26 Wild Cases of Pop-Culture Revisionism

The old adage may claim there are three sides to every side to every story (your side, their side and the truth), but there’s actually a secret fourth side to each conflict: a warped version of events synthesized through time, hindsight and a never-ending game of cultural telephone.

Anyone who paid attention in previous decades knows that time can retcon a whole lot of details, which is a lesson best exemplified through the unthinkable: contemporary criticism of Steve Irwin, Australia’s sweetheart. 

“He’s basically a saint now, but I remember a time when Steve Irwin got criticized for being extremely careless/reckless with how he handled animals,” one Redditor recalled. “Plenty of articles about how he was promoting behavior that harms the animals he’s trying to conserve. He was the poster boy for conservationists being entertainers rather than scientists.”

But Irwin is far from alone. Whether it’s Britney Spears’ meltdown or the controversy surrounding President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, here are some of the wildest cases of pop-culture revisionism…