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1[[quoteright:348:[[Webcomic/ElGoonishShive https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/NotHelpingYourCase_157.png]]]]
2[[caption-width-right:348:Ellen, you're just DiggingYourselfDeeper.]]
3
4->'''Chidi:''' So, your job was to defraud the elderly? Sorry, the ''sick'' and elderly.\
5'''Eleanor:''' But I was very good at it! I was the top salesperson five years running!\
6'''Chidi:''' Okay, but that's ''worse.'' I mean, you... you ''do'' get how that's worse, right?
7-->-- ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', "[[Recap/TheGoodPlaceS1E01EverythingIsFine Everything is Fine]]"
8
9%%
10%%
11%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
12%%
13%%
14%%Quote changed per [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1327331003042025100&page=343#8575 this]] thread. If you want to change or add a quote, take it to the thread.
15
16A character is widely distrusted, or maybe even actively disliked, by everyone else in the plot. Even though they're always innocent, this person is blamed for things that they didn't do and is often the first suspect when something bad does happen.
17
18Unfortunately, rather than make an effort to convince people of their innocence and good intentions, the character [[ThenLetMeBeEvil rebels and acts out]], sometimes feeling they have nothing to lose by doing so; maybe even committing an actual crime in the process. When people discover the crime, that confirms their suspicions and "proves" to them that, yes, this person was really that bad all along.
19
20For added ironic flavor, the newly-criminal character may be busted just as the others come around and start to believe their original claim — giving the [[JadeColoredGlasses cynic]] of the group something to [[DeadpanSnarker snark]] about — ''"Well, I guess you're right, chumps, they really'' aren't ''a thief... they're just a'' [[GraveRobbing graverobber]].''"''
21
22Compare IResembleThatRemark, though it can go hand-in-hand with this trope. Somewhat related are YouHaveToBelieveMe (a character makes bizarre statements in [[FreakOut a hysterical tone]]), DiggingYourselfDeeper (the character tries to sound [[ThatCameOutWrong less creepy]] by justifying the original creepy remark), RevealingCoverUp (the character attempts to cover up their bad deed only to draw more attention to it), ThenLetMeBeEvil (the character decides to live down to people's low expectations) and StickyFingers (habitual petty theft puts the character under a constant aura of suspicion). Contrast with WrongfulAccusationInsurance, where the character is not implicated for crimes committed while trying to [[ClearMyName clear their name]]. The tropes may overlap, though, if the character is called out for their crimes as they happen, yet [[EasilyForgiven unceremoniously pardoned]] after their name is cleared. Not to be confused with DontShootTheMessage. For moments where someone or something else doesn't help your case, see ContrivedCoincidence and InstantlyProvenWrong. Can go with GodwinsLawOfFacialHair, where the toothbrush mustache is associated with Hitler and evil authoritarians.
23
24----
25!!Examples:
26[[index]]
27* NotHelpingYourCase/FanWorks
28* [[NotHelpingYourCase/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]
29[[/index]]
30[[foldercontrol]]
31
32[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
33* ''Anime/DarlingInTheFranxx'': Hiro in episode 8 trying to console the girls, embarrassed at ClothingDamage to themselves, by quoting one of Zero Two's lines to him in an earlier episode that a pilot is "better off being a little pervy". (The series' {{Super Robot}}s basically run on ThePowerOfLove.)
34* ''Anime/DigimonAdventureTri'': With FantasticRacism against Digimon running rampant, Mimi, determined to prove to the world that not all Digimon are bad, impulsively jumps into a fight with a rampaging Ogremon alone in front of the press. Unfortunately, Togemon ends up shooting down a news helicopter during the battle, which naturally only makes the public's opinion of Digimon even worse.
35* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' has Goku in the Universe Survival Arc. While he didn't know Zen'O's planned multiversal Tournament of Power would lead to all losing universes being destroyed, his nonchalant attitude upon learning the real stakes leads to other universes declaring him to be some ultimate evil, while he doesn't seem to understand why they're fearful and angry and just wants to fight. His response to Toppo calling him out on this only makes it worse.
36-->'''Goku''': So I'm evil, huh? *grins*
37* The ButtMonkey of ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'', Kuchiki, is a shameless, perverted {{otaku}} who acts up at every occasion. At the culture festival, he spots someone nicking a cosplay costume of Ohno's; he gives chase and catches the thief, who throws the dress at him and walks off in disgust. Then the girls find him clutching the costume and accuse ''him'' of stealing it. Kuchiki pulls his trousers down, clambers into the dress and run-waddles off, jeans 'round ankles and hairy legs a-showin'.
38* This trope sort of crosses over with IResembleThatRemark in ''Manga/LuckyStar'' where [[{{Otaku}} Konata's father]] insists that it's wrong to call him a paedophile because he likes both young girls ''and'' normal girls, so it's more correct to say that he's "also a {{lolicon|AndShotacon}}"...really didn't help his case.
39-->'''Konata:''' You fail at life either way.
40* In ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'', aspiring wizard Shouta attempts to summon a demon as a {{Familiar}}, but gets Lucoa, who agrees to be his familiar. Shouta thinks that she's a succubus. Lucoa tries to correct him that she's a dragon in human form, but he won't believe her because she keeps shamelessly wearing revealing clothes (if even that much) and trying to seduce him.
41* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'': Dr. Kenzou Tenma. Dear Lord. Not as extreme as most of these examples, but it's easier to count the moments when he ''isn't'' acting incredibly suspicious. Granted, Tenma was less interested in proving his own innocence than in helping others, performing selfless acts... [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters trying to bring down a man]] who may well be the [[TheAntichrist very embodiment of evil itself]] (and the one who is actually behind the crimes he's accused of).
42* The Uchiha Clan's downfall in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' was mostly due to a big case of this. After Kurama's rampage at the beginning of the series there were suspicions that the Uchihas were responsible for it (and as it turned out, it was an Uchiha behind it, albeit one believed long dead). When it became clear that nobody in Konoha trusted the Uchihas, rather than proving them wrong, they plan to stage a coup to take over the village by force. Naturally, this ensured that the higher-ups would have the groundwork to order Itachi to kill them off, since their reaction pretty much screamed "guilty" all over.
43* ''Anime/SonicX'': During the Egg Moon saga, Sonic goes about destroying Eggman's Sunshine Balls, which he's using to provide the populace with artificial sunlight after his Egg Moon supposedly malfunctioned and created a permanent eclipse, and ends up making himself a HeroWithBadPublicity in the process. While it turns out he was right to do so (Eggman was in fact deliberately controlling the Egg Moon to keep blocking the sun in order to sell the Sunshine Balls as part of a get-rich-quick scheme and to make himself a VillainWithGoodPublicity), he still doesn't bother telling anyone this before he starts smashing the towers, and only does so after he gets tired of fighting the combined forces of Knuckles and G.U.N., something Knuckles calls him out on; Sonic simply retorts that he thought [[IdiotBall it was obvious]].
44* ''Manga/TorakoAnmariKowashichaDameDaYo:'' Torako's introduction to her new class is marred by students asking about rumored acts of carnage she would just as soon keep quiet. Flat denials may have worked, since they were so unbelievable. Boasting likely would have worked, given Torako's class is in a DustbinSchool full of delinquents. Embarrassed efforts to explain and downplay them ("I heard you knocked down a building barehanded!" "I-it was old! And structurally unsound!")? Did not work. It only earned Torako annoyance and ire until it became clear she really was as strong as rumors suggested.
45* ''Manga/UsotsukiSatsukiWaShiGaMieru'': Satsuki is disliked by just about everyone thanks to her habit of screaming in people's faces that they're going to die within the next 24 hours, but yet no one ever does, painting her as a strange pathological liar. Of course, [[CassandraTruth she's telling the truth]], as she can see their future corpses; the reason they don't die is because she goes out of her way to prevent it after the warning is ignored. Both Akira and [[spoiler:Miho]] point out that Satsuki would probably have a better reputation if she at least skipped the attempted warnings and simply focused on saving people. Granted, even that would have its issues, as some of her more reckless rescue methods come across as though she's trying to kill people ''herself''.
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Comic Books]]
49* ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' In ''Season Eight'', The government fears that [[BewareTheSuperman Slayers are dangerous]] and may [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers act above the law]]; Buffy herself contributed to that image when it's revealed that she robbed a Swiss bank account in order to fund her Slayer Organization, [[CaperRationalization reasoning that it was a "victimless crime" due to the bank's insurance.]] Willow even calls her out on it.
50* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': In ''The Dastardly Death of the Rogues'', people are disqualified from the 25th-century time-traveling police by [[VillainousLineage any criminal ancestry]] (going back at ''least'' to "present day"). One member, unbeknownst to the others, is descended from a murderer. Feeling it's unfair to hold someone else's crimes against him, he decides the solution is to make sure no one ever ''realizes'' it was his ancestor who committed the crime, by going back in time and perpetuating the frame job that keeps an innocent person in prison. He does this with ''more'' murder.
51* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': During the War of Kings, the team is seen as a bunch of dysfunctional screw-ups (which, in fairness, they are) and psychopaths, which doesn't help their case when trying to ask the Inhuman royal family to stop the war. And then Bug makes a pass at Medusa, followed by Martyr deciding to point a sword at one of them. In their throne room. Before she takes [[OnlySaneMan Crystal]], the one who'd been trying to hear them out, hostage.
52* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': In ''ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderMan2018'', it's revealed that this is one of the main reasons Spider-Man is a HeroWithBadPublicity. As [[Characters/MarvelComicsJJonahJameson J. Jonah Jameson]] points out, whenever he made a false accusation against Spider-Man in the past, Spidey's response was usually to insult, antagonize, and even ''threaten'' Jameson for doing so rather than simply reach out and try to set the record straight, which, if anything, just made the situation worse and convinced people he was even ''more'' of a menace.
53* ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'':
54** ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'':
55*** The terrorist scientist that Jean has to kill. It's either him or Jean's boyfriend, so he had to really do a number to convince her. "I'm not an evil man. Yes, I've done evil things, but I'm just an ordinary human being like you are". And what is an ordinary man that does evil things... but an evil man? Yes, Jean chose Scott.
56*** A crossover with ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' has Jean [[FreakyFridayFlip swap Logan and Peter's minds]] as punishment for the former's constant harassment. After the whole debacle is resolved, Peter gives the X-Men a WhatTheHellHero speech about how antics like this being a good reason for people to hate mutants.
57** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates''
58*** Captain America wakes up from a forty-year nap in an iceberg, surrounded by armed soldiers, with Doctor Banner saying he's among friends. Not surprising then that Cap believes it's all a Nazi scheme, and starts punching his way out.
59*** Thor claims he's the actual god of thunder, and Loki's screwing with everyone's perceptions to make him look like a crazy person. Of course, he's saying stuff like "you have to believe me", and no-one can actually see Loki (just that nice Doctor Golmen who insists Thor is his mentally ill brother.)
60* ''ComicBook/WonderGirl'' Vol 1: When Cassie encounters some National Guard personnel trying to clean up some of the monsters let loose by the Amazons and they start explaining she doesn't have clearance and they don't quite trust her due to her actions during ''ComicBook/AmazonsAttack'' she retaliates by smashing their jeep instead of discussing her position with them or just continuing to fly on by like she does after destroying the jeep. She then acts depressed to hear about her ambush on them on the radio as though she's being unfairly painted in a bad light.
61* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: When the Golden Policewomen capture the Holliday Girls, thinking they're Green Geni due to the coating they're wearing, the earth gals already have reason to suspect the Golden gals are villains due to a plea for help they intercepted. Then one of the Golden women keep cutting off Etta's explanations and saying things which make them seem to be unmistakably overbearing conquering dictators instead of police, leading to a much deeper misunderstanding than was already in place.
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder:Comic Strips]]
65* In one ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' strip, Steve Dallas is defending a client in court and delivering the last bit of a finishing statement, when his client, completely unbidden, shows up by his side and announces that he'd like to add something. He then goes into a mad, spittle-filled rant about how he'll kill the whole court, their loved ones, and their housepets if he's convicted. He then immediately calms down and returns to his seat, while the judge reconsiders the acquittal he was planning to announce, and Steve considers giving up as an attorney.
66* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In one Christmas story arc, Calvin appoints Hobbes as his attorney to convince Santa that he's been good all year. As they're walking to the north pole, he lays out their case, that he's an extremely good kid who's simply a victim of malicious slander, but he doesn't even get past his street before he sees his neighbour Susie building a snowman nearby and immediately deciding to pelt her with snowballs.
67-->'''Calvin:''' Susie's still concentrating on her snowman! Let's sneak up and barrage her with slushballs!\
68'''Hobbes:''' Two minutes ago we were on our way to tell Santa how ''good'' you are, remember? Have you lost your marbles?!
69%%* In ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' the CEO makes his own dumb statement worse in [[http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2014-09-10/ this comic]].
70* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'':
71** In one story, Paige accidentally reveals that she's been regularly seeing R-rated movies despite being underage. While her mother frets in horror at how much sex and nudity her daughter has been exposed to, Paige quickly adds "Some were just the violent kind, though."
72** Reflecting on this, in a later story, Peter suggests that Andy and Roger go see ''[[Film/KillBill Kill Bill Volume 2]]'', saying it was awesome, completely forgetting how his mother feels about R-rated movies. After she grounds him for a week, he angrily tells her he didn't get this upset when he saw the ''first'' ''Film/KillBill''. Andy replies that she didn't ''know'' he had seen the first one.
73[[/folder]]
74
75[[folder:Film — Animation]]
76* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad'', everyone at the court notices Mr. Toad's attempting to walk out the door of the court house in the middle of his own trial when Wimky's finishes his testimony against him, made Mr. Toad more guilty in everyone's eyes.
77* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBobsBurgersMovie'', after Mr. Fischoeder is framed as Cotton Candy Dan's murder, Felix's attempts to help his brother just has him reveal some information that makes Calvin look more guilty.
78* In ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'', the fight with the Underminer ends with him escaping and leaving the Incredibles to stop his out-of-control drill machine. Said machine causes a significant amount of property damage and the Incredibles are arrested and led away from it at gunpoint. Politicians use this disaster to justify the illegal status of supers and end their witness protection-style placement program.
79-->'''Dicker:''' You want outta the hole, first ya gotta put down the shovel.
80* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'', [[DevilInPlainSight Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi]] sings a VillainSong about [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial how totally not evil she is]], with Wyldstyle not being convinced for a second and even remarking on how it ''totally'' isn't making her seem trustworthy to do it. [[spoiler:When it's revealed she was ''actually telling the truth'', Wyldstyle is outright stunned:]]
81-->[[spoiler:'''Mayhem:''' All we want to do is unite our worlds in peace!\
82'''Wyldstyle:''' Why didn't you guys just tell us that?\
83'''Mayhem:''' We ''tried''! The Queen sung a whole song about how not evil she was!\
84'''Wyldstyle:''' That was the '''truth?!''' You guys are terrible communicators!\
85'''Mayhem:''' ...I know.]]
86* In ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'', Susan argues to Gen. Monger that, despite now being almost 50-feet tall, she's "not a danger to anyone or anything." As she says this, she accidentally hits a helicopter with the back of her hand, causing it to crash.
87-->'''Pilot:''' Don't let her get me!\
88'''Susan:''' ''[chagrined]'' Sorry.
89* In ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrolTheMovie'', Gus, who is new to Adventure Bay, expresses disbelief that a talking dog is coming to his rescue. Chase then clarifies that he is a puppy, prompting Gus to shout, "That's even worse!"
90** In ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrolTheMightyMovie'', the villain, Victoria Vance, hates being referred to as a MadScientist. However, she brings a meteor to Adventure City, which destroys the Paw Patrol's headquarters, then later destroys the engine of Humdinger's plane while setting up a trap for the Paw Patrol, and laughs maniacally after she gains superpowers.
91-->'''Mayor Humdinger:''' For someone who hates being called a mad scientist, this is ''NOT'' helping your image!
92* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Robots}}'': Bigweld fires Ratchet, who hysterically begs for mercy claiming:
93-->'''Ratchet''': No, wait! Please listen to me! You can't do this to me. This job is my ''LIFE''! It means everything to me! You don't KNOW WHAT I'VE DONE TO GET HERE!! THE LIES I'VE TOLD! THE LIVES I'VE ''RUINED''!!!!! ...[[LampshadeHanging Wait, this isn't helping me.]]
94[[/folder]]
95
96[[folder:Literature]]
97* ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid: The Getaway'': When the Heffley family are at the country club with stranger's clothes, a security guard confronted them, saying that they were reported for wearing a family's missing clothes. Instead of coming clean and explaining the truth to him, Greg steals the guard's golf cart with his family behind them, and they attempt to take off. Not only do they fail to escape as the guard catches up with them, but this act also convinces him that the Heffleys intentionally stole the other family's clothing to use for themselves and attempted to flee in order to avoid getting caught, and he refuses to listen to any further explanations as he makes them give back the clothing and kicks them out of the resort.
98* [[Literature/{{Frankenstein}} Frankenstein's Monster]]. Seriously, there's a bit in the book where a kid insists that the monster is an ogre who wants to kill him. The monster denies this and then kills the kid for not listening (or arguably because the kid brought up being related to Frankenstein, which was something of a BerserkButton). The monster is trying to abduct him at the time, so that would be an extra dose of ''really'' not helping his case.
99* During ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: The Doomsday Ship'', [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire Dash Rendar]] is accused of being the ship's saboteur. His weapons, strong antiauthority bent, and general cockiness don't help. Though when he risks his life to seal a compartment and stop decompression, people relax a little more. [[spoiler: He'd been there in the first place to steal the ship, but got beaten to the punch.]]
100* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
101** Happens in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban'' with Sirius Black: He is condemned for the horrible death of one Peter Pettigrew, former close friend, in front of many witnesses; having a role in the deaths of the parents of his godson Harry Potter at the hands of Voldemort, conspiracy in the attempt against the life of the mentioned protagonist, treason and other minutiae. It definitely does not help that he is found maniacally laughing at the scene of the crime, survives [[MindRape a punishment]] in Azkaban that no sane person should and, succeeding an escape from a prison that was previously thought inescapable, goes on stalking his godson and entering Hogwarts with murderous intentions. Oh, and he let slip things like "could just as well have killed 'em myself" from time to time. As it turns out [[spoiler:he went hysterical from the deaths of his friends the Potters thanks to treasonous Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew (whom Sirius himself recommended as the ideal SecretKeeper), tried to avenge them confronting the latter, who managed to frame Sirius for his own (faked) death, was convicted and imprisoned without fair trial, went into an HeroicBSOD so epic it bordered DespairEventHorizon and made the Dementors' powers lose their effect on him, and was in Hogwarts purely to chase Wormtail]].
102--->'''Sirius:''' I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for!
103** During ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', Minister Scrimgeour, when trying to talk Harry into becoming the Ministry's poster boy, mentions that Umbridge is still working at the Ministry, and she actually said that Harry wanted to be an Auror, in an attempt to bribe him. Harry bristles and shows the Minister the "I must not tell lies" scar that he received from his various detentions with Umbridge.
104** Harry Potter himself and other characters of the cast will fall into the wrong side of this trope from time to time. Take for instance ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' where he is accused of being the Heir of Slytherin, the fact he is caught being near several crime scenes and is heard speaking the snake-tongue Parcelmouth really doesn't help despite the fact he was trying to do good.
105** Snape can hardly do ''anything'' without looking as suspicious and unlikable as he can; he practically goes out of his way to make the heroes suspect he's a bad guy in nearly every book. He's also quite resentful of the fact that anyone would suspect that he, a former Death Eater, might be a Death Eater. [[spoiler:This turns out to be part of his ZeroApprovalGambit, allowing him to function as TheMole within Voldemort's inner circle.]]
106** In a meta-sense, Slytherin House is the go-to house for villains and jerks, breeding Death Eaters like nobody's business. The first Slytherin character to not be a colossal asshat is Horace Slughorn, who isn't ambitious for himself but instead sets up connections between students with strong potential (blatantly favoring them and ignoring others). In the seventh year, not one Slytherin is part of the resistance against the Death Eaters in the school, with only later WordOfGod clarifying that some of the later reinforcements were Slytherins. It takes until ''Cursed Child'' for 100% heroic Slytherins to show up ([[spoiler:Malfoy and Harry's sons]]).
107** The textbook ''Literature/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' mentions that Uric the Oddball subjected himself to three months of Fwooper song so he could prove that it did not cause insanity. He then showed up to the next Wizards' Council meeting naked save for a dead badger on his head, thus convincing nobody. One could also make the case that voluntarily pulling a stunt like that calls the results into question on account of the fact you'd have to have a pretty tenuous grasp on sanity to think it was a good idea in the first place.
108* In ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz]]'', Dorothy's pet Eureka (in later books the Pink Kitten) is on trial for eating one of the Wizard's pet miniature pigs. She refuses to defend herself other than to point out how much she's wanted and tried to eat said pigs. ''Nobody'' wants her convicted, but nobody can believe she's innocent by this point. A representative excerpt from the trial (the Tin Woodsman is defending her):
109-->'''Tin Woodsman:''' Look at the kitten’s intelligent eyes; (here Eureka closed her eyes sleepily) gaze at her smiling countenance! (here Eureka snarled and showed her teeth) mark the tender pose of her soft, padded little hands! (Here Eureka bared her sharp claws and scratched at the bars of the cage.)
110:: After some UnconventionalCourtroomTactics aimed at showing her innocent (which Eureka sabotages at every point), when the trial is reluctantly concluded, Eureka tells them where the missing piglet trapped itself. Trying to get away from her attempts to eat it. And "Eureka was much surprised to find herself in disgrace; but she was, in spite of the fact that she had not eaten the piglet."
111* Happens in ''Literature/LesMiserables.'' In the middle of the night, the Bishop is arguing with his sister about whether the church needs additional protection:
112-->'''Bishop's sister''': I say, we must have bolts, if only for tonight; nothing could be worse than a door that can be opened from the outside by the first comer; and anyway the Monseigneur has the habit of saying 'Come in,' even at midnight. But, my heavens! There's no need to even ask permission--\
113At this moment there was a violent knock on the door. \
114'''Bishop''': Come in!
115* In ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'', a group of girls accuses Catarina of being a bully and provides a rather sizeable list of misdeeds as "evidence". Her friends speak up in her defense... by saying that she's [[DumbIsGood far too simple-minded]] to have carried out the complicated plots they're accusing her of committing. Catarina, who's standing right there, doesn't get offended because she's also too dense to realize that they're giving her backhanded compliments (her unspoken reaction is "I'm so happy they're standing up for me, but something seems off here...").
116* Bryony theorises that this is why Veil turned to thievery and delinquency in ''Outcast of Literature/{{Redwall}}'' because she's one of the only three Abbey dwellers who don't immediately accuse him whenever something goes missing.
117* In ''The Seventh Sword'' trilogy, by Creator/DaveDuncan, our hero, Shonsu, is a great swordsman who doesn't know the customs of the land he lives in. He often talks too much, which turns out to not help his case. At the end of the first book, Shonsu is asked about how he managed to survive an attack. He goes into detail about how he used a dagger and attacked two men at one time, then attacked a fleeing swordsman, chopping him down as he ran away. All of these actions were against the well-established rules of the land.
118* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
119** Tyrion Lannister does this a lot, and is strange in that he ''works it to his advantage''. As an example, when he assumed a position of authority in a city where everyone hated him and assumed he was a monster because of his unfortunate appearance, he used this as an excuse to bring along an entourage composed of vicious mountain barbarians who carry human body parts as trophies. This assisted immensely with his political goals.
120** In the third book, he's accused of murdering his nephew, unfairly imprisoned, and given a sham trial; and all this is happening shortly after he fought in an incredibly vicious battle during which he received a horrible injury from which he is still recovering. He snaps, and no one could blame him. And he ''still'' manages to work this to a minor advantage; [[spoiler:convinced he's getting a sham trial, he demands trial by combat. He selects a member of the Martells as his representative; the Martells deeply hate the Lannisters and are longtime rivals of their recent political allies the Tyrells. If he wins the trial, the Tyrells will be pissed that the alleged murderer of their daughter's fiance got away (And, although Tyrion doesn't know it, wary that Tywin might find out they actually killed Joffrey); if he loses the trial, the Martells will be pissed that their son died for him. It's one final "screw you" to his family.]]
121** In general, Jaime and Tyrion Lannister tend to use this trope in a "ThenLetMeBeEvil" kind of way. They're constrained by bigotry (Tyrion) or unfair judgments (Jaime) and are unable to escape them despite their best efforts, so they tend to stop giving their "best" efforts and instead use an evil reputation to get their way.
122** One of the many things that Jaime and Tyrion Lannister share is a total and crippling inability to keep their big mouths shut when a clever remark occurs to them, no matter how many weapons are pointed at their heads at the time, or how testy the people holding them are. That tendency does more to nearly get them killed over the course of the series than all the Stark soldiers combined.
123* PlayedForLaughs in the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''The Traitor's Hand'', where the titular Cain is trying to argue that [[UnluckilyLucky Corporal "Jinxie" Penlan]] isn't ''as'' accident-prone as her nickname would suggest... only for his argument to consist of a LongList of the various times in which her awful luck has narrowly saved her and everyone else's lives. After several lines, [[ExplainExplainOhCrap Cain trails off]], realizing that he's only helping the opposition and then lamely notes "Well, you know how soldiers exaggerate these things."
124** Additionally, Cain's LoveInterest Amberley Vail makes a similar comment regarding her [[PsychicPowers psyker]] retainer [[TheMentallyDisturbed Rakel]] in one of her footnotes:
125--->'Rakel isn't the easiest of people to get along with, and her conversation, not to mention her thought processes, do require some getting used to, but she's not ''completely'' insane. [[FalseReassurance Besides, her medication is generally very effective.]]'
126* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' has quite a variety of these, on a sliding scale from "didn't do something mildly embarrassing" to "not a mass-murdering monster".
127** Perhaps the most explicit is when [[spoiler:Galina Casban]] is mouthing off to her captors about all the horrible retribution they'll face when she's freed, unaware that she's making herself look extra guilty of the murder she's been framed for. Bonus: she is a conniving evil murderer, but didn't commit that ''particular'' crime.
128** And then there are all the instances where someone's not helping their case about ''true'' accusations. Everything from yelling "I'M NOT ANGRY" to [[spoiler:shouting about how you're not mad... to the voice in your head]].
129* ''Literature/WolfHall'':
130** Thomas Cromwell is intent on erasing his disreputable past as a brawler and soldier and giving himself and his family a respectable position in the world, often disturbed by the notion that [[FaceOfAThug he looks like a man who could easily kill someone]]. But Cromwell also uses his shadowy reputation and physically imposing presence whenever it would advance his agenda, and it advances his agenda often.
131** Cromwell is appalled when Wriothesley suggests that Cromwell used Anne Boleyn's trial as a means of revenge for Cardinal Wolsey's death and wonders if he might one day go after Henry himself. Cromwell is genuinely loyal to Henry (if irritated whenever the subject comes up because Henry [[NeverMyFault acts like he had nothing to do with it]]) but since he ''did'' use Anne's downfall to get revenge, it's not a wholly unreasonable line of thought.
132[[/folder]]
133
134[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
135* ''Series/AllMyChildren'': Bianca hides her pregnancy with [[ChildByRape Miranda]] from Erica because she is terrified of how she will react. When Kendall pretends to be pregnant herself with Michael's child to help her, Erica treats Kendall like scum and acts like being pregnant with the child of a monster like Michael Cambias is the most disgusting and immoral thing that anyone could do, thus perfectly justifying Bianca's decision.
136* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
137** In "[[Recap/AngelS05E09HarmsWay Harm's Way]]", Harmony, as part of her attempt to prove she hadn't murdered anyone, ended up knocking three of her coworkers unconscious and locking them in a supply closet. She also killed the person who framed her, thus silencing the only other person who knew she wasn't guilty. Nevertheless, she did manage to convince them of her innocence.
138** In "[[Recap/AngelS05E12YoureWelcome You're Welcome]]", after discovering he's now CEO of OccultLawFirm Wolfram & Hart, Cordelia accuses Angel of having made a DealWithTheDevil. Angel is denying this when a BigRedDevil in a suit walks up and shakes his hand over some legal deal they've just made. Cordy walks off in a snit.
139* In ''Series/AltaMar'', [[spoiler: Dr Rojas]], in an attempt to prove their innocence, happened to do a lot of questionable actions in their desperation, such as setting Eva's room on fire to burn down the microfilm and later poison Carolina to force Eva to give them the microfilm. Understandably, no one at first believes them when they claim it was actually [[spoiler: Carlos]] who was the real criminal.
140* Deconstructed in a remade ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' episode: After the Cylons are removed from a planet on which they'd rule the humans, a secret commission of almost KangarooCourt trials ensues, and a man is taken as collaborating with the Cylons. He's asked to defend himself, but apparently sickened by the whole charade, he does not and almost gets himself ThrownOutTheAirlock. It's only a [[InsultBackfire snarly remark]] of one who wants to see him dead that reveals the guy to have been a [[spoiler:TheMole]], prompting the others [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to realise their mistake]].
141* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
142** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E2LivingConditions Living Conditions]]", Buffy keeps insisting that her new college roommate is a demon because the roomie is obsessively neat, demanding, listens to Music/CelineDion on repeat, and her toenails kept growing after being trimmed. She even collects the toenail clippings in a plastic bag and shows them to [[BadassCrew The Scoobies]]. Her friends think she's losing it. [[spoiler:The roomie turned out to be a demon who was sucking Buffy's soul out at night, which is why Buffy kept getting more and more desperate sounding.]]
143** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E21TwoToGo Two to Go]]", Warren and Andrew both tried to defend themselves to Willow by pointing out to Willow that Warren didn't ''mean'' to [[spoiler: shoot and kill Willow's girlfriend Tara]]. He was aiming for Willow's ''best friend''.
144* ''Series/{{Cheers}}:'' When Dr. Finch-Royce tells Sam and Diane their relationship is totally unhealthy, lacking in trust, and will never work, Diane becomes determined to prove him wrong. As she does so, she overrides Sam's total lack of concern what the man said, drags him along and gets upset when he tells her he doesn't care, in-between insulting Sam's intelligence for no reason.
145* ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'': Larry David has the almost unnatural ability to piss off everyone he meets and will constantly make a situation far worse than it needs to be due to his refusal to admit any wrongdoing, his attempts to fix the situation being misinterpreted as an insult or even crime, or his complete inability to just know when to stop talking and walk away.
146* Creator/JonStewart on ''Series/TheDailyShow'' had to say this enough times that his art-department needed to design no less than [[https://comedycentral.mtvnimages.com/images/shows/tds/videos/season_12_v/v6/ds_12114_headline_b_v6.jpg three]] [[https://comedycentral.mtvnimages.com/images/shows/tds/videos/season_15/15043/ds_15043_01_16x9.jpg different]] [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XJ45vdU_LWg/maxresdefault.jpg graphics]] to keep the visual aid up-to-date with the show's evolving style.
147* PlayedForLaughs in ''Series/Daredevil2015''. In an early episode, Foggy takes Karen to Josie's. As they talk, Karen tells Foggy that all she sees are threats. To prove her wrong, Foggy points to three random people in the room. The guy playing pool? He organizes a Thanksgiving food drive every year. The guy having a drink on the other side of the bar? His wife owns the dry cleaner near Nelson & Murdock's office space. The guy having dinner? ...Okay, he is a criminal, but he is turning it around. Seriously!
148* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
149** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]]: The other passengers on a damaged shuttle bus on a DeathWorld under attack by a malign entity end up becoming suspicious of the Doctor for various reasons, including his attempts to take control of the situation. The Doctor manages to dig himself in deeper when he refers to them as "humans" in a poorly-worded sentence that excludes [[HumanAliens himself]] from that group. Technically accurate, but an ''unwise'' move.
150** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E3Rosa "Rosa"]]: After finding out the TARDIS has ''still'' not returned to 21st-century Sheffield, the Doctor mentions that this is her ninth attempt to get her companions home. Graham then points out it's actually the ''fourteenth''.
151** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E4NikolaTeslasNightOfTerror "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror"]]: An attempt by UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla to get investors for a project on transmitting energy through the "aether" falls flat when one man calls it a "fairy tale" and Tesla, while defending against accusations of such, ignores his assistant's suggestion and doesn't deny the claim that he picked up an electrical signal from Mars.
152* Series/{{Frasier}}: In "Proxy Prexy", Frasier's scheme to use Martin as a figurehead on the condo board backfires on him when Martin quickly becomes more popular and dismissive of Frasier's suggestions:
153-->'''Frasier''': I don't think you have the skills for this job!\
154'''Martin''': I have something better: people skills.\
155'''Frasier''': So do I, but these '''boobs''' and '''nincompoops''' are too stupid to see it!
156* In an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Joey claims to hate his co-star in a play, but it's actually a juvenile facade and he's in denial that he actually likes her. When Chandler calls him out on it, he counters "Oh yeah? Well if I'm pretending to hate her, why do I keep imagining us in various sexual scenarios?"
157* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
158** In the chapter "The Dragon and the Wolf", after Sansa finishes her accusation against Littlefinger, she expects to listen to what he wants to say about that. The first thing he does is to demand the general of the Armies of the Vale to escort him ''immediately'' back to the Eyrie. Yup, you are innocent alright.
159** In the chapter "Winterfell", neither Sansa nor Daenerys are at their diplomatic best:
160*** When Sansa asks how they are going to feed Daenerys's armies and finishes by saying, "What do dragons eat anyway?", Daenerys responds that her dragons can eat whatever they want. Not the best thing to say to a room full of vassals who already distrust Targaryens due to the acts of Daenerys's father.
161*** And Sansa criticizing the arrival of Daenerys and her armies — the forces helping to fight a literal Zombie Apocalypse so the North and realm can live to see another day — isn't exactly a diplomatic course of action either, especially when Sansa wants Northern independence from Daenerys if they should survive. This only gives Daenerys a reason to distrust Sansa in turn.
162* ''Series/TheGoodPlace:'' When Chidi expresses horror at Eleanor's job (telemarketing of fake supplements to sick elderly people) she tries to defend herself mentioning how good she was at it. Chidi rightfully points out that being good at something terrible makes it worse.
163* In the first season of ''Series/{{Homeland}}'', Carrie Mathison's mental health declines as she begins to figure out Abu Nazir's agenda, the result being that she is only able to articulate her findings artistically. Screaming "Nazir was yellow, but now he's purple!" doesn't help her case.
164* In the ''Series/HorribleHistories'' song about the Suffragettes, one of them tries to draw attention to the cause by running out onto a race course during a race. When she's trampled by a horse, a member of Parliament reacts by saying "We can't let women vote if they're so stupid they'll do that!"
165* ''Series/{{Intergalactic}}'': Verona points out that Tula killing anyone who calls her "crazy" does nothing to prove her sanity.
166* The title character in ''Series/{{House}}'' often sabotages himself by being dramatic, belligerent, immature, sarcastic or any combination thereof even when his intentions are noble and his reasoning sound.
167** In one episode, House calmly and politely pleads his case to the transplant board as to why his patient should receive a heart transplant, but the board turns him down on account of the patient's age. Figuring he has nothing to lose, House then angrily accuses the board of ageism, pointing out that many of its members would be ineligible by their own criteria.
168* When Frank Reynolds gets roped into hosting a child beauty pageant in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', he wants it made very clear that [[MistakenForPedophile he is not, in his words, "a diddler"]] (it doesn't help that he got roped in because the original host was arrested for child molestation). He tries to go about this by repeatedly emphasizing that [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial he is not attracted to any of these children]] and even trying to have a song written called "Do Not Diddle Kids." The rest of the gang correctly point out that his repeated emphasis of this is just going to make people suspicious.
169* Subverted in ''Series/{{Journeyman}}''. When Dan starts digging under the front porch, Katie asks him what he's doing. He says "saving this family", to which she replies "no, not really". Dan has already been acting erratically and claiming to be a time traveller, so Katie thinks he's finally lost his mind. Then he digs up his wedding ring. He'd been wearing it just hours earlier from her point of view and had buried it in the past when the house had yet to be built.
170* In ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', Olivia Benson's half-brother Simon has a habit of getting into some level of trouble (usually not entirely his fault) and then compounding his problem by doing the ''worst possible thing'' in response. Highlights include taking the detective who tried to falsely pin a rape on him hostage and kidnapping his kids from foster care when the family court process was taking longer than they'd hoped.
171* ''Series/{{Matlock}}'': Matlock has several clients who live this trope. However, his client in "The Fugitive" takes the cake. He frequently interjects in court, knocks out the bailiff and flees the courthouse. Ultimately, Matlock shows his client was framed for murder. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure The judge, citing the extreme stress Matlock's client was under, recommends a lengthy term of community services instead of the "many years" in prison his actions would usually receive.]]
172* ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' has Nathan demand that Simon use his power of invisibility to save him when they're both in danger. Simon asks him why he should after Nathan's forgotten his name and made fun of him ever since they met. Nathan then yells at Simon and calls him a freak. Unsurprisingly, Simon turns invisible and scarpers.
173* This exchange from ''Series/ModernFamily'', "Mother Tucker".
174-->'''Cameron:''' Missouri is a lot more cosmopolitan than you give it credit for. It's got a very vibrant cowboy poetry scene.\
175'''Mitchell:''' You're not making the point you think you're making.
176* ''Series/RedDwarf'':
177** In the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonIVJustice Justice]]", Rimmer is tried for murdering the crew of the ''Red Dwarf'' due to botching the replacement of a drive plate. Kryten decides to act as Rimmer's defense...which involves proving that Rimmer is not competent enough to have properly replaced the faulty plate himself. (Lister would have helped, but he was in stasis at the time, and only Holly was able to, somehow, keep the ship running for three million years.) Rimmer, being somewhat of an egotist, ends up falling straight into this one by objecting to his own defense (which Kryten points out as further evidence).
178** In the episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIEmohawkPolymorphII Emohawk: Polymorph II]]", a robotic Space Corps enforcement ship catches up with Starbug, and charges them with looting derelict Space Corps ships. Lister doesn't help:
179--->'''Lister:''' But we don't loot Space Corps derelicts. We hack our way in and swipe what we need.\
180'''Rimmer:''' Lister, if this goes to trial I demand separate lawyers.
181* In ''Series/{{Sliders}}'', the group lands on an Earth where the RedScare never ended. Quinn and Arturo are reported as subversives while working on some sliding equations. The agents who come to investigate ignorantly assume they're working on a pipe bomb, to which Arturo indignantly responds that a pipe bomb is child's play by comparison. It doesn't help that, due to a head injury, Arturo spends most of the episode wearing a colorful rag as a bandage on his head, which makes him look like a hippie.
182* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Throughout the first two seasons, Jonathan had no problems with openly expressing his hatred of the Luthors, which made it easy for a DirtyCop to shoot Lionel and frame him for the crime. Jonathan even acknowledges that his doing so has come back to bite him:
183-->'''Jonathan:''' No, I didn't shoot Lionel. But I let my anger get the best of me. I... I haven't exactly kept it a secret how Jonathan Kent feels about the Luthors. What jury could possibly believe me now?
184* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
185** Lampshaded in an episode where, because of some contact with an alien substance, Daniel Jackson starts hallucinating, and ranting and raving. Midway through the episode, he asks, "Why does everyone think I'm crazy?!" pauses for a moment, then adds, "It's because I'm sorta acting that way, aren't I?"
186** "1969": The team accidentally goes back in time, and is confronted by guards demanding (in Russian) to know if they're Soviet spies. Without even thinking about it, {{Omniglot}} Daniel replies "Nyet!" a split second before obviously realizing what a terrible idea that was.
187* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Aquiel," the title character is accused of murdering her superior officer on an isolated communications outpost, but claims that he's the one who attacked her. Her personnel records describe her as belligerent and insubordinate, while he was a model officer, her own personal logs are dominated by her dislike of him, she erased some of ''his'' because he was planning to formally reprimand her, and she tried to flee the ''Enterprise'' when she realized suspicion was falling on her. [[spoiler:As it turns out the murder was done by an alien life form who had absorbed the guy and attacked when it tried to jump bodies to her.]]
188* In the ''Series/TopGear'' episode in the US South, when the stars paint inflammatory slogans on each others' cars to rile up the locals, a gas station owner angrily (and rightly) accuses them of making small-town folks look bad by deliberately baiting them. She doesn't help her case at all when she calls in a truckload of rock-throwing goons.
189* In ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'' episode "Try", Rick makes a very good case why the people of Alexandria are soft and will have trouble surviving much longer. He's probably right, but the problem is, he's bloody from a fight with one of the other town residents and waving a loaded gun around wildly.
190* One segment of ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'' at Barth's had the usual gross jokes about the food, along with the accusation of Barth putting squirrel meat in the burgers, which Barth flatly denied:
191-->'''Barth:'' I heard that, and it's not true! There are ''no'' squirrels in my burgers! Skunks, ''maybe'', but ''no squirrels!''
192* ''Series/YoungSheldon'': In "A Black Hole", when a reporter asks Sturgis if the super-collider could suffer a meltdown like in Chernobyl, he responds that a collider is not like a nuclear reactor. Then he explains that the worst that could happen is that it creates a microscopic black hole that could grow and eventually destroy the Earth. And the moon. He's fired soon after that interview.
193[[/folder]]
194
195[[folder:Music]]
196* "Komm wieder her" by Music/{{Knorkator}} is a song about a man begging his wife to return to him. By telling her how much he needs her, he's really not helping his case.
197-->My fridge is empty, I have no clean socks. Nobody goes shopping for groceries or sweeps the floor. Who pays attention to me, and endures me.\
198Who would make me coffee in the morning? Who would lock the door when I leave the house? Who would clean the windows and the shoes? Who would take the garbage out? Who, if not you?
199* "Put Another Log on the Fire" is similar. In the first verse, the singer gives a long list of chores for his significant other to perform, followed by the demand "Then come and tell me why you're leaving me."
200[[/folder]]
201
202[[folder:Mythology]]
203* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(mythology) Eris]], the Greek goddess of strife and discord, didn't get invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis because the other gods thought she'd just cause trouble. In revenge, she [[DisproportionateRetribution starts the Trojan War]].
204[[/folder]]
205
206[[folder:Radio]]
207* ''Radio/{{Elvenquest}}:'' In series 2, episode 1, Sam is faced with being kicked off the quest for insulting the honour of a hero who is by all appearances better, smarter, handsomer and more likable than Sam. His only hope is the mercy of the other Questors (except Dean, who hates him). First up is [[TheDitz Vidar]], but when he tries to think about which person he likes more, Sam decides the best thing to do is insult him. Vidar instantly makes up his mind.
208[[/folder]]
209
210[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
211* ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}'': The Rhennee are an insular race of riverboat-dwelling nomadic humans who complain endlessly about all the hardships they face because the other peoples of the Flanaess [[RoguishRomani characterize them as a race of liars, cheats and thieves]]. The problem is that the Rhennee [[MoralMyopia literally]] ''[[MoralMyopia do]]'' [[MoralMyopia believe it's no crime to lie to, cheat or steal from anyone who isn't a fellow Rhennee]].
212* ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'': The [[MagicalRomani Vistani]] have a similar issue to the Rhenne. They never hesitate to denounce the "giorgio" (as they call non-Vistani) as small-minded, cruel, superstitious and hostile... but at the same time they also ''do'' [[MoralMyopia believe it's fine to abuse and exploit the giorgio as they see fit]]. Making things worse is there's an entire ''tribe'' of Vistani, the Corvara, who have decided that since they're not as good at any of the other things that the other Vistani tribe specialize in, then they'd specialize in theft, con-artistry, black marketeering and peddling drugs. The Vistani regarding their half-human ("giogoto") and half-elven ("giamarga") offspring as so tainted that they cannot be permitted to live amongst "pure" Vistani certainly doesn't do them any favors either.
213[[/folder]]
214
215[[folder:Theatre]]
216* In the ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: At the end of ''Mrs. Frost'', [[spoiler:Team Hawking sets the title villain up to look insane-- right in front of a psychiatrist. As he calls in orderlies to take her to an asylum, Frost begins raving that she's the Kingmaker, untouchable, that Mrs. Hawking is the real villain, and various other threats... which only further convinces the doctor of her supposedly shattered mental state.]]
217* ''Theatre/PeterGrimes''. The title character could be the patron saint of this trope. People think he's a sadist who kills his boy apprentices on purpose and possibly abuses them. He's more of a DoomMagnet actually and haunted by the memory of the dead apprentices, but being an antisocial jerk whose attitude towards the town is "fuck you all and leave me alone" doesn't help much. He eventually goes mad and [[spoiler:kills himself]].
218* ''Theatre/WhichWitchTheMusical'': When Maria is asked if she attended a witches' Sabbath she answers yes but then adds it was only a dream which no one believed.
219[[/folder]]
220
221[[folder:Video Games]]
222* ''VideoGame/BestOfThree'': When Grant accuses you of having stolen your pen, he says that he hopes you get reincarnated as a dung beetle. Helen can take offense to this and bring it back up, to which Grant simply corrects her ''wording'', not the fact that he insulted her.
223-->''“You called me a dung beetle!” In the next booth, someone giggles. Grant cuts them off with a look.\
224“No,” he says, to you. “I expressed the hope that you might be reincarnated as a dung beetle. Very different.”''
225* ''VideoGame/BlazeUnion:'' Mizer, who at the time sustained himself by sneak thieving. Upon being accused of stealing a pendant from [[TeamDad Velleman]], the party's noble sponsor, he first attempts to flee, then denies having done anything once caught, ''then'' rallies his mooks and sneak-attacks you... while [[ScrappyLevel attempting to run away a lot]]. Once you've finally wrestled him into submission, it turns out that Mizer was innocent -- Velleman's pendant fell in the mud, and one of Mizer's flunkies picked it up, calling finders keepers.
226* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', the leader of the TimePolice organization Ouroboros, Mender Silos, [[SignificantAnagram was a far-future version of Lord Nemesis]], the game's resident ChessMaster. This revelation caused widespread distrust of the character, both in-universe and out-. [[WordOfGod Word of God]] stated that this was, in fact, a genuine [[HeelFaceTurn redemption]], but criticism from his more cynical peers would cause him to temporarily fall back on his old methods; unfortunately the game was [[ScrewedByTheNetwork shut down]] before any in-game content showing that could be added.
227* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':
228** Throughout the main storyline, Loghain insists that he didn't deliberately betray King Cailan at the battle of Ostagar, and that his withdrawal was the only sound tactical choice. The fandom continues to dispute whether or not this is true[[note]]On the one hand he had repeatedly tried to convince the king not to be on the front line for this very reason and the tactical situation really had gone to hell; on the other he had numerous personal and political reasons to prevent the king's survival, and even at the most pessimistic view of the situation his withdrawal made the difference between a defeat and a massacre.[[/note]]. However, two of the prisoners LockedInTheDungeon and tortured in his close ally's estate are a soldier who survived Ostagar and the friend of another (missing, likely dead) survivor who claimed Loghain retreated while there was still hope for the king. This revelation works against him at the Landsmeet, especially since the latter was a member of the nobility. Even if he ''didn't'' betray Cailan, suppression of the witnesses tends to suggest otherwise (his cover story was that the Wardens betrayed the king by leading him into a hopeless charge, which is definitely a lie). Which leads to even more fandom dispute as to [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation whether Loghain knew what his ally was doing in that regard]]...
229*** Even worse, another prisoner is a templar who was responsible of capturing Jowan, the Blood Mage that Loghain hired to poison one of his biggest opposers. This revelation not only works in favor of the claims that he used a blood mage to kill someone, but also put both the templar's sister (a noblewoman) and the representative of the local religion against him.
230** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', your introduction with Nathaniel Howe (son of Rendon Howe from ''Origins'') has you encountering him in a jail cell after he infiltrated your new base to try and assassinate you. It took ''four'' Wardens to subdue him. He is openly disdainful of you, the Grey Wardens, the reigning monarch and the other noble families for the crime of...opposing his psychotic backstabbing rat bastard of a father. If asked what he will do if released, he openly admits he will probably come back and try to kill you again. If you tell him this trope, he'll tell you that he could lie if you wanted. It's then up to the player to either execute him, let him go or conscript him into the Wardens [[spoiler:where he ultimately proves to be a better man than his dad, after being hit a few times with the cluebat]].
231* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
232** Will the Mars Clan of Prox please stand up? Start with stealing the artifacts to unleash the horrible power of Alchemy on the world, continue with repeated kidnappings and thefts in the pursuit of unleashing said horrible power, add in attempted murder of a [[ForcedTransformation transformed]] girl, murder of innocent scholars (and less-innocent guards) between Tolbi and Lalivero, murder of enslaved workers at Babi's Lighthouse, and is it any wonder Isaac & Co. decided lethal force was necessary to stop them? Did we mention said murder of the transformed girl will be ''successful'' if Issac doesn't save her?
233** Then ''The Lost Age'' reveals that without the power of Alchemy the world will decay to nothing... and in comes the Mars Clan's second set of champions, led by a brute who openly believes Prox will TakeOverTheWorld and who will do everything in his power to make that happen, including [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness double-crossing Felix & Co.]] [[VillainousDemotivator who are working for him to save the world]] ([[IHaveYourWife and their parents]]). NOT. HELPING.
234* James Tobin in the game ''VideoGame/InThe1stDegree'' really gets stuck in this trope. He is charged with murdering his business partner Zack and for stealing his own paintings. He ends up changing his story of what happened between him and Zack two or three times throughout the game. He ends up coming off as suspicious as a result of telling a different story more than once and shifting the blame to someone else more than once.
235* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'''s BigBad, Master Xehanort, wants to create BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil for the forces of Light and Darkness... so he [[GambitRoulette somehow orchestrates a multi-game]] ComplexityAddiction that ends up causing DarkIsEvil suffering to countless people, Worlds, etc., thus ultimately reinforcing the very BlackAndWhiteMorality he obsessively opposes.
236* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'':
237** Talking to the krogan mechanic on Tuchanka has him defensively ask if Shepard thinks the krogan just abduct quarians to serve as their tech support. Then he says they don't do that "any more".
238** Tali's loyalty mission involves her being accused of smuggling active geth onto the quarian fleet. [[spoiler:If you undertake this mission after completing the Derelict Reaper mission, you can bring along your geth squadmate Legion onto the quarian fleet while trying to "help" prove her innocence. You actually have to pass a Charm/Intimidate check to allow Legion to remain in your squad for the duration of the mission.]]
239** Legion insists that the geth have no ill-intentions towards organics and just want to be left alone. The fact that the geth exterminated the quarians down to single-digit millions, long after they would have been broken as a military power, attempted to destroy (mostly successfully) every ship that entered geth space, which included diplomatic envoys, and let their heretic faction cut swaths of destruction across organic space, makes this rather difficult to take at face value.
240* This trope could easily be renamed ''The VideoGame/MaxPayne Legal Defence''. In order to prove that he's innocent of murdering his best friend, who was one of the two guys who knew he was undercover, he goes out and slaughters his way through what seems like half the rank-and-file of the New York Mafia. Most of those were ''probably'' self-defence, but still not going to look good if and when he can touch base with his superiors, to say nothing of the EnemyMine arrangement he made with someone rather high-ranking in the local [[TheMafiya Russian mob]]. After Act 3 or thereabouts the trope is averted by way of MotiveDecay (and probably SanitySlippage); Max isn't interested in clearing his name anymore, he just wants revenge. [[spoiler:He gets both, aided and abetted by some really impressive HeroInsurance.]]
241* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'', Repliforce were framed for destroying a city. When they are declared Mavericks for this and refusing to come in for questioning, they start a coup, during which they destroy a city.
242* This applies to the entirety of ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'': upon Meden Traore's final defeat, the story's main villains are utterly flabbergasted that the heroes ([[HeelFaceTurn and several villains from other franchises]]) would get together to stop them from recreating existence. One of the villains out and out ask why some of the heroes would want to stop them, particularly given that these protagonists come from {{CrapsackWorld}}s. She actually has a point: had she not spent the whole game merging the worst of the worst entities from various franchises with everyone else's universe, double-crossing people who had agreed to help her, and generally trying to kill the heroes while in league with some of their multiverse's worst scum, it's possible that some of the heroes might have even agreed with it.
243* In ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}} Mobile'', Parasoul's party is fighting against Cerebella, who has very unkind opinions about the Renoir family and how the Canopy Kingdom is run. Panzerfaust speaks up, and claims that he follows Parasoul because he believes in her, and [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial not because he was forced to watch hours of Canopy indoctrination film during surgery]].
244-->'''Parasoul:''' Wait...they put you through what?!\
245'''Panzerfaust:''' Is all in past. Was also very competent filmmaking worthy of repeat viewing. A++++. Would watch again.\
246'''Cerebella:''' This really isn't helping your case...
247* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAngelOfDarkness'': The game begins with Lara as the main suspect of [[spoiler:Von Croy]]'s murder (and very likely the murder of [[spoiler:Carvier]], given the police knew Lara was there just before their death). She then proceeds to shoot up the security guards of an old nightclub, break into the Louvre (killing many police and security personnel present), break into an archaeological dig and interfere with no less than two crime scenes (including that of the first victim, mentioned above). Of course, all of this leads onlookers to be skeptic of her.
248* In ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'', DirtyCop Tanimura has garnered an unflattering reputation around town as a parasite who uses threats and extortion for ill-gotten gains. While this isn't ''entirely'' unfounded, he makes a point to [[PayEvilUntoEvil only target predatory businesses]], and uses the funds to help support the city's community of illegal immigrants. Given how he'll often gripe about being broke, he doesn't even seem to keep any of the cash for himself. However, he's too lazy to actually explain this when he's confronted over his actions, something that his friend grills him for once the misunderstanding is cleaned up.
249[[/folder]]
250
251[[folder:Visual Novels]]
252* Happens a lot in ''Franchise/AceAttorney'', but the crowning king of the trope is probably Larry Butz. In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'', he elevates this into an art-form [[spoiler:by actively trying to counter Edgeworth's arguments... [[TooDumbToLive while Edgeworth is in the middle of trying to prove him innocent of committing murder]]]].
253* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': [[BunniesForCuteness Usami]]/[[TheCassandra Monomi]] often tries to convince the students to not pay attention to [[KillerTeddyBear Monokuma]]'s motives to kill each other in hopes of getting out of the island, but the students are also suspicious of her and believe her to be an accomplice of Monokuma as well, causing them to ignore and verbally abuse her. The fact that she is reluctant to explain what is going on and runs away whenever questioned about her intentions doesn't help much.
254** During the second trial, [[spoiler:Hiyoko]] becomes the main suspect, due to several damning clues - including ''her footprints at the scene of the crime''. Instead of telling the truth, ([[spoiler:that she was lured there and drugged by the killer so she would leave her footprints as she left in order to [[TheScapegoat frame her for the murder]]]]), she compulsively denies the accusations made against her with lies and changes her version of story multiple times.
255** The same thing happens in the first trial to [[spoiler:Fuyuhiko]], the only person who didn't attend the party in which the murder took place, except instead of compulsive lying, he makes angry death threats. Surprisingly enough, he's only briefly considered a suspect, since Chiaki knew where he was at the time of the murder, and the circumstances of the murder meant he couldn't have done it.
256[[/folder]]
257
258[[folder:Webcomics]]
259%%* ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'': [[http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/uptight/ this]] classic.
260* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Ellen defends the crazed look she gets at the idea of throwing an unsupervised birthday party for Grace by saying it could've meant any number of things. Mr. Verres figured that all of those reasons would justify having a more responsible chaperone.
261* In ''Webcomic/{{Exiern}}'' Faden says "Just for the record I never tortured anyone. I was more into the killing and destroying side of evil wizardom."
262* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' Tarvek denies having any part in the plan to usurp the Wulfenbachs by installing a fake Heterodyne — ''his'' plan was orders of magnitude better!
263* Mitzi in ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'' has a little bit of trouble convincing Wick that her comment about having Rocky murdered [[JustJokingJustification was a joke]]...because her explanations are, in order, "I wouldn't need to hire anyone, I could wring his neck myself," followed by "I'm still joking, he'd do it himself if I asked him nicely" and "still joking but he ''really would''".
264* In [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160319140426/http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/326 this strip]] of ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}'', Ben doesn't exactly help convincing his mom that VideoGames don't cause violent crimes.
265* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0148.html "Hobgoblins and You,"]] Xykon wants to recruit Hobgoblins, but Redcloak is against it, citing Hobgoblins' elitist attitudes towards regular Goblins.
266-->'''Redcloak:''' [[BadassArmy All efficiency, and warrior's codes, and sense of duty, with their military this and discipline that]], and-- and I'm not helping my case at all, am I?\
267'''Xykon:''' It's official: Orange is the new green.\
268'''Demon-Roach:''' I'll inform Milan.
269* In ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'', Larisa [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2010/06/07/0171-guilty-as-defended/ does this]] when accused by a classmate of being a slut.
270-->'''Larisa:''' She's only saying that 'cause I like to dress sexy to appeal to boys. What's slutty about that!? Please!? And anyway, I'm sure that I haven't kissed more than a dozen boys in my life... and not one of them meant much to me!\
271'''Sandra:''' Some people just shouldn't try to defend themselves...
272* ''Webcomic/ThreePanelSoul'': Matt [[http://www.threepanelsoul.com/comic/on-pink-slips/ gets fired]] for talking at work about buying a gun for target shooting, which makes his coworkers uncomfortable about him.
273-->'''Matt:''' But I don't have any reason to go postal! Well, I guess hypothetically '''''now''''' I do. I mean... wait, no.
274[[/folder]]
275
276[[folder:Web Original]]
277* In the first trial of ''Roleplay/DoubtAcademy'', [[spoiler:Akari's over-the-top defensive behavior and anger at everyone believing that she was the culprit only lead the other students to push for her death even more]]. The kicker? [[spoiler:She didn't do it. Akari was defending photographs of her she found in her room]].
278* ''WebVideo/{{Oxventure}}'': In one of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' outings, Andy's pirate character is dealing with a nobleman's daughter who has threatened to summon the guards to dismember him if he doesn't stop trying to convince her that her father set her lover up to be executed. Take two begins with him admitting that they got things off on the wrong foot, but he was just ransacking her father's stuff and he found this journal...When she subsequently tries to pull the cord, Andy slashes it, and then Luke's character fixes it with magic as a show of good faith, because "do something at random with ''conviction''" is a tried-and-tested D&D tradition.
279* In ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms,'' several of Liu Zhang's loyal followers try to convince him that he should trust them and not Liu Bei by doing the worm, biting his clothes, and jumping off tall buildings in front of him. This is counterproductive.
280* In one of Website/YouTube channel ''The Quartering's'' [[RecycledScript (Numerous)]] videos complaining about ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019'' he complains about how Brie Larson apparently uses a "Butt-double" (his own words) in one scene. Not only is this a pretty silly thing to make a video complaining about to begin with, he prefaces it by saying "I'm not even a butt guy, more of a boob guy.", presumably thinking this makes him more impartial or something. It doesn't, and just adds to the silliness of the whole deal.
281* As [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] points out and parodies in his video review, John Anderton's way of proving the Precrime Division he's not a murderer in the ''Film/MinorityReport'' game adaptation... is to brutally beat down and murder everyone in his path, [[WhatTheHellHero including fellow agents who are merely armed with Sick-Sticks and thus are not aiming to kill you]].
282* ''WebVideo/SMPLive'': Mikey decides to counter-sue Poke for [[FantasticRacism "racism" towards pigeons]], which Poke responds to by talking about how much he hates pigeons.
283[[/folder]]
284
285[[folder:Western Animation]]
286* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "The Car", the Wattersons accidentally destroy the Robinsons' new car, and when Mr. Robinson finds out, he tries to sic the police on them. While the Robinsons are certainly justified in being furious at the Wattersons, they don't do themselves any favors when they get in the Doughnut Sheriff's face and scream at him to arrest them, destroy the Wattersons' own car as payback ''right in front of him'', and then attack him when he tries to calm them down; the episode ends with them getting arrested.
287* ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
288** [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender The first series]]:
289*** You know, Zuko, telling the Gaang about that assassin you sent after them and accidentally attacking Toph ''really'' isn't going to convince them that you now want to join them. (At least he's smart enough to realize this.)
290*** In an earlier episode, the gang force their way into the Earth King's palace, leaving a trail of unconscious guards and wrecked masonry behind them, and then try to convince the King that they're on his side. The King is understandably not impressed:
291---->'''Earth King:''' You invade my palace, lay waste to all my guards, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking break down my fancy door,]] and you expect me to ''trust you!?''\
292'''Toph:''' He has a good point.
293*** A minor case, but when trying to expose Iroh and Zuko, Jet's ranting does not help his case, especially since it makes him a bit incoherent.
294---->'''Jet:''' I know they're firebenders! I saw the old man heating his tea!\
295'''Guard:''' He works in a tea shop.
296** ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': Sheltered CountryMouse [[GodInHumanForm Avatar]] Korra tends to stumble into this.
297*** In "Welcome to Republic City" When she discovers and tries to argue against an [[MugglePower Equalist protestor]] decrying [[SupernaturalMartialArts benders]] as an oppressive establishment, he [[UnwittingPawn easily]] manipulates her [[ArrogantKungFuGuy confrontational attitude]] to make her look like the bad guy in front of a large audience of listeners.
298*** Later in the same episode, she's incredulous when police insist she be arrested for [[DestructiveSavior causing property damage]] during her well-meant CurbStompBattle of a trio of protection racket enforcers. Instead of coming along quietly to explain her presumption of HeroInsurance, she ''flees the police,'' fighting them as she bolts, forcing them to use an [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld Airship]] to bring her in, which earns the enmity of [[DaChief their chief]].
299*** Matters worsen in "The Revelation" when, desperate to find a friend kidnapped by Equalists, she shakes down the same protester for information in public, smashing his megaphone, [[FlippingTheTable flipping his table]] and [[NeckLift hoisting him by the shirt]], and must again flee the police when the protester wails (quite rightly) that he's being oppressed.
300*** Played for laughs with Varrick when he tries to defend himself, stating that he's helped each of Team Avatar in his own way. He points out how he warned Korra of [[EvilUncle Unalaq]], made Bolin a film star, helped Asami rebuild her company and had Mako framed and thrown in prison. He takes a moment to realize that the last one was bad.
301*** And Zuko does it again at the beginning of the third season, as he's taking the elevator to visit a combustionbender's prison, reminiscing about the time he'd hired a combustionbender to kill the Avatar... in the company of Korra's cousins, who'd tried to kill her last season, and Korra's ''father.''
302* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'': When Kevin tries protesting having been used as a ManchurianAgent against Ben by the Rooters, Servantis retorts that Ben is a reckless child who sees the Omnitrix as a toy and heroism as a game. As he says this, Ben turns into [[RealityWarper Alien]] [[NoKillLikeOverkill X]] to fight the Rooter's EliteMooks and the brainwashed half-alien Plumbers, convincing Kevin that Servantis has a point.
303* ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark''
304** In Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E1EpisodeOne Episode One]]", Birdie tells the audience there's nothing wrong to watch someone from a distance without their knowledge and it's not creepy, while he's peeping through the Tillerman's window while hiding from the them. He tries justifying it by saying he's the narrator.
305** In Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E10AFishCalledSnakehead A Fish Called Snakehead]]", when two joggers are jogging by the Harlem Meer at Central Park, the male jogger spots a snakehead in the lake but his wife doesn't believe him. When the male jogger is telling Owen and his crew about spotting the snakehead, his wife tells them that he needs glasses, he's colorblind, and he hit his head this morning on a towel bar and they have to take his word with a grain of salt. The male jogger gets offended and angrily blurts out he also had brain surgery recently and asks if she should mention that while she's at it.
306* This pops up too often to list off with Dan from ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'', but at one point is notably inverted. Dan declares in court that it's not his fault he smashed through the wall of a church during a wedding because he was going to run over a nun who jaywalked. Of course, the judge misunderstands him and we get this exchange:
307-->'''Judge:''' So you were swerving to ''avoid'' her?\
308'''Dan:''' [[SureLetsGoWithThat Uhhhhh... yeah.]]
309* In the ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' short "WesternAnimation/TheVanishingPrivate", Donald gets doused in experimental "invisible paint" and Pete, his sergeant, tries to track him down. Pete naturally does several things that make the General think Pete's lost his marbles, up to and including [[NapoleonDelusion wearing what looks like a bicorne hat]] while running around with an armload of grenades, ranting about "a little guy that you can't see".
310* A bizarre example happened on ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' where Launchpad was trying to convince everyone in Duckberg ''not'' that he hadn't done a bad thing, but that he wasn't doing ''good'' things. After he was mistaken for Gizmoduck, things started to get out of hand, so he went on live TV to tell everyone he wasn't Gizmoduck; but accidentally said the command word for Felton's armor, while his mother, who was keeping it in her trailer, was watching the broadcast. After the armor flew all the way across town and affixed itself to Launchpad in the middle of his denial, it kind of spoiled it. (Fortunately - or unfortunately, depending on your point of view - people realized he wasn't Gizmoduck after he wrecked half the city in a vain attempt to control the suit.)
311* ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddparents: WesternAnimation/SchoolsOutTheMusical'': When Timmy realizes that the Pixies can now grant Flappy Bob's wishes, he tries to get Bob to listen to him despite having just literally wrecked his lifelong dream. Predictably, Bob ends up siding with the Pixies.
312* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
313** Leela in "The Sting": "I'll find Fry's coffin, get his corpse, and keep it under my mattress to remind me that he's really dead. ''That'll'' prove I'm not insane!"
314** In "The Inhuman Torch", Bender is accused of [[EngineeredHeroics starting fires to create situations in which he can play the hero]] and reacts by saying "What? ''The very idea!"'' and looking away. [[NotMeThisTime It really wasn't him]].
315* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
316** In "The Time Traveler's Pig", Blendin Blandin tries to point out that it was Dipper and Mabel causing all the chaos he's been blamed for, he calls Waddles the pig their leader. Lolph and Dundgren are less than impressed.
317** In "Sock Opera" Dipper's been forced to possess a puppet after his body has been hijacked by Bill Cipher. Mabel admits she's having a hard time taking him seriously because of how silly he looks when mad, at which point Dipper pulls off a perfect angry [[Franchise/TheMuppets Kermit]] face while comically growling in frustration.
318* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'': When at one point offered to refute some rather convincing evidence Dib had collected on national television, Zim replied to a question of "are you an alien?" with "[[ThatLiarLies LIES! THE FILTHY EARTH BOY LIES!]]", before catching himself and adding "...I mean, 'no'."
319* Project Cadmus in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' does have a genuine point about what the Justice League could do if they went rogue... but they'd have a much easier time convincing people they're the good guys if their anti-superhero projects didn't go rogue and become villains the League needed to take down every other week. And taking funding from Lex Luthor of all people just made matters worse. Yeah, the Justice League ''might'' be a threat, but [[IncompetenceInc Cadmus's failures]] ''most definitely are'' threats. Here's the list of problems Cadmus directly caused:
320** They created a cloned team of heroes called the Ultimen, who ultimately went rogue and attacked Cadmus on learning that they were unstable and expendable.
321** They created an evil Supergirl clone called Galatea, and used her to assassinate U.S. citizens who were a threat to them, before she (wait for it) went rogue.
322** Doomsday was an anti-Superman weapon. He did what he was conditioned to do... while Superman was in the middle of trying to save an island from a volcanic eruption.
323*** After the aforementioned Doomsday escape, General Eiling tries to take out both Doomsday and Superman by firing a kryptonite-tipped ''nuclear missile'' at said island. Even Waller calls him out on this.
324** They sent Task Force X/ the Suicide Squad to steal the Annihilator magical armor (created by Hephaestus for Ares as a WMD). This succeeds with only one casualty... and by the ''next episode'', Felix Faust has tricked them, stolen the armor, and headed off to get revenge on Hades. So much for ''that''.
325** After the Atom manages to de-activate the [[GreyGoo Dark Heart]], Cadmus took the remains, which Atom lampshades as a terrible idea. It manages to prove an ''even worse'' idea, when Lex Luthor and Braniac are able to use it to become nigh-invincible.
326** Speaking of General Eiling, after Cadmus is shut down he decides to inject himself with a SuperSerum and show himself as the ultimate deterant against Superman and the other super-powered members of the Justice League. Not only does he attack a parade and put numerous civilians in danger, he spent his time fighting {{Badass Normal}}s that fought to protect the people ''from him'', which one kid calls him out on. To Eiling's credit, he acknowledges the hypocrisy and leaves (claiming they'll want him back eventually; he never returned on the show, though).
327* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' In the mini-sode "Overdue", Kim is detained at the school library, so Ron goes on a mission by himself, later joined by Wade (through a robot). Despite Wade's tech-savvy, the quality of his assistance in the field is up for debate:
328-->'''Wade''': ''(in Drakken's lair)'' Activating stealth mode!\
329''(The robot becomes transparent - revealing Ron hiding behind it.)''\
330'''Ron''': Uh, great, yeah, but have you noticed how that ''doesn't help me?!''
331* In the "Keeping Up with Our Joneses" episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' where Hank, Peggy, and Bobby try to quit smoking, they go to a support group where everyone is shocked when Bobby reveals that he's been a smoker ever since his dad let him smoke a whole carton. Hank then claims that he didn't let Bobby smoke the carton, he ''made'' him [[RadishCure as a punishment]].
332* In ''WesternAnimation/TheMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'', singer Enrico Caruso is put on trial for causing the Great San Fransisco Earthquake with his voice and Mr. Peabody tries to scientifically prove that this couldn't possibly be the case, but the fiercely competitive Caruso takes hitting 10 on the scale to be a challenge.
333-->'''Mr. Peabody:''' Enrico, I'm trying to prove your innocence...\
334'''Enrico:''' No! I must strive to better than FIIIIIIIIVEEE!!! ''(Hits 10, triggering another Earthquake)''
335* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePony'':
336** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': The Crabnasties in "Fugitive Flowers" turn out to be the good guys, but the fact that they're introduced literally tearing the forest apart looking for the [[CuteIsEvil deceptively cute]] Flores and then proceeded to recklessly trample Posey's garden trying to arrest their quarry doesn't really help their case. They ''also'' ought to reconsider the ''name''. (AnAesop about not judging by appearance that can only have been written by writers who hadn't seen the first half of the story then follows.)
337** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'': In "Stand By Me", a mock trial is staged after Melody accuses Teddy of stealing her tape deck. Teddy blurts out that he would "do anything" to get a tape deck like hers, making him seem more guilty in the eyes of the jury. Also, FlashBack sequences give us ''more'' evidence of Teddy's {{Jerkass}}ery as Sweetheart tries to tell us that he's ''actually good, no, really.'' It's unlikely that anyone ended up with a better opinion of him just because one instance of theft was NotMeThisTime.
338** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
339*** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E9BridleGossip Bridle Gossip]]": Despite how negatively people treat the cast's suspicions, Zecora does nothing to dissuade their suspicion until Apple Bloom clears things up. If anything, she makes herself ''even more'' suspicious. On the other hand, Apple Bloom says that Zecora told her that whenever she came to town, all the stores "mysteriously closed", implying she didn't know why the ponies hid whenever she came to town and may not have had any idea they thought she was a witch.
340*** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed Luna Eclipsed]]": This is a big part of the plot. Princess Luna returns after a thousand-year banishment as the evil Nightmare Moon in an attempt to reform her public image. Unfortunately, between her spooky BigEntrance, her booming voice, and her hair-trigger temper, it's hard for her to convince anyone that she really ''isn't'' an evil villainess. And Pinkie Pie's screaming and running don't help either. Especially since nobody else realizes that Pinkie [[PoorCommunicationKills isn't actually scared]]. Pinkie is more at fault than Luna, seeing as Luna soon realizes her theatrics aren't necessary, and actually starts making progress... only to be repeatedly foiled in her efforts by Pinkie causing a scene. To the understandable frustration of [[OnlySaneMan Twilight]], who is bending over backwards to help Luna in the first place.
341*** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E16RarityInvestigates Rarity Investigates]]" has an instance where Rainbow Dash has been accused of engineering a situation where one of the Wonderbolts had to leave, so that she would be picked as the top reserve to replace them in an air show. When asked what she was doing the night before, she says that she was dreaming of being in the show with a huge expression of wistful happiness on her face, immediately solidifying her apparent motive in the eyes of her accusers.
342*** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E6NoSecondPrances No Second Prances]]": Trixie accidentally lets it slip that she only became friends with Starlight to get back at Twilight. She then says she does consider Starlight a friend, but then digs herself even deeper when she says that getting back at Twilight was "Just a bonus."
343*** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E26ShadowPlayPart2 Shadow Play]]": While the Pillars ''were'' wrong to jump to conclusions about Stygian's motives, the fact that he outright ''stole'' their [[ArtifactOfPower artifacts of power]] and [[PoorCommunicationKills and was using them in an ominous-looking spell without explaining why he's doing it when they confronted him]] did not help Stygian look innocent at all.
344*** "School Daze" has [[FantasticRacism racist jerk]] Chancellor Neighsay close the School of Friendship on grounds that the "non-pony" students are a threat to the pony students. While Twilight Sparkle and said students are desperately trying to reopen the school and prove him wrong, the parents of said non-pony students show up full-cocked and [[DisproportionateRetribution threatening world war because the students have vanished]]. It's a good thing Twilight was able to [[TookAThirdOption take a third option]] and just open the school without Neighsay's approval, as the griffons, yaks, and dragons ''really'' didn't make things easy for her.
345* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': In one episode, a peanut-deprived Burt the Elephant believes Julian is a peanut and chases after him. Maurice points out that Julian's head doesn't even ''look'' like a peanut, only for an insulted Julian to comment that his head ''is'' peanut-shaped, at which point Burt shoves him down his trunk. Also in the episode, when Mort goes crazy with Skipper and Private trying to calm him down, Private tries to assure him they weren't going to hurt him... only for Skipper to state he ''did'' authorize force.
346* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndScrappyDoo'': Upon being confronted by an angry man about breaking into his building, Shaggy insists that that's not the case at all, no sir! It's the building right ''next'' to the man's building that's being broken into.
347-->''What?!''
348* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
349** In "Round Springfield", after Bart got appendicitis after swallowing a jagged metal piece inside a box of Krusty-Os, Krusty said at a press conference he would prove the metal O was safe by eating one personally, on live TV. Unfortunately for him, despite the fact that he actually ate a ''regular'' Krusty-O, he collapsed from horrible stomach pains after doing so.
350** "Who Shot Mr. Burns: Part II" Homer, pointing a gun at Mr. Burns' head, in front of everyone: "Say I never shot you!... Before." Only because Mr. Burns suddenly forgot his name again.
351** In "Brother From Another Series" Sideshow Bob's brother Cecil tricks him into doing this in one of the few episodes where Bob actually is innocent.
352--->'''Sideshow Bob:''' But you can't do this! I saved the children's lives! I'm a hero!\
353'''Cecil Terwilliger:''' ''[craftily]'' Tell them they'll live to regret this.\
354'''Sideshow Bob:''' You'll live to regret this! ''[realizing]'' Oh, thanks a lot, now *I* look crazy
355** In "A Fish Called Selma", Troy [=McClure=], who spent the episode fighting back against the rumors that he has [[BestialityIsDepraved a deviant attraction to marine wildlife]], announces that he's going to celebrate his new movie deal by happily proclaiming that he's going to... Sea World.
356* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
357** In "Shellback Sheningans", when [=SpongeBob=] thinks there's something wrong with Gary ([[ItsALongStory really Plankton in disguise]]), he takes him to the pet hospital and is later seen hyperventilating after hearing the diagnosis. The nurse tries to assure him that all the doctor was saying was they just need to run a few more tests...only for the doctor to tell her he wasn't saying anything like that at all.
358** In "I Had An Accident", [=SpongeBob=] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin has an accident]] and [[SafetyWorst becomes paranoid to the point that he won't leave his house anymore]]:
359--->'''Sandy''': Don't worry, Patrick. We'll get [=SpongeBob=] to come outside, and then he'll see there's nothing to be afraid of.\
360'''Patrick''': ''(Wearing a boxing glove)'' And that's when [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan I punch him]], [[ComicallyMissingThePoint right]]?\
361''(Sandy gives a flat stare)''
362* In season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', Mariner is accused of purposely humiliating the ''Cerritos'' in her unauthorized interview with a visiting reporter. She keeps saying that she "only told the truth." Unfortunately, Captain Freeman and the rest of the crew take this almost as a confession because to them, the truth ''is'' that the ship gets into absurd misadventures that make them look like a joke when taken out of context. [[spoiler:In reality, Mariner's "truth" was that the ''Cerritos'' is a great ship and it was everyone else who casually discussed all the embarrassing stuff without realizing it. By the time the report airs and shows them how wrong they were, Mariner has been transferred to the worst post in Starfleet and resigned because of it.]]
363* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'':
364** In [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsS1E8BombadJedi "Bombad Jedi"]] Palpatine tells Padmé she should have brought a clone escort. Jar Jar decides to reassure the Chancellor that Padmé has nothing to worry about, only to trip over Threepio's leg and hit a button that causes the ship to briefly go out of control.
365** Ahsoka does a lengthy run of this during ''The Wrong Jedi'' arc. After being accused of planning a terrorist bombing, she breaks out of prison the first chance she gets, refuses Anakin's pleas that she trust in the Jedi Council to resolve the false charges against her (so she can prove her innocence), teams up with a Separatist war criminal (as an EnemyMine while both are hunted by the Republic), and is caught red handed with the bombs used in the attack (because she tracked down the real bomber's hideout). Making matters worse, when taken to give her account of events to the Jedi Council, she contradicts herself several times because she's trying to guess what really happened, causing the Council to believe she's getting caught in a lie.
366* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'':
367** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E01TheLostCommanders "The Lost Commanders"]]: The ''Ghost'' crew is sent to recruit an old, experienced war veteran. When he turns out to be a clone, [[ThePurge Order 66]] survivor Kanan is automatically mistrustful of him and the other two clones he lives with. The fact that one of them, Wolffe, is TheParanoiac and sells out the crew to the Empire doesn't help matters.
368** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E08AnInsideMan "An Inside Man"]] has two examples:
369*** [[MagnificentBastard Thrawn]] asks Lieutenant Lyste for his opinion of some graffiti left by Sabine of her phoenix symbol on a piece of the retaining wall. Lyste ignores the graffiti and flatly states it's a piece of the wall. Thrawn next asks Agent Kallus, who gives an informed and correct answer. [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Lyste clenches his fist in the background when he realizes he screwed up.]]
370*** TheMole, [[spoiler:Kallus]], [[ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive orders]] a [[DressingAsTheEnemy disguised]] Kanan and Ezra into a lift with him under the pretense of coming with him to check the perimeter. As soon as the elevator door closes, he says "Don't move, ''rebels''," in an ImpliedDeathThreat tone, which causes Kanan and Ezra to beat him up and pin him before he can explain he's on their side.
371* In the ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre'' pilot, Rodolfo is about to leave on a business trip and instructs Manny to be on his best behaviour. Manny assures that he will, jokingly asking, "What do you think I'm gonna do, rob a bank?" and his chuckles quickly snowball into a full-scale evil laugh.
372* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Action'': Gwen's reputation has taken a nosedive after Geoff reveals footage that shows obvious ShipTease between her and Duncan, effectively proving that Trent's desperate lengths to please Gwen, culminating in their break-up, weren't unfounded. Gwen protests her innocence, claiming that she and Duncan "wrestled for two seconds" and then stole everyone's underwear and strung it from the flagpole. Amused, Geoff sarcastically points out how great a friend Gwen is.
373* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', King Gorilla angrily tells the Guild that they didn't protect him from going to prison, at which Phantom Limb points out that King Gorilla went to prison after eviscerating and sodomizing [[Music/MotleyCrue Vince Neil]] on national television--something no amount of protection from the law would save him from. King Gorilla responds that he only sodomized ''[[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe half]]'' of Vince Neil.
374* ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'':
375** Zee is accused of being re-programmed by a terrorist, and no matter what he does the FBI always make it out to be a crime. During most of the series, he is pursuing his creator so he can convince them that he's good, but his actions are taken as an assassination attempt when he accidentally set off the cryogenic chamber, almost killing him. The poor guy just can't win.
376** When Agent Bennett tries to convince his superiors in the second season he hasn't [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope gone insane on this mission]], the fact one of his own Agents left the NSA over his behavior is pointed out. He counters he hasn't had a bad call on his record other than [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Gotham]], which is not a good incident to bring up since he nearly got part of the city blown up during that incident. [[IdiotHero Agent West]] facepalms audibly in the background.
377** When Agent West is right about where Zeta is at one point, he points out the other times he found Zeta... which everyone knows were either accidents or Agent Lee doing the legwork.
378** [[OnlySaneMan Agent Lee]] goes back and forth: initially she gets this when attempting to explain Zeta isn't evil, but she tries that exactly once and then turn to the much more probable and equally true objection to her superiors that Bennett is becoming unstable. When she feels it isn't taken seriously, she quits, an act extreme enough to prompt investigation into Bennett's behavior. But she's unable to get Zeta's case heard afterwards when she's viewed as a MoodSwinger who turned on her boss, and any response she has damaged her case.
379** Zeta's main character witness for the entire series is a runaway minor who has a criminal record. The show lives and breathes this trope.
380[[/folder]]
381
382[[folder:Real Life]]
383* Back in the 1980s, during the notorious lawsuit against [=McDonald's=] coffee, the suing party, one Stella Liebeck, went against the advice of her legal counsel and did an interview on 60 Minutes, live national news. During this interview, she took the provided empty Styrofoam cup and demonstrated how she placed the original cup of coffee from Mc Donald's between her legs and proceeded to violently rip off the lid, and testified during the interview that while this was going on, the driver of the vehicle hit a speed-bump on the way out of the parking lot, causing the coffee to splash her. (She testified in court that the vehicle was parked and standing still.) After she finished demonstrating how she intentionally put herself in harm's way, Matt Laurer asked the obvious question "Weren't you expecting the coffee to be hot?" Stella turned and looked at the news anchor with contempt, as if he was mentally challenged and said "No! I wasn't expecting the coffee to be ho-ot!" The backlash from countless third-party news, talk-show, and entertainment venues was almost immediate and intense. Even Sesame Street had the "Unpleasable Customer" grab a pot of coffee, pour it on his head, and then turn around and threaten to sue Elmo because he burned himself. However, the lawsuit wasn't because the coffee was as hot as your everyday coffee. It was hot enough to give her ''third-degree burns'' and she was suing to get money for her medical bills that resulted from an 8-day hospitalization and skin grafts caused by said third-degree burns. Her initial attempts to settle with [=McDonalds=] were met with an offer of $800. She actually ''won'' the court case, the jury finding [=McDonalds=] 80% at fault.
384* [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18571_5-reasons-its-still-not-cool-to-admit-youre-gamer.html This]] Website/{{Cracked}} article mentions how gamers who are angry about anti-piracy measures pirate more and points out that this is not helping their case. And coming full circle, said Website/{{Cracked}} article cited examples to prove its point which actually ''undermined'' the point. It equates gamers choosing to pay nothing for the Humble Indie Bundle, where paying nothing was an option, to piracy and claiming this hurt sales and developers (said bundle was a ''massive'' financial success overall, which grew into a [[https://www.humblebundle.com/ dedicated storefront]] that is still around to this day), and citing ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'s'' high piracy rate as justification for the use of DRM (the game was pirated so much ''because'' of its DRM, the controversial always-online [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecuROM SecuROM]], and piracy was the ''only'' method to get a version that would work without a dedicated internet connection). In the end, the author actually ends up making a strong argument [[DigitalPiracyIsOkay in favor of piracy]].
385* British protest group "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fathers_4_Justice Fathers 4 Justice]]" felt that parental access rights are unfairly biased towards the mother under British divorce laws. That is up for debate. What is ''not'' up for debate is when arguing that "we ''too'' can be trusted to look after young children," participating in wacky hijinks [[NoodleImplements involving hilariously cheap superhero costumes, flour-filled condoms, and various national monuments]] to make your point is counter-productive. Even Website/TheOtherWiki mocked them for it in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_climbing_the_Reichstag_dressed_as_Spider-Man an editorial]].
386* Soon after Tesco was found to have horsemeat in their ready-made beef lasagne, which wasn't entirely their fault as it turns out, one of their delivery trucks [[http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/horsemeat-scandal-tesco-delivery-driver-1712046 hit and killed a horse.]]
387* Creator/PiersAnthony was once asked about the sexual content in his books, which some people thought had highly creepy tones of ephebophilia or pedophilia. After some musings on biological and societal pressures that didn't do a lot to help his case either, he ended with, “But about membership in an anti-pedophilia organization—I do oppose pedophilia, but don’t belong to any such outfit. In fact, I correspond with some pedophiles in prison.” Yeah, most people, um, don't do that. And even fewer would apparently feel no need to provide further explanation on that front.
388* Lawyers berated Creator/IsaacAsimov for writing in an editorial that they were the only high-powered profession that [[EverybodyHatesMathematics doesn't involve math]] (as opposed to engineers, doctors, etc.). The lawyers said that they have to calculate billable hours, figure taxes, and other comparatively simple arithmetic, to which Asimov replied: "I rest my case."
389* During the 2018 Christmas holiday, Creator/KevinSpacey surprised everyone by releasing a brief video of him declaring his innocence of sexual harassment allegations while in the character of Frank Underwood from ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS''. While diehard Spacey fans thought it was brilliant, everyone else thought it was in poor taste and further proof that the man is a {{Jerkass}}.
390* A year after the release of ''[[Film/TheLastJedi Star Wars: The Last Jedi]]'', ''Esquire'' writer Matt Miller wrote [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25560063/how-fans-ruined-star-wars-the-last-jedi-2018/ an article]] criticizing the [[VocalMinority toxic subsection]] of the Star Wars Fandom who spent the past year attacking the film, the actors, its crew, the creators, and the other fans who enjoyed the movie; often using racist and sexist rhetoric in their attacks. Soon after he posted the article, said toxic fans [[IResembleThatRemark harassed Miller & Esquire online with extreme language, petty insults, racist and misogynist comments]], all while demanding ''Esquire'' to fire him. A week later, Miller wrote a [[https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a25617513/toxic-star-wars-fans/ follow-up article]] thanking them for proving his point.
391* Music/MachineHead released the standalone single "Do or Die" in October of 2019, which was almost instantly criticized for its [[DearNegativeReader lyrics]], and the general opinion was that it was petty and immature and made Robb Flynn look incredibly thin-skinned and unable to accept that people sometimes say unflattering things and have strong negative opinions about polarizing releases (which ''Catharsis'', their 2018 full-length, absolutely was). Flynn, not content to release the song and then let it be, then took to Instagram several days later to call out the people who called him out over the song, where he posted yet ''another'' angry rant that included several homophobic and misogynistic insults and made even the fans who didn't turn against "Do or Die" hold their heads. He also repeatedly took shots at Music/{{Dope}} (as comparisons between the choruses to "Do or Die" and Dope's own "Die MF Die" had been made), who proceeded to make Flynn look like ''even more'' of an idiot when frontman Edsel Dope publicly responded to Flynn in a manner that was, all things considered, extremely gracious and tactful, as he stated that he was a fan of Machine Head and respected Flynn's musical career, politely stated that he had absolutely no idea what his problem with him or Dope was, and proceeded to pull up Dope and Machine Head's streaming stats (as Flynn had openly called Dope nobodies) to show that Dope actually had ''more'' streaming listeners. The end result was that Flynn looked like even more of a raging manchild who [[CantTakeCriticism couldn't handle any sort of negative fan or critical reception]], while the band he attempted to start a fight with (clearly hoping for an ugly public spat) put him in his place without a single unkind word.
392* In 2019, the Christian rapper Flame filed a lawsuit against Music/KatyPerry and her label Warner Bros. Music, claiming that the song "Dark Horse" ripped off a background melody from his own song "Joyful Noise". Flame went on to win the lawsuit. In response, the Website/{{YouTube}}r musician Adam Neely posted a video defending Katy Perry, showing off the melody in question and arguing that the melody "ripped off" was fairly basic and common to a lot of songs, making the lawsuit dangerous precedent. Warner Music responded to Neely's video by filing a manual copyright claim against it, citing that he was infringing on their rights to "Dark Horse"...by playing a melody ''they had lost the rights to''. The kicker? The segment they claimed was copyright infringing was him playing the melody as heard in "Joyful Noise". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM6X2MEl7R8 Neely's follow-up video]] was mainly him being completely bewildered by all this.
393* This happened to ''Creator/{{Netflix}}'' in mid 2022 when they suffered a ''massive'' loss of subscribers owing to a myriad of different things[[note]]The war in Ukraine cutting off Russian subscribers, tougher economic times making people cut down on extraneous things like tv services, and people deciding they don't need it now that it's warming up and the Covid-19 pandemic is wrapping up, among other minor things[[/note]]. So, in order to address this and recoup the loss, they announced that they were considering adding ads and cracking down on password sharing to boost revenue. The backlash was belligerent and ''immediate'' with hordes more people threatening to cancel their subscriptions, as password-sharing is a staple of Netflix (and something they used to even encourage), there are ''free'' ad-based streaming services like Roku and Tubi, there's plenty of other paid streaming services to switch to, and of course there's always piracy. In the end, Netflix relented and announced their new plan for ad-based revenue: an ad-containing plan will be a much cheaper, albeit still not free, alternative to their current ad-free plans.
394* Adolf Hitler was not fond of Himmler's archaeological expeditions because of this. Italian fascists thought that the Germans were just an upstart and not a proper MasterRace since the Italians had built the Roman Empire back when Germany was an insignificant backwater ruled by a bunch of illiterate barbarians living in mud huts and hitting each other with stone axes. (Modern archaeologists believe Teutonic society was more sophisticated than that, but they did indeed lack any state approaching the Roman Empire's level of complexity.) Himmler made dozens of expeditions around the world to prove the contrary. They mostly found mud huts and stone axes, which he proudly reported as signs of some great ancient Germanic society. Before long, Himmler [[{{Ghostapo}} switched to a blatantly supernatural track]], claiming that the Aryans descended from Atlantis. Hitler quickly realized that all this did was confirm the Italian mockery.
395* An arrested Rhode Island suspected of [[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/01/18/Police-find-change-theft-ring-suspect-tries-to-pay-bail-with-coins/3420030866385/ stealing money from vending machines]] didn't do much to alleviate those suspicions when he tried to pay his bail in quarters.
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