History CreatorBacklash / RealLife

* In 2022, the UsefulNotes/{{Golden Raspberry Award}}s announced that they were [[https://www.thewrap.com/razzie-awards-rescind-bruce-willis-award-shelley-duvall-nomination/ rescinding]] Creator/BruceWillis' Razzie for Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in 2021 as well as Creator/ShelleyDuvall's nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, and expressed shame for nominating them in the first place given their extenuating circumstances. [[note]] Bruce Willis's struggles with Aphasia and Shelley Duvall's abuse by Creator/StanleyKubrick[[/note]]

* The Creator/{{BBC}} used to show, among other programmes, the [[{{Blackface}} hugely racist]] ''Black and White Minstrel Show''. Up until 1978. Needless to say, the corporation regrets its attitudes now.

* The medical community internationally has some problems with the work done by, uh, certain German and Austrian doctors during the '30s and early '40s. Anatomist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Stieve Hermann Stieve]], for instance, did some groundbreaking work on the female reproductive system and how it responds to stress, among other things demonstrating that the rhythm method is inherently unreliable ... but he got this information by dissecting the bodies of executed political prisoners. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Pernkopf Eduard Pernkopf]'s anatomical atlas is an artistic accomplishment and useful reference ... but it may have been based on dissection of executed prisoners, some of them perhaps inmates at concentration camps (and he was an ardent Nazi as well). [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Asperger#Nazi_involvement Hans Asperger]], remembered in the 21st century for his early work on autism, became more controversial in 2017-8 following new revelations in the English-speaking world about his enthusiasm for Nazism and involvement in Nazi eugenic forced sterilizations and murders of disabled children.

* The medical community internationally has some problems with the work done by, uh, certain German and Austrian doctors during the '30s and early '40s. Anatomist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Stieve Hermann Stieve]], for instance, did some groundbreaking work on the female reproductive system and how it responds to stress, among other things demonstrating that the rhythm method is inherently unreliable ... but he got this information by dissecting the bodies of executed political prisoners. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Pernkopf Eduard Pernkopf]]'s anatomical atlas is an artistic accomplishment and useful reference ... but it may have been based on dissection of executed prisoners, some of them perhaps inmates at concentration camps (and he was an ardent Nazi as well). [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Asperger#Nazi_involvement Hans Asperger]], remembered in the 21st century for his early work on autism, became more controversial in 2017-8 following new revelations in the English-speaking world about his enthusiasm for Nazism and actual involvement in Nazi eugenic forced sterilisations and murders of disabled children.
* In a more general example, e-mail addresses. Many of us on the Internet started using it at young ages (it's getting more accentuated over time), where we thought it would be cool to fool around with random words, references to favourite series/movies and/or vulgarity. Then, flash forward some years, doing a college or job application, if you didn't bother to change to a less immature one while the efforts needed wouldn't be too much, then it's too late.

* Jenna Karvunidis was one of the earliest notable examples of a gender reveal party; in 2008 on her blog, she announced the gender of her unborn daughter by cutting open a cake. While the original ceremony was relatively subdued[[note]]Karvunidis's previous pregnancies had ended in miscarriages; the 2008 party was intended to be personal celebration, marking the first time a pregnancy had lasted long enough to determine her child's sex[[/note]], gender reveal parties have become significantly more extravagant over time with some including pyrotechnics; after the second major wildfire caused by a gender reveal party, Jenna wrote an article expressing her regret for starting the trend. Adding to her regret was that gender reveal parties promote a binary view of gender, while the daughter who was the subject of her original 2008 gender reveal has come out as gender-nonconforming.

* Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, came to regret his enthusiastic support for North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Although initially dismissive of potential job losses, Reich later admitted that he should've pushed for stronger labor and environment protections that would've help displaced American workers who had their jobs outsourced.

* In 2021, it was discovered that 11 years prior a Chicago Blackhawks video coach had sexually assaulted a player, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009%E2%80%9310_Chicago_Blackhawks_season#Sexual_abuse_scandal the team decided to not do anything until the end of an eventual Stanley Cup-winning postseason]]. It quickly became a mark of shame for everyone involved, with the two remaining executives from that period resigning, the coach of the time that had moved onto another team also quitting his new job, [[UnPerson and the assaulter's name being stricken out of the Cup]].

** Nor is that one of their agents was secretly TheConsigliere to IrishMob boss Whitey Bulger (who laid low after being told of a possible racketeering indictment for 16 years before he was captured in 2011). That the FBI turned a blind eye to Bulger's criminal activities ''for years'' was also another source of contention.

** Wallace would claim that he [[HeelFaceTurn had planned on supporting civil rights once he had secured his position in the political hierarchy]] much as LBJ did as Vice-President and President (as a senator LBJ continually sided with his segregationist colleagues, working to water down the original Civil Rights Act of 1957). However, Wallace's actual views are subject to some debate. While there are some signs that his obsessive advocacy of segregation was due to PanderingToTheBase, there are even more signs that he did, at least to some degree, hold racist views even before this. In his career as a judge he was even-handed and fair to black defendants (and lawyers) who appeared in his courtroom, to a ''far'' greater extent than anyone had any reason to expect from an Alabama judge during the time period, but in private was a ''virulent'' racist who believed Black people were fundamentally inferior and subhuman. His career as a segregationist also started long before he had gubernatorial (or presidential) ambitions, albeit far more moderately. And while he did enjoy an NAACP endorsement in his first gubernatorial campaign, this was almost certainly a political calculation on the part of organization, who greatly preferred Wallace to his opponent, the Klan-supported John M. Patterson.[[note]]Patterson had been a firm opponent of the NAACP who, among other things, prevented the organization from even establishing itself as a legal entity within Alabama's borders. Patterson, interestingly enough, has also painted himself as someone who embraced segregation as a means of winning votes.[[/note]] In other words, Wallace might have been a racist, but at least he was a fair-minded racist, and it was losing to Patterson that sparked Wallace's decision to become the arch-segregationist that history would remember him as. The truth largely seems to be that Wallace was a racist and a segregationist who nevertheless was less racist and segregationist than he pretended to be to win votes, and whose regrets are rooted in the fact that he [[AllForNothing drove himself into political irrelevance]].

* Jimmy Wales, original owner and co-creator of Website/{{Wikipedia}}, [[BleachedUnderpants originally made money on the Internet]] with a site for what he calls "glamour photography" (read: [[TheInternetIsForPorn softcore porn]]), now downplayed for obvious reasons.

* Creator/KarlMarx wrote about how one form of capitalist economy was the "Asiatic mode of production," where slave-lords (nobles, kings, etc.) use violence to coerce workers into giving them labour. He was merely using a convention from UsefulNotes/TheEnlightenment which did frequently use the word "Asiatic" in a like manner, but which modern commentators regard today as being "Orientalist" (i.e. buying into the West-East Superior-Inferior classification). Being an anti-imperialist and a defiant public supporter of the Indian Mutiny at a time when it was highly unpopular to do so, Marx's works are more than FairForItsDay.
** After UsefulNotes/JosefStalin realized that this [[NotSoDifferentRemark perfectly described the Soviet Union]], he called a meeting of Marxist intellectuals to Leningrad in 1931, which was a cover justification for him censoring all of Marx's works to remove any mention of the AMP. It must be noted that Stalin would also have another reason, since as per the Scientific Racialist theories of its day, Russia was equated with the Asiatic horde (a phrase used in Nazi propaganda at this time), so Stalin might have wanted to genuinely update Marx by removing the objectionable stuff.
** Marx had a reputation for being Russophobe mostly because he disliked Russian emigres like Aleksandr Herzen and especially Mikhail Bakunin. His main reason was the incredibly authoritarian and anti-semitic nature of the Russian tsardom (and it must be noted that the Russian emigres, even the "anarchist" Bakunin did share that anti-semitism). Towards the end of his life, he did correspond with several Russian intellectuals who were struggling in Russia and was far more neutral in this correspondence.

** Many Southern politicians from the Civil Rights era found themselves in this position. Wallace, for his part [[HeelFaceTurn had planned on supporting civil rights once he had secured his position in the political hierarchy]] much as LBJ did as Vice-President and President (as a senator LBJ continually sided with his segregationist colleagues, working to water down the original Civil Rights Act of 1957).
** Wallace is a special case, as while his stances were definitely an OldShame, they were made out of political cowardice rather than any deep-felt racism. He actually was even-handed and fair to black defendants who appeared in his courtroom and only began banging the segregationist drum after his first electoral campaign. He talked of civic improvement and important issues, his opponent was a Klansman who spoke about nothing but race. When he saw his opponent win by a landslide, he made some shameful political calculations.

* When the conservative magazine ''National Review'' launched in 1955, its articles initially argued that segregation was a states'-rights issue that the federal government should just stay out of. The magazine's staff has since admitted that its stance was misguided, even though they still support states' rights in their more benign forms.
* During [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan President Reagan's]] first term as governor of California, he signed an abortion bill into law, which he never quite forgave himself for over the rest of his staunchly-conservative life.
** He also signed the first modern gun-control law, forbidding civilians from carrying guns on city streets,[[note]]It had been introduced by an equally conservative Republican legislator in response to the Black Panthers openly carrying and citing the Second Amendment as allowing them to do so.[[/note]] something rather at odds with his position on the issue later as president. On the other hand, his position as president is at odds with his position later in life, when he supported the Brady Bill (which, of course, was named for the man who took a bullet for him).

* Creator/WillSmith has repeatedly apologized for making ''Film/WildWildWest''.

* Dr. Benjamin Spock's ''Baby and Child Care'', possibly the best selling childrearing book of all time, initially favored infant circumcision. As evidence against it mounted, Dr. Spock changed his stance: since the 1976 revision, the book makes clear that the procedure has no medical benefit. He expressed regret for ever recommending it, and called it "traumatic, painful, and of questionable value".

** ''The Bulwark'' is a so-called "Never [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump Trump]]" publication featuring many ex-Republican writers/consultants/podcasters who have turned against their former party, feeling that not only has it been taken over by far-right extremists but that the seeds for such a takeover were there all along. Apologies for past work and activism is a common theme. Charlie Sykes, who hosts their lead podcast, was a right-wing radio talk show host for 20 years who now self identifies as a centrist supporter of UsefulNotes/JoeBiden. He often speaks ruefully of his old radio show and many of the speeches and events he hosted as a Republican. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (where Sykes is from) in particular is often spoken of as someone he deeply regrets ever supporting.

** The Bulwark is a so-called "Never Trump" publication featuring many ex-Republican writers/consultants/podcasters who have turned against their former party and apologies for past work and activism is a common theme. Charlie Sykes, who hosts their lead podcast, was a right-wing radio talk show host for 20 years, now self identifies as a centrist Biden supporter. He often speaks ruefully of his old radio show and indeed many of the speeches and events he hosted as a Republican. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (where Sykes is from) in particular is often spoken of as someone he deeply regrets ever supporting.

* Jenna Karvunidis was one of the earliest notable examples of a gender reveal party; in 2008 on her blog she announced the gender of her unborn daughter by cutting open a cake. While the original ceremony was relatively subdued, gender reveal parties have become significantly more extravagant over time with some including pyrotechnics; after the second major wildfire caused by a gender reveal party, Jenna wrote an article expressing her regret for starting the trend. Adding to her regret was that gender reveal parties promote a binary view of gender, while the daughter who was the subject of her original 2008 gender reveal has come out as gender-nonconforming.

* Jackson Palmer, one of the original authors of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin, turned against cryptocurrency in general and [[https://twitter.com/ummjackson/status/1415353984617914370 described the entire field as nothing but get-rich-quick scams]] in the middle of the crypto-craze of 2021. Specifically, he argued that cryptocurrency was a scheme to funnel money to a small handful of wealthy people at the top and help them dodge taxes and regulatory oversight, all at the expense of the retail investors they sucker in with promises of wealth. His co-founder Billy Markus agreed with his sentiment.
* In 2022, the [[UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward Golden Raspberry Awards]] [[https://www.thewrap.com/razzie-awards-rescind-bruce-willis-award-shelley-duvall-nomination/ announced]] that they were rescinding Bruce Willis's Razzie for Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in 2021 as well as Shelley Duvall's nomination for Worst Supporting Actress and they expressed shame for nominating them in the first place given their extenuating circumstances. [[note]] Bruce Willis's struggles with Aphasia and Shelley Duvall's abuse by Creator/StanleyKubrick[[/note]]

* UsefulNotes/FidelCastro has expressed regret and apologized for homophobic policies in UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}} in TheSixties and TheSeventies admitting that he was responsible for many of the injustices faced by [=LGBT=] people and that he regrets a lot of the homophobic statements he had made.

*** Then again, many Native American tribes have their own history of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_among_Native_Americans_in_the_United_States enslaving each other]] and then [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_slave_ownership acquiring Black slaves.]]

* A significant number of American educational institutions have renamed themselves due to them being initially named by U.S. Presidents and other historical figures who are now proven and acknowledged as having less than desirable traits. These can range from having been slave owners during the American era of slavery, being involved in White Supremacy organizations such as the KKK, being a misogynist, child molester, sexual predator, or being on record as saying or writing something that is regarded as racist, anti-semitic, anti-LGBT, or pro-Nazi (if living during that era). Numerous schools named after George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (both of whom are clearly on record as slaveowners) have renamed themselves, often to honor a prominent person of color. Some schools named after Andrew Jackson removed his name to acknowledge awareness of Jackson's outspoken support of expansion, even at the cost of Native American genocide. Princeton University dropped Woodrow Wilson's name from its School of Public and International Affairs. What is interesting about this example is that it was not the original name of the school which was founded in 1930 but was renamed after him in 1948 in honor of him having been an alumnus. Wilson is on record for his support of the KKK (he really loved the film ''Film/BirthOfANation1915'') and overall racist views.

* A significant number of American educational institutions have renamed themselves due to them being initially named by U.S. Presidents and other historical figures who are now proven and acknowledged as having less than desirable traits. These can range from having been slave owners during the American era of slavery, being involved in White Supremacy organizations such as the KKK, being a misogynist, child molester, sexual predator, or being on record as saying or writing something that is regarded as racist, anti-semitic, anti-LGBT, or pro-Nazi (if living during that era). Numerous schools named after George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (both of whom are clearly on record as slaveowners) have renamed themselves, often to honor a prominent person of color. Some schools named after Andrew Jackson removed his name to acknowledge awareness of Jackson's outspoken support of expansion, even at the cost of Native American genocide. Princeton University dropped Woodrow Wilson's name from its School of Public and International Affairs. What is interesting about this example is that it was not the original name of the school which was founded in 1930 but was renamed after him in 1948 in honor of him having been an alumnus. Wilson is on record for his support of the KKK (he really loved the film ''Film/BirthOfANation(1915)'') and overall racist views.

* Coca-Cola's exhibit of its history at its corporate headquarters makes almost no mention of [[DorkAge New]] [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks Coke]], nor of the cocaine that featured in the original recipe.

* The "home run derby" era of the late 1990s and early 2000s saw UsefulNotes/{{baseball}} rise to heights of popularity not seen in decades, with sluggers like Mark [=McGwire=] and Sammy Sosa becoming superstars almost as big as UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan. Then it was discovered that most of those guys were doped up to their eyeballs, and a series of exposes and Congressional investigations devastated the sport's reputation. Nowadays, Major League Baseball and American baseball fans rank that time next to such moments as the Black Sox scandal as [[DorkAge one of the most disgraceful episodes in baseball history]].