Celebs Who Inappropriately Reacted To Tragic Events

It's unclear why the world turns to celebrities for guidance or wisdom after tragic events, but rest assured, at least one rich, famous, out-of-touch soul who offers anything beyond the traditional "thoughts and prayers" missive will make headlines for it whenever something terrible in the world happens, be it a natural disaster or a senseless act of violence. These stars all came under fire for their tone-deaf responses to heartbreaking events, making it clear that sometimes it's best to just stay quiet and contemplate.

After a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured numerous others at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, in May 2017, Kim Kardashian posted a photo of herself and sister Kendall Jenner partying with the pint-sized singer. She captioned the since-deleted picture (via The Sun), "I'm praying for everyone in Manchester. This is truly so senseless & heart breaking [sic]. I can't imagine the fear and agony these parents must be going through searching for their kids ... Concerts are supposed to be a place where u can let loose and have fun. It's so scary to not feel safe in this world. My heart goes out to @arianagrande I love you."

One commented snapped (via The Sun), "Why do you put this picture of you patying [sic] with Ariana Grande @kimkardashian So pathetic and sad!" Another griped, "why does she need a picture of Ariana & herself ... To be honest this tragedy is not about either one of them, people lost their lives at some point it's just tacky to impose yourself into situations #BadDecision sorry this has nothing to do with you Kim, stay out of it." 

Another wrote, "It is a literal tragedy and we are all praying but seriously Kim you are just posting a pic of yourself with Ariana barely in it and all faces are happy ... and this is how you express your sadness ? So sorry for you."

Madonna was slammed after the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 and injured 53. Her first response was a Twitter photo of two men touching tongues with the caption, "Love is love. Stop hate crimes. Any form of terrorism is a form of Hate!"

Then came her next tweet, which was of her infamous French kiss with Britney Spears from the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, captioned, "Gay or straight. No hate. Stop hate. Stop violence. #loverevolution." In case that wasn't quite self-indulgent enough, she then Instagrammed a photo of herself from the 2013 GLAAD Media Awards with an excerpt from her speech, reading, "You cannot use the name of God or religion to justify acts of violence, to hurt, to hate, to discriminate." She captioned the snap, "What has happened in Orlando is Devastating. My heart Goes Out to all the Victims of the Shooting and to their Families. Stop Hate Crimes!!!!"

Madge also encountered criticism after the Manchester attack at an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 people. She shared a photo on with Grande on Instagram, writing, "Thank Goodness my friend is O'K [sic]. Lets [sic] all pray for the innocent victims who are not ok. For their families and for Manchester." Later, one commenter fumed, "Being thankful that Ariana is ok should have come at the end of her post, it should have been respect for the dead children that should be foremost in people's minds."

After a terrorist drove into pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge in London in March 2017, killing five (including the attacker and a police officer) and injuring more than 50, many celebs sent kind words to those across the pond. Katy Perry, however, sent ... Emojis. Why bother at that point?

It wasn't her only gaffe regarding a UK terror attack. One day after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, Perry used the tragedy to shill her Taylor Swift diss track, "Swish Swish," telling SiriusXM Radio, "I am ready [to reconcile with Swift] because I think when women unite, the world is going to heal ... I don't have any beef really with anyone. I love everyone, and honestly, I love everyone and I think we need to unite more than ever. I think we see that today especially — like, we need to come together and love on each other today. Don't matter where you come from, don't matter what you believe, don't matter which music you like the most. We are the same and we need to be unified." Wow. How deep. How moving. How ... shameless.

Disney star Olivia Holt's reaction to The Voice singer Christina Grimmie's death in 2016 was sincere, if a bit too specific. After Grimmie's harrowing murder at just 22 years old, Holt tweeted that the slaying was "an artist's worst nightmare." That may be true, but it's also anybody's worst nightmare, whether or not they're a musician.

Justin Timberlake found a way to mourn the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting while also making the incident somehow about him.

He wrote on Instagram, "Last night – in celebration of pride- a group of people – people like you or me or your neighbors or family were dancing & listening to music & celebrating life, just like you or me or your neighbors would. And then, one man and his guns took that life away from them. That's cruel. And it's exactly against what America stands for. I try to make music that hopefully brings joy to people and makes people dance and makes people feel and makes people LOVE... Because there's nothing more pure and beautiful than that act- and the fact that that resulted in the largest mass shooting in American history leaves me heartbroken. I used to LIVE there."

Perhaps remembering that he wasn't actually a victim, he added, "I hope we can wake up and realize we are ALL THE SAME. Just humans. One species. Just wanting to be LOVED."

Maybe the reason Nicole Scherzinger's solo career never really took off is because she has a tendency to put her foot so far in her mouth she could swallow her own stilettos. After an earthquake devastated the small island nation of Haiti in 2010, Scherzinger used it as a inspiration ... but was a little too smug about it. She told The Daily Star in 2011, "The one good thing to come from that tragedy was my music. It was a moving experience recording 'We Are The World' for Haiti and I got to work with [producer] RedOne, which was beautiful. That's when I said, 'I want to do this album with you and what I have in mind is an album that's as big and explosive as a live show.'" 

Unfortunately (or perhaps karmically), her album was even less successful than the Red Cross' efforts after the catastrophe.

It's unclear which member of OneRepublic was handling their band Twitter account after a terrorist attack in Paris in November 2015, in which more than 130 people were killed. However, whichever member that was couldn't bear to not make the tragedy about them, writing, "Literally just took off from Paris to hear that there was another shooting involving AK47's and grenades. DOOM on those who did this." They followed with, "We were staying next to the Charlie Hebdo offices until this morning and now there are hostages. This is unbelievable."

Troubled actress Mischa Barton had a remarkably tone-deaf response to the death of Alton Sterling, an African-American man who was shot and killed by white police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Barton expressed her grief by posing with a wine glass on a yacht on Instagram and captioning the beyond-bougie photo, "I'm beyond heart broken [sic] to watch videos like the #altonsterling execution. This may have been going on forever in the United States but thank god the pigs get caught on camera now. It's unthinkable and an embarrassment to America. The country I was brought up in. Somebody make change. We need gun control and unity ... The world is a precarious place right now." She unironically ended her missive with, "#stop #reflect and #act appropriately."

After getting appropriately roasted on Twitter, Barton deleted the post.

Jason Biggs made the not-so-great decision to tweet a poorly timed (and, honestly, just plain poor) joke after a Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down in 2014, killing almost 300 people on board. "Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?" Biggs wrote.

Biggs deleted the tweet, then offered his apologies. "People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were," he wrote (via People). "This is obviously a horrible tragedy, and everyone – including myself – is sad and angry about it. Sending positive thoughts to the victims and their families."

Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin, 27, died in a freak accident when his Jeep rolled backwards in his driveway and pinned him against his security gate. His sudden death prompted an outpouring of messages from celebrities on social media, including one from Lindsay Lohan, who bizarrely blamed it all on Hollywood.

"This is the result of #hollywood a beautiful life has come to an end," Lohan wrote on Instagram (via the Mirror). "A brilliant actor and a loving friend. Surround your life with good people and know who your #true #friends are my prayers and love goes out to anton's family #anton."

The sentiment was certainly there. But the rationale? Yeah, no.