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Hank Azaria - Hank Azaria voiced the Indian character Apu on 'The Simpsons' for over 20 years. The casting had been contentious for a long time. Finally, in 2020 Azaria stepped down following the accountability wave that rolled through the entertainment industry following the Black Lives Matter protests.

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Hank Azaria -

At the time, he stated that he was ready to be held accountable for the negative consequences of his role. In April of 2021, Azaria offered a heartfelt apology to the entire Indian community for his contribution to structural racism in the US.

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Sarah Paulson -

Sarah Paulson received backlash for wearing 4.5 lbs of padding to play Linda Tripp, the real-life whistleblower in the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal, in the FX series 'Impeachment: American Crime Story.' Critics said it was another example of Hollywood refusing to offer more opportunities to plus-size actors.

Paulson, who also gained 30 lbs for the role, spoke to the Los Angeles Times and said, "There's a lot of controversy around actors and fat suits, and I think that controversy is a legitimate one. I think fat phobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm. And it is a very important conversation to be had. But that entire responsibility, I don't think, falls on the actor for choosing to do something that is arguably—and I'm talking about from the inside out—the challenge of a lifetime."

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Sarah Paulson - Paulson explained that to assume an actor's biggest contribution to a role is "their physical self" would be a "real reduction of the offering" that an actor makes. Still, she admitted, "The thing I think about the most is that I regret not thinking about it more fully," adding that she was in a privileged place to be able to think and reflect on the choices she made "having already gotten to do it, and having had an opportunity that someone else didn't have." She continued, "You can only learn what you learn when you learn it ... I wouldn't make the same choice going forward."

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Anne Hathaway -

Anne Hathaway starred as the Grand High Witch in the 2020 remake of 'The Witches.' The movie shows how witches disguise themselves to blend in with society, but reveal their physical differences when they're alone together.

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Anne Hathaway -

As with the original movie, the witch characters had three claw-like fingers to make them appear more sinister. Hathaway later apologized after realizing that people, especially children, with limb differences were pained by this element of the costume design.

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Mahershala Ali - The 2018 film 'Green Book' won Best Picture at the Oscars, and earned Mahershala Ali Best Supporting Actor. Despite its critical success, Ali later felt the need to apologize to the family of Dr. Don Shirley, the real-life pianist he played in the movie.

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Mahershala Ali -

Shirley's family said they were upset by the movie's portrayal of the musician as isolated from his family and from the Black community. It was felt that the movie misrepresented Shirley's life and even created a white savior narrative between him and his driver, who in reality was simply his employee. Ali contacted the family to apologize for the errors and for failing to consult with them.

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Scarlett Johansson - In 2018, Scarlett Johansson was cast as the lead in the movie 'Rub & Tug' (2022) She was set to play a character based on a real trans man who ran a massage parlor. There was public outcry at the choice to cast a cisgender woman in a rare trans roles. Johansson's initial response was flippant, pointing out other actors like Jared Leto and Felicity Huffman who had also played trans characters.

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Scarlett Johansson - Further backlash made it clear that those castings were also problematic and did not provide justification. This caused Johansson to step down from the role. Several months later she expressed remorse for mishandling the situation.

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Woody Allen - Multiple actors and actresses who had previously worked with Woody Allen spoke out against him after allegations of abuse surfaced. His ex-partner Mia Farrow publicly accused him of abusing his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, in 1992. She spoke out again in 2014 and 2017.

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Greta Gerwig - Greta Gerwig worked with Woody Allen on his 2012 film 'To Rome With Love.' In 2018, she stated that she would not work with him again and deeply regretted contributing to another woman's pain.

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Rebecca Hall -

Rebecca Hall starred in Allen's movie 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' (2008) and was halfway through production on his 2017 film 'A Rainy Day in New York' when Farrow issued a statement. Once filming had ended, Hall said she was "profoundly sorry" and pledged to donate her salary from the movie to the Time's Up legal defense fund.

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Halle Berry -

Halle Berry is another cisgender actress who caught fire when she announced she was considering accepting a role as a trans man. She said she was interested to dive into that world and gain a greater understanding, but fans were quick to point out the problem with her taking such a role. She listened to the feedback and apologized, saying she understood that the trans community should have the opportunity to portray their own stories.

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Gwyneth Paltrow -

In a 2020 interview, Gwyneth Paltrow revealed that her least favorite performance was in 2001's 'Shallow Hal.' The movie has been accused of being incredibly fatphobic and altogether offensive.

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Gwyneth Paltrow -

Paltrow plays a morbidly obese woman, which required a truly awful fat suit, who magically appears to be "beautiful" and slender to the male lead. Paltrow later stated that the movie was a disaster and she would not have played that role now.

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Zoe Saldana - Zoe Saldana is an actress of Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Lebanese ancestry. In 2016, she was cast to play the famous African-American singer Nina Simone in the biopic 'Nina.'

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Zoe Saldana -

Saldana wore a prosthetic nose and makeup to darken her skin tone for the role. She later apologized, saying she should have done everything in her power to ensure that role went to another actress.

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Alison Brie -

Alison Brie famously voiced the Vietnamese-American character Diane Nguyen in the Netflix animated series 'BoJack Horseman.' She wrote on Instagram that she regretted playing the character, as it was a missed opportunity to represent the Vietnamese community in the US.

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Rooney Mara -

Rooney Mara was cast in the 2015 remake of 'Peter Pan,' called 'Pan.' She played the role of Tiger Lily, a character who is Native American. The white actress apologized profusely for the insensitivity a year later.

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Rooney Mara -

In an interview with The Telegraph, she said, "I really hate, hate, hate that I am on that side of the whitewashing conversation."

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Kristen Bell -

Kristen Bell also voiced a non-white character in an animated series. She played the biracial character Molly in the series 'Central Park.' Bell stepped down from the show and apologized for her lack of awareness.

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Jenny Slate -

Jenny Slate voiced the biracial character Missy in the hit Netflix series 'Big Mouth' for the first few seasons. She said she had justified it to herself because Missy's mother was white and Jewish like she was, but she had ignored that fact that Missy was also Black and should be played by a Black actress. She stepped down from the show in 2020.

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Tim Roth - In 2015, Tim Roth played the lead role in the movie 'United Passions.' The story was based on FIFA, the notoriously corrupt organization that governs soccer around the world. Roth later realized that it was a propaganda fluff-piece that was almost entirely funded by FIFA to make themselves look good.

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George Clooney -

Since Christian Bale and Ben Affleck took over, it's easy to forget that George Clooney once played Batman too. He starred in the 1997 movie 'Batman & Robin,' and it was so bad that he was terrified he had brought an end to the epic franchise.

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George Clooney - From the awful puns to the ridiculously nippled batsuit, the movie was a complete and utter disaster. Clooney has been apologizing for his part in the awful film for decades. He even apologized to Adam West when he met him backstage at Comic Con.

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Tim Roth -

Shortly before the film's release, 14 FIFA officials were arrested on charges of corruption. Roth plays the ex-president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, who had to step down after the scandal. In the movie, he's portrayed as a virtuous and ethical leader. Roth expressed serious remorse for not questioning the intentions of the film.

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Paul Newman -

Paul Newman was one of the big Hollywood stars of the mid-20th century. His first role was in the 1954 historical epic 'The Silver Chalice.' The movie was panned by critics for being boring, vulgar, and poorly made. Newman himself said it was the worst movie of the 1950s.

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Paul Newman -

A decade later, Newman had become one of the most successful actors in cinema. When he heard that the awful movie was going to be aired on TV, he paid US$1,200 for ad space in several popular newspapers where he printed an apology! But it totally backfired and the movie got far more views than it would have otherwise.

Sources: (Looper) (BuzzFeed) (Daily News) (The Guardian) 

See also: The 30 most quotable movies of all time

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