5 Celebrities Who Get More Hate Than They Deserve (Part 2)

5 Kristen Stewart

Why All the Hate?

I don't know, why do you hate Kristen Stewart so much? When it was suggested that I include her on this list, I scoffed at the idea. Maybe it's because I've never seen a Twilight movie, but I just couldn't imagine that people hate her that much. And then that person asked me to Google "Kristen Stewart most hated woman in Hollywood" and my computer exploded.

From what I can gather, a lot of the animosity stems from the fact that she cheated on that sparkly vampire from Twilight with the married director of Snow White and the Huntsman, which you might recognize as a film you've never seen. She starred in that movie, and then she starred in a whole bunch of unfortunate pictures of her skanking about town with a married man. And now she's the most hated woman in Hollywood.

Fine, let's talk about that.

Why She Doesn't Deserve It

I find it damn near impossible to believe that some of this hate doesn't have to do with that primal instinct to hate anything Twilight-related that burns inside all of us. That alone turns one fairly sizable segment of the American population against her, regardless of who she's banging. On top of that, she's also the female lead in a love story for teens that stars two dreamy boys. In the likability competition, she was doomed from the beginning.

So yes, I get all that. But things have clearly gotten worse since the cheating scandal, and that strikes me as a bit harsh. For one thing, she's practically a kid. Your skull has barely fused all the way at the age of 22, but because she stars in the film version of your daughter's favorite book, it's expected that between Kristen Stewart and a married man in his 40s, she's going to be the responsible one?

And how is this different from what Angelina Jolie did on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith? We overlook her tryst with Brad Pitt because the union ended in eleventeen kids, and because after so many public breakups, we've all come to assume that Jennifer Aniston is a broken person who's incapable of sustaining a meaningful relationship with anyone. But that doesn't change the fact that Angelina Jolie slept with a married man on the set of a movie and took down the feelings of a fellow actor in the process, just like Kristen Stewart did. It's just that Kristen Stewart hasn't made any movies worth watching (with all due respect to The Runaways), so we're less willing to forgive her for it.

4 Jay Cutler

Why All the Hate?

If you're not a sports fan, you maybe know Jay Cutler as the guy who knocked up Kristin Cavallari (who's got a lot of nerve having a name I had to Google so I could spell it correctly). The rest of you know him as the sad-faced, doubled-chinned quarterback of the Chicago Bears. There have been a lot of knocks against him (literally and figuratively) during his time under center in the Windy City. Most famously, he was called out for being "soft" after leaving the NFC Championship game in January 2011 with a knee injury that many suspected wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed. At least not bad enough to warrant leaving such an important game.

It was a stupid accusation that (I think) has since been resolved in Jay Cutler's favor, but it doesn't matter, because people hate him for an entirely different reason these days ... Jay Cutler doesn't smile enough.

Why He Doesn't Deserve It

It's a little more than that, actually. It's not that Jay Cutler doesn't smile enough, it's more that he seems to have only two settings: "disinterested" and "grumpy." This is taken as some sort of general malaise, like he's some kind of moody loner who doesn't want to interact with his teammates. But what's always confused me is that arguments about Jay Cutler's lack of interest are regularly supplemented with complaints about moments like this:

If you didn't pick up on it, that was Cutler mouthing what were most likely the words "Fucking fans, I swear to God." There have been other incidents, like when he was caught on camera telling his offensive coordinator to "go fuck himself" during a game:

Or the time he shoved a teammate who had seemingly forgotten how to do his job:

So which is it? Those don't seem like the actions and words of a man who lacks interest in what he's doing. Even if you think those videos just prove that Jay Cutler whines too much, I'd say you're wrong there, too. I don't know all of the specifics behind him telling his coach to go fuck himself, but I'm far more likely to side with the employee than the management in a situation like that one. The image of him shoving a teammate isn't a pretty one, but ask any knowledgeable Bears fans about it and they'll confirm that the player in question is far and away the most deserving of a good shoving on the entire team. His play routinely leaves Jay Cutler scrambling for his life. You'd be salty, too.

The shot of him swearing to the heavens in disdain for his fan base also loses a little shock value when you factor in that his team was being booed for having just played one bad half of a game during what has so far been the team's best start since they went to the Super Bowl in 2006. It's probably a bit premature to start booing, no matter how bad the game was (the Bears went on to win, for the record). Jay Cutler commented on this. To himself.

What's the problem with that? The alternative is for him to not care, and he already gets enough flack for that.

3 Ben Affleck

Why All the Hate?

Again, you tell me, what is it that you people have against Ben Affleck? I actually Googled this and, so far, the best explanation I can come up with as to why people hate him is ... because. That's why. The always reliable Yahoo Answers provides insight like this:

Ignoring the obviously ridiculous points there, let's focus on the one legitimately debatable argument hiding in that Yahoo Answer ... Does Ben Affleck make bad movies?

Why He Doesn't Deserve It

You'll likely note that this entry is significantly shorter than the rest. The reason for that is simple. There's really nothing for me to argue. In the debate about whether or not Ben Affleck makes bad movies, there's a lengthy history of critical acclaim and accolades that need to be explained away before you can even hope to argue that he does.

Reindeer Games, Jersey Girl and Gigli are the three movies regularly mentioned as definitive proof that Ben Affleck fucking sucks. While there may be legitimate complaints about all of those films (namely, that each and every one is objectively awful), you absolutely cannot argue that these films define the career of Ben Affleck. Everyone has bad films to their credit; it's how things work. But we're talking about a man who's won an Academy Award for a screenplay he wrote. Discount the importance of awards shows all you want, but the fact remains that most people who work in film go their entire career without even coming close to that kind of success.

And it wasn't an isolated incident. In recent years, he's either written or directed (and usually starred in) critic favorites like The Town, Gone Baby Gone and Argo.

What I'm getting at is this: You don't need me to convince you that you're incorrect if you think Ben Affleck makes shitty movies. You just are.

2 Metallica

Why All the Hate?

Where to begin? Some would argue that Metallica's problems began when they released "The Black Album" (which was actually a self-titled album, but you get it). That's when they became a huge rock band, as opposed to just being that metal band your creepy cousin listens to in his conversion van.

It got exponentially worse with the release of Load and Re-Load, the band's twin alt-rock albums that had the distinction of being absolutely reviled by "true" fans while also selling like crazy. It's around this time that they cut their hair also, making them infinitely more employable in the eyes of companies like MTV.

That's not very metal! From that point on, basically every Metallica release has been met with reminiscences about the days when the band and their music mattered.

Oh, they also, for all intents and purposes, killed Napster. I can't find it in my Internet pirate heart to defend that, but by all means, let's talk about that music.

Why They Don't Deserve It

Metallica was doomed to have a shitty second half of their career no matter what. When they started out, they were kind of a new thing. They didn't invent heavy metal or anything, but they definitely played it in a way that most bands didn't, and it resonated with people in a huge way. They stuck to the same basic formula for three albums, four if you count the one where they protested the death of their original bass player by completely removing any semblance of bass on the first album his soon-to-be-long-suffering replacement, Jason Newsted, had the honor of "playing" on. But shit, sometimes bands and musicians change, you know? David Bowie used to play folk songs on an acoustic guitar. Billy Joel used to be in a rock band. Dr. Dre was a woman.

So Metallica used to be a metal band, and now they're just a band. Big hairy deal. It seems worse than it is because the genre they come from tends to breed fans who listen exclusively to music in that genre, so anything they do from now on will disappoint those people. Hence the howls of protest that greet every single thing they do. They're still a fine band otherwise, even if St. Anger was the worst thing made by anyone ever.

1 Tom Cruise

Why All the Hate?

Scientology is one of the most hated "religions" in the world. Tom Cruise, even if it's unofficially, is the face of Scientology. It's really that simple. Until Will Smith finally caves to pressure from Doug E. Fresh and books his own cruise aboard the Sea Org, Tom Cruise is the biggest star Scientology has in their stable. Unsurprisingly, people hate that.

To make matters worse, the dude is just kind of strange, and he only seems to be getting stranger as the years go by. Being way into any religion will give anyone a patina of crazy that the common folk just don't have. Tom Cruise isn't immune to that just because he has a successful acting career and the whitest teeth in the game.

Basically, in the eyes of a lot of people, Tom Cruise is your garden variety religious wacko and not much else.

Why He Doesn't Deserve It

Man, is Tom Cruise the only Scientologist? I guess I just don't see what the man's Thetan count has to do with his role in my life, which is to entertain me in movies. He's fucking great at that. Have you seen Magnolia? Scientology be damned, that's a good flick. And Tom Cruise is a good actor. A great actor, even. When I see his name in the credits, I feel a little bit better about that movie. He's like the Tom Hanks of guys I'd never want to hang out with.

And see, that's the thing. I don't have to want to hang out with him, I just have to want to see his movies. That's all Tom Cruise really owes me in life. If he's a shitty boyfriend and/or husband, maybe chicks should stop marrying him. It's really none of my concern. I doubt anyone would encourage Katie Holmes to hitch herself to my e-meter either. If he talks too much about Scientology, fight back by not being a Scientologist.

But for my money, nobody plays a World War II Nazi with an American accent or a Caucasian samurai quite like Tom Cruise. No couch-jumping meme is ever going to change that.

Adam hosts a podcast called Unpopular Opinion that you should check out right here. You should also be his friend on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.