If we are to believe the Mayans, the world will end in two days (which kinda blows considering Django Unchanged comes out next week.)
Obviously, this doesn’t give us much time to reflect on 2012. This is the reason why, for the second year in a row, we orchestrated the 99 “That Sh*t Cray Moments” of the year; we wanted to present all of the year’s biggest stories on one platter.
PHOTO: GlobalGrind’s 12 Most Beautiful Women Of 2012
What can we say about 2012 other than that the highs were epically high and the lows were terribly low? In 2012, gun violence broke our hearts over and over again. Whether it was Trayvon Martin or Jordan Davis, black kids on the corner in Chicago, or the 20 first graders in Newtown, Connecticut, stories of senseless gunfire showed up way too many times on this site.
When things seemed like they were getting unbearably bleak, however, that’s when a story would come along and inspire us all, whether it was Gabby Douglas taking home gold in the Olympics, Frank Ocean releasing his courageous letter, or President Barack Obama getting reelected for another term.
LIST: The 12 Best Singles Of 2012
Then there were the strange stories, the ones that just baffled us: Those ranged from the sickening, like the zombie dude in Miami, to the funny, like America’s obsession with Honey Boo Boo.
So scroll down, read about those and much more as we look at the “99 That Sh*t Cray Moments of 2012.” We really hope we see ya’ll next year.
1. Kanye goes H.A.M. on Twitter.
There’s not a celebrity alive that tweets like Kanye West. The rapper proved his Twitter prowess during an epic rant on the social media site in January that went on for hours. Kanye’s rant had a wide range of topics: he talked about everything from his fashion line to how he would fix the educational system in the United States.
2. Blue Ivy Carter is born.
On January 7th, the most famous baby in the world, Jay-Z and Beyonce’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter, was born. Papa Carter was so proud that two weeks later he released the song “Glory,” an ode to his newborn daughter.
A month after beautiful Blue Ivy was born, Jay and Bey showed the world their new baby; the star couple released a number of pictures of their little bundle of joy on the baby’s Tumblr page.
3. Etta James passes away.
Legendary soul singer Etta James passed away on January 20, at the age of 73. The “At Last” singer suffered from a number of ailments, including dementia, hepatitis C and Leukemia. Spoiler: Etta James would not be the only legendary singer to die this year.
4. The end of an era and a coach.
For over 40 years, Penn State Nittany Lions coach Joe Paterno was one of the most beloved figures in sports. Then the public found out about Jerry Sandusky. In a span of 15 years, Sandusky, who was the longtime defensive coordinator of the Nittany Lions, sexually abused eight underage boys.
Paterno caught heat because he found out about some of these offenses and instead of going to the police, he went to school authorities. Penn State fired the coach in November 2011, and two months later he died, rather quietly, of lung cancer. He was 85.
5. The Soul Train takes its last stop.
For more than 30 years, Don Cornelius made millions of viewers at home happy with the feel-good vibes he displayed on his Soul Train TV show. For this reason, Don’s suicide, from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, on February 1st, was one of the more baffling deaths of 2012. The great host and entertainer was 75 when he killed himself.
6. Willow Smith grows up before our eyes.
Even though Willow Smith’s music isn’t making the noise it once did, the gifted rapper was featured a number of times on our site. We’re watching her grow. We’ve seen her cut her hair, color her hair various colors and even get some kind of fake tongue ring. It’s becoming clear that even though she is 12, she isn’t a child anymore.
7. The world catches Jeremy Lin fever.
A month into the strike-shortened NBA season, the New York Knicks were on their way to another mediocre, uneventful season. The team had a losing season and they had a number of point guards who couldn’t stay healthy. The Knicks’ coach Mike D’Antoni got desperate, so he started the previously unknown Asian Harvard graduate, Jeremy Lin.
And the rest was history.
Lin started putting up record setting numbers; he became the first NBA player to score at least 20 points and have seven assists in each of his first five starts. In the process, he also became the most popular athlete in the country. As the year went on, his numbers started to dip and eventually a knee injury ended his season.
In the offseason, Lin would leave the Knicks and sign a long-term multi-millionaire deal with the Houston Rockets.
8. We lost Whitney.
The 2012 Grammys were ruined when news came out that Whitney Houston was found dead in a bathtub in the singer’s hotel, a day before the awards show was supposed to be aired. Whitney, who was 48 at the time of her death, drowned in her bathtub after doing hard drugs.
9. Adele takes over the Grammys.
Most people who attended the 2012 Grammys had a heavy heart due to the death of Whitney the night before. One person who was able to celebrate, however, was singing sensation Adele, who won six Grammys, including Album of the Year, for her sophomore album, 21.
10. The “Call Me Maybe” craze.
It all started with a tweet. Early in the year, Justin Bieber tweeted about how catchy Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen’s song “Call Me Maybe” was. From there the song couldn’t leave the radio. It was, literally, the hottest song in the winter, spring, summer and fall of 2012. There were even a number of covers of the song from the likes of Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.
11. The Galaxy Foamposites cause mass hysteria.
Nike’s Foamposite line has been one of the company’s most popular shoes. Over the last five years we’ve seen the shoe released in every conceivable color. Things reached its peak this year when Nike released limited pairs — apparently only 1000 pairs — of a Foamposite which was the color of space, appropriately titled Galaxy Foamposites. There was chaos all around the country to get this shoe, like the riot that occurred at a mall in Orlando, Florida.
12. The death of Trayvon Martin.
On February 26, a 17-year-old black teenager named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida by a man named George Zimmerman. Why was Trayvon killed? Zimmerman, who was an auxiliary cop, thought that the boy looked “suspicious” because he was wearing a hoodie while walking in the gated community (a community in which his father was staying.)
People around the country were outraged because it took months for authorities in Sanford, Florida to arrest Zimmerman. Finally, on April 11th, Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty and the case will go to trial in June.
13. The #StopKony movement launches.
For a couple of days in early March, #StopKony was the number one trending topic in the world on Twitter. This came after an organization called Invisible Children released a short film called KONY 2012. The purpose of the film was to bring to light the atrocities of Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). For years, the Ugandan guerrilla group leader was fighting with child soldiers. Since KONY 2012 went viral in March, the video has collected close to 95 million views on YouTube.
14. The guy in charge of the #StopKony movement goes batsh*t.
This was unfortunate. Two weeks after launching one of the most successful online campaigns you’ll ever see, Invisible Children’s leader Jason Russell had a very public nervous breakdown, in which he was running down the street naked. Russell blamed exhaustion for the moment.
15. The birth of KimYe.
It all started with this line from Kanye West:
”And I’ll admit, I fell in love with Kim, around the same time she had fell in love with him.”
After dropping that little nugget on the DJ Khaled-assisted “Cold,” Kanye and Kim made their relationship very public. Anytime we saw Kanye or Kim, they were holding onto each other, clearly in love.
As we go on to 2013, we are happy to report that the couple is still together.
16. Chief Keef keeps things 3hunna.
There’s no rapper who got more out of 2012 than teenager Chief Keef. The rapper, essentially, came out of nowhere to have one of the most successful rap singles of the year, “I Don’t Like” — a single so successful that Kanye West remixed it. Keef also couldn’t keep himself out of trouble, whether it was him posting sexually explicit pictures on Instagram, or posing with guns while on parole.
17. Chicago becomes the most dangerous city in America.
Chicago was a war zone this year. Need proof? Here are some of the headlines we wrote this year: “4 Killed & 19 Wounded Over 4th Of July”; “14 Shot Across The City”; “5 Dead & 24 Wounded During Bloody Weekend Across The Chi”; “40+ Shot In Chicago And The Weekend Isn’t Even Over Yet!” The violence just got worse and worse as the summer went on.
18. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie get engaged.
They’ve been a couple for years and they have multiple adopted children together, so it’s surprising that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie haven’t tied the knot yet. That’s going to change soon. The couple got engaged this year.
19. Beyonce gives more to her fans.
For years Beyonce fans have been asking for only one thing from their queen: more access! Bey was listening. In 2012, Beyonce launched her Tumblr page, in which she revealed wonderfully intimate pictures of herself and her family.
20. Facebook cops Instagram.
If you can’t beat ’em — join ’em. Or, even better, just let them take over the reins, for a nice check, of course. This is exactly what those boys who started Instagram did. Facebook bought the popular picture-based social media app for $1 billion, just 18 months after the site first launched.
21. 50 Shades of Grey becomes the book of the year.
Who knew that a book about bondage, written by an unknown author, would become the fastest-selling paperback of all time? This is what happened when Knopf Doubleday published E. L. James’s three books in the 50 Shades series: 50 Shades of Grey, 50 Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed.
22. Tupac Back!
This year we saw, quite possibly, the most epic Coachella concert ever. Hip-hop O.G.s Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg closed the show. During their set, the two rappers brought out another legendary guest: Tupac. Well, it wasn’t actually Tupac, but rather an amazingly real-looking hologram of the rapper made by a company called Digital Domain Media Group. For weeks everyone had hologram fever. That didn’t last long, however. Digital Domain Media Group went bankrupt in September, just five months after the company debuted their hologram.
23. E! makes sure that the Kardashians will be on TV for many more years.
For those people who thought that 2012 would be the year the Kardashians would flame out, just think again. In April, news came out that the entire Kardashian clan signed a three-year deal worth $40 million dollars with E! Maybe 2015 is the year of the Kardashian demise. *Kanye shrug.*
24. Jessica Simpson gives birth to little Maxwell.
After what seemed like the longest pregnancy in the history of the world (seriously, she was pregnant for, like, 11 months) Jessica Simpson gave birth to a little beautiful girl named Maxwell on May 1st. Jessica must really love being a mom, because six months later, the singer allegedly ended up pregnant again.
25. Kate Upton does the Cat Daddy.
While supermodel Kate Upton was kicking it with world-class photographer Terry Richardson, the Sports Illustrated beauty showed off her dancing skills and started doing the Cat Daddy dance. That clip is still the best 60-second video you’ll see all year.
26. Football legend Junior Seau commits suicide.
NFL legend Junior Seau lived a reckless life. Not only was he known for his aggressive, hard-hitting plays on the football field, but he was also known for his infamous party lifestyle off the field. Unfortunately, there was some deep and troubling thoughts few knew about: his fast and reckless life came to an end on May 2nd when the football great shot himself in the chest. Junior Seau was only 43.
27. Hip-hop takes another L.
In 2011, hip-hop lost Heavy D. In 2012, hip-hop lost MCA (real name Adam Yauch) who was one third of the iconic hip-hop crew the Beastie Boys. Adam, who was 47 at the time of his death, had been battling cancer for a number of years before his demise. It was a story that, unfortunately, GlobalGrind broke.
28. Justin Bieber joins the Money Team.
From Ray J to 50 Cent, there have been a lot different members of Floyd Mayweather’s Money Team. However, there is none as big as pop superstar Justin Bieber, who walked out with Floyd Mayweather during the boxer’s May 5th fight with Miguel Cotto.
29. Jennifer Hudson gets closure.
On May 11th, Jennifer Hudson was finally able to sigh in relieve. William Balfour, the man who brutally killed Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew in 2008, was found guilty and sentenced to three life sentences.
30. Disco music dies.
Throughout the ’70s, Donna Summers was the queen of Disco. Some of the most noticeable disco singles from that era came from the stunningly beautiful Donna: including “No More Tears (Enough is Enough),” “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls.” The singer was 63 when she succumbed to lung cancer.
31. Facebook goes public.
On May 18, Facebook owner and creator Mark Zuckerberg rang the bell for the Nasdaq exchange. From there, the popular social media site was officially a public entity. Facebook going public went down as the largest tech IPO in U.S. history.
32. The world is scared of zombies and bath salts.
On May 26th, a man named Rudy Eugene beat a homeless man unconscious and then started eating his face. Rudy was shot and killed by the police before he could do any more damage.
When the news came out, it was reported that the man was high on bath salts. For the next couple of weeks, various cases of cannibalism and people doing cray sh*t after sniffing bath salts were all over the news.
33. Nicki snubs Hot97.
One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned in 2012: don’t f*ck with Nicki Minaj. At this year’s Summer Jam — Hot97’s annual super concert — Nicki Minaj was scheduled to close the show. During her set, the rapper was going to have appearances from Nas, Lauryn Hill, Cam’ron, Drake and Lil Wayne. Then in the 11th hour, Nicki pulled the plug.
“See, what had happened was…” during Hot 97’s pre-concert festivities, one of the radio’s most popular hosts, Peter Rosenberg, said some unflattering things about Nicki while he was on stage. The show was streaming online, so Nicki found out quickly about the comments. Nicki’s boss, Lil Wayne, told her not to come on stage, and he then publicly announced no one from Young Money was going to perform at Summer Jam (Tyga didn’t get the memo; he stilled ended up performing.)
Luckily for fans, Nas and Lauryn Hill were already in the vicinity and they took Nicki’s spot.
34. The Yeezy’s jumped over the Jumpman.
There was no shoe bigger than Kanye West’s signature sneaker, the Nike Air Yeezy IIs. Fans of the first had been tantalized for months after Kanye and Jay wore the shoe a number of times during the Watch the Throne series of concerts. When the shoe was finally released in June, it sold out in minutes with the shoe, which retailed for about $300 bucks, reselling for thousands of dollars.
35. Chris Brown and Drake duke it out over Rihanna.
Famous New York hotspot Club W.i.P. was turned into a warzone in June when Drake and Chris Brown’s entourages got into an altercation. Details about how it started are still sparse, but apparently Drake and Chris Brown — who were both rumored to be having a fling with Rihanna at the time — exchanged words, which led to a number of bottles being thrown across the room. Chris Brown got hit, so did NBA star Tony Parker and a number of bystanders.
What’s really crazy about the situation is the consequences of the fight: Chris Brown released a not-so-good diss track to Drake; Tony Parker is suing W.i.P. for $20 million; W.i.P. is suing Drake and Chris Brown for $16 million; and Drake and Chris Brown got hit with criminal charges, which were eventually dropped.
36. The man responsible for the L.A. riots dies.
On the 20-year anniversary of the L.A. riots that he birthed, Rodney King was found dead, when he accidentally drowned in a pool after getting high. Rodney King was 47 at the time of his death.
For all you youngins out there: In 1991, an unarmed King, who was high on PCP, was savagely beat by four L.A. police officers. The incident was caught on tape for the world to see. However, a year later, when the trial commenced, the police officers were found not guilty. This sparked a deadly race riot all throughout Los Angeles.
37. LeBron finally becomes King James.
It took him nine years, but he finally did: in 2012, LeBron James won an NBA championship, beating the Kevin Durant-led Oklahoma Thunder team in five games. It was a crushing defeat for Cleveland Cavilers fans, the team that LeBron started his career with and the one he infamously left after the 2009-2010 season.
38. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes head to splitsville.
2012 saw the end for one of the most bizarre celeb couples in recent memory: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Nothing has been confirmed, but there have been a lot of rumors about why the two split, with the most popular theory being Tom Cruise’s Scientology religion and his overbearing manner. Luckily for the couple, the divorce didn’t get too ugly; the two were able to reach a settlement.
39. Jay-Z and Kanye double date at the 2012 BET Awards.
There were a number of memorable moments from the 2012 BET Awards. But who can forget the image that stands out the most: Beyonce, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian sitting front row, laughing it up. Just proof that this KimYe thing is 100 percent real.
40. Frank Ocean releases the letter.
Without a doubt, Frank Ocean pulled of one of the bravest stunts any artist has done this year. Just days before his debut album, Channel Orange, was to be released, the singer revealed a beautiful letter where he openly and honestly talked about once being in love with a man.
It was a stunning moment for our hip-pop culture, and Frank Ocean was rewarded for his bravery: his Channel Orange album was one of the most critically acclaimed LPs of 2012.
41. The Kardashian clan keeps growing.
The Kardashian family will just not stop growing. On July 8th, Kourtney Kardashian gave birth to her second child, daughter Penelope. The best thing about this birth was that the world was able to witness it — E! was on the scene, and they aired the whole delivery process for the season finale of Keeping up with the Kardashians.
On another note: big props to Kourtney for going down there and getting that thing out herself.
42. Kristen Stewart got some splainin’ to do.
Considering that, for the most part, these folks don’t usually cause any trouble, the Kristen Stewart, Robert Patterson and Rupert Sanders — the dude who directed that terrible Snow White movie — was one of the most curious celebrity incidents of the year.
The trouble started when pictures of Kristen, who’s dating Robert Patterson, and Rupert making out hit the net. Making matters sticky was the fact that the director was married and his wife worked on the film.
Kristen at that point went on the offensive. She released an apology directed toward Patterson, and accepted full responsibility.
He wasn’t having it. The two broke things off. However, as time passed by, the ice started to defrost, somewhat, and by the time December hit the two were back together.
43. GANGNAM STYLE!
In November, “Gangnam Style,” a silly but infectious club banger from half rapper, half jokester, Psy, beat out Justin Bieber’s “Baby” for most views on YouTube. “Gangnam Style” broke the record in speedy time — the song was officially released in July. According to YouTube, “Gangnam Style” is watched everyday around seven to 10 million times, which is just incredible.
Some people have questioned how good the song is. But, hey, nearly one billion people can’t be wrong, right?
44. Chick-fil-A takes a stance.
Fast food is starting to get political. In July, folks were shocked when Chick-fil-A’s president, Dan Cathy, publicly took a stance against same-sex marriage, saying that his company is “guilty as charged” in support of what he called the “biblical definition of the family unit.”
More troubling for those in the gay community: Chick-fil-A financially supported same-sex organizations through its nonprofit entity, the WinShape Foundation.
However, after the fast food place got push back from those in the gay community, the company announced that it would not be supporting these organizations anymore.
45. Tragedy occurs in Aurora.
The Dark Knight Rises was supposed to be one of the biggest movie events of the year. But all of that was ruined with one senseless act of violence. On Friday, July 20, 2012 James Eagan Holmes walked into a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado and shot into the audience with a number of guns, killing 12 people and injuring 58.
46. The Jackson family bickers.
Money can ruin any kind of relationship, even one that is based in blood. Over the summer there was public feces being slung from all members of the Jackson family. Essentially, it broke down like this: Michael Jackson’s siblings — Tito, Randy, Jermaine, Janet and Rebbie — versus MJ’s mother, Katherine, and his three kids, Paris, Prince Michael and Blanket. And what’s at stake? Control of MJ’s $1 billion dollar estate.
Things reached its lowest point when police had to come to the Jackson’s home after Janet and Paris got into an altercation.
47. Ryan Lochte shows off his hip-hop stripes.
Hip-hop was very much part of this year’s Olympics and you have gold medal winning swimmer Ryan Lochte to thank (or blame). During this year’s Olympics, Ryan not only talked about trademarking the adlib “jeah” — which he stole from the homie MC Eiht — but he also wore a red, white and blue grill during his time in London. Lochte is too trill.
48. Gabby Douglas is on firrrrre.
Without a doubt, 16-year-old wonder child Gabby Douglas was the story of the 2012 Olympics. Gabby made history when she became the first African American in Olympics history to become the individual all-around champion and the first American gymnast to win the gold in the individual all-around and team competitions.
Gabby’s success didn’t come with some controversy, however. Gabby’s dad, and whether he was a deadbeat or not, became a story, as well as the way Gabby wore her hair (which was completely silly, to be honest.)
49. Michael Phelps breaks more records.
You would think that at this point Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps would be tired of breaking records. It turns out he’s not. During this year’s Olympics — which most think will be his last — Phelps won his 19th medal, giving him the record for most medals by an Olympian.
50. Honey Boo Boo amazes and shocks us all.
Alana Thompson, otherwise known as Honey Boo Boo, is the most famous seven-year-old on the planet. The young ex-beauty queen has built a career off of her carefree, sarcastic reputation, which she displays on TLC’s hit show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. We think Honey Boo Boo is here to say. You better redneckognize!
51. Chad Johnson has the worst summer ever.
If we had to nominate someone for the Dude who had the Worst Year award, we’d give it straight to Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson. Things started out decently enough for Chad: the football star married Basketball Wives star Evelyn Lozada on July 4th and Johnson got a golden opportunity in the NFL by signing a deal with the Miami Dolphins.
Then August 11th came. After getting into an argument with Evelyn, Chad allegedly headbutted the reality TV star. In one single night everything went downhill for Chad: Evelyn divorced the ex-wide receiver and the Dolphins dropped him, leaving him single and unemployed with a lot to think about.
52. Miley Cyrus gets a new do’.
We’re used to celebrities having various looks, but what Miley Cyrus did with her hair this summer was completely shocking. Miley cut her hair super short and bleached it blonde. Not everyone loved the ‘do when she first debuted it on Instagram, but we were diggin’ it.
53. Did Nas have ghostwriters?
Hip-hop fans questioned everything they knew when veteran writer dream hampton revealed on Twitter that Jay Electronica and Stic.Man, from dead prez, wrote most of Nas’ Untitled album. dream wasn’t trying to diss Nas, it was just something that came up when she was talking about MCs rapping about social matters.
No matter: the blogs and the folks on the Internet went nuts. Nas stayed quiet about the subject, while dream stood by her comments. Things kinda died down when both Jay Electronica and Stic.Man came out and said, while they have collaborated with Nas, they have never penned a verse for the legendary MC.
54. Pussy Riot gets jailed by douchey Russian government.
Back in February, three women who are part of the punk rock group Pussy Riot ruffled some major feathers when they performed a surprise performance at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. The group openly sung about wanting Russia to be saved from Vladimir Putin, the country’s president. For these actions, the singers were jailed and sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism. It was a sentence that caused outrage throughout the world.
55. Republicans don’t know what rape is.
What is rape? Seems like an easy question to answer, right? Well it wasn’t too easy for a couple of Republicans running for office. Todd Akin, a congressman from Missouri, and Indiana state treasurer Richard Mourdock both said some crazy, nonsensical things about rape.
Akins caused outrage while trying to explain the difference between rape and “legitimate rape” (whatever that means) while Mourdock said if life began due to someone getting raped, it meant “God wanted it to happen.”
These stupid comments cost both men dearly: they both ran for senate spots in November and they both took an L.
56. Prince Harry knows how to party.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Yeah, that cliché doesn’t really work if you’re royalty. Prince Harry found this out the hard way when pictures of him partying it up in Vegas like a king hit the net. Especially damaging was the picture of Harry butt naked, playing strip pool with some chicks. We’re sure the Queen was not happy about this.
57. High school basketball stud loses it in front of the judge.
One of the most jarring videos we’ve seen this year occurred when Tony Farmer, a highly regarded high school basketball prospect, was being sentenced for abusing his girlfriend. Farmer copped out to the crime and he assumed that the judge would take it easy on him. Not so fast. The judge decided to make an example out of Farmer; he sentenced the teen to three years in prison.
However, there was some confusion. As the judge read out the years, Farmer thought he would do seven years in the slammer, not three. This caused Farmer to faint. Only after he got his composure back did the judge announce that the years were concurrent.
58. Chaos near the Empire State Building.
In most instances police come and defuse a situation. This wasn’t the case on August 25th during a wild shootout in front of the Empire State Building. A man named Jeffrey Johnson killed his ex boss — the man who fired him. Jeffrey was shot by the police after he pointed a gun at the officers. However, the NYPD seemed to be a little too reckless, because nine bystanders were accidently shot by the police.
59. No more Jersey Shore. Wahhhhhh!
After three years, six seasons and 200 Sammi and Ronnie fights, Jersey Shore will air its final episode on December 20th. Even though the show has kinda fizzled over the years, it’s still pretty sad saying goodbye to the crew. Hey, at least we have the Snooki & JWoww show, which kicks off in the beginning of the year.
60. Snooki drops a meatball.
One of the major storylines of Jersey Shore’s sixth season is the pregnancy of our girl Snook, while on Snooki & JWoww we actually see her give birth. In August, Snooki gave birth to her super cute meatball, Lorenzo, and GlobalGrind was all over the story.
61. Clint Eastwood and the chair.
It’s hard getting old, man, just ask Clint Eastwood. The actor and director had a serious senile moment at the 2012 Republican convention. During his rambling speech, Clint actually started talking to an empty chair, while pretending he was chatting with president Obama. Clearly Eastwood wanted to be taken seriously, yet everyone looked at this moment as one giant joke. Even the President was able to laugh at the silliness of it all; following the speech, Obama sent out the most epic tweet any president has ever sent out. (That’s not saying much, but whatever.)
62. Jay-Z launches the Made in America festival.
In the first week of September, Jay-Z threw the most epic music event of the year: the Made in America festival. This show had everything from O.G. groups like Pearl Jam and Run-DMC, to new school pop singers like Rita Ora and Santigold. However, the festival will always be remembered for how Jay-Z ended things during his closing act performance on night one. You know things are epic when the President of the United States makes an appearance. (OK, so it was only on the big screen TV. It was still dope.)
63. The death of Lil Jojo.
Sixteen-year-old Lil Jojo was shot down in his hometown of Chicago. This became an interesting case because the kid, who was an up-and-coming rapper, had beef with Chief Keef. When news came out that Jojo was killed, Chief laughed at the situation on Twitter.
64. Amber Rose shows off her baby bump Beyonce style.
Last year, Beyonce shocked us all when she showed up to the 2011 VMAs with a baby bump. This year, it was Amber Rose who showed up to the show glowing. While Jay-Z and Bey ended up having a beautiful girl, Blue Ivy, Wiz Khalifa and Amber are expected to have a boy. Now the only thing left to ponder is his name. Purple Kush anybody?
65. Rihanna’s ass lands on A$AP Rocky’s hands.
We got to give it up to the kid: A$AP Rocky is one ballsy muthaf*cka. While performing his verse on Rihanna’s “Cockiness (Love It) (Remix)” live at the VMAs, the Harlem rapper held on tight to RiRi and grabbed the singer’s ass. Rihanna didn’t put up much of a fight either.
66. Amanda Bynes can’t drive, among other things.
Cars are Amanda Bynes’ kryptonite. The ex-Nickelodeon star had a number of troubling incidents behind the wheel: this includes a DUI and two hit and runs. Things kept getting worse for the fading star in August when she was booked for driving with a suspended license. Yikes.
At least recently there has been some closure. A couple of days ago the actress reached a settlement with both victims of her hit and runs.
67. American death in Libya.
With the presidential election in full swing, a major tragedy happened and almost derailed Obama’s changes of getting reelected. On the 11-year anniversary of September 11th, The United States Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, was killed in a rocket attack near the city of Benghazi. When the news came out, it was being reported that the attack happened spontaneously due to an anti-Muslim film that was being previewed online. However, as time passed this theory was seen as false, considering how well planned the attack was.
The incident became an attack point for Republicans during the election season. The right took the President and his staff to task for not responding effectively enough to concerns Stevens had about his own safety.
68. Mitt Romney doesn’t care about half the nation.
In the middle of election season, things were going badly for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Mitt was in a hole, which only got deeper when a secretly filmed video of the candidate saying he doesn’t care about 47 percent of the nation hit the Internet. In his speech, Romney used a number of ugly words to describe this 47 percent, basically saying that these people were freeloaders who depended on the government. Romney tried to clarify his comments, but no amount of spin could hide the evidence.
69. The iPhone 5 drops.
Even with sturdy competition from Samsung’s Galaxy and Motorola’s Droid, the iPhone is still top dog. This was proven when the iPhone 5 dropped in September. Even though the iPhone 5 wasn’t that much of a technical leap from the 4S, the phone still sold like hot cakes.
70. Kanye has a sex tape?
It sure seems like it. In late September, a screenshot of a shirtless Kanye West looking into a camera leaked. Attached to that picture was a rumor that there was a sex tape between himself and a “married” Kim Kardashian look-alike floating around. The tape never officially hit the net, however, RadarOnline had some pretty specific details about the sex tape, including the fact that the rap star was wearing a condom and that he kept on adjusting the camera.
71. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong goes nuts.
2012 was supposed to be the big comeback year for punk rock band Green Day. The plan was for Green Day to drop their trilogy of albums, ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!,¡Tré!, and then take over the charts.
There was one problem, however; lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong had his own personal demons, which affected business. Everything finally unleashed during a performance at the annual IHeartRadio festival in Vegas. Billie went nuts, going on an epic rant and smashing his guitar in the process. Immediately after the set, Billie went to rehab and the group posted this message on their Facebook page:
“Billie Joe is seeking treatment for substance abuse. We would like everyone to know that our set was not cut short by Clear Channel and to apologize to those we offended at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas. We regretfully must postpone some of our upcoming promotional appearances.”
72. Replacement refs ruin football.
Football is the most popular sport in the United States. However, the events that occurred in week three showed that the sport isn’t bulletproof.
At the beginning of the season, regular season refs were striking, holding out for better benefits. With the NFL unwilling to budge, the league implemented replacements refs, which came from non-professional leagues. Big mistake. The first couple of weeks were peppered with mistakes that the replacements refs made.
Then the week three Monday night matchup between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks happened. The game came down to a last minute touchdown scored by the Seahawks. It was a play that the refs clearly got wrong. It was a public embarrassment for the league, which lead to negotiations starting again, which lead to a deal being reached the very next week.
73. A royal scandal.
Kate Middleton’s privacy was horribly disrespected when paparazzi took pictures of Prince William’s bride privately sunbathing. The photographers who took the picture tried to sell them to British publications, but no one would bite. A publication in France called Closer ended up publishing the pics.
74. A new arena opening in New York City.
Jay-Z grew up a couple of minutes away from where the Barclays Center is located. That’s why it was significantly important for Jay, who also has a financial stake in the place, to open up the arena with eight shows over eight nights. The first and the eighth show of the series were both the most significant: the first, because Brooklyn’s Big Daddy Kane made an appearance and the eighth because Jay took the train to the arena (which made for a cute, funny encounter) and because his wife, Beyonce, sung at the show.
75. Trouble at the BET Awards.
The seventh annual BET Awards looked more like the Source Awards this year. There was beef everywhere. The first encounter happened when Young Jeezy and Rick Ross bumped into each other backstage. A scuffle broke, which lead to someone bucking shots in the parking lot.
Then, to make mattes worse, Gunplay, Ross’ lackey, who wasn’t part of the scuffle with Jeezy, got into his own altercation. The rapper was lurking in the parking lot when he bumped into members of G-Unit. A real fight broke out, which was caught on tape, and which made lovely WorldStar material.
76. Terrence and Rocsi spread their wings.
After seven years hosting 106 & Park — which was two years longer than Free and AJ’s tenure— Rocsi and Terrence officially left the show. It was heartwarming to see the two say goodbye, with both characters moving on to better things: Terrence has a new role on E!, while Rocsi became a media fixture.
77. Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj get it poppin.
In mid July, American Idol hired legendary singer Mariah Carey to be a judge. Three months later, the show then added rapper Nicki Minaj. Two divas on the same set? Yep, we should have seen trouble brewing. In early October, grainy footage of the two divas loudly arguing on set hit the net. This was followed by various shots between the two on Twitter.
The pissing match got even worse when Mariah Carey told Barbara Walters someone in her circle heard something about a gun and that she hired extra security because of it. Sheesh!
The beef between the two seems to have simmered, somewhat. Both personalities are still on the show, so we have to assume they figured out some kind of working relationship.
78. Mitt Romney hands Barack Obama a major L.
Going into their first debate, President Barack Obama was up big in most polls that really mattered. Maybe that’s why in their first debate Obama seemed over-cautious and timid, while Mitt Romney was fiery, on point and, frankly, debated like someone who had nothing to lose. Romney easily won the debate. Most commentators from the left hammered the President for his performance, citing the fact that he never once mentioned Romney’s 47 percent comment as one of his many mistakes.
79. Mitt Romney fires Big Bird.
There was one highlight for liberals that emerged from the debate, and it had nothing to do with anything Obama said. It occurred when Mitt Romney was talking about all the ways the United States government could cut federal spending, and he mentioned that he would stop giving funds to PBS, while singling out Sesame Street (PBS’ most popular show) and one Big Bird. Here’s what Romney said: “I like PBS. I love Big Bird…But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for.”
As soon as Romney said this comment, Twitter went to work, creating numerous “Don’t fire Big Bird” Memes.
80. Jerry Sandusky gets all the years he deserves.
On October 9th, nine months after Joe Paterno passed way, and four months after a jury found Jerry Sandusky guilty on 45 of 48 counts of various charges, Sandusky was sentenced to 60 years in prison, insuring that he will spend the rest of his life in prison for the sexual crimes he did to those 10 children.
81. Joe Biden’s “malarkey” moment.
Going into the VP debates there was concern from the left. Obama just lost his first debate, badly, and while we all love Joe Biden, the dude can be aloof and a tad too emotional. These features ended up being a plus for Biden because Joe came out as energetic as ever, and he ate Republican candidate Paul Ryan for lunch.
The moment we’ll all remember is when Biden, who was getting flustered with Ryan’s no-answers, said: “With all due respect, that’s a bunch of malarkey.”
82. The “Stop Bullying” campaign has a martyr.
One of the more heart-wrenching scenarios of the year occurred on October 10th when a Canadian 15-year-old student named Amanda Todd was found hanged inside her bedroom. The suicide occurred about a month after Amanda posted a 9-minute video in which she used flash cards to detail how, for years, her fellow classmates bullied and tortured her. Since Amanda has died, her video has gotten millions of hits on YouTube.
83. Donald Trump trolls everyone.
GlobalGrind is currently writing out our New Year’s resolution. Planted directly on top is for us to stop taking Donald Trump seriously — the dude is clearly trolling at this point. In late October, Trump tweeted that he had a “big announcement” about President Barack, which he would release later in the week.
So what was the big announcement? It was absolutely nothing. The Donald put out some video, telling the President if he released his college records, he would donate $5 million to a charity of his choice. The President ignored the video, like we all should have.
84. Jessica Biel says “I do, I do, I do!”
Justin Timberlake is a bachelor no more. The star married Jessica Biel, his girlfriend of five years, in a sweet ceremony in Italy. One of the cool things the couple did was skip the whole “Here Comes the Bride” routine. Instead, Justin sang an original song to his new bride while she walked down the aisle.
85. Hurricane Sandy is a b*tch.
Twenty-four states in the United States were affected by Hurricane Sandy, the worst hurricane to hit the States since Katrina. The East Coast was particularly hit hard: Places like Jersey Shore, Far Rockaway and sections of Staten Island were obliterated. All in all, Sandy caused $50 million dollars worth of damage.
86. Turn out the lights.
New Yorkers are used to hearing about hurricane warnings and then nothing happens. So it was a rude awaking for all of those in the city when Sandy hit NYC hard. Neighborhoods were flooded and the city completely shut down the transit system.
The most stunning incident occurred when the city shut down most of the electricity in Lower Manhattan, leaving a quarter of Manhattan completely without power for three days.
87. The lovefest between Chris Christie and Barack Obama.
There are times where politicians need to put aside political ideology and come together; Hurricane Sandy leaving New Jersey in shambles was one of these instances. Just days after the hurricane hit, Obama canceled Midwest campaign stops and went to Jersey to meet with New Jersey’s governor Chris Christie. To the chagrin of Republicans, Christie publically praised Obama about the job he was doing. As for Mitt Romney, the governor curved Romney by turning down the opportunity to appear at an event just days before the election.
88. Hulk Hogan might have had 24-inch pythons, but he doesn’t have a 24-inch…
There’s nothing better than celebrity sex tapes. Actually, that’s a lie. Funny celebrity sex tapes are better. That’s why we loved the one between wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and Heather Clem, Bubba the Love Sponge’s former wife. From having his daughter Brooke’s song as his ringtone to Hulk Hogan saying funny quotes like “I feel like a pig,” because he just ate, this tape is epic.
The Hulkster isn’t too happy this hit the net, however. Hulk Hogan is suing Gawker, the website that put up the video.
89. President Barack Obama gets reelected.
Going into election night, most commentators predicted that this could be a long night, with the winner probably not being announced until midnight. How wrong they were. Election night ended up being an early night, with Obama wrapping this thing up by suppertime. The President ended up winning the 2012 election in commanding fashion — Obama took home 332 electoral votes to Romney’s 206, while collecting 51 percent of the popular vote.
On another note: A big shout out to New York Times’ Nate Sliver: he predicted the Electoral College to a tee.
90. The Biebs and Sel split up.
We’re not sure what’s really up with these two, but as of now they are broken up…we think. What we do know: In early November the couple split, with the excuse being their busy schedules. However, there was another rumor out there that they split because Selena was having a hard time trusting Justin. One of the problems was, at the time, Justin was spending tons of time with Victoria’s Secret model Barbara Palvin. We’re just assuming Ms. Gomez did not like this.
91. Say it ain’t so, Elmo!
Elmo will never be the same. In early November, a man came out and said he had a sexual relationship with Kevin Clash, the dude who does the voice of Elmo on the iconic Sesame Street. That part of the story isn’t troubling. What’s troubling is the fact that the man claimed he was 16 when this affair started.
Clash denied the underage claims, but did admit that he was gay. The first dude later recanted his claim, but three other men came out claiming that they had an affair with Clash while they were underage. This whole storm forced Clash to resign from Sesame Street, leaving poor Elmo in limbo.
92. Twilight reaches its twilight.
Bye bye, Twilight. One of the most popular movie and book franchises came to an end this year. Twilight Breaking Dawn – Part 2, the last movie in the Twilight series, hit the theaters this November, wrapping up the epic series. The Twilight franchise has been one of the most epic moneymakers over the last decade. We’ll see how 50 Shades of Grey does when it hits theaters within the next couple of years.
93. Men fight over Halle Berry.
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of togetherness. A time where folks can sit together and split an ear of corn. Well it wasn’t like that in the Halle Berry household this year. A scrap broke out between Halle Berry’s new plaything, Olivier Martinez and her baby daddy, Gabriel Aubry. Even though it looks like Gabriel got more than he gave (look above) it was Halle’s ex who was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery. Halle Berry got that good good.
In February, we were all stunned by the senseless, shocking death of Trayvon Martin. Now, only nine months later, we have to mourn the death of another unarmed, black teenager by the hands of another careless citizen.
On the day after Thanksgiving, in Jacksonville, Florida, Jordan Davis was killed by a middle aged man named Michael Dunn. Dunn confronted Davis and his friends, who were driving, because he felt like the teen’s music was too loud. An argument broke out, which ended with Dunn shooting and killing Davis.
Dunn was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Dunn has pleaded not guilty, and he is using Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law in his defense.
We will be watching this case and Trayvon’s trial closely in 2013.
95. David Petraeus gets caught slipping.
Young, beautiful women have brought down many great men. The latest example is CIA director David Petraeus. The decorated war veteran was forced to resign from his position after an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, became public.
96. Lindsay Lohan is punch drunk.
And you thought Amanda Bynes was bad. Our girl Lindsay Lohan got herself into more trouble this year. After a Wanted concert, Lohan attended an NYC nightclub, Avenue lounge. While partying it up, she got into a altercation and she punched a women in the face. The actress was arrested for the act.
After the incident happened, rumors came out that Lohan became unhinged she saw The Wanted’s Max George, who she was with, talking to another woman.
97. Chrianna 4ever!
It took almost a year of sneaking around and subliminal messages, but it finally happened. Chris Brown and Rihanna got back together…we think. We’ve been saying for a while now that we thought the two were going to reunite.
Throughout the year, we saw a lot of hints. First it was the sub-tweeting between the two; then it was Rihanna’s “Birthday Cake (Remix)” which featured Chris Brown; then it was Rihanna telling Oprah she still loved Chris, followed by more sub-tweeting; then it was the embrace at the VMAs and finally it ended with Chris Brown breaking up with Karrueche (bless her little heart). Everything was basically confirmed when the two posted numerous Instagram pictures together.
98. Chris Brown goes nuts on Twitter.
We think it’s safe to say that Twitter has hurt Chris Brown’s career more than it has helped. There have been many Chris Brown rampages but none were as ugly as the one that occurred with comedian Jenny Johnson. Since Brown abused Rihanna back in 2009, Jenny has attacked the singer on Twitter, calling him numerous ugly names. Well, after years of this, Chris Brown had enough. After her latest insult, Chris Brown just went off on Jenny, calling her a “hoe” (she kindly reminded him that it’s “ho,” not “hoe”) and trying not-very-funny misogynist jokes, where he tells her to “eat his sh*t.” After the net saw the tweets, someone from Chris’ camp pressed the delete button on his Twitter page.
99. Horror in Newtown.
It’s the last truly cray story of 2012 — and it’s also the most horrifying story to hit this country in years. On Friday, December 14, a man walked into an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and shot and killed 20 1st graders and six adults. The shooter, Adam Lanza, who killed his mother before the shooting, killed himself after the massacre.
If there is tiny positive to this horrific crime, it’s that people are starting to realize we need to do something about gun control in this country.
