History Main / BlackmailBackfire

** Predicted:

* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', when Pirelli recognizes Sweeney from the old days when he was Benjamin Barker, he tries to blackmail him, threatening to tell Beadle Bamford about him if he doesn't hand over half his earnings to him every week. This proves to be his biggest mistake as Sweeney [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade makes Pirelli his very first kill]].

* In ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', when Pirelli recognizes Sweeney from the old days when he was Benjamin Barker, he tries to blackmail him, threatening to tell Beadle Bamford about him if he doesn't hand over half his earnings to him every week. This proves to be his biggest mistake as Sweeney [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade makes Pirelli his very first kill]].

-->'''Mallory''': Here's what we do have, Bob-
-->'''Singer''': Oh, let me guess. A tape of me fucking my kids' nanny at her daughter's quinceañera? Release it. Please. I'm begging you. A plum gig at Fox and this shithole in my rearview? Sounds dreamy.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': [[CIAEvilFBIGood CIA Agent Bill Rawlins]] [[spoiler:(the architect of "Project Cerberus" and the man who ordered the death of the Castle family) is able to convince his superior, Deputy Director Marion James, to allow him to continue trying to finish off Frank Castle and David "Micro" Lieberman and thus finally silence all witnesses of Cerberus and keep the Agency from being publicly shamed. Director James is utterly disgusted with the atrocities Rawlins has done, however, and so orders him to retire from the Agency once he's done with the loose ends. When Rawlins mentions her complicity with said actions in an attempt to get leverage and thus remain in the Agency, she immediately fires back that he will take the offer she's giving him or she will personally expose him to Homeland Security and to hell with her career.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:This will end badly for at least one of them]]

* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': Ryuji and Eikichi try to blackmail Mariko and Ayumi by [[spoiler:threatening to tell the school board they almost had sex with the boys, their students]], demanding that they meet them at a motel to [[spoiler:actually have sex with them. When they show up, instead of the girls they meet a triad enforcer who attempts to sodomize Eikichi (Ryuji decided against going in, and then ran into Ayumi on the way out).]]

* ''Film/TheNatural'': The Judge tries to do this to Roy (he had gained possession of photos of a woman who killed herself after wounding Roy in compromising circumstances when he was younger), but, after Roy declines his offer, the Judge in his shock declares that he thought he could count on Roy's "honor"--which Roy then replies to with "you're about to" before heading back to the field to hit the pennant-winning home run.

--->'''Fox:''' LetMeGetThisStraight. You think that your client, one of the [[{{Fiction 500}} wealthiest, most powerful men on the planet]], is secretly [[Franchise/{{Batman}} a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands]]. [[BullyingADragon And your plan is to blackmail this person?]] ... [[WhatAnIdiot Good luck]].\\

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12764610/16/Mending-the-Knots Mending The Knots]]'', [[TheBully Cardin]] [[HateSink Winchester]] tries to blackmail Pyrrha with a video of her and Jaune, taken from an angle that looks like their kissing, and threatening to release it unless she becomes his "Best Friend", thinking she would accept in order to save her reputation. Pyrrha, being a celebrity, has been through this kind of thing before and outright dares him to do it, planning to go to Ozpin and get him expelled if he does. [[note]]Cardin is already in serious trouble at this point, one more screw up and Ozpin will be justified in expelling him.[[/note]]

* Blackmail happens once or twice a season on ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', and it almost always ends badly either for the blackmailer or the murderer themselves (who are sometimes the same person). In most cases the motive is money, but once or twice the blackmailer is a lonely woman who is in love with the killer [[MadLove and wants to force them into marriage]] — in one such case, the killer is ''relieved'' to be caught just to [[FateWorseThanDeath avoid this fate]]. Nine times out of ten, the killer either murders the blackmailer, or the blackmailer becomes the murderer after their victim threatens to expose them. The second pilot is perhaps the only time the killer actually agrees to pay the blackmailer off, and even ''that'' doesn't work because the "blackmailer" in question was working with Columbo the whole time.

** ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'': After waving her stolen ship's [[DataCrystal Sunstone]] in ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s face, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Simon Tycho]] says that she can have it back in exchange for a drop of her blood. Kara responds by setting his space station in fire and then taking her Sunstone from him.

### The means by which the blackmailer got the information is worse then the information itself.

** In the first episode, the mayor of Baltimore is trying to negotiate a contract for the superhero Nubian Prince, Stillwell, a high ranking executive says the price is $300 million a year, but he tries to lower it to $200 million, when she insists that the $300 million price is not negotiable, he says $200 million, and he won't tell anyone about [[spoiler: [[SuperSerrum Compound-V]], and blow the lid on the lie that super heroes were created by God to protect mankind.]] Stillwell insists on the $300 million price tag, and urges him to reconsider. Later, as the mayor and his son are flying back home, they see [[SupermanSubstitute Homelander]] out the window, he gives them a friendly wave hello, and uses his EyeBeams to bring down the private plane.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Bender falls victim to this in an "[[WhatIf Anthology of Interest]]" segment when he tries to practice some "[[BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord extortion]]" on Leela after finding out that she murdered Hermes. She pulls out a meat cleaver.
-->'''Bender:''' Please, honey, I'm made of ''metal.'' Like you're really gonna hurt me with a-- ''[[LastWords Hey! What are you doing with that microwave?!]]''

* ''Fanfic/PrincessOfTheBlacks'': Hermione gets a double dosage when she tries to blackmail Jen over her suspicion the girl murdered the Dursleys. Jen is quick to sum up everything wrong with her plan. 1) If there was any evidence, Hermione would have already gone to the authorities. 2) The Wizengamot would never listen to Hermione as she's a muggleborn accusing a rich pureblood noble of killing some muggles. 3) If Hermione is right and Jen did murder them, what would stop her from murdering Hermione to keep her quiet? Likewise, Jen has evidence that Hermione previously blackmailed Rita Skeeter, which would land her in prison.

* In the first season of ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'', a couple of bird paparazzi manage to take a bunch of pictures of [=BoJack=] having sex with his former co-star Sarah Lynn, whom he has known since she was a pre-teen. The paparazzi spend most of the season trying to contact [=BoJack=] to no avail until they finally manage to get in touch with Vanessa Gekko, then momentarily acting as [=BoJack's=] agent. Once they make their demands, Gekko [[RealityEnsues points out that taking unauthorized pictures in private property and extortion are both illegal]] and implicitly threatens to press charges for that as well as [[RuleOfFunny the murder of]] Music/TupacShakur for good measure. The blackmailers leave empty-handed.