2019: A Year in Scandals

2019, forever to be known as the Year of the Scandal.

There were betrayals, boycotts, back catalogs blocked. There was fake news, faked attacks, and fake rowing profiles. Musicians were cancelled, hosts were re-cancelled, and at least one suicide was deemed very suspicious.

TooFab takes a look back through annus scandalous (but we've opted not to include anything Trump related, due to space constraints).

R. Kelly was acquitted of all child porn charges in 2008. But then Lifetime — the network famous for schmaltzy holiday movies — unveiled "Surviving R Kelly".

The hard-hitting docu-series stirred up a whole hornet's nest for the singer, including the #MuteRKelly hashtag, his record label dropping him, not to mention 18 new federal charges including child pornography, kidnapping and forced labor.

And then there was that whole mess with the prosecuting lawyer...

Easily the most bizarre case of the year: the "Empire" star reports a horrific racist and homophobic attack on the streets of Chicago, in which he is beaten, has a noose tied around his neck, and has bleach thrown over him.

Three weeks later, Smollet is charged by a grand jury with a class 4 felony of falsifying a police report, as investigators claim he orchestrated the entire thing.

Exactly four weeks after that, all charges are dropped, on the agreement he does 16 hours of community service and relinquishes his $10k bond.

The confusing conclusion left the city suing Jussie for the cost of the investigation, and Jussie suing the city for malicious prosecution.

Jordyn lived the perfect life as the BFF of billionaire Kylie Jenner... until that "kiss".

As the story goes, Jordyn was at a party with Khloe Kardahian's babydaddy Tristan Thompson, hung around afterward and shared a smooch... and the proverbial hit the fan.

Tristan cheating wasn't the surprise, but Jordyn's apparent betrayal was. She went from virtuous sidekick to main villain overnight, which earned her her own spotlight; for better or worse remains to be seen.

Muting R. Kelly was straightforward enough. But muting Michael Jackson was a little more complicated.

Like Kelly he had been previously accused and acquitted of inappropriate relationships with minors. Like Kelly, a damning documentary made us question whether it was ok to listen to his music any more.

While the doc premiered at Sundance in January, the world got to see it on HBO in March... and it made for uncomfortable viewing, as Wade Robson and James Safechuck detailed the alleged abuse they suffered as children

Jackson's estate strongly denied the claims, and sued HBO for breaching a non-disparagement clause from a 27-year-old contract.

The names Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman used to be associated with "Full House" and "Desperate Housewives"... but not any more.

The actresses were accused, along with 31 other equally affluent (but not as famous) parents of using a side door to sneak into top colleges.

Felicity admitted paying $15k to correct her daughter's SAT scores, and got 13 days in jail.

Lori and husband Mossimo Giannulli were accused of paying $500k to fake athletic rowing profiles to get their non-rowing daughters into USC. Extra charges keep piling up every time they refuse to cop a plea...

The charismatic celeb lawyer announced to some fanfare he was representing some of R. Kelly's victims, and even got into a colorful back and forth with defense lawyer, Steve Greenberg.

But then the law came a-knock-in' on Avenatti's own door; he was indicted for allegedly attempting to extort $25million from Nike; over the next three months he would be hit with tax evasion, fraud, and embezzlement charges, too.

He was even accused of stealing $300,000 from former client Stormy Daniels.

Jenelle Evans' name is never too far from drama, but this one shook us all, when her now-estranged husband shot and killed the family's French bulldog.

He claimed he was protecting their daughter after it bit her. His "country upbringing" demanded he do it himself, rather than getting the animal euthanized.

The fallout ultimately cost Evans her gig on the long-running MTV reality series, and started a custody battle between her and Eason over their daughter (to add to her growing list of custody battles).

You might think purchasing the master recordings of one of the world's most popular artists was a sound investment, but this one came with a big ol' mess attached.

Scooter Braun bought Taylor Swift's old label Big Machine - and with it came the rights to all her old music. Swift was furious, claiming she'd been trying to buy them back for years, and that she'd been betrayed by the seller Scott Borchetta. Swift was not a fan of Braun since he managed Kanye West during that "Famous" fallout.

Braun meanwhile claimed he'd been trying to resolve it ever since, even turning to Instagram to publicly call for a truce, claiming his family had received death threats over him barring her from performing her old songs at the AMAs (which he said he did not — and legally could not even if he wanted to).

There was tons of he said/she said, as celebrities from the music world and beyond lined up on both sides of the divide.

The convicted pedophile billionaire being arrested for human trafficking wasn't a shock, but the way the story ended certainly was.

Exactly five weeks after being taken into custody, the 66-year-old was found dead, hanging in his cell.

His death was ruled a suicide, but several odd details surrounding the circumstances have fueled the theory his suicide may have been somewhat "assisted"; there was the injuries to his neck not consistent with hanging, and the fact two guards who were supposed to check on him were accused of falling asleep on the job and falsifying records to cover it up.

Epstein's reported connections among the wealthy and affluent have not helped dampen the conspiracy theories, either.

It looked like Matt Lauer's fall from grace had hit rock bottom... until Ronan Farrow's "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators" was released.

In it, former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils accused the once-beloved "Today" host of anally raping her in his hotel room during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Lauer admitted having an extramarital affair with Nevils, but denied rape, insisting she came to him and the sex was consensual.