From social media meltdowns to controversial confrontations, these viral moments didn't just capture attention - they sparked serious legal battles! Join us as we explore infamous internet incidents that went from trending topics to courtroom drama. Did your jaw drop during these viral scandals?
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00:00They've been handing out the image for free, claiming the photos in the public domain
00:04because they say it was taken by the monkey. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting
00:09down our picks from the most infamous viral internet moments that, after taking the web
00:13by storm, ended up in lawsuits. They knew they would likely get a few looks, but they say this
00:19was just overkill. Number 10, Smoothie Ken. The customer claims when he ordered the smoothie,
00:26he told the staff that his son is allergic to peanuts, but he says when his son drank the
00:32smoothie at home, he had a life-threatening allergic reaction. After his son had an allergic reaction
00:37to a smoothie bought from Robex in Fairfield, Connecticut, James Ionazzo went into the store
00:42and aggressively yelled at the teenage staff, who claimed he didn't tell them about his son's
00:46nut allergy. Ionazzo also threw the beverage at a worker. In addition to getting probation for the
00:55tirade, he was fired from his financial advisor role at Merrill Lynch, but the punishment didn't
01:00stop there for Ionazzo. One of the workers he abused issued a $300,000 lawsuit against him for
01:05damages. In 2022, the case was settled for $7,500. But he tells us in a statement,
01:12my actions at the smoothie store were wrong, and I deeply regret them. I feel terrible that I lost my
01:17composure so completely. Number 9, Fisherman's Fury.
01:21Hey! Hey! Hey! Oh my god!
01:26In 2011, Brian Mace, Chris McMahon, and Roni Durnham were fishing in Oregon's Columbia River.
01:35When McMahon noticed a boat racing towards them, he called out. However, it didn't stop,
01:39causing the three men to jump into the water as it plowed into their boat,
01:42just about escaping serious injury. The shocking footage quickly spread online.
01:47Oh, it's like, no, no, and then boom. It's, it's, it's incredible.
01:54Marlon Larson, who was driving the speeding vessel, claimed he didn't see the group fishing.
01:58On top of a criminal case opening against Larson, Mace and later McMahon also issued lawsuits
02:03against him in 2018. However, after pleading not guilty to the charges, a couple of months later,
02:08Larson passed away. Regardless, the lawsuit was still going ahead against his estate.
02:13Be safe, wear your life jackets.
02:15Yes, lesson learned. I'm not that much of a meathead. I can't admit I was wrong in not
02:20wearing a life jacket, especially when I had him in the boat.
02:23Number 8, Sesame Discrimination.
02:25We're sure that we are going to find that this was indeed a pattern that they were aware of.
02:32They just didn't care.
02:33In 2022, Jody Brown uploaded footage that got the internet raging,
02:37which should have been a clip her daughter and friend could look back on with happy memories,
02:41instead left them heartbroken. While watching a parade at Sesame Place, Philadelphia,
02:45an actor dressed as Rosita was recorded interacting with white children and adults.
02:50Yet, when she walked past the black children, the character shook her head and gestured no to high
02:54fives. Now, in her Instagram post, she says the person dressed as Rosita, quote,
02:59blatantly told our kids no and then proceeded to hug the little white girl next to us.
03:05Sesame Place apologized, claiming the actor might not have seen the girls,
03:08but later confirmed more racial training for workers. While the Browns didn't issue a lawsuit,
03:12other families who'd experienced similar events at Sesame Place did, looking to get $25 million.
03:17However, in 2024, the jury found the theme park not liable.
03:21They also want the courts to force SeaWorld to look at its policy and for any other black families
03:26that feel they were marginalized and experienced racial bias to contact the law firm.
03:31Number seven, tip-taker.
03:33Seeing some people being angry about enforcing the mask law became very common. It's like every
03:38handful of times every week. So COVID-19 really dragged out the Karen in many people.
03:44In 2020, Lenin Gutierrez was working at Starbucks in San Diego, California,
03:48when Amber Lynn Gillies wandered in. However, because she refused to wear a mask,
03:53he refused to serve her. Gillies says she has medical problems, but also says masks are not
03:58effective. One of them, I get shortness of breath, dizziness, and it messes with the heartbeat.
04:03And I do have asthma as well. For revenge, Gillies took a photo of Gutierrez and uploaded
04:08it to Facebook to try to shame him. Instead, the internet turned on her. Soon, a GoFundMe was
04:14created by Matt Cohen to raise tips for Gutierrez. By the time donations were stopped, it received
04:18around $105,000, which the barista wanted to use to study dance. Gillies, seemingly looking to become
04:25a full-blown Disney villain, issued a defamation lawsuit against Cohen, which was unsurprisingly
04:29dismissed in 2023.
04:31I feel like I need people to hear a little bit of what I have to say. Like, it's only fair.
04:37Number six, removal refusal.
04:39I think the common sense approach to that is to just look for the person who has the same seat
04:43you have, right? I'm going to look to someone that has another middle seat. That's the fair
04:48thing to do if you're going to be switching seats.
04:50Somehow baffling to some, if a person has booked a specific seat on an airplane, you aren't
04:54entitled to make them move for your benefit. This was the circumstance that Jennifer Castro
04:59found herself in on a Goal Airlines flight in 2024. When she arrived at her designated place,
05:04a toddler was sitting there.
05:0529-year-old Jennifer Castro says she booked a window seat in advance, and when she got
05:11on the plane, the child was in her seat.
05:14So, Castro got the kid to move, which caused the kid to cry. The toddler's mother tried
05:18to get Castro to sit elsewhere, which she refused. Another passenger recorded Castro and uploaded
05:23the footage online. The infamy caused her to leave her banking profession. As such, in 2025,
05:29she issued a lawsuit against Goal and the person who recorded her.
05:32Number five, the blackout challenge.
05:35Significant organ damage, including brain damage, which really is one of the most vulnerable
05:44organs to lack of oxygen.
05:45Internet challenges have become a common pastime. Some, like the ice bucket challenge, can lead
05:50to positive outcomes, as it did when it raised awareness and money for curing ALS. However,
05:55the blackout challenge is not good at all. Originating on TikTok in 2021, it got children,
06:01primarily, to choke themselves. Sadly, this led to several deaths.
06:06Anderson's lawsuit claims TikTok targeted Nyla by recommending blackout challenge content to her.
06:12Tywanna Anderson was one U.S.-based person to issue a lawsuit against TikTok for not doing more to
06:17protect children after her daughter, Nyla, passed away from the trend. After the case was originally
06:22dismissed in 2024, the appeal court overturned the decision and allowed the suit to proceed. In 2025,
06:28four families in the U.K. who lost kids to the challenge also issued lawsuits against TikTok.
06:33Well, the most important thing is just how deadly this TikTok blackout challenge is and how predictable it was.
06:44Number four, prom dress scandal.
06:46I think that might just come from me as a person. I don't take crap from anybody or any person. So I knew that I felt
06:54beautiful and that I felt great.
06:55For some, people challenging gender norms can be the most terrifying thing they've witnessed. For example, Samuel Johnson.
07:01Rather than a writer like his namesake, he was the CEO of VisuWell. In 2021, Johnson was recorded
07:08confronting Dalton Stevens and his partner, Jacob Geitman, as they took photos for their prom.
07:13Johnson, livid that Stevens was wearing a dress, uttered homophobic comments.
07:17I look like white!
07:21You look like an idiot.
07:22Get the f*** white from me!
07:24What does he look like?
07:24Please stop.
07:26Due to the video getting traction online, including getting celebrities like Kathy Griffin to comment on it,
07:31Johnson was fired from VisuWell. So, he issued a lawsuit against UH Cleveland for pressuring his
07:36removal. He also issued a suit against Griffin, claiming he was standing up against what he called
07:40the woke social mob.
07:42When you come up to somebody and publicly harass them, shame them for what they're wearing, that's just not
07:46acceptable. Everybody should just wear what they want and that you shouldn't be ashamed to wear
07:52anything because of societal standards.
07:54Number three, Central Park Karen.
07:56If there was a Hall of Fame for Karens, Amy Cooper would be in it as a first inductee.
08:09In 2020, birdwatcher Christian Cooper, no relation, clashed with Amy for not leashing her dog in New York
08:15City's Central Park. This resulted in her calling the cops, falsely claiming that Christian, who's a
08:20black man, was threatening her life.
08:21You had your phone.
08:22I had this. And so, I was like, alright, well then I'm gonna record your scofflaw behavior of your dog
08:28being off the leash. You know, I had no idea she was gonna take it to a racial place.
08:32The backlash was severe when Christian posted the recording online, especially as Amy was hurting
08:37her dog by grabbing its collar. Amy ended up getting fired from Franklin Templeton for her racist
08:41behavior. In response, she issued a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal against the investment company.
08:46The case was dismissed in 2022, as was Amy's appeal in 2023.
08:51We live in the age of Ahmaud Arbery, where, you know, black men are shot, gunned down because of
08:59the presumptions that people make about it.
09:01Number two, monkey selfie.
09:03The legal question is whether or not a monkey can be given human legal rights. And although we share
09:09these behavioral and cognitive and social abilities, I just don't think it will quite get there.
09:14In a national park in Indonesia, photographer David Slater went to take images of the endangered
09:19Salib's crested macaques, and he got the primates to take iconic selfies. As a result, Slater's work
09:25took the internet by storm.
09:27Once I knew that the monkeys were gonna start playing with the camera, they'd already accidentally
09:32pressed the button, then I realized that I could get that close-up impact shot by just simply letting
09:37them approach the camera.
09:38In 2011, the photos were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, a free content site. Slater requested
09:44the images be removed, which caused animal group PETA to get involved. In 2015, the non-profit
09:49issued a lawsuit against Slater, demanding ownership of the photographs go to one of the
09:53monkeys, Naruto. In 2016, the case was dismissed, which PETA appealed. In the meantime, the two
09:59parties agreed to a settlement. However, in 2018, PETA's appeal was rejected, as animals
10:04can't hold copyright.
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10:33Number one, Lincoln Memorial Confrontation.
10:36I have the utmost respect for Mr. Phillips. It's another person that freely uses First
10:43Amendment rights.
10:44In 2019, clips from a confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. went viral.
10:50The video showed Native American activist Nathan Phillips singing in the face of MAGA hat-wearing
10:54Nicholas Sandman. Stories began to spread online and through the media that Phillips was responding
10:59to racist chants from a group of MAGA supporters, including Sandman. However, the supporters denied
11:04the allegations as further videos proved additional detail.
11:07There's video of some of them who appear to be doing what's called a tomahawk chop, as
11:12Philip bangs his drum. There's also a lot of laughing and more school chanting.
11:17Sandman issued various lawsuits against media organizations for defamation, seeking hundreds
11:22of millions in damages. CNN, NBC, and the Washington Post all settled cases. However, in 2022, a
11:29suit against several groups, including the New York Times and ABC, was found against Sandman.
11:33He appealed the decision multiple times unsuccessfully.
11:36At one point, both sides appeared to reconcile their differences.
11:40Let's sit down and have a cup of coffee.
11:41That's good.
11:42I'll buy a meal. We'll just figure this out.
11:45What viral incident that led to a shocking lawsuit did we miss? Let us know in the comments.
11:50The center of the firestorm, what critics characterize as a smirk on Sandman's face.
11:55Some saying it was an attempt to stare down Phillips.