Katy Perry to Joker sequel: 17 flops and fails in culture in 2024

Money, success, power, beauty – it often seems as if celebrities have everything they could possibly want.

So it’s just as well they also get tangled up in their fair share of mishaps, blunders and own goals every year.

Here’s a light-hearted look at some of 2024’s biggest flops and fails.

It was supposed to be a triumphant return, but critics and fans complained Katy Perry’s latest album 143 sounded dated and showed little artistic growth.

The music video for Woman’s World, which saw Perry join a group of dancers wearing tiny outfits on a construction site, was criticised for being regressive, although Perry later said it was supposed to be satirical.

Matters were only made worse when the singer attracted the attention of the Spanish government for shooting the video for follow-up single Lifetimes in ecologically-sensitive sand dunes in the Balearic Islands.

But many fans defended the album, which wasn’t as bad as some reviews made out, and Perry’s accompanying tour has been a huge success.

Making a sequel to 2019’s Joker, which grossed more than $1bn (£790m), was something Hollywood found simply irresistible.

Unfortunately, the resulting film, Joker: Folie à Deux, was something audiences found entirely resistible.

Making the film a musical was a bold swing, but the tonal handbreak turn alienated the fans and critics who adored the Oscar-winning original.

Folie à Deux managed to scrape over the $200m (£158m) mark, but that was barely enough to cover its production budget, let alone marketing costs.

It wasn’t the only movie flop of the year – audiences were also unenthusiastic about Madame Web, The Fall Guy, Kraven the Hunter, Megalopolis, Borderlands, Argylle, Unstoppable and Furiosa: A Mad Max Story.

Ticketmaster attracted a storm of controversy after making use of so-called “dynamic pricing” for UK dates on the Oasis reunion tour, which raised the cost of a ticket by £200 due to the predictable demand.

Charging fans £350 per ticket was a dubious PR move for a band famous for their working class roots, and the Gallagher brothers wisely distanced themselves from the strategy.

But Ticketmaster argued prices are set by artists and promoters. Dynamic pricing was later ditched for the band’s US tour dates.

Meanwhile, 50,000 fans who’d paid inflated prices on secondary platforms in order to secure tickets faced having them cancelled. A total omnishambles for everyone involved.

When BBC weather presenter Kawser Quamer was asked in February about her plans for the weekend, she cheerfully explained she was attending her niece’s surprise birthday party.

Host Annabel Tiffin said that all sounded very lovely, but presumably the party was no longer a surprise, having just been announced on live TV. “Oh goodness me,” replied an alarmed Quamer, “I’ve spoiled the surprise!”

The glorious mishap made its way across the Atlantic, going viral and featuring on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

But Quamer handled it beautifully, and even managed to convince her niece she was talking about a different relative, keeping the surprise element intact.

Chaos is a term which could be applied to a lot of entries in this list, but one of the biggest casualties of the year was Kaos itself.

Just a month after the first series of Jeff Goldblum’s Greek mythology drama was released, Netflix announced it would not return for a second.

Streamers can tell quickly if something is a hit or not by measuring viewing figures and completion rates. Their data even gives them the prospective ratings of the following months based on the first.

But although fans campaigned for its return, ultimately Kaos was Kancelled.

Manchester’s hottest new live venue finally opened this year, but only after several attempts. There was a string of cancellations due to various technical problems, including a ventilation unit falling from the ceiling.

Shows by Peter Kay, Olivia Rodrigo, Take That and others were cancelled or moved, before the venue finally opened with a successful concert from rock band Elbow.

The problems did at least bring one delightful moment: A Radio 4 newsreader announcing the delay of a gig by US rapper A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

Flops don’t come much bigger than a debate performance which was so poor, it brought down an entire presidential campaign.

Joe Biden seemed distant and frail when he took part in a televised live debate in June, struggling to finish some of his sentences and keep pace with Donald Trump.

Biden tried to stay in the race, but the pressure on him became too high as figures including Democrat fundraiser George Clooney publicly called for him to stand down, leading to Kamala Harris replacing him as the candidate.

A barnstorming performance from Celine Dion sadly wasn’t enough to rescue this soggy croissant of an opening ceremony, which was badly hampered by rain.

Organisers took the event outside of the traditional stadium setting and had performers spread out across Paris instead, which was both a security nightmare and challenging for spectators.

The spread meant things felt somewhat disjointed and it was hard for the ceremony to build any momentum.

Meanwhile, some viewers were upset by a scene involving drag queens which many interpreted as a reference to the Last Supper, but artistic director Thomas Jolly said was a reference to pagan gods.

Hot on the heels of the disastrous Willy Wonka experience was an unofficial Bridgerton ball, where fans of the Netflix series were invited to dress up and “step into the enchanting world of the Regency era”.

Unfortunately, they were greeted with disappointing food and drab decor, with one violinist and a pole dancer for entertainment. Creators blamed “organisational challenges” and said they “sincerely apologised”.

We anticipate the event being eviscerated in Lady Whistledown’s next newsletter.

Laura Kuenssberg withdrew from an interview with Boris Johnson in October after mistakenly sending her briefing notes to the former prime minister himself, resulting in what she called a few “red faces”.

ITV took over and Johnson later told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Matt Chorley his originally scheduled interview had “blown up on the launch pad”.

Elsewhere, thousands of viewers complained to Ofcom in August when Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was interviewed on Good Morning Britain by her own husband, Ed Balls, about the violent unrest in parts of the UK.

ITV’s chief executive later noted it was a fluid news morning and the team had short notice that Cooper was coming on. She said the interview was impartial and fair but it wouldn’t happen again.

Another daytime presenter, Lorraine Kelly, became the subject of a viral X account which monitored her show attendance throughout the year (hovering just below 60%, if you’re interested).

Over on Strictly Come Dancing, which had already had a fairly appalling year before this series even started, fans were puzzled by some unusual on-screen encounters between singer Wynne Evans and his partner Katya Jones.

Viewers spotted Jones apparently refusing to high-five Evans, and later moving his hand away from her waist.

The show’s welfare team checked in on them after concerns were raised, but the pair apologised for what they said was actually just a “very silly inside joke” between them.

When Oppenheimer was named best film at February’s Baftas, the prize was collected by actor Cillian Murphy, director Christopher Nolan, producer Emma Thomas… and a random man standing silently in the background.

The intruder was actually YouTuber Lizwani, who managed to infiltrate the event and make it all the way to the stage during the night’s biggest moment.

But the fact he was standing quietly and respectfully meant few viewers even noticed anything was wrong. Bafta have since tightened security.

A month later, there was more awkwardness when Oppenheimer was named best picture at the Oscars, in an announcement fumbled by Al Pacino.

Pacino dispensed with the traditional “And the Oscar goes to…”

Instead, he stumbled through proceedings before announcing somewhat abruptly: “My eyes see Oppenheimer.”

There was a delayed reaction from the audience and orchestra, who weren’t entirely sure if Pacino was finished or if they had heard the winner correctly.

But Scarface redeemed himself later in the year by revealing his delightful Shrek phone cover, courtesy of his young daughter. All was forgiven.

When one fan affectionately edited a promotional poster for Wicked to resemble the musical’s original Broadway illustration, actress Cynthia Erivo said it erased her contribution to the film, because her eyes were hidden under her witch’s hat.

A barrage of memes followed as fans lightly poked fun at her reaction, with many social media users jokingly trying to avoid any further erasure by attaching pictures of Erivo to posts which had nothing to do with her.

The original fan clarified that the altered film promo was intended to be “an innocent fan edit to pay homage to the original Broadway poster”.

But Erivo handled the backlash like a pro, making light of the situation and telling ET: “For me it was just like a human moment of wanting to protect little Elphaba. I probably should have called my friends.”

When Rishi Sunak called a general election in May, the then-prime minister made the announcement outdoors despite it bucketing with rain.

Being in the open air also allowed an anti-Tory activist to disrupt the announcement by blasting music from a nearby speaker.

But Sunak gamely stuck it out, later commenting that he was “not a fair-weather politician” and confirming he’d be taking an umbrella on the campaign trail.

Live tours and concerts were disrupted this year for all kinds of reasons.

Jennifer Lopez cancelled her lives shows after reports of poor ticket sales, although she said it was so she could spend time with family and friends.

Tenacious D’s tour fell apart after one member made some ill-advised comments about Donald Trump.

And Madonna’s fans became increasingly frustrated with her lateness.

Elsewhere, Adele repeatedly swore at an audience member in Las Vegas who she thought had shouted “Pride sucks”. It transpired the fan had actually shouted “work sucks” after the singer discussed her working week. Oops.

So fair play to Kate Nash for not only keeping her show on the road, but funding her tour by selling pictures of her bottom online, helpfully bringing publicity to the issues of high tour costs and poor streaming royalties in the process.