- 7/2/2025
From Hollywood heartthrobs to sports icons, the 1990s saw some truly jaw-dropping celebrity scandals. Join us as we explore the notorious criminal cases that captivated headlines and changed careers forever. These shocking incidents defined an era and exposed the dark side of fame during a decade of excess and media frenzy.
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00:00Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most scandalous and talked
00:07about celebrity crimes that rocked the 1990s. It was the high society murder that stunned
00:13the world. Gianni Versace was murdered in broad daylight this morning.
00:19Number 10, Hugh Grant arrested with a sex worker. To this day, people talk about the way you handled
00:25that situation, which was apologizing and not making excuses, which has become strangely
00:33admirable in retrospect. The way you handled it. I don't really remember apologizing. I'm not sure
00:38who I was supposed to apologize to. I was just an idiot. In the mid-90s, Hugh Grant was on top of
00:44the world. This thanks to romantic comedy hits like Four Weddings and a Funeral. But in June 1995,
00:49his image took a massive hit. The actor was arrested near Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles after police
00:54found him engaging in a lewd act with a sex worker named Divine Brown in his car. The timing could
00:59not have been worse, as Grant was promoting his upcoming film Nine Months and had to do damage
01:04control on a pre-booked appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno just several days later.
01:09I think you know in life pretty much what's a good thing to do and what's a bad thing. And
01:14I did a bad thing, and there you have it.
01:17While his career eventually rebounded, the scandal became a pop culture punchline for years.
01:22Number 9. Tommy Lee Booked for Domestic Assault
01:25In the late 1990s, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee was arrested and ultimately sentenced to
01:30six months in jail for domestic assault against his then-wife Pamela Anderson.
01:34According to court documents and Pamela's own statements, Tommy physically attacked her while
01:38she was holding their infant child, prompting her to call 911.
01:41People are saying, you know, that I had beaten Pamela. That is not true. That's just not true.
01:50Grabbing a woman and shaking a woman is not cool either.
01:58The violent outburst was the culmination of a tumultuous relationship that had captivated
02:02tabloids for years. Their relationship had already been thrust into the public eye thanks
02:06to a private tape that was stolen and leaked online.
02:08The tape?
02:09What tape?
02:12You know, the tape.
02:15Lee has since expressed extreme regret over the abusive incident.
02:19Number 8. Robert Downey Jr.'s Multiple Arrests
02:22Before he kick-started the MCU as Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. had frequent run-ins with the law.
02:27Robert Downey Jr. is opening up about his time in prison in the late 90s,
02:32saying it was the worst thing that happened to him.
02:34In 1996, Downey was arrested for speeding down Sunset Boulevard with illegal substances
02:39and an unloaded gun in his car. A short time later, while on probation,
02:44he broke into a neighbor's home and passed out in their child's bed.
02:47The next several years saw multiple probation violations, missed narcotics tests, and rehab stints.
02:53By the end of the decade, RDJ was sentenced to three years in prison.
02:57Robert Downey Jr. has since turned his life around,
03:00achieving one of the most remarkable and inspiring comebacks in Hollywood history.
03:04Take that off. What are you?
03:05Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.
03:08Number 7. Mike Tyson Convicted of Indecent Assault
03:11Anything to say at all, Mike?
03:12I'd like to check it out.
03:13In one of the most high-profile celebrity criminal cases of the decade,
03:18heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was convicted of indecently assaulting Desiree Washington,
03:23a Miss Black America contestant in a hotel room.
03:26But his victim has said she would have dropped the charges if he'd apologized
03:29and promised to undergo medical treatment.
03:32Tyson claimed the encounter with the then-18-year-old beauty pageant competitor was consensual,
03:37but the jury did not agree.
03:38After a widely publicized trial, Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison in 1992,
03:44though he served just under three.
03:46Seldom can a prisoner have emerged from here into a stretch limousine.
03:50Tyson's newfound humility, it seems, has its limits.
03:53The case was a major fall from grace for the boxing legend
03:56and sparked heated debates at the time about celebrity privilege and justice.
04:00Though he would return to the ring, the conviction cast a long shadow over his career.
04:05Number 6. Snoop Dogg's Murder Trial
04:07At the height of the 90s West Coast rap explosion,
04:10rapper Snoop Dogg found himself facing some very serious charges.
04:14In August 1993, Snoop and his bodyguard were involved in the fatal shooting of Philip Waldemariam,
04:19a member of a rival gang.
04:21I was traumatic and didn't know what to do and, you know, who to turn to.
04:25Snoop was charged with first-degree murder for the altercation,
04:28with the trial beginning in 1995.
04:30The case attracted massive media attention, partly due to Snoop's rising fame,
04:35with much attention paid to the, quote,
04:37violent lyrics in the rapper's debut album Doggy Style,
04:39which was released shortly after the incident.
04:42Snoop maintained his innocence, claiming self-defense.
04:45In 1996, both he and his bodyguard were acquitted.
04:48I'm curious, what was going through your mind at the time that the jury was reading the verdict?
04:57I left it in God's hand, Abby.
04:59That's why I looked at her so stoned-faced.
05:01I was just...
05:02I didn't have no expressions, you know what I'm saying?
05:04It was all in her.
05:05Number 5. The Murder of Phil Hartman
05:07Actor-comedian Phil Hartman was a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1986 to 1994,
05:13earning an Emmy in 1989 for writing.
05:15It's fine. But please, don't tell Mrs. Clinton.
05:19Jim, let me tell you something. There's gonna be a whole bunch of things we don't tell Mrs. Clinton.
05:26Fast food is the least of our worries, okay, buddy?
05:30Hartman married his third wife, Bryn Omdahl, in 1987, and the couple had two children together.
05:35Omdahl struggled with multiple substance use disorders for years, which put a strain on their
05:40marriage. She also reportedly had anger issues, leading to many fights between the couple,
05:45including one on the night of May 27th, 1998. In the early hours of May 28th, she shot Hartman
05:52multiple times in his sleep, then confessed to two friends before taking her own life.
05:56Distraught neighbors and friends of the couple say they had marital problems.
06:00One woman said she had feared that this would happen.
06:03Hartman's murder shocked the entertainment industry at large. Family, friends, and fans continue paying
06:09tribute to the comedian. Number four, the assassination of Gianni Versace.
06:13After Giovanni Gianni Versace opened his first boutique in 1978, the Italian fashion designer
06:18quickly made a name for himself in the industry. I have a beautiful house. I have a beautiful life.
06:24But that is the media. What I desire is more. His life was cut short at 50 years old when Andrew
06:29Cunanan shot him in front of his Miami Beach home on July 15th, 1997. Eight days later, Cunanan took his
06:36own life. The cross-country spree killer had previously killed four other men before Versace,
06:41including his friend Jeffrey Trail in Minneapolis and well-known real estate developer Lee Miglin
06:46in Chicago.
06:47Andrew Cunanan makes the top 10 FBI list. You had people in all parts of the country
06:53wondering whether Andrew Cunanan was going to show up at their house.
06:58Authorities admit that by now, Cunanan could be anywhere.
07:01While his exact motivations are ultimately unknown, experts speculate Cunanan was jealous
07:06of Versace's fame and fortune. In 2018, the second season of American Crime Story revisited
07:11the crime and the aftermath. Number three, the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.
07:16On January 6th, 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was practicing for the United States
07:21Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, Michigan, when she was suddenly struck in her right leg with
07:26a baton. Kerrigan was clubbed on the right knee with a baton by an unidentified man.
07:31Why?
07:33The whack heard round the world as it came to be known.
07:37Rival skater Tanya Harding and her ex-husband Jeff Galluli were suspected of orchestrating
07:41the attack to eliminate Harding's competition. The attacker was later identified as Shane Stant,
07:46an associate of Sean Eckert, who acted as Harding's bodyguard and Galluli's friend.
07:51Stant and his getaway driver Derek Smith accepted plea deals and were both convicted of
07:56conspiracy, while Eckert and Galluli pled guilty to racketeering.
07:59Just three weeks after the attack, her ex-husband, Jeff Galluli, pleads guilty,
08:04but accuses Tanya of being the mastermind.
08:07Tanya categorically denies those allegations.
08:10You know, I haven't done anything wrong.
08:12Harding was banned from the USFSA and didn't skate professionally again.
08:17In 2017, interest in the infamous attack was renewed with the release of the film I, Tanya.
08:22In the late 90s, two of hip-hop's most influential artists were killed within six months of each
08:32other.
08:33Backseat of the Cadillac unrolled the window, arm came out, opened fire, and just went rat-a-tat-tat.
08:40There were 13 shots fired.
08:41On September 7th, 1996, Tupac Shakur was gunned down, dying six days later.
08:48Then, on March 9th, 1997, Biggie Smalls, also known as the Notorious B.I.G., a suspect in Tupac's
08:55murder, was shot and killed.
09:00The two started off as friends, but quickly became enemies in the East Coast-West Coast war.
09:05Suspects range from former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight to corrupt officers in the LAPD.
09:122023 saw Dwayne Keefe D. Davis arrested and put in jail as a suspect in Tupac's murder,
09:18with a trial delayed to 2026.
09:20You know, you don't know who's with who, how it's gonna go down.
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09:45On June 13th, 1994, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found in front
09:52of her Brentwood home, having been stabbed to death the night before.
09:58Nicole's ex-husband, former football star O.J. Simpson, became the number one suspect.
10:03The trial, dubbed the trial of the century, began seven months after the murders on January
10:0824th, 1995, and would last 134 days, with the shocking verdict being announced on October 3rd.
10:16In the media, it's often forgotten that it isn't all about Simpson.
10:31The families of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman lost their loved ones.
10:35The infamous Bronco chase, trying on the gloves, the theatrics in and out of court,
10:39all distract from the reality of the case.
10:42Two people were brutally killed.
10:44A mostly white jury found Simpson liable, ordering him to pay $33.5 million to the families
10:51of the murder victims in 1997.
10:54Which 90s celebrity crime shocked you the most?
10:56Let us know in the comments below.
10:57What the hell were you thinking?
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