Coachella isn’t just a place for starlets to transform into bohemian princesses — it’s also a magnet for scandal. From drug use accusations to cultural appropriation, here are the most controversial celebrity moments at the beloved music festival.
This article originally appeared on Harper’s BAZAAR UK.
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25 Celebrity Controversies You Forgot Happened At Coachella
Louis Tomlinson calls out lack of bands
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Louis Tomlinson
The same day that the 2018 lineup for Coachella was announced, the former One Direction singer took to Twitter to ask, “Where the fuck are all the bands !? It’s a festival !?” He was likely referring to the fact that the three headliners were all solo acts, but many social media users were quick to point out that there were, um, lots of bands on the full list.
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Beyoncé pulls out
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Beyoncé
The Beyhive was devastated last year when the singer announced she was withdrawing from her headlining spot at the 2017 festival. A statement cited doctors’ orders for “a less rigorous schedule” during her pregnancy, but also promised she would be back to headline in 2018. Sure enough, she kept her word, and is set to take the stage April 14 and April 21.
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Vanessa Hudgens accused of doing coke
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Vanessa Hudgens
A series of photos from the 2011 festival showed the High School Musical star dipping her finger into a bag of something white and then putting her finger into her mouth. Naturally, everyone thought it was cocaine. Hudgens’ rep quickly denied the drug use though, saying the mysterious substance was white chocolate. "I couldn't do anything but laugh," Hudgens later told Marie Claire. "It's amazing how people like to create something out of absolutely nothing."
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Justin Bieber gets kicked out
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Justin Beiber
Justin Bieber came into trouble during Drake’s set in 2015 when he tried to get into an area that was at full capacity, according to TMZ. After Bieber refused to leave, claiming he was invited by Drake, a security guard reportedly grabbed him and put him in a chokehold. (Bieber’s rep said he left on his own accord). E! News also reported that year that Bieber "caused an enormous scene and threw a fit" when his pal Kendall Jenner wasn’t allowed into a party because she was underage.
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Madonna kisses Drake
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Madonna
During a performance at the 2015 festival, Madonna placed Drake in a chair and proceeded to kiss him very vigorously. Fans were quick to point out Drake’s apparent disgust in the moments right after the kiss, but the rapper cleared things up with a post on Instagram, writing, "Don't misinterpret my shock!! I got to make out with the queen Madonna and I feel [100 emoji] about that forever. Thank you @madonna."
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Tyler the Creator says “fuck you” to Kendall Jenner
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Kendall Jenner
The Odd Future rapper took issue with a special V.I.P. viewing area, which included Jenner as a spectator, for his set during the 2015 festival. "Fuck y'all, y'all boring," he said to the special section, adding, "Everybody that's in the real crowd, though, I fuck with y'all. Y'all gonna have a good time." That’s when he called out Jenner specifically: "Kendall Jenner here thinking she cute and shit. Hey, Kendall, I'm over here to your right — fuck you." Jenner responded by flicking him off, but later shared video of the moment on Twitter with a crying-laughing emoji and the word "love."
The Tupac hologram
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The Tupac hologram
One of the most controversial performances in Coachella history came in 2012 when Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg brought out a hologram of Tupac to spit "Hail Mary" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted." Billboard reported that "the crowd had no idea what to do with the hologram," and noted the particularly bizarre nature of having the recreation shout "What the fuck is up, Coachella!" considering Tupac died before Coachella was even born.
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Selena Gomez, Kendall Jenner, Sarah Hyland, and Vanessa Hudgens wear bindis
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Venassa Hudgens
In 2014, the starlets were all called out for cultural appropriation when they wore bindis, which are part of Hindu culture, on their foreheads as fashion accessories. Hudgens also posted a photo on Instagram showing how dust had gotten all over her face except for where the bindi covered her skin.
Photo: Getty
Alessandra Ambrosio wears a Native American headdress
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Alessandra Ambrosio
The Victoria’s Secret model managed to cause a firestorm before even making it to the festival in 2014 when she posted an Instagram photo of her in a Native American headdress, captioning it: "becoming more inspired for Coachella". Her use of the war bonnet as a fashion statement was widely called cultural appropriation.
Kate Bush gets dissed
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Kate Bush
In a 2017 article for The New Yorker, William Morris Agency’s Marc Geiger discussed pitching Paul Tollett, CEO of the company that puts on Coachella, on the idea of having the legendary Kate Bush play the festival. Tollett reportedly responded, "No! No one is going to understand it!" A spokesperson for Bush commented via Pitchfork, telling the site, "No discussions were ever had with Kate about playing any festival, including Coachella."
Photo: Getty
Rihanna posts photo using weed
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Rihanna
MTV ran an article in 2012 highlighting photos Rihanna had posted from Coachella that reportedly showed her "rolling a cigar leaf full of marijuana." The outlet tweeted a link to the article with the caption, "Yikes. @Rihanna’s marijuana photos from Coachella spark controversy," to which the singer replied, "Yikes… @Rihanna ran out of fucks to give."
Rihanna accused of doing coke
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Rihanna
Rihanna and drugs were again a trending topic in 2015 when it was speculated that she was doing coke in a Vine video while partying at Coachella. The singer responded in the video’s comments section: "N—a your lame ass got some f—g nerve!!! Any fool could see that's a joint that I'm basing with cigarette! Who snorts tobacco??!! FOH witcho 'never been to a rodeo so someone squeezing their nose means they're doing coke' lookin a--!!"
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Drake puts a country club on blast
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Drake
The rapper took to Instagram to call out the country club he was staying at during Coachella last year. "The most offensive place I have ever stayed at in my life with staff who pick and choose who they are going to accommodate based on racial profiling," he wrote. The club responded in the comments section, writing, "We are trying to get this issue fixed as soon as possible. Customer satisfaction is our number one priority and for you to experience such a thing is embarrassing for us." Drake later deleted the post.
Radiohead walks off stage
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Radiohead
The rock band’s headlining 2017 set was plagued by sound issues. First the sound went out during a performance of their song "15 Step," causing them to leave the stage. They returned, but only to walk off again after the sound cut out during "Let Down."
Outrage over celebrities being paid to attend
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Lea Michele
The Internet was not happy in 2014 when The New York Daily News reported that some celebrities were being sponsored to party at the event, citing Lea Michele’s alleged $20,000 check for wearing Lacoste and mentioning that Aaron Paul, Kate Bosworth, and Joe Jonas were all seeking similar pay days. After the news was breathlessly aggregated, Time ran an article entitled, "Celebrities are Getting Paid to Go to Coachella. Why is This Surprising?"
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Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid almost get kicked out
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Taylor Swift and Gigi Hadid
The Australian DJ Flume told a radio station that during his 2016 set, his manager was at the lighting desk when two girls came in front of him and started dancing "like really full on." "He was like, 'I need to get these girls out of here,' so he went to ask them to move away from the sound booth and realized it was Taylor Swift and her friend, that Gigi Hadid girl," said Flume. "Their security guard went up to him and goes, 'You're not kicking them out.'"
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Chance the Rapper cancels show and is hospitalised
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Chance
Fans who made it to the first weekend of the 2014 festival got to witness an epic performance from Chance, but those who attended the second weekend weren’t so lucky, as he had to cancel the performance due to an illness. "Chance was running a 104 degree fever and could not speak due to the inflammation of his throat," his manager said in a statement. "He was rushed to Hollywood Presbyterian hospital where he was put on an IV drip and medicines were introduced to help control his body temperature and pain caused by his illness."
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Kelly Osbourne and Paris Hilton feud
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Kelly Osbourne and Paris Hilton
According to Us Weekly, Hilton and Osbourne had a run-in at the 2014 festival when Hilton wanted a table at which Osbourne was already sitting. However things went down, Osbourne came away angry. "Please grow up there is no need to act like a child," she tweeted at Hilton. "You could of [sic] happily joined us! it's not 2005 no one cares!" Hilton responded with a denial that anything had happened at all, tweeting back, "Getting tweets about us. I'm confused, as I did not see you once this entire weekend. No clue how these stories get invented."
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Lindsay Lohan accused of relapsing
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Lindsay Lohan
Lohan has said she’s sober, so when reports came out that she had relapsed while partying it up at Coachella in 2014, more than a few eyebrows raised. Lohan denied that she had fallen off the wagon to Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, saying, "I was partying in a dancing manner, which could look like anything to anyone, so I get it."
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Gerard Butler reportedly hooks up in a portable toilet
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Gerard Butler
The 300 star hit up the 2012 festival with a mystery brunette, and a source told Perez Hilton that they were seen "grinding like they were at a middle school dance." Hilton claimed the two were also spotted taking "some alone time" in a portable toilet.
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The Cure gets cut off after breaking curfew
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The Cure
Like Cinderella before them, The Cure learned the hard way the importance of keeping a curfew. In 2009, the band refused to stop playing at the midnight cut-off point, so the festival had to pull the plug and turn the field lights up during their performance of "Boys Don’t Cry." As the band kept playing, audience members reportedly rushed toward the stage to hear the final notes unplugged.
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Roger Waters loses a two-story inflatable pig
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Roger Waters
During the Pink Floyd frontman’s 2008 set, the band’s signature two-story inflatable pig got loose from its tethers and floated away. (The pig was long a Pink Floyd show staple, ever since their 1977 song "Pigs on the Wing.") Coachella organisers offered a reward of $10,000 and four lifetime festival tickets in exchange for the pig, and it eventually turned up in someone’s driveway "pretty shredded" and looking like "pulled pork."
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Water bottle thrown at Neil Finn’s head during Crowded House reunion
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Neil Finn
The Australian band reunited for the 2007 festival, playing their first major gig in a decade. Unfortunately for them, it was also the same day Rage Against the Machine was reuniting, and according to Stereogum, the crowd was largely comprised of the latter’s fans who weren’t at all interested in hearing Crowded House. This resulted in someone throwing a water bottle straight at singer Neil Finn’s head, which noticeably shook him.
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Backlash to Madonna being a headliner
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Madonna
In a 2006 article, Spin magazine called that year’s showing by Madonna "the most high-profile—and most controversial—set in the history [of the festival]." In those pre-Twitter days, message boards were ablaze with outrage over the queen of pop headlining what was then considered "an alternative-music showcase," according to Spin. The backlash presented itself in at least one way that day, as an incident led Madonna to yell, "Do not throw water on my stage, motherfuckers!"
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Cee Lo Green gets cut off
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The "Fuck You" singer showed up to his 2011 set nearly 30 minutes late, which led to audience boos and plenty of walk-outs, according to The Los Angeles Times. When Green did show he said he only had 20 minutes, but "it ain’t my fault. They should have... given me a better time slot." He played only five songs before the sound was cut and he walked off stage.
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- TAGS:
- Alessandra Ambrosio
- Beyoncé
- Celebrities
- Celebrities Controversies
- celebrity
- Celebrity Controversies
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- Coachella
- Drake
- Gerard Butler
- Gigi Hadid
- Justin Bieber
- Kate Bush
- Kelly Osbourne
- Kendall Jenner
- Life
- Lindsay Lohan
- Louis Tomlinson
- Madonna
- Neil Finn
- Paris Hilton
- Radiohead
- Rihanna
- Roger Waters
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- Vanessa Hudgens