Top 10 Most Controversial Music Videos of the 21st Century
For this list, we're including music videos that were released during the 21st century and have generated controversy due to explicit content such as sex, violence, racism, sexism or blasphemy.
In this video, a soon-to-be-legal Miley Cyrus transitioned her image from Disney star to party girl. The twerking in this video was enough to generate controversy.
If this was made recently, with todays cancel culture she'll be instantly cancelled
This Madonna music video was only aired at night due to its excessive violence.
This graphic video shows a genocide on redheaded people and has been criticized for its extreme violence.
At the beginning of the video, Rihanna shoots a man down with a gun at the train station in front of a scared crowd.
Two girls kissing in the music video. This sparked massive outrage in Russia, where the duo is from.
We can see some people actually dry-humping in the music video.
This video has a lot of graphic sex scenes.
This video received huge amount of backlash from conservatives who considered it blasphemous, satanic and harmful to children due to its recreation of biblical scenes, Lil Nas X doing a lap dance on Satan, its openly queen content, and also the Satan Shoes.
It's just gimmick. Imagine being offended by that.
He goes to hell
The images of Miley Cyrus swinging naked on a wrecking ball and licking a hammer had everyone talking back in 2013.
Whatever if the video is bad doesn't mean the song is also bad.
The Newcomers
I have never seen this music video but I won't even bother because I've heard some disgusting and disturbing things about it. I've heard it's some animated character doing some very gruesome stuff to himself and it's also got gore in there. If I see any form of gore, I instantly get VERY uncomfortable thoughts in my head.
In this video, Jesy Nelson's skin appears to be darker than Nicki Minaj's, which caused Nelson to be accused of blackfishing.
Aside from the song's raunchy nature which drew criticism from conservatives, the Kylie Jenner cameo in the video spread criticism. In fact, she was accused of cultural appropriation as she appeared alongside mostly black celebrities. Some people and associations also took issue with the use of big cats in the video, most notably PETA.
This song and video came out when Kanye was having a very public meltdown in the midst of his divorce with Kim Kardashian, who had since been dating Pete Davidson. Not only is Ye rapping about "beating Pete Davidson's a**", but the claymotion video actually shows him burying Pete Davidson's head. This video has received huge backlash, with some viewers calling it disturbing and emotional abuse.
I thought that the video for Famous was weird and creepy. This is a whole new level of messed up though and for no notable reason. A lot of people criticized early Eminem for his attacks on people but at least he had actual reasons for hating them and he was self aware over how the situations he portrayed were not okay.
This video was disturbing for two big reasons. Erykah Badu not only gets naked in public, but she also gets shot, alluding to John F. Kennedy's death.
The naked doubles of celebrities in the video had everybody talking.
The song was just okay, but that video was bad to watch for me. Plus, that "Girl, look at my body" chorus, even though that doesn't relate to the music video.
This music video is SO CRINGEY and super disgusting! It's just a bunch of unattractive men wearing speedos and wiggling their penises, which isn't "sexy" at all. I'd rather watch paint dry than watch this video.
The overtly sexual content caused the video to be flagged multiple times on YouTube.
A scene where Beyoncé looks like she's going to give Jay-Z oral sex caused outrage among many viewers who petitioned for the video to be re-shot.
Madonna throws a handgrenade on a George W. Bush lookalike in this video. The controversy was so bad that the album of the same name flopped.
Two words: topless women. Also, Emily Ratajkowski, one of the models in the video, claimed to have been groped by Thicke while filming the video, tarnishing its legacy.
This video has been censored due to the scene where Lil Nas X and his backup dancers are dancing naked in a shower.
This video shows an extremely graphic sex reassignment surgery.
At some point, J Balvin holds two black women on leashes, which led to accusations of racism and sexism and an intervention from the Colombian chancellor. The controversy was so bad that the video got pulled away from YouTube.
Robbie Williams is doing a full-on strip-tease in this video, removing first his clothes, then his skin and muscles to end up as a skeleton
This recent Madonna video was criticized for being too violent and triggered some mass shooting survivors.
This song quickly became controversial due to its violent imitation of America and excessive use of blood and guns in the music video.