Times The Media Jumped The Gun On Huge Celebrity Stories

When celebrity news breaks, the tabloid media doesn't hesitate to roll out their dubious "anonymous sources" and "insiders" so they have an angle to quickly publish and ride the wave of clicks. Most of these stories fade fast, because they seem obviously exaggerated or impossible to prove, but sometimes, they stick around, especially when mainstream media outlets get into the game. But that doesn't always ensure quality reporting and reliable information. Here's a list of times the entire media seemed to take its cues from The National Enquirer.

The fact that any respectable media outlet has any type of coverage of a teenaged reality TV star's relationship with a B-grade rapper should be enough for them to hang their heads in shame. So, when the breathless reporting of Kylie and Tyga's breakup began, it was as confusing as it turned out to be wrong. Because not even a few days later, Kylie and Tyga went to the American Music Awards together and the young reality starlet even answered "Yes" when asked if she planned to marry him. Which means now we can look forward to endless speculation about their wedding, like what happened prior to Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries' $12 million dollar televised nuptials. But at least that turned out to be 100 percent genuine and real, right?

From the second Lamar Odom was found unresponsive in that Nevada brothel, reports of his impending death, the combination and amount of drugs he took, and his reunion with Khloe Kardashian filled the headlines faster than Kris Jenner could spin them into episodes of her family's show. The conjecture over his health played out in the tabloid media like the most tactless soap opera of all time. You can almost hear the corny music and voiceover at the end of each factless, speculative article. Something like "Will Lamar ever walk again? Only time will tell," or "Can Khloe find it in her heart to forgive him? Tune in next week!" Ugh, can't we just let the guy recuperate in peace?

When Angelina Jolie announced she took the preemptive action of having both of her breasts removed after genetic testing indicated she was at high risk of contracting ovarian and breast cancer, the media couldn't wait to toss accolades her way. But according to Forbes, an exhaustive study of the ensuing media coverage showed that what got lost in the story was the significant rarity of Jolie's condition, which "cannot be applied to the vast majority of breast cancers." So, the result of Jolie's announcement was a heightened awareness of an uncommon circumstance, which then translated into general fear of a more common affliction thanks to incomplete reporting and readers' inexperience with the complex subject matter. Although, anyone who's taken a journalism class knows you always need to cover the who, what, when, where, and how brave and courageous the beautiful, wealthy actress' actions were in any story, so we guess they had a point there.

In Jada Pinkett Smith's now infamous interview with HuffPost Live, she made what some viewed as opaque statements about her marriage to Will Smith including things like "I've always told Will, 'You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be OK.'" Apparently to lots of people, that sounded like a free pass to cheat, although any married man knows that statement is about as loaded as, "Do I look fat in this?" Regardless, the speculation raged and Jada had to clarify, penning an open letter which ended with "Will and I BOTH can do WHATEVER we want, because we TRUST each other to do so. This does NOT mean we have an open relationship...this means we have a GROWN one." We're not actually sure if that clears anything up. But if getting yelled at by Jada in real life is as terrifying as just reading her scream-typing, we'd rather be left out of this issue entirely.

When Robin Williams was found dead of an apparent suicide, speculation immediately began regarding his struggle with addiction, failed marriages, and possible money problems. Cable news stations ran non-stop coverage, kicking over any rock they could find with someone under it who had the slightest connection to Williams to give their thoughts. From the manner of his death to his possible motivations, story after story got reported with no factual basis whatsoever. Outside of the physical evidence discovered by his autopsy, there was little else known surrounding his death. There was no note. He never talked to anyone about it. One thing is certain: as tragic as his death was, the media circus and exploitation of it for the sake of ratings and clicks was equally grotesque.

When Conan O'Brien's brief seven-month-run hosting The Tonight Show ended, entertainment media and the Internet ran wild with all kinds of stories about Jay Leno's nefarious backchanneling, which enabled him to snatch the coveted spot back from Conan. And while that seemed plausible, the website Cracked brilliantly points out two very real reasons why that wasn't the whole story. First, both Conan's Tonight Show and the disastrous Jay Leno Show were stinking up the ratings. Second, an oversight in Conan's contract is what allowed the network to even consider reshuffling the hosts, since he failed to secure a timeslot guarantee. That said, Jay Leno was offered the choice of transferring his entire production staff back into jobs at The Tonight Show, or he could hit the bricks along with Conan, because at that point the network was pulling the plug on both of them. It was a crappy situation for Conan for sure, but it wasn't exactly a treat for Leno either, who surely came out looking like the villain in the whole situation. The good news is Conan made $45 million dollars for essentially failing at the biggest opportunity of his lifetime, so if someone wants to "screw us over" to the point where we walk away with that kind of money, just pick up the phone and call. Or email. Or carrier pigeon. Seriously, however you want to seal this deal, we're ready to fail.