chuck Cunningham Syndrome. If they screw up badly enough or multiple times, word will spread that they're "unprofessional" or "difficult to work with" and it becomes much more difficult for them to find work in the industry, if at all. If they are integral to the show's foundation, it could end the project altogether.
If the person in question has a self-destructive habit (e.g., alcoholism), giving them the boot could be seen as a desperate gambit to force the rejected star into getting help. Results vary. But if they get their act together, it's not unheard of for a person like them to make a return appearance somewhere down the line.
In some cases, this trope is used when a person's reputation has suffered to the point that it attracts bad press to the project; a person who is Convicted by Public Opinion can seem like too great a liability, regardless of whether or not they actually did whatever they're accused of. Another possibility is that perceived behind-the-scenes trouble is the excuse used and they are actually The Scapegoat for a more complicated problem.
In the worst cases — typically a conviction for murder or sexual crimes — the matter becomes a Career-Obliterating Felony, with all their work pulled from the circulation, any awards they received revoked and they are effectively erased from popular culture history. Of course, this view isn't universal: while few would defend a creator who is guilty of heinous crimes absent some form of Creator Worship, many also believe that the art itself should not be conflated with the artist and condemned by association.
Compare Creator Killer and Star-Derailing Role for when a career is harmed just by the reception of their work. See also Actor Existence Limbo, Contractual Purity, and Overshadowed by Controversy. Contrast Nearly Fired Castmember, No Such Thing as Bad Publicity, Controversy-Proof Image, and The Tyson Zone, when the scandal doesn't affect their reputation, as well as Career Resurrection when they're able to restore it. See also Put on a Prison Bus for a fictional version.
There is a two-week waiting period (after the termination of a role) before an example can be added. This ensures the job loss is accurately reported, actually sticks and avoids knee-jerk reactions.
This trope allows Limited Real Life Examples Only: Examples for religion, politics, law, business and adult films are prohibited. For in-universe examples, see Cancelled by the Internet.
Example subpages:
- Advertising
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Fan Works
- Film
- Literature
- Live-Action TV (Includes Puppet Shows)
- Music
- News and Columns
- Professional Wrestling
- Radio
- Sports (Includes E-sports)
- Video Games
- Web Original
- Western Animation
- In-Universe
Other Examples:
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Agency
- Voice actress and singer Aya Hirano was dropped by Lantis (her music agency) in August 2011 after they caught wind of her affairs with her male co-workers, which was compounded by her resigning from Space Craft (her voice acting agency) the following month. Despite this, Hirano's career remained largely unaffected, as she later joined her respective voice acting and music agencies, Grick and Universal Sigma, not long after, although she later admitted that the entire fiasco had left her very hesitant in finding new anime roles.
- Junya Ikeda had his contract with his agency terminated in November 2023 after being arrested for conspiracy to commit special fraud, with other accomplices. This led to his ongoing anime roles being recast, and his role as Gai Ikari/Gokai Silver in the Super Sentai franchise disappearing entirely from future works.
- Maya Imamori had her contract with her agency Seju terminated after they found evidence she’d been drinking underage (the legal drinking age in Japan is 20, while Imamori was 19 at the time). As such, her ongoing role in No.1 Sentai Gozyuger was Demoted to Extra for three weeks, until they cast Kohaku Shida in the role, while two movies she was scheduled to appear in were edited to downplay her role or edit her out.
- Noriko Sakai had her contract with her agency Sun Music terminated after her 2009 conviction of drug possession.
- Susan Sarandon was dropped by talent agency UTA
in November 2023 after allegations of antisemitism. Sarandon had spoken about the Arab–Israeli Conflict at a pro-Palestine rally, saying that American Jews facing hate and harassment were "getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country". She later apologized for her remarks, saying she had phrased them wrong.
Art
- Native American artist Micah Wright gained fame in the early-2000s for his satirical remixes of war propaganda posters, which were collected in the book You Back the Attack, We'll Bomb Who We Want. His notoriety ended overnight after he admitted to lying about being a former U.S. Army Ranger (something he claimed was the inspiration for his anti-war art). As a result, Seven Stories Press pulled the release of his second collection (which eventually saw a quiet release under Random House).
- Several museums — including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the Joslyn Art Museum — cancelled exhibitions of Kehinde Wiley's art in 2024 after fellow artist Joseph Awuah-Darko accused him of sexual assault.
Beauty Pageants and Modeling
- Marjorie Wallace, the first American to be crowned Miss World, lost her crown in March 1973, three months into her reign, for a contract violation stemming from her dating Welsh singer Tom Jones, Northern Ireland footballer George Best, and American racing driver Peter Revson — all at the same time. Wallace was engaged to Revson, and had her crown stripped after being caught kissing Jones in Barbados; a mere two weeks later, Revson was killed in a fiery crash while practicing for the South African Grand Prix. Despite this, Wallace would remain a constant presence in the entertainment industry, including serving as the first co-host of Entertainment Tonight.
- Vanessa L. Williams became the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss America in 1984, but later relinquished the crown after Penthouse magazine published several nude photos of her that had been taken a few years prior to her entering the competition. Despite the controversy, Williams eventually became one of the most successful Miss Americas of all time after launching recording and acting careers (her song "Save the Best for Last" was a worldwide hit in 1992). Meanwhile, the Penthouse issue in question would, ironically, be taken out of circulation after it was later revealed that Traci Lords, the centerfold, was actually underage at the time her pictures were taken.
- Katie Rees was stripped of her Miss Nevada USA crown in December of 2006 after racy photos surfaced of her partying topless and making out with some lady friends in a Florida nightclub.
- Miss California USA 2009 Carrie Prejean invited controversy by using her Q&A session during the 2009 Miss USA pageant to declare that she believed marriage should only be between a man and a woman. She then found herself in the middle of another controversy several months later when modeling photos of her posing topless in panties (but not showing anything) began making the rounds on the Internet. Despite the backlash, she was allowed to keep her title, but it was stripped for good shortly afterward for an unspecified and unrelated "breach of contract" because she was spending more time stumping for an anti-gay hate group than fulfilling her duties. Her attempt to sue for wrongful termination fell apart when the pageant's attorneys presented her sex tape.
- Miss Brazil 2002 winner Joseane Oliveira was stripped of the crown after it was discovered that she was secretly married and then decided to strip herself of everything else for Playboy.
- Former Mexican Miss Sinaloa Laura Zúñiga was famously arrested in 2008 alongside her boyfriend (a member of a drug cartel) in possession of $53,000 USD and an arsenal of long weapons. She was stripped of her crown, but later made a quiet comeback in modeling; her story later served as inspiration for the film Miss Bala with Stephanie Sigman as Zúñiga.
- Supermodel Kate Moss was dropped from several advertising campaigns that she was the face of after a video surfaced of her using cocaine. However, other cosmetics companies and fashion houses took up the slack and offered her deals.
- 2015 Miss Puerto Rico, Destiny Velez, was suspended indefinitely from her role by the Miss Puerto Rico organization after she tweeted Islamophobic messages.
- Her 2016 successor, Kristhielee Caride, fared little better; she was stripped from her crown after declaring that "she didn't like cameras". This was allegedly the last straw in a series of problems she was having with the organization.
- Munroe Bergdorf, L'Oreal's first transgender model, was fired from her deal shortly after signing it after she made a controversial post on Facebook declaring that all white people were racist.
- Amena Khan, known for being L'Oreal's first Hijab-wearing model, voluntarily pulled out from the company's campaign and issued an apology over tweets sent in 2014 in which she expressed anti-Israel views.
- Amena Khan, known for being L'Oreal's first Hijab-wearing model, voluntarily pulled out
- Itir Esen didn't even make it a full day as 2017's Miss Turkey. Barely a few hours after getting her crown, she had to give it right back when pro-government media discovered that she'd made a tweet expressing support for the perpetrators of a failed coup d'état that had happened the year before.
- Former Miss Earth Philippines 2016, Imelda Schweighart, made scathing remarks about the winner, Miss Ecuador Katherine Espin, after failing to reach the Top 16 and compared Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to Hitler. Her overall behavior caused a huge backlash on social media, with many of her supporters turning against her. As a result, she had to give up her crown.
- Zara Holland lost her title of Miss Great Britain 2016 for having sex on the set of Love Island. She later admitted that her experience on the show left her feeling so anxious and depressed that it necessitated a prescription and a psychologist's referral.
- The Miss America Organization was rocked by controversy in late 2017, in which years' worth of emails were uncovered and found to be vulgar and disparaging to a number of contestants. The fallout prompted several resignations—including those of executive director Sam Haskell and president Josh Randle—and caused their main sponsor, Dick Clark Productions, to sever ties with the pageant.
Comic Strips
- In June 2019, Brunswick News Inc. announced that cartoonist Michael De Adder was being let go after a Donald Trump cartoon he drew referencing the deaths of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his 23-month-old daughter Valeria went viral.
- King Features Syndicate quietly cancelled Candorville after creator Darrin Bell was arrested for possession of child sexual abuse material on January 15, 2025. He was also suspended from Counterpoint Media's daily newsletter in the wake of his arrest.
- In February 2023, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams, after seeing a poll on Twitter asking Black people if "it's okay to be white" (of which 47% of the 120 participants said "no"),note called Black people a "hate group" and urged white people to "get the hell away" from them on his livestream program Real Coffee. This prompted several news outlets to drop Dilbert, and his distributor Andrews McMeel Universal to end their relationship with him. That March, Adams relaunched Dilbert on the Locals website and continued publishing it until he died from prostate cancer in 2026.
- In 1971, Li'l Abner cartoonist Al Capp came under immense media condemnation due to being caught up in multiple, near-simultaneous sex scandals. As a result, many newspapers dropped the strip out of protest. Combined with how sharply Al Capp had alienated his potential fanbase since the 60s, it was a death sentence. (Although in the end, it was Capp who decided to quit, rather than his being terminated.)
- James Allen abruptly left Mark Trail in 2020 after his habit of picking fights with people on social media came to light, including doing a very unflattering storyline featuring a character that looked suspiciously like someone he was arguing with on Twitter. The final straw came when he left a very crude tweet to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, made worse when his Twitter handle had the strip's name prominently featured as this happened (his handle has since been changed to remove all mention of the strip).
- In February 2019, the reader of a Pittsburgh newspaper noticed a vulgar message to President Donald Trump in that day's strip of Non Sequitur. Creator Wiley Miller, a vocal critic of the president, later apologized, saying he'd never intended the message to make it to print, and that its inclusion had completely slipped his mind until then. This argument completely fell apart when it was discovered that he had tweeted about the "Easter Egg" in that day's strip, challenging his readers to find it. The paper dropped his strip for the use of profanity, and other publications followed suit not long after.
- Editorial cartoonist Ted Rall was fired from the Los Angeles Times in 2015 after allegations surfaced of him lying about an encounter with the Los Angeles Police Department in 2001.
- Tulsa cartoonist David Simpson lost most of his work after it was discovered that he had been plagiarizing other cartoonists (mostly Jeff MacNelly of Shoe) for over 30 years in 2011.
Cosplay
- Cosplayer and model Mariah "Momokun" Mallad would end up losing all her sponsors and future con guest appearances in July 2018 when her history of sexually harassing female cosplayers and male fans were brought to light during her trip to Anime Expo. This didn't help when she blamed it all on her ADHD, which further made people quick to back off from her, nor when it was discovered that her claims of being sexually violated herself were all proven false. She's since mostly backed out of the cosplay scene and has found steady employment as a plus size model.
- Cosplay photographer Michael Benedict came under fire in February 2019 after several of his models accused him of secretly filming them changing in their dressing rooms. Michael confirmed this in a series of texts a few days later, apologizing for his behavior and announcing his departure from the photography business.
Pinball
- On August 29, 2017, Stern Pinball announced that they had fired pinball designer John Trudeau after he was arrested for possession of child pornography. After being charged again with the same crime in May 2018, and later being arrested on sexual abuse charges in Iowa, he was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender.
Tabletop Games
- Zachary Smith (aka Zak Smith or Zak Sabbath) — an influential designer, blogger, and podcaster in the early days of the Old-School Renaissance scene — was accused by multiple former girlfriends (including former adult film star Mandy Morbid) and co-workers of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, leading him to being considered persona non grata in not just the OSR community, but the tabletop RPG industry as a whole. The final major holdout was Edward James Raggi, publisher of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, who ended up cutting ties with Smith in 2019.
- Jeremy Black/Arcadum, the man behind the tabletop setting called Verum, saw his career and whole setting/brand fall apart in 2021 after many people who had worked with him or played with him spoke up about his abusive behavior off camera and his habit of sexually harassing the female players. After news broke about this, almost everyone who worked for him quit, and all his business partners would sever ties with him. Despite releasing a statement about it, he would vanish right after his statement.
- Dungeon World co-creator Adam Koebel was declared persona non grata among the independent TTRPG scene after an incident during the live Far Verona campaign for Stars Without Number on the Rollplay podcast, in which he gleefully roleplayed what was, in essence, a sexual assault scene, and proceeded to gloat about it afterwards (made worse by the fact that the affected character's player, Elspeth Eastman, was herself a survivor of sexual assault.) Far Verona was initially put on indefinite hiatus before being cancelled entirely, and Luke Crane and John Diamatos would eventually purchase the rights to Dungeon World from him and Sage LaTorra in August 2024.
- Magic: The Gathering:
- Wizards of the Coast has cut ties with several artists:
- Terese Nielsen's right-wing political views — on top of her gifting art to the far-right YouTube channel Edge of Wonder — led Doug Beyer to announce they would no longer work with her.
- After Noah Bradley confirmed allegations of sexual misconduct from members of the Magic and artist community, Wizards made an official statement that they would stop commissioning artwork from him and reprinting his work.
- Harold McNeill had drawn art for just a single card, "Invoke Prejudice", before getting canned. The card itself features what appear to be KKK members brandishing axes, and McNeill's white supremacist views, on top of similar themes within his other artwork, led to Wizards of the Coast never working with him again. The card itself was ultimately banned for its art being culturally insensitive in 2020, alongside six others with racial undertones.
- Jason Felix was found to have plagiarized fanart of Nicol Bolas for his rendition of the card "Crux of Fate", as was proven by the fact that Bolas in the art had five fingers instead of his canonical three, which was a mistake the original artist also made. Wizards announced they were suspending further work with him as a result.
- Wizards of the Coast stopped working with Fay Dalton after it was discovered he had plagiarized "Trouble in Pairs" from several other sources.
- WotC's tournament regulator DCI banned Magic tournament player Sid Blair for 18 months after he posted photos he took at a Magic tournament of other players' exposed buttcracks.
- Wizards of the Coast has cut ties with several artists:
- Chess: Tigran L. Petrosian (not to be confused with his namesake, the late grandmaster Tigran V. Petrosian) was permanently banned from Chess.com and the PRO Chess League after he was caught cheating in his semi-final and final games during the online Chess.com 2020 PRO Chess League.
- Matthew McFarland and his wife Michelle were swiftly let go from Onyx Path Games, and had their Growling Door Games company quickly shut down, after the release of Beast: The Primordial, which a number of critics saw as (unintentionally or not) excusing abuse and bullying, led to a number of allegations of statutory rape against McFarland being made public.
- James C. Mulligan, a freelance artist who had contributed a trio of card artwork to Disney Lorcananote , was permanently blacklisted from doing any future work for Disney after Ravensburger found that generative AI was used in the process of creating the artwork.
- Catalyst Game Labs announced in 2022 that they had "parted ways" with BattleTech writer Blaine Lee Pardoe after several controversies, including writing a political thriller under his own name in which he espoused far-right conspiracy theories as true, repeated rule violations on the official BattleTech forums (including using a sock puppet account to try to circumvent being banned, ironically after he accused another person on social media who was a critic of his works of being a sock puppet account).
Theatre
- In December 2017, multiple dancers accused Peter Martins, then-artistic director of the New York City Ballet, of physical or sexual assault. Though Martins denied the allegations, and a later investigation did not find any corroborating evidence, he took a leave of absence, and eventually retired in 2018. Less than a year later in September 2018, principal dancers Chase Finlay, Amar Ramasar and Zachary Catazaro along with patron Jared Longhitano were targeted by a civil lawsuit by Finlay's ex-girlfriend Alexandra Waterbury, alleging that Finlay had taken explicit photos and videos of Waterbury without her knowledge or consent and shared them in a private group chat with the others. The lawsuit resulted in Finlay's resignation and the termination of Ramasar and Catazaro (the latter two were ordered reinstated by arbitration; Ramasar returned, Catazaro declined). The suit was ultimately withdrawn in 2023.
- In 2021, Team StarKid member Robert Manion was removed from the group after he confessed to stalking a member of the group's orchestra. His scenes in Nightmare Time 2 were re-shot without him as a result.
- This American Life home station WBEZ cancelled a Chicago performance of Mike Daisey's monologue The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, about his visit to a Foxconn facility in China that produced Apple products, after it was discovered Daisey had fabricated some of the events recounted in the monologue. The TAL episode featuring the monologue, "Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory", was also pulled from circulation.
- The then-ongoing national tour of Jesus Christ Superstar suspended Judas actor James Beeks after he was arrested for his involvement in the January 6 insurrection.
- Due to her refusal to follow COVID-19 safety policies, Tony nominee Laura Osnes was dropped from the London Bonnie and Clyde reunion concert and a one-night Crazy for You production.
- Famous ballet dancer Sergei Polunin was due to perform at the Arcimboldi Theatre in Milan in January 2023. However, his appearance was cancelled in December 2022 due to outrage over several photos of himself displaying tattoos of Vladimir Putin on his torso amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- World-famous ballerina Svetlana Zakharova was scheduled to perform as Coco Chanel in a ballet performance at the Seoul Arts Centre in April 2024. This resulted in backlash due to her history of supporting Putin, with the Ukrainian embassy in Seoul condemning Zakharova for her support of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, and the show was ultimately cancelled.