40 Regrettable Pop-Culture Staples That Have Rusted, Bent and Poked A Ton of Thumbs

Quick! What do milk, avocados and these moments in pop culture have in common?
40 Regrettable Pop-Culture Staples That Have Rusted, Bent and Poked A Ton of Thumbs

When any of us look at old, embarrassing high school pictures, why does cringing seem to be our only reaction? Why can’t we appreciate that we’ve journeyed so far from our awkward stages? 

Today, we’re stopping to appreciate our growth in the pop-culture realm. Yes, we're clearly eye-rolling quite a bit, but it’s nice to know that these all happened quite some time ago. So let’s all agree to be grateful that our emo side parts and the problematic pop-culture moments that came with them are a thing of the past!

Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

COMEDY NERD Eddie Murphy says that his old jokes, from 1987's Raw, make him cringe. I was a young guy processing a broken heart, you know, kind of an asshole, he said, even though Raw basically made him a star. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

TIRED COMEDY BITS MEN DRESSING LIKE WOMEN Once some serious shock value, it's basically men being applauded for having the courage to be seen like that. If a man legitimately performs a great female character with great jokes, game on. But the laugh simply for the sight of it should be done with. CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

TIRED COMEDY BITS BLACK PEOPLE ARE COOL On top of the countless stand-up jokes, a popular TV and movie trope has been a white friend dancing awkwardly or saying something cool, and a black friend checking them with, Okay, promise me you'll never do that again. WHITE PEOPLE ARE NERDS CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED SARAH SILVERMAN is horrified that she did blackface. About her show's 2007 episode: I don't stand by the blackface sketch. I'm horrified by it, and I can't erase it. I can only be changed by it and move on. That was such liberal-bubble stuff, where I actually thought it was dealing with racism by using racism... All I can say is that I'm not that person anymore.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

TRACY MORGAN said he would pull out a knife and stab his son if he were gay. I want to apologize to my fans, and the gay and lesbian community, for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville. ... While I am an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context. CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

AMY SCHUMER realized that she has influence. About her old joke, I used to date Hispanic guys, but now I prefer consensual, she said, I played a dumb white girl onstage. Once I realized I had more eyes and ears on me and had an influence I stopped telling jokes like that. I am evolving as an artist. I am taking responsibility and hope I haven't hurt anyone. I apologize if I did. CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED DISCUSSING DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY The gross-out humor is actually really good. They pull off a ton of memorable raunchy bits, but Matt Dillon using the R word, referring to a kid as Mongo, and discussing his cage, and his leash has never sat well with decent viewers.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED ROBBIE GETS MATERIAL CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE ... BERNS As a cute ending, 17 year old Jessica hands 13 year old Robbie her nude photos (that she originally gave his father). We get the sentiment, but there's no way a teen girl would want those pics out in the world, so it's a weak, easy ending for these characters.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED GHOSTLY ORAL GHOSTBUSTERS Because '80s kids were swimming in Ghostbusters merch, it's easy to forget the really off putting moment where Ray (Dan Aykroyd) received fellatio from a ghost. What do you even call an inter-spiritual sex act?

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED BART'S PENIS THE SIMPSONS MOVIE Why did they have to expose Bart Simpson's little yellow 10 year old penis to the world? The joke is okay, but no one on Earth should know what Bart's penis looks like. Eight year old Ralph seeing it and saying, I like men now is just unsettling.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED STIFLER CAN TASTE THE BUBBLES. AMERICAN PIE 2 When the original had things in pies and flutes in places, the sequel wanted to double the raunchiness with half the effort. A girl plans to shower Stifler in champagne just as a guy starts peeing off the balcony, and it feels like a gross-out Three Stooges scene.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED THE FOOD ORGY SAUSAGE PARTY It felt like they were just shoving the adult themes down our throats, like look at how crass we can make a Pixar movie. The unnecessary orgy scene took it way too far. Leave animated sex scenes to Team America: World Police.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED I'M TOO SEXY FOR MY CAT RIGHT SAID FRED BUDD PUK Never listen too closely to this song, which is really a bleak portrait of self-defeating narcissism, but this pet-owner relationship is even better left unexplored.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED BLACK, WHITE, RED, BROWN, FEEL THE VIBRATION MARKY MARK AND THE FUNKY BUNCH EYYORK The I don't see color vibe is bad enough, but there's a key color missing there, and if you know Wahlberg's history, it's... glaring.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED PURE BLACK PEOPLE, MAN, THAT'S ALL I MAN KNOW SNOW Dear white dudes: 1) Never say this under any circumstance. 2) Definitely not right before admitting you come from Toronto.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Cringey lyrics from the '80s Poison I Want Action I can't wait to get my hands on them. I won't give up until they give in. If I can't have her, I'll take her and make her. You're gonna make her, Bret Michaels? Well, no means no, Bret Michaels! We'd say this didn't age well, but it wasn't acceptable back then (or ever!). CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Cringey lyrics from the '80s The Beastie Boys Girls I asked her out, she said 'No way.' I should of probably guessed her gay. If a girl isn't into you, she must be gay! Lyrics for the fragile ego of the rejected bro. And it's have, Beastie Boys. You should have probably guessed that she is gay. CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Cringey lyrics from the '80s AC/DC Let Me Put My Love Into You Don't you struggle. Don' t you fight. Don't you worry. 'Cause it's your turn tonight. If the title of the song wasn't cringey enough, they really doubled down with a good ol' take on consent in the '80s. CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Cringey lyrics from the '80s Guns N' Roses One in a Million Racial and homophobic slurs that we'd care to not repeat. EXCLUSIVE - . - - N - DRUGA Sort fees shot of by WITH gong THE SHOCKII - - - - - GTO USED TO Elephant giv LOVE HER HE - - - One In A - - - - - - - Controversial even at the time, many questioned why Slash (who is half black) played on a song where Axl drops the worst possible word that begins with an N. CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Cringey lyrics from the '80s DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Parents Just Don't Understand And this girl's hand was steadily moving up my thigh. She had opened up three buttons on her shirt so far. I almost had a heart attack that day. Come to find out the girl was a twelve-year-old runaway. Will Smith was 20 when this was released, and even if the song was about his younger self, he picks up this girl while driving his car. Do we need to keep listing reasons this is problematic?! CRACKED

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

POWER RANGERS Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was a lesson in racial stereotypes, starting with the Rangers' color choices. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

SETH'S CRACKED ENTIRE PLOT IS DATE RAPE. SUPERBAD His master plan is to get Emma Stone's character drunk enough to sleep with him. When he discovers she doesn't drink, he whines, gets grabby, and vomits on her. Worse, he seems to be practicing for a string of similar assaults in college.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED JAKE RYAN OFFERS HIS PASSED OUT GIRLFRIEND UP AS A PLAY THING. SIXTEEN CANDLES He's played up as the perfect high school good guy, but why, because he likes the nerdy girl? His infatuation becomes outright stalking, and he hands his drunk, passed out girlfriend to the perverted Anthony Michael Hall saying, Do whatever you want.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED DIRTY HARRY NEEDS A BODYCAM TO KEEP HIM IN CHECK. DIRTY HARRY In one of Clint Eastwood's most iconic films, this rogue cop is supposed to follow a strict code of conduct, but he violates civil rights, abuses prisoners, and kills at will. He's portrayed as good, but he's a menace to society.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

The creator of Beanie Babies was charged with tax fraud. The billionaire creator Ty Warner had to pay a $100,000 fine but no jail time (?!) for hiding millions of dollars. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Skydancers were recalled in 2000. 8.9 million were recalled after about 150 reports of injuries, from eye injuries to facial lacerations to a broken rib. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

The Spice Girls got their names because of a lazy journalist. A journalist who couldn't remember their names assigned the nicknames of Baby, Sporty, Posh, Ginger, and Scary. Which explains why Scary is so racist. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED THE DEPLORABLE PRIME MINISTER. LOVE ACTUALLY Hugh Grant as The Prime Minister is essentially Tony Blair with a Bill Clinton libido. Grant might be lovable in '90s rom-coms, but he abuses his power to sleep with a young aide. Relentless, he and his security guards even crash her family Christmas.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

PEPÉ LE PEW The cartoon skunk stalks and sexually assaults Penelope Pussycat, in a weird French stereotype. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

SI AND AM The Lady and the Tramp antagonists rely on heavy Asian stereotypes to taunt Lady and cause havoc. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED YOUR ENTIRE PLOT CAN'T INVOLVE RIGID GENDER NORMS. MR. MOM A laid-off man becomes a stay-at-home dad while his wife returns to work. Jokes about a man changing diapers and ironing shirts couldn't be seen as ridiculous today. Don't worry, in the happy ending, he returns to work and his wife gets back to the homestead.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED YOUR ENTIRE PLOT CAN'T BE ONE BIG TRANS JOKE ANYMORE. ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE The Einhorn is Finkle, Finkle is Einhorn plot has one big reveal of Einhorn's bulge tucked between her legs. This would never be played up as a joke today, and we wonder why it was even needed to tell a stolen dolphin story.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED BLACK FACE CAN'T BE YOUR ENTIRE PLOT ANYMORE. SOUL MAN In the 1986 movie, a spoiled white kid pretends to be black to nab a Harvard scholarship exclusive to black students. It does raise awareness of prejudice and racism, but all the blackface made it wildly offensive, even for 1986 standards.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED YOUR VILLAIN'S PLOT CAN'T BE EASILY THWARTED BY GOOGLE. TOMORROW NEVER DIES ILL BACK ST This Bond villain is a media mogul who plans to manipulate the news to incite war between China and the UK. Today, social media and a quick googling of countless news sources would label this fake news within a few minutes.

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

... TELL US NOW. AMERICAN BEAUTY The award-winning movie stars Kevin Spacey pining after an underage person. Nina J. says it definitely doesn't hold up because it feels like, especially when you watched it as an underage girl, that those creepy guys are cool and if they assault you, you're going to be guilty. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

... TELL US NOW. SHALLOW HAL Jennifer K. says, The whole movie is just so cringe now. The movie is about a superficial man who is given the ability to only see people's inner beauty, so he unknowingly falls for an overweight woman. Fat jokes galore. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

... TELL US NOW. REVENGE OF THE NERDS Merrit В. says, Lewis flat-out rapes Betty, and I was in my 30s when I suddenly processed that. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Free Willy After the movie came out, pressure mounted to free Keiko (the movie's cetacean star) for real and not just in fiction. Keiko could not adapt to living in the wild. Не died the following year, always seeking the company of humans. CRACKED.COM

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

CRACKED.COM The Naked Gun Oh, my poor Nordberg! his wife weeps as Nordberg lies in a hospital bed. Не was such a good man, Frank! Не never wanted to hurt anyone! Nordberg is played by O.J. Simpson. (On the other hand, that makes the scenes of Nordberg's comic suffering even better).

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Moments in pop culture that don't hold up!

Dodgeball C Lance Armstrong randomly appears to give Vince Vaughn's character a pep talk, telling him that he never quit despite huge adversities. Today we know that drugs helped him quite a bit with that. CRACKED.COM

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