It's always disappointing when our heroes and idols don't meet our expectations.
Be they a film star, sports icon or prolific political figure, sometimes the people we admire the most don't turn out to be quite the person we hoped they were.
Proving to be a far cry from the friendly persona they exhibit in the media.
Sometimes, the truth behind people we held in high regard proves to be much worse than anyone could possibly imagine.
When these same people we've held high on a pedestal prove to have been responsible for reprehensible, sometimes criminal behavior.
"Who had the biggest fall from grace in history?"
Henry VIII
"Henry VIII has to be up there."
"He was a famously handsome, pious, and noble young king, very in love with Katherine when they were married, and over time he became the wife-killing tyrant we know today."- SmunkTheLesser
David Farley
"Nationally/internationally you of course have mega stars and politicians."
"On a local level, I submit predatory doctor and religious leader David Farley."
"200+ accusers."
"Unless you're the DA, who disputes that number by saying there were only over 100 victims that came forward."
"So, somewhere between 101 and 299."
"Of course, he still has his defenders, but he 'retired' and moved out of state 'to be with his family' basically overnight."
"Note that his 'retirement' email was sent to his patients, some of whom had appointments scheduled, without mention of losing his license to practice medicine or the lawsuit/news article dropping that week."
"When he slipped out of state to 'be with his family' he was substitute teaching within days next door in Idaho, and has now moved to Utah."
"At least half his kids aren't speaking with him, but my parents assure me it's all made up because, and I quote 'he really helped us out when you were sick'."
"Yes, I know him personally and yes, I believe the victims, and yes, I will share this story anywhere it comes up naturally."
"Dude should be in prison forever."- David-S-Pumpkins
Vidkun Quisling
"I'd say Vidkun Quisling."
"He was one of the last men to be given the death penalty in my country, and his last name is listed as a synonym for a cowardly traitor in our dictionary."
"He essentially sold us out to the Nazis during WW2."
"The thing is that he was previously seen as a good humanitarian, traveling to other countries to help the poor with Fridtjof Nansen, a National hero who won the Nobel Peace Prize, but it has later been revealed, only a couple of years ago, that he was never a good man from the start, and was in fact always a vile opportunist regardless of what affiliation he needed to have in order to further his own reputation and build his own grandiose sense of self!"
"Under the guise of his humanitarian work, he'd loot values from dead/dying people, and give desperate starving people food scraps or pennies for VERY expensive valuables, if he didn't just take them."
"He'd also take advantage of desperate young women, those who had lost their families were the easiest targets after all."
"His first wife was a 17 year old Ukrainian girl named Alexandra."
"Even his family members were confused about it."
"He also got a second wife, Maria Quisling, so in addition he was also a bigamist."
"Seeing the pictures and notes of what he saw in famine stricken areas just makes what he did worse."
"The thought of this gut wrenching despair not phasing a man, not making him question what he's doing and just continuing on to prey on people, just makes me sick."
"I didn't think I could find a literal traitor to my country more deplorable decades after his execution, but learning what an ABSOLUTELY DEPLORABLE opportunistic narcissist he was, just made him even worse."
"To think that he was a revered humanitarian at one point."
"I'm glad he was executed."
"Though I wish they had paraded him around so people could throw tomatoes at him first."- DecadeOfLurking
Fred Phelps
"Fred Phelps."
"Started his career as a celebrated civil rights lawyer in Kansas. Followed up Brown vs Board of Education 20 years later and ended up forcing them to implement more fair educational conditions for students of color."
"Went on to form the Westboro Baptist Church which became one of the most despicable hate groups in the US. Notorious for their homophobia and protesting at military funerals. That church was one of the most reviled hate groups in the 90s and 00s."
MercutioMan·
Arnold
"Benedict Arnold. Hero general of the American Revolution. One of George Washington's best assets. Felt slighted and overlooked by his contemporaries. Switched sides to the British, made no difference to the war effort. Died in disgrace in England. His name is now a synonym for traitor."
GonnaGoFar·
As the saying goes, nobody's perfect, and not every famous person wants to be someone's hero or idol.
Therefore, they feel no obligation to put on a show and pretend to be someone they're not.
However disappointing this is to discover, however, these are the people who are simply being their true selves.
Not the ones who cover up their criminal, illicit and predatory behavior with a warm, caring demeanor, seeming to fool everyone.
Thankfully, though, the truth has a way of getting out.
Every family has a black sheep or every family in its entirety are black sheep.
What is a "black sheep" anyway?
It used to mean a person who brought shame or embarrassment to a family, but it's more often used now to mean the member who is just very different from everyone else—sometimes in a good way.
Redditor Frozen_yoghurt123 asked:
"Who is the 'black sheep' of your family?"
I'm the black sheep or at least I'd like to think so.
Join me...
Scandal
"Probably my dad's cousin, who went to prison for murdering his lover's husband."
DW_555
Oh My Wow GIFGiphy"biggest disappointment"
"My Dad. He is the only one of 6 siblings who wasn't a huge f**k up. And yet, before my Grandma died she stated that he was her 'biggest disappointment.' He is estranged from his surviving siblings... not by his choice. It honestly blows my mind."
Unfair_Biscotti2828
"Toxicity is often a group mindset thing; people don't want you to leave because they are dysfunctionally co-dependent on each other and need each other to justify their own shortcomings in life. A lot of the 'family loyalty' stuff is typically shouted loudest by those who are the least good idea to stay loyal towards."
Creative_Recover
The Dead
"My great uncle who stole my great grandfathers identity, stole a couple million dollars, and ran off. No one even knew he was alive until my great grandfathers funeral in 2009. No one has seen him since. My grandma started to cry because she honestly thought he was dead."
"Everyone else just kind of nodded on his direction and went on with the rest of the funeral. I just remember being very confused because I was 9 and I had never met this guy who my dad pulled me aside and told me he was my great uncle. It was a few years later that I got the full story."
valkyrieonaunicorn
"matriarch"
"According to my mean aunt, the 'matriarch' in her own mind, it's my twin brother because "he doesn't care about family now that he's a doctor." (He's a resident. Chief resident. He works ridiculous hours and spends the rest of the time recovering from work.)"
"According to my ex-MIL (who still counts because she's Son's grandma), it's me, for divorcing her son."
"According to everyone else, it's Mean Aunt. The rest of us are warm and caring and compassionate. We have our moments; all of us have been accidentally thoughtless or done something selfish once in a while, but we're not deliberately mean and snarky all the time."
insertcaffeine
Everybody
"My immediate family are the black sheep of the entire family."
DarthDregan
John Stamos Cheers GIF by GrandfatheredGiphySounds like everyone has a little black sheep in them.
People Issues
"By now, my brother for cutting off everyone because he prefers his rude, selfish, paranoid, narcissist wife over all of us."
"My wife is the black sheep of her family in the sense that she's the only one who isn't a rude, selfish, paranoid narcissist."
Lvcivs2311
Joe Dirt Brother GIFGiphySo Dumb
"Me. My granddaddy told me 'I’ve only had the sheriff knock on my door two times in my 80 years, and both times he was looking for you! 'I did some dumb sh*t, caused a little trouble, burned a few bridges but always managed to stay out of jail. Partly because my sister has kept an attorney on retainer for me since I was 16."
This_Personality3731
Liar Liar
"My younger brother (2nd of 4) is a compulsive liar and it got him in a lot of little trouble as a teen, then he told his wife he graduated a big college when we're not even sure if he got his GED because he failed to graduate HS, went to some GED school and eventually just stopped going."
"IF he graduated college, he never mentioned he was going in the 4+ years it takes nor mention graduation or have a diploma. He's not a bad dude, but now family time is super awkward when he and his wife are talking about 'their' college team."
UniqueUsername82D
The NOT good girl...
"My aunt's daughter. She’s been in jail for drugs, stolen money from my aunt and other family members to use on drugs and physically abused my aunt. My aunt has tried getting her help, but nothing has worked. She’s just not a good person, and everyone in my family, except my aunt, doesn’t want anything to do with her. I haven’t seen her in 8 years now, and I’m happy about that."
Hello_Im_the_world
Maria?
"A former nun - my great aunt - left the religious life and got married. She called herself 'the black sheep of the family' because her habit was black."
Back2Bach
Excited Julie Andrews GIF by The Rodgers & Hammerstein OrganizationGiphyWell the black sheep sound like the most interesting family members.
There are just some people who need a good, spiteful talking to.
The amount of poor behavior I witness on the daily is astonishing.
How are we like this in these modern times?
Instead of serving shame, we're serving justice for improper deeds.
Be a better human.
Redditor ValenFrost wanted to share what people need a little bit of bad spotlight. They asked:
"What do you think people actually deserve to be shamed for?"
I shame anyone who doesn't use a turn signal.
Gross
Basketball Wives Ugh GIF by VH1Giphy"Leaving pee on the toilet seat when you have guests."
EmeraldDouchebag69
Stay with the truth...
"Knowingly spreading lies about someone."
GolgiApparatus1
"My life was legitimately destroyed by someone knowingly spreading lies about me. I’d been in a new town just a few weeks. It’s been almost 10 years and I still can’t make friends and my kids still have issues with their friends being allowed to hang out with them over it. All over something that never happened."
pain1994
Don't Toss It
"Littering."
EveFluff
"I remember when I was a kid this guy in a 7/11 threw trash on the ground and another little girl looked at him and said 'you're littering' in that you're in trouble voice. And the guy just said something along the lines of 'I'm an adult, it's ok.'"
wanawanka
Nasty
"Entitled rudeness."
Tobybrent
"Ummmm so I’ve had a work training that I planned, for MONTHS, and we already had to move the training once because of an internal work crisis. The training was moved to today. It's in an hour."
"This morning alone, 4 people have asked me to move it and they’ve known the training date for months. It’s so disrespectful. Moving the training from our previous date was a $500 fine, and if you can’t make it, that’s on you. Your poor planning does not constitute an emergency on my behalf."
KMKO926
First Be Better
lady bird self centered GIF by A24Giphy"Selfishness that harms others."
5s-are-cool
"I think most of us do in some ways. Hopefully people might decide to try harder at minimizing the harm we do while surviving and entertaining ourselves and others."
5s-are-cool
Humans really need to be better.
Wait your turn...
Looking On Line GIF by HULUGiphy"Trying to skip a line."
Tankisfreemason
"A lady came up to me once, asking to skip 30 people in line to buy a banana for her crying daughter at Disney, and I told her I can't speak for all 30 people behind me."
MrGurns
"Especially a traffic line where it is going one way and you get every other 15 vehicles behind that will go to the middle lane just cut in line to wait behind even more traffic."
SirGamer247
Not Always Right
"Being entitled and treating customer service workers badly."
potatopride999
"I work in a restaurant and my boss will argue with you and kick you out if you don't behave, downright telling people they are the worst people are so surprised every time they get told to leave after insulting a staff member."
Jesteress
"I dealt with this hard during the early days of the pandemic at Gamestop. When we got crappy no-mask customers when I was working with my friends, we would be rude right back and borderline harass them out of the store. The next several customers would always praise us for not taking s**t. Everyone hates crappy customers, including other customers."
Dr_prof_Luigi
Faults
"Finding the fault in others while ignoring the same fault in yourself."
idrinkkombucha
"An unfortunate truth is that a lot of adults stop emotionally maturing when they’re still children. When we’re kids, we can’t really imagine that there are adults who are less mature than us, but it’s actually depressingly common. Something stunts their ability to mature and then they’re just stuck with the emotional maturity of a teenager."
"They develop physical skills just like everyone else, and seem to live successful lives. They have careers and homes and families. But they also can’t connect with people on a deep level, lack the ability to introspect (so they can’t handle any criticism of themselves), and they can’t grow as people. It’s very sad."
eggjacket
“what the hell dude?”
"Animal abusers."
rfantasy7
"I watched someone try to run over a cat with their car in the Walmart parking lot, like 3 times. It was 2 am and they were speeding and swerving trying to hit the cat. Poor thing was running away terrified. I got out of my car and shrugged at them like 'what the f**k dude?' and they drove off."
"Tried to give the cat food and be nice to it but it wouldn’t come near, I think it’s just going to be terrified forever."
"Edit: I don’t understand it at all. I can at least conceptualize evil for the sake of personal gain, but what do you get from trying to murder a cat? It’s evil for the sake of evil and it’s freaking sick."
BrokenEffect
Savage
On Air Dj GIF by The Mowgli'sGiphy"Listening to music from their phone without using earphone in a public place."
SuvenPan
Well all of those people deserve a little shame. Some... A LOT of shame! What is wrong with people?
We as a people have been throwing shade for generations.
And it's only getting better.
An insult lands better with finesse and wit.
Let's get creative.
Redditor futuresbloodline wanted to hear all the best shade we have to throw. So they asked:
"What is the most creative insult you've been told that you couldn't even get mad at it?"
I still love a good, subtle... "Bless Your Heart!"
Drive On
sick way GIFGiphy"During heavy fog, I was driving extra cautiously. My passenger looked at me and said:"
"'There's a funeral home out there somewhere looking for you to be their hearse driver.'"
Back2Bach
Roll Down
"Student asked me, during sex Ed, about the bar code that printed near the base of every condom. I said I didn’t know that condoms had barcodes like that. He smiled and said, 'Oh, you don’t gotta roll yours down that far, huh.' I laughed and told him that was one of the funniest things a student ever said."
this_name_is_banned
Scrambled
"My step-sister can be kind of an airhead. On Christmas one year, her dad gave her something that required her to set the day and time. She asked him what day it was. Her dad just laughed and said 'oh honey, you could hide your own easter eggs.'"
Celesticle
"Sounds like a burn on people with ADHD. My apartment is filled with surprises I accidentally hide from my as elf."
Flyingwheelbarrow
God Draws
"Overheard 'I might be fat but you look like something God drew with his left hand.' I still giggle when I think about it."
forevertwoc
"Speaking as a lefty that can't really draw and isn't really artistic, this kinda stings."
PitBullFan
"Well there's the whole 'The Right Hand of God' thing. So I guess some have taken that literally"
shewy92
LOL
Season 1 Lol GIF by NBCGiphy"I don't know why but my friend called me a dense liquid once and it was hilarious to me."
maybe_spoopy
Some of you are savage AF. And I am living....
Let it Dry
construction GIFGiphy"It was a rainy day, I was at a construction site for labor work, I had nothing to do so I was just standing there next looking at the dirt mounds around the site. Some fella walks pass me and says 'what’s your job, watching dirt dry?' Cheeky."
Ike_The_Sir
I See You
“'You look like someone who enjoys pro wrestling.' At the time, they were absolutely right."
sanibelle98
"It's one of those things where yes, a lot of it is stupid bullsh*t, but one can appreciate the better stories they've told (Undertaker being a good example), and the olympic skill it takes to be 7' and 300lbs while managing to do acrobatic flips and NOT hurt anyone. It's genuinely impressive."
Bacxaber
"As someone in the pro wrestling business, never be ashamed of being a pro wrestling fan."
MaskMan193
So Pretty
"My great grandma used to say you can’t be pretty and smart on the same day. When one of us would do something dumb, she would pat us on the shoulder and say 'you look so pretty today' and usually the person would take it as a compliment from Gran and not realize until later."
SneezyMcBeezy
Shout
"My mom ‘shouted’ at my brother in the kitchen to go get his laundry cause it was sitting in the dryer getting wrinkled and he replied without hesitation 'yeah well you’re sitting on the couch getting wrinkled so.' It didn’t go well lmao."
DarkWing2274
"Nah, unlike my father my mom isn’t violent. she just said 'this is why amber left you.'"
"Amber was my brother’s girlfriend of 5 years, and on the night he was gonna propose he found out she’d been cheating on him for 3 years with like 8 different people. amber sucked anyway, i didn’t like her, so i’m kinda glad but he’s still depressed about it."
DarkWing2274
Cheap
Drunk Happy Hour GIFGiphyI asked a bartender 'What’s cheap and has a lot of alcohol in it?' And he said 'You.'"
NickyAndretina
The Triangle
"When my son was three, I made him really angry by making him put away his toys and get ready for bed. He WANTED to cuss me, but he lacked the vocabulary, so he dug down deep into his pissed off wee soul, looked me dead in the eye and came out with 'Mommy, you NOT nice! YOU A TRIANGLE!'"
"I have no idea how triangles came to represent all that was not nice in his world. I have no idea if he meant some other word. I just know that his meaning and intent were crystal clear and that if he had known the word 'heifer' or 'witch,' that is what he would have said! He’s 19 now, and I’ve asked him about it, but he has no recollection of the TRIANGLE incident."
geekchicdemdownsouth
Hooked
"Last time I seen a mouth like that it had a hook in it. I laughed my a** off at that one and we became friends afterwards. In his defense, I was drunk and running my mouth. Lesson learned."
Thephilosopherkmh
"Oh gosh, this was my brothers favorite insult."
Illustrious-Fly9586
Flush It
"Your gene pool could use a little more chlorine."
Brileyt764
"'Am I overthinking this or is that really dark?'"
"In a similar vein: I had a flatmate who walked past and said he heard my mum wishes she aborted me in the 2nd trimester."
SuspiciousNoisySubs
That Girl
Fun Yes GIF by Lilly SinghGiphy"Girl at work after telling me a story about her weekend said 'I hope you don’t think any less of me.' My response 'How could I think any less of you?' I mean, how can you pass up a straight line like that! She missed it as an insult, so she didn't get mad."
OrangeJueleus
Weirdo
"At my old job, someone said to me, 'Oh, you aren't being weird on purpose.' It came after a few times of her ragging on me for reasons I hadn't understood prior to this. This comment wasn't the insult but it explained several of the previous things she'd said that bothered me."
DaddyOhMy
Slowdown
"'You eat like we have free health insurance.'"
Spadeuni
Fool
"'You aren't the dumbest person in the world but you better hope they don't die.'"
waitwhatnow4
“'Well then I wish you good health.'”
Blastspark01
What Size?
Okaay What GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"As a very small-chested woman, I was working the door at a gay club in the late nineties. I was checking a drag queen's ID and was told, 'Girl, you gotta buy yourself some boobies.' Didn't have an answer for that, lol."
Kurapica147
Heavy Comedy
"I was 9 months pregnant with my first child and felt super heavy and uncomfortable. We went to the movies with friends and I had to go to the restroom before the movie started. When I got back to the theater, I couldn’t find my husband and friends (didn’t know where they were sitting yet)"
"So I waddled down to the front of the theater in my quest to find them and stood in front of the screen for a couple minutes while I was trying to get my bearings. When I finally approached them, my male friend said, 'Wow, for a second there, I thought we were watching. Alfred Hitchcock presents!'”
"Normally a fat joke while pregnant would’ve pissed me off, but it was hilarious!! I still laugh when thinking about it."
NancyDrew1932
I have a whole new list of shade to share. Thank you.
For most of us, our deepest fear is to fall flat on our faces in front of a bunch of people. No one wants to look the fool, especially when it happens before a group of people you're going to see every day for the forseeable future.
Embarrassing moments can come out of nowhere, but how you handle yourself in the aftermath is what matters. Laugh it off, shake it off, go with the chuckles, and let the people know you can't be hurt by it.
Well, unless you're any of the people in the stories below. Then I'd consider getting a new address and name.
Reddit user, Konke420xd, wanted to know when the shame was too much to handle when they asked:
"What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever witnessed?"
"Oral," Not "Oral"
"I was a sophomore in HS (so around 16) taking the last leg of my county's sex ed class. It was a co-ed day, so our full gym class of about 30 kids was in the room. Topic was STD's. The teacher mentioned oral sex a few times and I guess which diseases can be spread through it. One guy who was always pretty quiet and shy raised his hand and said "I just don't really understand how you can get an STD from talking about sex..."
"It took everyone, including the teacher, a few seconds to understand, but some quiet laughter came from a few students. the teacher then of course had to explain as simply as she could that oral sex did not in fact mean talking about sex (I think the stupid bylaws of the program in our county didn't allow her to fully disclose what it was)."
"Anyway, we thought he was joking but as he heard the laughter from everyone after getting this explained to him, he slowly put his head down and covered his face for the next few minutes. Poor guy. I felt bad, but it was hard not to laugh. At least no one directly gave him sh-t for it afterward"
– shlumpy_dumpyyyyy
Keep Your Preferences At Home
"Community college in Tampa, 2009. Spanish class. Shy goth girl walks to the front of the class and plugs in her USB drive to boot up her PPT and begin her presentation like the rest of us did. Except when she pluged it in, a file opened up and the most vile anime porn started playing. Everyone was mortified for her. It took her maybe 3-4 seconds to turn it off but the moment felt like forever. She said, "THIS IS MY BOYFRIEND'S DRIVE!" and ran out of the room crying. The teacher just moved on. The girl didn't show her face for a week. Just an absolutely insane moment."
– grandpasmoochie
Triumph, Glory, Embarrassment
"At a pep rally to celebrate a sporting victory, a student insisted that he carry the school flag and run laps around the team. He tripped and fell onto the newly displayed trophy, immediately breaking it. This was on the front page of Reddit for a bit and I’m glad I witnessed it as my school’s claim to fame."
– NathanialH0rnblower
When You Want To Stand Up To A Bully But Fail
"There was this kid in my high school that was taking karate classes. He decided he wanted to fight a kid that was bullying him after school in the town park. A sh-t ton of people went. He got all pumped up before the fight. Instantly, once the fight started, he began doing karate moves at the air. Once he reached the bully, the first thing he decided to do was a very flashy "spinning backhand"(?). He missed by a mile and was knocked out immediately. I felt really bad for him. He was always known for not being able to read situations very well and that, being his first normal fight, was just the absolute worst time to try that move out. Bullies suck. It was embarrassing for both of them."
– meetmeinthebthrm
To Be Fair, He Made The Right Call About His Idiocy
"Alright, so my husband and I were driving around the city and it was pouring outside. Absolutely pouring. We were about to pass the lightrail train tracks (going in both directions) when the crossing gates came down because the lightrail was approaching."
"One idiot in a van decided he could make it across before the gates came all the way down. He kept on driving, but he did not make it. Instead, his vehicle was now trapped between the gates."
"We could see from our car that this person was PANICKING. His life was flashing before his eyes. In his movie mind, the lightrail was about to crash into the van and drag it for dozens of yards before finally stopping... so he did what anyone would do. He violently pushed the door open and RAN in the pouring rain for his life."
"He was halfway down the street before he stopped, turned around, and noticed that the lightrail was patiently waiting for him to move the vehicle. The door was still open. My husband and I just about pissed ourselves laughing."
– JoyceReardon
Keep Your Passions At Home
"I was watching a symphony orchestra concert at the Sydney Opera House one evening. The concert hall foyer has these huge glass windows beneath the sails that overlook the harbourside. The sun hadn't quite set yet, and every audience member that was exiting the hall could see this incredibly drunk middle aged couple having sex on a bench outside the hall."
– cowbelljazz
When It's Not Just A Towel
"Was in a pool at a Euro beach resort. We’d been chatting with an old brit tourist, he got out of the pool and went to get changed poolside, using his towel to do the discrete swimming tog shuffle."
"Suddenly up steps an angry Frenchmam wanting HIS towel back..."
"Turns out our poor retired gent had grabbed the wrong towel. There ensued a desperate tug-of-towel as a very stroppy Frenchman attempted to rip his towel from this poor old guy who was butt naked and frantically trying to save his modesty."
"The old guy’s grandson saved the day, with an emergency towel transfer, but not before the whole pool complex had seen way too much hairy old British grandpa scrote."
– Bigfoothobbit
We're Not As Cool As We Think
"I was at a food court and I got the brilliant idea to jump over a row of those plastic chairs and tables.. You know, the ones that are fixed to the floor."
"Foot got caught and I fell flat on my face. I stood up to 30 people clapping. One guy yelled asking for my autograph."
– Niteryder007
Take It To The Dance Floor?
"I was on a high end cruise line at dinner. An older lady got up to go to the bathroom but missed and pooped herself in the dining room entrance. She left her panties there and continued on to the bathroom."
– SimbaOne1988
Maybe We Should All Only Poop At Home...
"I used to work in nightclubs. I once witnessed a girl leaning against a wall, casually flirting with a guy and as she laughed she actually sh-t herself. She was wearing a white dress and there was no hiding what had happened. The smell actually cleared the whole level of the club. She ran out crying. We had to clean poo off the floor where she had been standing. I often wonder what she is doing now..."
– Vaiken_Vox
Ice Ice Baby
"My childhood memories are very fuzzy but I do remember this one time as a teen. A couple of friends and I went ice skating at a local rink. They’d all gone before so I was the only new one on the ice. At one point I finally felt like I got the hang of it and gained a little speed. I proceeded to slip and eat shit in front of everyone on the rink. Bashed my knees straight into the ice so hard a random women skated over to ask if I was ok."
– ihasrestingbitchface
This Is Why I Don't Play Sports
"So we played this game in middle school called downer ball and basically all you had to do was kick a ball that was sitting still and run to a corner of the basktetball court before the ball was returned to the line. Kind of like a mix between baseball and kickball. Anyway this girl goes up to kick, and mean you shes not very athletic but enough to kick a ball sitting completely still. She runs up and misses the ball completely and the same foot that missed steps on the ball and she does a total banana peel style slip and fall. Smacked the floor so hard it echoed throughout the gym and everyone let out a “ooohhhh”. Quite a small school too so we all remembered it pretty vividly for the remaining years"
– BigJuice109
Did It To Myself
"Was in elementary school and our class went on this strange sailboat trip around the bay in Redwood City CA. It was a windy day, and the boys were spitting off the side of the boat and I decided to copy them. It immediately blew back and hit me in the face."
– Suitable-Presence119
Just Absolutely Unfortunate
"Not me, but my dad witnessed this one day when I was in university."
"He was coming home one day from somewhere, and he was on the tram, just chilling, doing his thing, reading a book...and a few seats away, a lady's colostomy bag ruptured or burst or exploded or something."
"In the middle of a tram."
"In peak-hour traffic."
"Shit was going everywhere."
"Literally."
– Dippycat149
"Gimme A B-I-R-D!"
"Was at a high school football away game. The opposing team’s cheerleaders come onto the field, were pretty much dead middle of their routine, and literally out of nowhere some beast of a bird releases the biggest dump onto the neck and shoulder of one of those girls who then proceeds to go into full hysteria."
"I was laughing so fucking hard at the time; but god I felt bad for her too."
– AutumnAtronach
Not Quite Yet
"When I was in late elementary school, I approached my mom about "blood when I go to the bathroom." She was psyched--threw me a "welcome to womanhood*" party and everything."
"Turns out it was hemorrhoids, which she only realized when l actually got my period in middle school."
"(I don't know if I'm cringing more for my sake or for hers...)"
"*Turns out I'm nonbinary and would later get a hysterectomy, but I still treasure the little charms and gifts her hippie friends gave me."
– SnubbyPears3144
Try, Try Again
"My friends and I got to the peak of this hike in winter. It ended at a lake that was frozen over, besides the edge near land, where the ice was obviously really thin. This guy came up out of the trail and ran straight for the ice covered lake. He obviously broke through into the water, but he was only an ankle deep."
"The really embarrassing part is that he tried to save his ego by continuing. He kept trying to get on top of the ice and it just kept breaking. He continued this until he was shoulder deep, in an ice covered lake, with 30 people watching his spectacle shaking their heads."
"He just got to the top of the hike and had to run all the way back down to his car covered in freezing cold water in the middle of winter before he got hypothermia"
– Khan_Khala
That's Gotta Hurt!
"In 8th grade a new pastor came into our classroom to teach us stuff we needed for confirmation (catholic school thing). First thing he did was the classic “sit on the chair backwards to relate to the cool youth” but as soon as he sat down the chair basically exploded underneath him from the weight of his body (which was fairly overweight). He got up and said something along the lines of “oh that chair’s all messed up” or something but of course a kid yelled out “yeah because you crushed it.""
"It was hilarious but the more I think about it as an adult that had to be horrendously embarrassing"
– aztechfilm
I think the lesson we can take from all of these is anything you would normally do in private that, in the moment, feels right to do in public, don't. Just, don't.
Have you ever seen something so embarrassing you felt bad from the person? Tell us about it in the comments.