Pop culture is filled with pure moments of glee, but scandals often dominate the headlines, and 2022 was no different.

After 2022 Oscars ceremony presenter Chris Rock made a joke on stage about the shaved head of Jada Pinkett Smith — who has alopecia — the actress’ husband, Will Smith, approached the comedian and slapped him across the face.

Audiences watching in the room and at home appeared equally stunned, and headlines buzzed for nearly a month after the incident.

Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard began in April in Virginia, ushering in six weeks of live-streamed testimony and media mayhem. Depp sued Heard for $50 million over her 2018 Washington Post op-ed detailing her experiences as a domestic violence survivor.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez rekindled their romance some 20 years after they first got engaged, and the entity known as Bennifer decided to give it another go.

Kanye West had a year-long meltdown. Ye made some seriously bad and controversial comments resulted in him being dropped from his label and talent agency and losing deals with major collaborators like Gap and Adidas.

Elon Musk bought Twitter, and the chaos and uncertainty has not subsided. He’s been critizised for plans to charge $20 a month for a “blue check,” and lost a slew of advertisers in a few days following his takeover of the company.

2022 also saw the Wordle craze take over. The game, which was eventually acquired by The New York Times was arguably the most buzzed-about mobile game of the year.

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