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When artists push boundaries, not everyone's happy about it! Join us as we count down our picks for the live performances that sparked major controversies and public outrage. Our list includes shocking moments that changed careers forever and sparked nationwide debates!
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00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the musical performances
00:11that caused huge controversy for the artists and bands involved.
00:2511. Bad Bunny's 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show
00:30Shortly after his huge win for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny lit up Levi's
00:36stadium as the halftime performer of the 60th Super Bowl.
00:44The proud Puerto Rican artist brought non-stop energy to the field, intending to send a meaningful
00:50message to the crowd about the importance of unity between North, South, and Central America
00:55through his appearance.
00:58But many folks, including Donald Trump, took issue with Bad Bunny's act for being performed
01:03entirely in Spanish.
01:04However, many conservative viewers had made up their minds about Bad Bunny as the halftime
01:10performer shortly after he was announced as such.
01:13An alternative halftime show was streamed concurrently on Turning Point USA's network in protest,
01:18lauding Kid Rock as its headliner.
01:2610. The Doors Defy Ed Sullivan
01:31Censorship in television was quite a serious business back in the 1960s, and when it came
01:36to music, any potentially risqué lyrics were always prime candidates.
01:41You know that it would be untrue
01:44You know that I would be a liar
01:47For the legendary rock band The Doors, the subject matter of their hit single Light My Fire
01:52came under scrutiny, so much so that the Ed Sullivan Show producers tried to make a last-minute
01:57change to the performance.
02:06In their eyes, the line,
02:08Girl, we couldn't get much higher, was a problem.
02:11So they told Morrison to sing, Girl, we couldn't get much better instead.
02:16Though, he initially agreed.
02:18When the time finally came to perform, he sang his original lyric anyway.
02:22Girl, we couldn't get much higher, the group were then immediately banned from the show.
02:34For the Rolling Stones, hiring the infamous biker gang the Hells Angels as their
02:39security team was always going to be a risky move.
02:43Well, the Rolling Stones tour of the United States is over.
02:45They wound it up with a free concert at the Altavon Speedway for more than 300,000 people.
02:50There were four births, four deaths, and an awful lot of scuffles reported.
02:54Though it certainly helped to give the band's image a real edge, the decision unfortunately
02:58blew up in their face at one infamous gig in 1969.
03:03The show was designed as an answer to the iconic Woodstock Festival that happened earlier
03:08that year.
03:13However, instead of peace and love, the night became a scene of total chaos.
03:18The Hells Angels allegedly used excessive violence on the band's fans, resulting in the
03:24murder of Meredith Hunter.
03:25Three further deaths and a number of injuries resulted in this becoming one of the darkest
03:30nights in music history.
03:37Number 8.
03:38Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke, VMA's Performance
03:42During his commercial peak in the early to mid-2010s, Robin Thicke was truly on top of
03:47the world.
03:55Little did we know just how fast it could all come crashing down.
03:59Beyond the sleazy lyrics of his hit single Blurred Lines and his very public attempts
04:04to win back his wife Paula Patton, there was also his VMA performance in 2013.
04:15Joining Miley Cyrus on stage, their collaboration left everyone feeling pretty weird when Cyrus
04:21began dancing with Thicke a little too suggestively.
04:24Who knows what they were going for, but the public's reaction was a mixture of mockery and
04:30bemusement.
04:38Number 7.
04:39Bob Dylan goes electric at Newport.
04:42In the early 60s, Bob Dylan was truly a revelation in the world of folk music.
04:55Not only did he pay tribute to the greats that came before with covers, but somehow, this
05:00young man was writing some incredible new standards for the genre.
05:04However, Dylan's role within the folk revival movement never truly sat well with him.
05:16So in 1965, he decided to take a rock band to the Newport Folk Festival to promote his
05:21new album, Highway 61 Revisited.
05:24Many of those in attendance were shocked and appalled to hear their hero without his acoustic
05:29guitar.
05:30In many ways, it was considered a betrayal, although the history books would eventually
05:34label it as the greatest U-turn music had ever seen.
05:38And it's all over now, baby blue.
05:43Number 6.
05:45Ozzy Bites the Bat.
05:46Few frontmen in music encompass the idea of a rock god quite as much as the great Ozzy Osbourne.
05:53Positive and negative.
06:00Sure, he played a part in some of the most essential heavy metal music of all time, but
06:06he also represented the dangers of excess and depravity in celebrity life.
06:10During one famous concert in 1982, Ozzy bit the head off a bat that was thrown on stage.
06:22Sure, he genuinely believed it was a fake, but this moment would follow him for decades
06:28afterwards.
06:29He was rushed to the hospital for rabies treatment and came under fire from animal rights activists.
06:38In the years that followed, he eventually evolved into an advocate for animals, teaming up with
06:43PETA in 2020.
06:45Number 5.
06:46Roseanne Barr National Anthem Performance.
06:49Who knows what the producers had in mind when they booked comedian Roseanne Barr to sing the
06:54national anthem at a San Diego Padres Cincinnati Reds game.
06:58Why did you decide to do this tonight?
07:00Oh, because I'm such a good singer!
07:03Beginning of a new career?
07:05Yeah.
07:06Barr, who was by no means a good singer, ended up delivering a truly bizarre, screeching version
07:12of the Star Spangled Banner, shocking everyone in the process.
07:22The reaction was just as volatile as you might expect.
07:26It was seen as incredibly disrespectful and unpatriotic, a mockery of a song that means quite
07:32a lot to so many people.
07:34Though Barr was initially combative with her critics, she later admitted that she regretted
07:38singing it the way she did.
07:39Just thought, what the hell, I'm a comic and I'm going to make it funny, because I have
07:44like way overshot my wad here on the starting too high thing.
07:50Number 4.
07:51Elvis Breaks the TV Rules.
07:53It might seem like an overreaction now, but in 1956, people absolutely lost their minds
08:00when they saw Elvis Presley dancing on the Milton Berle Show.
08:08The King took to the stage to perform Hound Dog, and in the process, changed music forever.
08:15The vocal performance was one thing, but it was the dancing of Presley that truly stood
08:20out.
08:20Well, you ain't in the corner, but then you ain't no friend of mine.
08:25Though that kind of moving was prevalent in late-night clubs, Elvis was credited with popularizing
08:31these incredibly loose and suggestive moves.
08:34Some people considered it a major moment of awakening.
08:38Others were absolutely furious.
08:40I did that thing the same way you did it.
08:41Do you think I could get all the girls the way you do it?
08:44Well, you might not have to get girls, but it's your age to keep your blood circulating.
08:48One of the most important TV performances of the 20th century.
08:53Number 3.
08:55Sinead O'Connor Tears Up Pope Photo
08:57To many people back in 1992, Sinead O'Connor's very public protest of the Pope on Saturday Night Live
09:04was completely out of left field.
09:06To me, the Pope symbolizes everything that is evil.
09:10However, this was far from mindless rebellion on the part of the Irish singer.
09:15Though we didn't know it yet.
09:16The Catholic Church was about to come under fire for covering up abuses, and by ripping
09:22up the Pope's picture, Sinead was making her position clear.
09:25Oh, fight the real enemy.
09:32At the time, many people were disgusted by this, demonizing O'Connor, which filled the next decade
09:38of her life with immense scrutiny and pressure.
09:41In time, she would be vindicated, but the damage to her reputation had already been done.
09:47We knew in Ireland ten years before anyone in America or Canada knew, so I understand that
09:52at the time I made that gesture, it was an abhorrent idea in America to suggest it.
09:57Number 2.
09:58Millie Vanilli's tape runs out
10:00In 1989, at a live MTV performance at the Lake Compound's theme park in Bristol, Connecticut,
10:06the backing track for Millie Vanilli's hit song Girl You Know It's True began to skip.
10:16The group were truly a pop sensation prior to this.
10:19They had the look, the material, and all the potential necessary to become
10:23one of the defining acts of the upcoming decade.
10:26The problem?
10:27I wanted to die.
10:29It stopped.
10:30Girl, you know, it's girl, you know, it's girl.
10:3280,000 people.
10:33Girl, you know, it's girl, you know.
10:35You know, I couldn't repeat it 15 times.
10:37Well, this tape malfunction cast everything into doubts.
10:40Eventually, it was discovered that the two band members had virtually nothing to do with
10:45the production of their music.
10:47They didn't even sing on their own tracks.
10:49In other words, they were a completely fake band.
10:53The pair now hope to continue recording as Rob and Fab, the German, and the French.
10:58Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
11:02Elvis Costello's SNL Song Switch.
11:04The onstage decision that earned him a long-term ban.
11:09I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there's no reason to do this song here.
11:13Radio, radio.
11:14One.
11:14Axl Rose sparks a riot.
11:17The GNR star leaves the stage in dramatic fashion.
11:20Yeah, I jumped off stage and, yeah, things went haywire after that.
11:24And maybe I could have handled it better or whatever.
11:27But no one was really handling anything at that point.
11:30So I took it into my own hands with what I could do.
11:33Britney Spears' 2007 VMA's performance.
11:36Infamous lip-syncing performance that did huge reputational damage.
11:45MIA flips off the NFL.
11:48The hand gesture that resulted in an NFL lawsuit.
11:58Ashley Simpson's SNL lip-sync mishap.
12:01The most awkward moment in SNL history.
12:261. Janet Jackson's Super Bowl Wardrobe Malfunction.
12:31Looking back on Janet Jackson's Super Bowl halftime show performance in 2004,
12:35it's crazy how much of a fuss was made over something so little.
12:47She took to the stage alongside Justin Timberlake.
12:50But these days, the show is only truly remembered for one moment.
12:54Towards the end, Timberlake tore off a portion of Janet Jackson's costume,
12:58exposing her on live TV to over 140 million viewers.
13:10Whether he meant to partially rip it and took off too much, the damage was done.
13:15Thousands of complaints were issued and Jackson came under fire from the FCC,
13:20eventually becoming blacklisted by the industry.
13:23Timberlake, on the other hand, continued his career and went on to have huge success for many years,
13:28barely troubled by the incident.
13:31All the emphasis was put on me, not on Justin.
13:34And, uh,
13:40Justin, we were friends.
13:42But what would you consider to be the most controversial music performance of all time?
13:46Let us know in the comments below!
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