17 celebrities who've displayed controversial behavior during the pandemic

In April, news broke that DeGeneres' crew was "furious" about a lack of communication over their pay during the coronavirus shutdown.

Variety cited two anonymous sources as saying that the long-running talk show's core stage crew — which consists of more than 30 employees — had not received any communication about the status of their working hours or pay and that producers had not checked in about their mental and physical health.

Furthermore, the crew members were left in the dark about how much they would be paid, or whether they would be paid at all, for more than two weeks, according to the Variety report.

DeGeneres' show has continued to air, with the host recording from her home in California, but Variety reported that only four members of the core crew were working on the show's lockdown edition, with a nonunion tech company being brought on to help as well.

And despite a statement from Warner Bros. Television saying the crew had been paid at a consistent rate (albeit at reduced hours), crew members were still said to be upset about a lack of personal care from the show — and feel the way they have been treated is not in keeping with DeGeneres' famous "be kind" advice.

Other people, including a former bodyguard and ex-producer for the show, have called out the talk show host in recent weeks for rude or generally out-of-touch behavior.

Kendall joined her friends Justin and Hailey for an Instagram livestream on April 10. While they laughed about past memories together, they began to discuss how "blessed" they were at a time when people were "crippling."

The conversation began when Justin asked the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" reality star how she's faring in her newly renovated home.

"Oh my God, it's literally my favorite place on the planet," the supermodel told him. "I worked for so long to get it to the point it's at. I renovated it for like a year."

With his wife sitting slightly behind him, the "Yummy" singer steered the conversation toward how "blessed" they were during the pandemic.

"How blessed are we? A lot of people obviously in this time have a crappy situation," he said.

Kendall cut in to add, "I think about it all the time."

The "Intentions" singer continued, "They look at us and obviously we worked hard for where we're at so we can't feel bad for the things that we have but I think us taking that time to acknowledge that there are people who are crippling is important. We send our love and support to them."

In response, people expressed their distaste for the comments, pointing out that both models were born into wealthy, famous families. Others begged them to stop trying to relate to everyday people.

In the now-deleted video, where the 61-year-old wore nothing but jewelry, she gave a sermon-like speech about how the pandemic doesn't discriminate between the rich and poor while soaking in a tub filled with flower petals.

Madonna captioned the March post, "No discrimination – Covid-19!" and provided an array of hashtags including "#becreative."

"That's the thing about COVID-19. It doesn't care about how rich you are, how famous you are, how funny you are," she said in the video."It's the great equalizer and what's terrible about it is what's great about it."

"What's terrible about it is that it's made us all equal in many ways, and what's wonderful about is, is that it's made us all equal in many ways," the singer added.

Unsurprisingly, fans quickly shut down Madonna's theory in the comments, accusing her of "romanticizing" a global tragedy.

The singer also caused a bit of a stir on social media on April 30 when she said she was "gonna breathe in the COVID-19 air" after finding out she tested positive for coronavirus antibodies.

Lilly angered many people after she declared her refusal to social distance "in the name of a respiratory flu" in a March 16 Instagram post.

In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, the "Lost" actress wrote that she'd dropped off her kids at gymnastics camp, which she called "business as usual," despite orders to social distance and curb the spread of the coronavirus. When fans left comments criticizing her for ignoring experts' recommendations, she defended herself.

"Where we are right now feels a lot too close to Marshall Law for my comfort already, all in the name of a respiratory flu," she said in the comments.

Lilly also shared that she lives with her elderly father, who has stage four leukemia — putting him at a higher risk if he contracted the disease.

"I am also immune compromised at the moment. I have two young kids," she wrote to her followers. "Some people value their lives over freedom, some people value freedom over their lives. We all make our choices."

The actress received immense backlash on social media following her comments, and other celebrities, like Sophie Turner, expressed disapproval for Lilly's remarks.

Lilly issued an apology over Instagram on March 26, informing her followers that she was now social distancing.

"I want to offer my sincere and heartfelt apology for the insensitivity I showed in my previous post to the very real suffering and fear that has gripped the world through COVID19," Lilly wrote.

"It's a virus, I get it. I respect it. At the same time, even if everybody gets it... like yeah people are going to die, which is terrible, but like inevitable?" the actress said in an Instagram livestream in March.

"I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't be doing this right now," Hudgens finished while laughing.

After hearing the actress' comments, people began to tweet their reactions to the video. Many of them called her "selfish" and expressed their anger toward the "High School Musical" actress.

Hudgens subsequently responded to the backlash in another Instagram post, telling followers, "I realize today that some of my comments are being taken out of context. It's a crazy time. It's a crazy, crazy time."

She continued, "I am at home and in lockdown, and that's what I hope you guys are doing too — in full quarantine and staying safe. Yeah, I don't take this situation lightly by any means."

Khloe wasted rolls of toilet paper to pull a prank on Kourtney Kardashian on May 9. At the time, many people couldn't get their hands on paper products, specifically toilet paper.

Not understanding that the joke came off as out-of-touch, Kourtney showed off her toilet paper-covered mansion on her Instagram story and called the prank "genius."

"I haven't had this much excitement in months," the eldest Kardashian said.

While the Kardashian sisters are known for their lavish, over-the-top lifestyle, Khloe's decision to use an excessive amount of toilet paper for a game exposed how detached the reality stars are from the stress and brutal reality that millions of Americans are facing during the pandemic.

Kylie showed that she apparently considers herself to be above the rules after she ignored her own advice to social distance during the pandemic.

After US Surgeon General Jerome Adams asked Jenner to communicate the importance of social distancing to her more than 183 million followers on March 19, she posted an Instagram video asking them to "stay inside," "practice social-distancing," and "self-quarantine."

On April 19, however, Kylie was photographed driving to her friend Anastasia "Stassie" Karanikolaou's house despite California's stay-at-home orders. Days later, she posted a series of TikTok videos of her and Karanikolaou spending time together at the makeup mogul's brand new mansion, once again failing to follow her own advice.

Kendall and Devin Booker were reportedly social distancing together before their drive in late April. However, they ignored California's stay-at-home orders by going on the leisure trip and stopped at a public rest stop on the way, according to TMZ.

"They took a road trip for some much-needed air," a source told the outlet.

Given that Kendall told the Biebers that she just finished renovating her 6,625-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion during their April 10 Instagram livestream, people called out the supermodel for needing "air" while everyday people were social distancing.

In April, Tampa mayor Jane Castor told constituents during a livestream that the athlete had been seen by a member of the parks and recreation staff (who was patrolling to make sure people were abiding by social-distancing rules) during a workout in a closed park.

Even though Brady was apparently working out alone, people still called him out for flouting important guidelines during the pandemic.

The disgraced actor told listeners of a German podcast that he could empathize with those who lost their jobs because of the pandemic, even though "very different reasons and circumstances" led to his own unemployment.

"I still believe that some of the emotional struggles are very much the same," Spacey explained. "So I do have empathy for what it feels like to suddenly be told that you can't go back to work or that you might lose your job, and that it's a situation that you have absolutely no control over."

The former "House of Cards" star was accused of sexual misconduct by numerous people (starting with actor Anthony Rapp in 2017) and has since been effectively blacklisted from Hollywood.

Oz argued that schools should reopen despite the risk of increasing the death rate during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity on April 15.

"First, we need our mojo back," the celebrity doctor and cardiothoracic surgeon said, adding, "Let's start with things that are really critical to the nation where we think we might be able to open without getting into a lot of trouble. I tell you, schools are a very appetizing opportunity."

He continued, "I just saw a nice piece in The Lancet arguing that the opening of schools may only cost us 2-3% in terms of total mortality. You know, that's — any life is a life lost, but to get every child back into a school where they're safely being educated, being fed, and making the most out of their lives, with the theoretical risk on the backside, it might be a trade-off some folks would consider."

In response to his on-air comments, the hashtag "#FireDrOz" began trending on Twitter, and people began to wonder if he was suggesting that opening schools was worth losing children's lives. Many pointed out that he rose to fame on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," not for his expertise in epidemiology.

Oz, who's previously been accused of issuing advice driven by ulterior motives rather than science, issued an apology on April 16, saying his comments "confused and upset people" and admitting that he "misspoke."

Dr. Phil infuriated people after criticizing the shutdown for COVID-19, citing swimming pools, smoking, and car accidents as larger threats than the virus during an appearance on Fox News on April 16.

"The fact of the matter is 40,000 people die a year from automobile accidents, 480,000 from cigarettes, 360,000 a year die from swimming pools, but we don't shut the country down for that. But yet we're doing it for this?" the celebrity doctor said.

He incorrectly stated the number of deaths from swimming pools, as the CDC reports that it's closer to 3,500 than 360,000.

After facing backlash for his comments, Dr. Phil, who is a former psychologist with no experience in epidemiology, said that he "probably used bad examples" during his interview.

Although 5G conspiracy theories have been around for years, they gained new traction during the coronavirus pandemic — in part thanks to celebrities. Well-known figures in the entertainment industry spread the theory that 5G caused COVID-19 on social media despite the fact that scientists deemed the connection to be nonexistent.

In a since-deleted tweet, Hilson wrote, "People have been trying to warn us about 5G for YEARS. Petitions, organizations, studies...what we're going thru is the affects of radiation. 5G launched in CHINA. Nov 1, 2019. People dropped dead. See attached & go to my IG stories for more. TURN OFF 5G by disabling LTE!!!"

Harrelson also posted about the theory in a since-deleted Instagram video. Wiz Khalifa tweeted, "Corona? 5g? Or both?" And M.I.A. said, "Last pandemic came with radio waves . Now 5G.The shift is not easy."

Cusack contributed to the frenzy as well, tweeting that "5 – G wil be proven to be very very bad for people's health" before deleting his words.

As the conspiracy theory rose in popularity, people began to harass telecom technicians, commit arson attacks, and vandalize telecom gear in the UK, The New York Times reported.

And while these celebrities' messages about the conspiracy aren't directly tied to these incidents, Vox's Rebecca Heilweil said the theory "really took off when celebrities started to tell their followers about the supposed link between of 5G and the pandemic."

Chase Rice, 34, performed for a crowd of 800 people in Tennessee the day after the state reported its highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases.

The country singer posted videos of the crowd to his Instagram story, showing that few attendees appeared to be social distancing or wearing masks.

After the videos surfaced on social media, fellow country singer Kelsea Ballerini called Rice "selfish" for his decision to play an in-person concert.

"Imagine being selfish enough to put thousands of people's health at risk, not to mention the potential ripple effect, and play a NORMAL country concert right now. @ChaseRiceMusic," she wrote. "We all want (and need) to tour. We just care about our fans and their families enough to wait."

Many Twitter users followed Ballerini's lead, criticizing Rice for putting people in danger and expressing their disappointment that fans went to the concert.

Brian May, a spokesperson for the concert venue, told Insider that guests' temperatures were checked prior to entry, hand sanitizer was provided, and vendors wore face masks. Despite warnings to social distance, he explained that people didn't listen.

"We are reevaluating the series from the top to bottom — from implementing further safety measures, to adding stanchions, to converting the space to drive-in style concerts, to postponing shows," May told Insider.