History Main / ScrewTheRulesImFamous

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': Inverted. The creation of ComicBook/XForce was based on Cyclops' concern that the X-Men cannot do dirty deeds because they're well known in public.

->'''[=BoJack=]:''' Listen up, everybody, I, famous celebrity [=BoJack=] Horseman, have an announcement. I'm gonna have to ask you to drop all charges against my friends on account of me being a celebrity. We gracefully accept the requisite slap on the wrist and a brief but ultimately pointless trial in the court of public opinion. Good day.\\

->'''[=BoJack=]:''' Listen up, everybody, I, famous celebrity [=BoJack=] Horseman, have an announcement. I'm gonna have to ask you to drop all charges against my friends on account of me being a celebrity. We gracefully accept the requisite slap on the wrist and a brief but ultimately pointless trial on the court of public opinion. Good Day.\\

->'''[=BoJack=]:''' Listen up, everybody, I, famous celebrity [=BoJack=] Horseman, have an announcement. I'm gonna have to ask you to drop all charges against my friends on account of me being a celebrity. We gracefully accept the requisite slap on the wrist and a brief, but ultimately pointless trial on the court of public opinion. Good Day.\\

Being a celebrity is what most people would love to be. Having adoring fans, being rich beyond your wildest dreams, or to be hailed as a hero in your home town and rub it into your enemies' faces. But then there are moments where celebrities or very popular people start using their status to get away with whatever they want, thinking to themselves that they do not have to worry about those pesky laws that the commoners must abide to. Of course, when they're caught, they can bank on their loyal fans to proclaim their innocence, even when it's obvious they've done it, and cue a celebration when [[KarmaHoudini they're acquitted rather than convicted]]. This can go hand in hand with VillainWithGoodPublicity if the villain is so revered by the people and the media that they would literally let them get away with murder.

TruthInTelevision, as there are many famous and popular people are able to get away with what they want. Sometimes, however, there are things that famous people won't get away with doing that others can. For instance, a [[ContractualPurity family friendly actor attempting to do something that would be considered too adult]].

Compare to ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney and ScrewTheRulesImBeautiful, but the character simply use their popularity to get away with anything rather than greasing a few palms or looking pretty. Though money and good looks helps in this case. Or even ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections if the person in question knows a celebrity or someone they know made them famous.

* Darla Dimple of ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' is the A-list star of Mammoth Pictures, and heads their CashCowFranchise. However, she's ThePrimaDonna on set, and everyone walks on eggshells around her because 1) she'll sic her enormous LightningBruiser butler upon dissidents, and 2) she's the darling of the studio honcho, L. B. Mammoth. Her publicity retinue work wonders in convincing the masses that Darla is "America's Sweetheart, lover of children and animals," when in fact, she's the polar opposite.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has several people like this. The ex Olympic Medalist turned PE teacher Kamoshida, [[spoiler: who sexually and physically abuses his students]], the artist Madarame [[spoiler: who keeps his pupil malnourished and profits off plagiarizing their own artwork]], and Prime Minister candidate Masayoshi Shido [[spoiler: the head of the conspiracy against the Phantom Thieves, and responsible for one character being framed for defending a woman from his drunken wrath, another's depression, and the death of a third's father]]. The position these people are in make it easy for them to hide their crimes from Society and necessitates the Thieves' actions against them.
* The plot for ''[[VideoGame/TonyHawksUnderground Tony Hawk's Underground 2]]'' had Tony Hawk, Bam Magera and other famous skaters embark on a World Destruction Tour. Where they inflict mass property damage and chaos wherever they go just for the hell of it. Eventually however both Tony and Bam were caught and banned from ever returning to the places they visited like Boston and Berlin. Their response? "Hey, good call."

** "New Cowboy on the Block" had a former Dallas Cowboys player moves into Hank's street. Despite being a horrid neighbor such as teaching Bobby foul sportsmanship, having rowdy parties late in the night, and using pieces of Hank's fence for a bonfire; he uses the fact he used to play for the Cowboys to avoid legal trouble with the police. Even the police tries to pin the blame on Hank when the latter tried to report to the former.

* When Buster had gotten popular for saving a cat up a tree in ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', one of the signs that the fame gotten to his head was using his newfound "hero" status to cut in line for a movie. With Arthur insisting that they should've waited in the line.

** The Northwest family got away with not inviting the workers who built their mansion to their party (that they promised them), along with many major crimes, due to their wealth and their status as the founding family of Gravity Falls ([[spoiler:it's revealed that they didn't actually found Gravity Falls.]]). [[spoiler:This is averted in the final episode, when they lose their prestige due to Preston trying to ally himself with Bill Cipher in full hearing of the whole town.]]

* Disney Televsion's ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' series has the episode "A Star Is Torn," where [[TheHero Baloo]] gets roped into doing stunt flying in a film by [[TheVamp Kitten Kaboodle]]. Her film is plagued with "accidents," and is low on competent pilots. She has Baloo enthralled, but Rebecca is suspicious, and ultimately unmasks the saboteur; it's Kitten herself, trying to drum up press for her film to avoid becoming a WhiteDwarfStarlet. It's not until her AccidentalPublicConfession that anyone believes Kitten capable of such carnage and damage.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', a head-only Scaramouche tries to invoke this when a sailor initially deny an entry due to having no body by claiming himself as Aku's number 1 assassin only for the sailor to point out another sign by revealing that he is now demoted to the third best. [[SmallNameBigEgo Scaramouche]] is rather distraught at this.

* A bizarre case of DiplomaticImpunity as well as this trope. Back around the late 80's when Music/JamesBrown was called the "Ambassador of Soul'', his wife tried to invoke diplomatic immunity to avoid her traffic charges. It didn't work.

[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment When adding examples for Real Life]], please take caution on what you write down. We do not wish to have this turn into a page for complaining about celebrities tropers don't like.

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-->--''Chickens'', ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman''

->'''Bojack''': Listen up, everybody, I, famous celebrity Bojack Hoseman, have an announcement. I'm gonna have to ask you to drop all charges against my friends on account of me being a celebrity. We gracefully accept the requisite slap on the wrist and a brief, but ultimately pointless trial on the court of public opinion. Good Day.\\
'''Officer Meow-Meow Fuzzyface''': Well, you ''are'' famous, so you're all free to go.
-->--''Chickens'', ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman''

* PlayedForLaughs in the ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'' movie, where the judge pardons the heroes, proclaiming that "celebrities are above the law".

->'''Bojack''':Listen up, everybody, I, famous celebrity Bojack Hoseman, have an announcement. I'm gonna have to ask you to drop all charges against my friends on account of me being a celebrity. We gracefully accept the requisite slap on the wrist and a brief, but ultimately pointless trial on the court of public opinion. Good Day.\\

* The whole episode of "False Arrest" of ''Series/FamilyMatters'' revolves around this. Buddy Goodrich is beloved, but in reality, he is like most celebrities - arrogant and very mean. He even tries to start with Carl Winslow. And when he's arrested, tries to bribe him to get out, but fails.

* The whole episode of "False Arrest" of ''Series/FamilyMatters" revolves around this. Buddy Goodrich is beloved, but in reality, he is like most celebrities - arrogant and very mean. He even tries to start with Carl Winslow. And when he's arrested, tries to bribe him to get out, but fails

* The British series ''Series/SWAG'' had a "Celebrity Crime" segment involving some celebrities trying to use their status to get away with relatively petty crimes.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** This trope is frequently discussed by Snape, who seems to be under the impression that Harry will use his fame as the person who defeated Lord Voldemort when he was just a baby to try and escape punishment. Harry doesn't do anything of the sort.

** Harry's father, James (along with Sirius), was able to get away with bullying Snape while they were in Hogwarts due to his immense popularity and status as a top pupil. It's not hard to see why Snape feels this way about Harry himself.

* The antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}'' is Steele, the lead dog of a champion sled dog team. The opening scene shows a race in progress, coming into the home stretch. Steele nips at a rival dog's leg, taking the opponent out of stride, causing the team as a whole to tumble to a halt. Nevertheless, Steele is hailed as a wonder dog among both the residents of Nome, Alaska and most of his fellow dogs. Later in the film after losing an exhibition to determine the sled dog team to retrieve the medicine to Balto, Steele attacked Balto that made Balto look too feral to be selected, thus taking his place.

[[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment When adding examples for Real Life]], please take caution on what you write down.

* Reggae artist Smiley Culture's song "Police Officer" was about an incident where he was arrested for drug possession, but let go after he was recognized as a famous musician. Became a FunnyAneurysmMoment when police showed up at his house with a search warrant for drugs. During the raid, he committed suicide, supposedly because his fame had faded and he couldn't use his status to get out of the charge.

* Creator/DonaldTrump was caught on camera bragging about it, giving the infamous "pussygate" video. He was right: Even ''that'' didn't stop him from [[PresidentEvil reaching presidency]].

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Being a celebrity is what most people would love to be. Having adoring fans, being rich beyond your wildest dreams, or to be hailed as a hero in your home town and rub it into your enemies faces. But then there are moments where celebrities or very popular people start using their status to get away with whatever they want. Thinking to themselves that they do not have to worry about those pesky laws that the commoners must abide to. Of course when they're caught, they can bank on their loyal fans to proclaim their innocence, even when it's obvious they done it. And cue a celebration when [[KarmaHoudini they're acquitted rather than convicted]]. This can go hand in hand with VillainWithGoodPublicity if the villain is so revered by the people and the media, that they would literally let them get away with murder.

* A bizarre case of DiplomaticImpunity as well as this trope. Back around the late 80's when Music/JamesBrown was called the "Ambassador of Soul'', his wife tried to invoke diplomatic immunity to avoid her traffic charges, it didn't work.