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4->''"Fear not. Our town has dodged disaster, and I have come out smelling like guestroom soap."''
5-->-- '''Mayor Joe Quimby''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
6
7Musicians from certain genres can survive scandals that would destroy or cripple other, pure mainstream, artists. For instance, any pop artist who said or did anything politically controversial, or something that was legally reprehensible and possibly career-ending, could have survived it if they were Alt/Rock, HeavyMetal, or HardcoreHipHop[=/=]GangstaRap artists. Pop artists come under scrutiny and they have to backpedal, clean up their image, etc. With the other aforementioned genres, it probably ''helps'' their image. Sure, the MoralGuardians will whine really loudly, but nothing will ever come of it; and with ''those'' people opposing you, you're almost guaranteed to look even cooler. The artist's image and fanbase remain intact.
8
9This could also be true for actors and athletes who are probably charismatic and charming enough that the general public won't care about whatever scandal is plaguing them -- if they don't rally behind their idols for it. A good example is probably Creator/DavidLetterman, as opposed to Tiger Woods. Whether or not this is fair is up for debate. ValuesDissonance can also play a part: if you did something long ago enough that you can shrug it off with "It was a different time", or if you have the kind of fans who are not offended by much and indeed ''expect'' you to behave a certain way, your target audience will be happy to look the other way. In some cases, this has to do with the kind of image a public figure has. The more honest your appeal and popularity is, the greater [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window the Overton Window]] for any future scandal, at least in theory. Controversies and scandals are greater when there is something to expose and reveal after all.
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11Compare NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity. Contrast ConvictedByPublicOpinion (where it doesn't matter if someone even ''was'' guilty of something wrong, everyone seems to hate him anyway), ContractualPurity. Somewhat related to TheTysonZone, where celebrities get so bizarre that we stop being surprised about their latest escapades.
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13----
14!!Examples
15[[foldercontrol]]
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17[[folder:Comic Strips]]
18* Played with in ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty''. Bill the Cat is a heavy metal rock star who gets caught in a hotel room with a woman. Only the woman was an ex-missionary nun from Calcutta, and they studied the Bible all night. His career is ruined for being so wholesome, but the woman gets a Pepsi endorsement.
19[[/folder]]
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21[[folder:Literature]]
22* Mentioned in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': When a Yeerk inspector comes to see how Visser Three is doing, they decide to run a major smear campaign to make it look like their resistance movement is far more active than it is. They mention that this often works on humans, "but not actors or politicians. They're like immune."
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25[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
26* The black metal episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' had Booth offering to charge the various metal band characters with assaulting a federal officer and such in exchange for information. There was a similar bit in ''Series/NYPDBlue'' with a rapper who needed the "street cred."
27* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' has this tension between Creator/WillSmith and Carlton. Carlton because of the pressures of being the good son and maintaining reputations suffers greatly for any deviations from his image, while Will can impress and charm people by only a minimal level of charm and intelligence since he invokes lowered expectations.
28* The trope is played with in ''Series/{{The Defenders|2010}}'' court drama, coming to an aversion. A rapper is suspected of killing a rival musician, and it doesn't help his name is "Killa Diz" The next day while performing on stage, he raps about how he killed the guy. The police accept that as a confession and take him in.
29* In one episode of ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' a rapper is suspected of being the murderer. He turns out to be innocent but is perfectly fine with them holding him while they investigate since it helps his "street cred". He even brings along the guy who handles the lighting for his shows to ensure that he gets a good mug shot.
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31
32[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
33* In ''TabletopGame/UnhallowedMetropolis'', any aristocratic character has to deal with the crap surrounding the Victorian aristocracy... except the ones who take the Untouchable advantage, which gives them some form of immunity to any but the direst scandals. Whatever the reason (being a BlackSheep with panache who lives in TheTysonZone, a network of agents who hush things up, or sheer luck), ''this'' aristocrat will come up smelling like a rose after anything less.
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35
36[[folder:Video Games]]
37* The Creator/TelltaleGames game ''VideoGame/HectorBadgeOfCarnage'' has the main character bribe a street punk by offering to frame him for various crimes that will help his street cred. You end up stealing his pants and charging him with indecent exposure. He is quite happy since a sex crime is much better than a run-of-the-mill assault and battery.
38[[/folder]]
39
40[[folder:Webcomics]]
41* Mentioned in the webcomic ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell''. His father is in a minimum-security prison. How low is security? "In the next block, there's an empty cell for rappers who want to fabricate a criminal past."
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44[[folder:Websites]]
45* Chuck from ''Website/SFDebris'' relays a tale about a character he once played who had this as a literal superpower. He contrasts this against Wonder Woman from ''Series/WonderWoman2011Pilot'', who seems to have this ability as well, but isn't meant to be a comic relief character.
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Western Animation]]
49* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Rapper Gangstalicious is charged with assault and possibly raps about it in a song called "Play It for the Jury", which the judge allows into evidence and is indeed played for the jury.
50* The famous "Homer's Enemy" episode from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' revolves around how Homer's actions are controversy-proof within Springfield and he never really suffers undue actual real-world consequences (such as unemployment, abandonment or ''death'') for his actions, whereas any attempts to imitate Homer, as in the tragic case of Frank Grimes, will lead to real-world consequences.
51[[/folder]]

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