Unfortunately, careers don’t come with a guarantee. You can be fired, and all it takes is one big mess up. What are some career-ending scandals? With the help of Career Addict, Before Its News, and Plagiarism Today, here is Ploymint’s list of top 10 career-ending scandals.
- Jayson Blair
As a reporter for The New York Times in 2003, Jayson Blair was making his name known, until an editor at The San Antonio Express-News read his works and realized his writing seemed a bit too familiar; it held many similarities with the works of one of their writers. The New York Times looked into this and found falsehoods, plagiarism, or other instances of unethical writing in almost half of his articles. Blair resigned from the New York Times, ending his journalism career.
What Can Be Learned? Don’t copy other people’s work. It may seem like the easy way out at the time, but someone will find out. - Lou Pearlman
We may thank this man for giving us Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, but the victims of the Ponzi scheme he ran over a span of two decades think otherwise. The same man who gave us “Quit Playing Games With My Heart” played investors out of approximately $300 million by falsifying financial statements and insurance documents. Sent to jail for twenty-five years because of this, his career quickly ended.
What Can Be Learned? Don’t ever create false documents. Don’t ever lie to clients, coworkers or supervisors, or you’ll be singing “Bye Bye Bye” out of a job. - Dustin Diamond
To continue with this 90s trend I’ve started, who can forget Screech? Screech from Saved By The Bell not only filmed a sex tape with two women in 2007, but authorized the release of this tape in hopes that it would help his career. Needless to say, it hurt his career even more, and banned him from the show’s reunion.
What Can Be Learned? You may think that drastic measures can help make your career more successful but depending on the move, it can have the opposite effect. - Rolf Harris
This Australian entertainer, known for being on UK television as well as a musical talent, was found guilty of various sexual assaults on a plethora of women over the course of his career – allegations dating all the way back to 1968. Not only did his prison sentence end his career, it also took away his many titles and honors.
What Can Be Learned? Your career is not the only thing that can be taken away from you. Any honors, awards, titles, and/or publications you have can be tainted as well. - Enron
I’ll spare you the timeline of Enron’s collapse, but keep in mind that Enron was once the 6th-largest energy company worldwide. Back in 2001 it was found that Enron’s earnings were overstated by several hundred million dollars. A majority of the top executives of Enron were accused of fraud, some of them convicted.
What Can Be Learned? Leading companies can collapse too because of a scandal. Don’t follow suit if you know wrongdoing is happening in the office. Just because there’s a majority doing it, doesn’t mean you won’t get in trouble as well. - Nada Behziz
In 2005, Nada Behziz reported on health issues at The Bakersfield Californian, until her editors found that one of her articles plagiarized a quotation from a story from ten years prior in The San Francisco Examiner. This finding led to an investigation that found plagiarism in almost thirty other pieces. After being fired, she has fallen off the radar.
What Can Be Learned? Just because you’re copying work from a decade before, doesn’t mean it’s okay to use. Be original, folks! - Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer won the position of Governor of New York by a landslide back in 2007. A little more than a year later, it was found that Governor Spitzer was a frequent client of a “high-class international escort service” spending $80,000 on call girls. Forced out of office, Spitzer is no longer in politics.
What Can Be Learned? Everything comes out. Don’t jeopardize your career for a good time. - Michael Richards
No soup for you Kramer, or in this case, no more comedy. Post Seinfeld, Michael Richards had a career in stand-up comedy, until he went off on a racist tangent after a member of the audience set him off. After being heckled by an African-American audience member, Richards went into an offensive rant.
What Can Be Learned? If someone says something that offends you, take a deep breath and think about your answer before saying it. Don’t react immediately in the moment, as you may say things you can never take back. - Herman Cain
A Republican nominee for the 2012 Presidency, Herman Cain was an American businessman and radio host. In 2011, two female employees reported inappropriate behavior by Cain. This caused Cain to rescind his nomination. Afterwards, four other women made allegations against him as well. Since then, Cain has not been heard of in the political world, or even in general.
What Can Be Learned? Be appropriate in the workplace! Treat others how you’d like to be treated. - Pete Rose
If you follow me on twitter, you know how baseball obsessed I am, and should’ve known I’d mention Pete Rose at some point. An ex MLB player and manager with a surplus of achievements and honors, Pete should be in the Hall of Fame. However, it was found by MLB that while he was managing the Cincinnati Reds he bet thousands of dollars on Red games. Not only was he fired as manager, he is now banned from MLB.
What Can Be Learned? Don’t risk your career for some quick cash. It won’t pay out in the end.
Some of these scandals are extreme situations, however there’s something to be learned from each of them. The biggest trend here is that the truth always comes out. Remember to always be ethical, respectful, and truthful.