Top 10 Scandals of the 80's

These are the scandals that first hit my mind when thinking about 80's. I'm sure there are probably others out there and I welcome your feedback in the comments. That being said, out of the ten scandals off the top of my head in the 80's, I ranked them according to their importance and impact.

#10

Rob Lowe's Sex Tape

Doesn't he look like the cat who ate the canary in the photo above? Well that isn't too far off of what Rob Lowe did at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. While attending the convention Rob picked up a couple of, more than willing, girls from a local bar. He took them back to his hotel room where they engaged in a threesome that was videotaped. Unfortunately for Mr. Lowe, one of the girls was only 16yrs old.

I come down on the side of Rob on this one. I mean really, what are you supposed to do, start IDing girls you meet in bars? They're supposed to be old enough if they're in the place drinking in the first place.

Luckily, Rob had no legal problems arise from the tape, but the embarrassment from the tape being leaked, derailed his career for a period of time. Rob's career has totally rebounded and he enjoys steady work in Hollywood to this day.

An interesting fact about this scandal is that it is one of the very first Hollywood sex tape scandals. As we all know now, alot of celebrities use this as a vehicle to stardom these days. Boy, how times have changed.

#9

Oral Roberts Fundraising

In January 1987 Oral Roberts stepped in front of a camera and told all his followers God was going to "call him home" unless he raised $8 million by March. Luckily, for Mr. Roberts, a millionaire made up the lacking funds just before the deadline.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't God own everything to begin with? I have my doubts God would need Oral Roberts to raise a single penny for him if that's what he wanted. Here, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with organized religion. I highly doubt God approves.

Anyway, don't get me started. On to the next entry on the list.

#8

Milli Vanilli's Lip Synching

In 1989 Milli Vanilli was performing live on MTV when the recording began to skip, leaving the duo trying to cover by playing right along with the skip. Finally, they both ran off the stage in utter embarrassment. As questions arose from the mishap it was revealed that neither Milli or Vanilli sang on the album. They were just live puppets. Because they had won Grammy Awards the scandal was heightened and they ended up giving the awards back.

#7

Ben Johnson's Steroids Scandal

Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was just sick and tired of losing to American sprinter Carl Lewis. So what did he do to get better? Train? No. Steroids? Yes. In doing so, Johnson became unbeatable. He shattered two world records and won Olympic Gold in 1988.

When it was found, through testing, Johnson had been taking steroids he was stripped of his world records and his Olympic Gold Medal.

#6

Pete Rose Bets On Baseball

For the life of me I have never quite understood Pete Rose's sin here. Did he bet on baseball? Yes. Did he bet on Reds games? Yes. Did he bet against the Reds? No.

Pete Rose never bet against the team he was managing and/or playing for. Therefore, he never tried to fix a game or anything even close to it. What he did do is put his money where his mouth was and say his team was gonna kick the other team's ass. I don't have a problem with this.

To keep the all-time hits leader in the history of baseball out of the Hall of Fame and to give him a lifetime ban is just unbelievably ridiculous. Baseball should be ashamed. Charlie Hustle didn't cheat!!! Reinstate the man and put him in the Hall where he belongs!!!

#5

Gary Hart's Love Of Rice

Donna Rice that is. Hart was the clear Democratic front runner to win the party's nomination to be President in 1988. Unfortunately for Hart and fortunately for the country, his extra-marital affair with Donna Rice was revealed and it derailed his career. Gotta love Rice!!!

#4

Jimmy Swaggart The Hypocrite

Jimmy Swaggart must have been thinking the ministry was just a microcosm of the great 80's movie Highlander. He must of been thinking of the movie's theme of "There can be only one", because he had been running around policing the Kingdom of God and taking the heads of such high profile preachers as Jim Bakker and Marvin Gorman for extra-marital affairs.

Here's the rub. While Jimmy was busy eliminating the competition he was doing the exact same thing himself. And what made matters worse was he was cheating with streetwalking prostitutes. Tsk tsk tsk....I don't think God approves Jimmy.

#3

Jim Bakker Cheats and Evades

When it was found out Jim Bakker had cheated on Tammy Faye with the church secretary, Jessica Hahn, that was bad enough, but when the subsequent investigation, because of the hush money, uncovered numerous financial irregularities, the government came at him with both barrels blasting.

By the time it was all over, Bakker suffered a nervous breakdown and was sentenced to 45yrs in prison. PTL.

#2

The Iran Contra Affair

This scandal touched a lot of people in Washington, but it never made it up to Ronald Reagan. And there is a simple reason why. Reagan knew nothing about it. As much as some people would like to lay the blame at his feet, he simply knew nothing.

The player that came out of this affair, looking much better than the Democrats would have liked was Oliver North. He became so popular for his coolness under oath, his hair cut became the fad of the summer of '87.

#1

Savings And Loan Scandal

The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s (commonly referred to as the S&L crisis) was the failure of 745 savings and loan associations (S&Ls aka thrifts). An S&L association is a financial institution in the United States that accepts savings deposits and makes mortgage loans. The ultimate cost of the crisis is estimated to have totaled around $160.1 billion, about $124.6 billion of which was directly paid for by the U.S. government—that is, the U.S. taxpayer, either directly or through charges on their savings and loan accounts^[1]—which contributed to the large budget deficits of the early 1990s.

The concomitant slowdown in the finance industry and the real estate market may have been a contributing cause of the 1990–1991 economic recession. Between 1986 and 1991, the number of new homes constructed per year dropped from 1.8 million to 1 million, the lowest rate since World War II

---Wikipedia

I'll be typin' at ya later,

Bob the Blogger