1 Kanye West
Kanye West is known for his hot temper (remember his outburst at the MTV Europe Music Awards?), but he shocked even his biggest fans when he jumped onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards. West couldn't believe that Taylor Swift had won the best female video award over Beyonce and he wanted to make sure the world knew it. Swift was mid-acceptance speech when he grabbed the mike and went on a rant.
The backlash started immediately and West has been apologizing ever since. On his blog he wrote, "I'm in the wrong for going on stage and taking away from her moment!" The next day he appeared on the premiere episode of "The Jay Leno Show" and called his actions "rude period."
2 Chris Brown
Chris Brown took a fall from grace in February when he was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend, Rihanna, the night before the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. It was only after the dust settled (he pled guilty to felony assault) that Brown decided it was time to tell his fans just how he felt. The rapper released a public video apology saying, "I have told Rihanna countless times and I am telling you today that I am truly, truly sorry that I wasn't able to handle the situation both differently and better." As the two-minute video comes to a close, he confesses that he someday hopes to return to role-model status.
3 Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller made a boo-boo by admitting to be bored with Pittsburgh while she was there filming an adaptation of Michael Chabon's "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," nicknaming the town with a word that starts with "sh" and rhymes with "Pittsburgh." A public apology was hastily scheduled. "I really didn't mean anything," she said, standing next to the mayor. "I've had a great time here."
4 Rosie O'Donnell
While discussing Danny DeVito's intoxicated appearance on "The View," co-host Rosie O'Donnell joked that the incident was so heavily talked about, they were even speaking of it in China. "You know, you can imagine in China it's like, 'Ching-chong, ching-chong. Danny DeVito. Ching-chong, ching-chong-chong. Drunk. The View. Ching-chong.'" Nine days and a heap of controversy later, O'Donnell apologized on "The View," stating: "To anyone who was offended at my Chinese, Asian, pseudo-Japanese, sounded-a-little-Yiddish accent that I was doing, you know, it was never [my] intent to mock, and I'm sorry for those who felt hurt or were teased on the playground."
5 Sinead O'Connor
Sinead O'Connor got herself banned from "Saturday Night Live" in 1992 after tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II and saying "Fight the real enemy" during the show. After several years of controversy, she publicly asked the pope to forgive her. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Vita, she called the incident "a ridiculous act, the gesture of a girl rebel."
6 Isaiah Washington
Isaiah Washington had a lot of explaining to do when he referred to actor T.R. Knight as a "faggot" on the set of "Grey's Anatomy." "I sincerely regret my actions and the unfortunate use of words during the recent incident on-set," said Washington in a statement. "Both are beneath my own personal standards..." Later, Washington claimed he had never used that word. Washington had to apologize again for lying, and then "asked for help" in "dealing with issues he obviously needs to examine within his own soul."
7 Michael Richards
Comedian Michael Richards showed up on the "Late Show" with David Letterman, where Richards' old friend Jerry Seinfeld was a guest, to apologize for his racist outburst at a couple of hecklers during his stand-up act. Richards began to apologize -- "To flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry" -- but some of the audience was not aware of what had happened and started giggling, assuming the heartfelt apology was another crazy stunt from the kooky comedian.
8 Mel Gibson
After being picked up for drunk driving and unleashing a whole string of anti-Semitic comments to the arresting officer and anyone else within earshot, Mel Gibson released two statements of apology and went on TV with Diane Sawyer to further apologize. He told Sawyer he was ashamed of what he said, calling them "the stupid ramblings of a drunkard."
9 James Frey
As if the controversy surrounding the alleged untruthfulness of his memoir "A Million Little Pieces" wasn't humiliating enough, author James Frey was called on the carpet by daytime queen Oprah Winfrey herself, who first called into Larry King's talk show to defend the author, then changed her mind, telling her studio audience, "I regret that phone call. I made a mistake and left the impression that the truth does not matter. I deeply regret that."
10 Howard Cosell
Sports commentator Howard Cosell has gotten himself into trouble a few times. Back in 1983, while calling a play involving Alvin Garrett, a black wide receiver, he said "... that little monkey gets loose, doesn't he?" Cosell said the comment had no racial undertone and refused to apologize although he did issue a statement that read in part: "I respect and admire Alvin Garrett... When I talked of him I was bragging on him with affection and I used a word that I use endearingly with my own grandchildren when I play with them."
11 Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant was arrested receiving oral sex from a prostitute just a few weeks before the premier of his film "Nine Weeks." This was convenient because it allowed the charming actor to hit the promotional circuit and the apology circuit in one fell swoop. All he had to do was show up, express regret -- "I did a bad thing, and there you have it," he told Jay Leno -- and promote the film.
12 Tom Cruise, Brooke Shields
In the summer of '05 (a.k.a. Tom Cruise's Summer of Terror), Cruise attacked Brooke Shields for using medication to control her post-partum depression. It wasn't until September '06 that Shields told Jay Leno that Cruise had apologized to her. She explained the actor had showed up at her house, "and he apologized for bringing me into the whole thing and for everything that happened."
