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The Biggest Scandals To E'er Striking The History Channel

Long ago, when the internet was young and facts still had meaning, there was a telly network known every bit the History Channel. It featured shows near history. You know, by events that actually happened in real life? The channel specialized in documentaries about broad-ranging subjects, like Globe War 2 and the backwash of World War II. It had adequate ratings and a solid audition of dads. Merely and so something happened (extraterrestrial intervention?), and the History Channel began to pivot away from strictly historical programming. Instead, we were presented with a slew of reality shows about pawn shops, swamp people, and truckers driving on icy roads, plus a whole bunch of incoherent "documentary" series virtually how aliens built the pyramids (they didn't) and how Bigfoot was finally captured by scientists (he wasn't).

This baffling switch from history to nonsense has been a huge ratings heave for the channel, which has since rebranded from "The History Channel" to the sleeker, increasingly inaccurate name of "History." Yet, it has as well landed the sometime History Channel in a whole lot of hot water. Here are some of the biggest scandals to hitting the History Channel, and historical inaccuracy is just the beginning.

An 'Water ice Road Truckers' star is arrested for kidnapping and extortion

History Channel

Water ice Road Truckers is one of History's best-known reality shows, depicting the perilous lives of drivers in the iciest regions of Canada and Alaska. And sure, it'due south been criticized by bodily trucker media like Truck News for exaggerating or even outright faking some of the danger, but the real scandal hitting the show in 2013, when Ice Route Truckers star Timothy Zickuhr kidnapped a adult female and held her for ransom.

According to a CBS written report, Zickuhr abducted Lisa Cadeau after hiring her for sex work in Las Vegas. He claimed that she had overcharged him by $1,000 and demanded she meet with him to settle the dispute. But instead of "settling" anything, he dragged her back to his flat, beat out her, tied her up with haversack straps, shoved her in a closet, and doused her with cold water from a mop saucepan.

Fearing for her life, Cadeau gave Zickuhr the phone number of an undercover police officer, challenge he was a human being who could pay her ransom. Zickuhr chosen the number and unknowingly arranged his ain arrest. The Las Vegas Sun reports that he forced Cadeau to jump out a second-story window in order to avoid law detection ... earlier he brought her straight to the hole-and-corner officer. Zickuhr confessed on the spot, admitting that he intended to hold Cadeau hostage and prostitute her through Craigslist and that he had "made a fault." Yeah ... no kidding.

'Aboriginal Aliens' is pretty racist

History Channel

Ancient Aliens might concord the dubious crown of the History Aqueduct's to the lowest degree historical prove. It'due south well known for featuring men with wild haircuts spouting conspiracy theories about aliens and pyramids, but the show has also made its fashion onto Southern Poverty Constabulary Centre's Hatewatch blog for showcasing so many white supremacist theories.

Yeah, Ancient Aliens might seem like a fleck of empty-headed, conspiratorial fun at get-go. But the idea that aboriginal African, Asian, and Native American architectural marvels could accept but been built past some kind of mysterious, alien entity isn't a new one. Hatewatch reminds us that this concept was actually used as one of Andrew Jackson's justifications for the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Jackson insisted that Native Americans could not possibly have built all those big, cool, ancient mounds scattered throughout North America, and therefore they had murdered the magical super-race that came earlier them, and therefore the Trail of Tears was totally okay and scientifically audio.

In fact, quite a lot of white supremacist literature over the years has suggested that not-European civilizations didn't really build any wonders of the by, and that ancient Aryans are somehow secretly responsible. Switch out Aryans for aliens and you lot tin can meet why some people detect the show so distasteful. And, as Hyperallergic points out, nosotros already know how the pyramids were built (ramps). Insisting on aliens at this point is more than than a petty willfully ignorant.

'The Kennedys' was too controversial for television

Every then frequently, even the History Channel has to acknowledge that some of their programming is a tad controversial. In that location was that 1 time that they commissioned and then abruptly canceled a $thirty million mini-serial nearly the Kennedys, for instance. The Hollywood Reporter explains the bizarre fate of The Kennedys, which was a scripted, eight-role serial about John F. Kennedy and his family, leaning difficult into some of the more than tawdry rumors well-nigh the famous clan. An early leaked draft of the script caused an outcry among Kennedy family allies, and afterward months of rewrites and filming, the high-profile project was pulled entirely for being pretty much wall-to-wall slander and lies. Or, as the official argument went, it was "not a fit for the History brand."

Co-creator Joel Surnow nevertheless defended his project in an interview with the Atlantic, maxim people were biased against him for being a staunch bourgeois who wanted to make a Kennedy serial. Conspiracy theorists as well took the opportunity to insist that the surviving members of the Kennedy family had bullied the History Aqueduct into dropping the prove (because conspiracy theorists dearest the Kennedys), just all we know for sure is that when the mini-series eventually did come out elsewhere, the Hollywood Reporter review called it "tiresome," "unwatchable," and "a ham-fisted mess."

The cast of 'Swamp People' tin't stay out of trouble

History Channel

Swamp People rounds out the chaotic triumvirate of the History Channel'due south most inexplicable reality shows, alongside Ice Road Truckers and Pawn Stars. Instead of trucking or pawning, though, Swamp People follows the lives of alligator hunters living in Louisiana. Of course, alligators seem to be the least of the cast'due south worries. Sure, some of the alligator violence is exaggerated for dramatic effect, but according to TMZ, Swamp People stars R.J. Molinere and Jay Paul Molinere really were arrested for attacking a man with a beer bottle. TMZ also reported that Trapper Joe was arrested for burning his girlfriend with a lit cigarette and then punching her in the chest. Screenrant detailed a time that Roger Rivers Jr. got in trouble with the law for selling illegal meat.

The swamp people of Swamp People proved so troublesome, in fact, that the History Channel decided to just supercede them. Starcasm reports that most of the cast was suddenly fired before season vii of the pop reality testify, shocking fans and sending angry cast members into social media rants. The cast has denied rumors that they asked for more money, and they were vocally displeased with the network's abrupt, unexplained determination. Producers held firm, though, and remaining fans just had to deal with a whole new bunch of (hopefully less violent) swamp people.

'Bigfoot Captured' is 100 per centum faux

History Channel

In the one thousand tradition of that weird Creature Planet "documentary" about mermaids, Bigfoot Captured was a characteristic-length special about the discovery and capture of a real Sasquatch. It was likewise, as Paste Magazine put it, a TV anathema. See, the History Channel styled Bigfoot Captured as a real documentary, well-nigh an actual real live forest ape, despite the fact that the entire program was pure fiction. But, some people didn't realize information technology was fictional, since the "scripted story" disclaimer was buried deep in the credits. This left some viewers furious about pseudoscience being presented every bit fact and some viewers thoroughly excited to discover "proof" of a "existent" Bigfoot. Many took to Twitter to spread the proficient news about America's favorite cryptid.

I mean, sure, in theory a mockumentary about Bigfoot could be a bit of innocent fun. But not only did the History Aqueduct fool their audition, they also more than or less lied to their guest experts about the nature of the production. In an interview with Idaho State Journal, Professor Jeff Meldrum said he was disappointed to discover that the documentary faked evidence and had no interest in working from credible information. He confirmed that he had cipher to do with the overall plot, hadn't been told what he was getting himself into, and suggested that viewers "take what you tin can from information technology, and have a chuckle over the residual."

The grandson of a Nazi war criminal is revealed on 'Hunting Hitler'

History Channel

If the History Channel isn't yelling nigh aliens or pawn shops, there'south a very good take a chance they're following up on a debunked conspiracy theory most Hitler. The channel was jokingly known as the "Hitler Channel" in the '90s, subsequently all, and they haven't forgotten their roots. Co-ordinate to Multifariousness, the show Hunting Hitler upset plenty of people by trivializing Hitler and giving credence to weird conspiracy theories about his escape to Argentina. The program was framed like any other thrilling cold case reality testify, without much reverence for the fact that Hitler is a little less whimsical than Bigfoot. Even more upsetting is the fact that the History Channel promised anonymity to i of their fundamental sources, and and so conspicuously circulate his entire confront (an unpixelated version of the shot above) to more than than 180 countries.

Every bit the New York Daily News reports, the grandson of a Nazi war criminal agreed to appear on the program with the agreement that his face would be pixelated to protect him from the kind of people who are jazzed about watching Hunting Hitler. They do blur his confront out — except for one shot where it is clearly visible, an obvious editing error that could have had serious consequences for someone who really doesn't want to broadcast that his grandfather was a Nazi.

That 'Amelia Earhart' documentary that was debunked right away

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Call up when the History Channel "solved" the mystery of Amelia Earhart, only to accept their key piece of bear witness debunked right away by a blogger? Because that happened. According to Vanity Off-white, the documentary Amelia Earhart: The Lost Prove acquired some short-lived excitement when it presented a photo of Earhart and her navigator, alive and in the Marshall islands after her mysterious disappearance. The documentary suggests that Earhart survived her infamous crash in 1937 and that the U.S. government knew she was alive just covered it upwardly ... because ... conspiracy?

Anyway, the History Channel only had a brief moment of historical triumph earlier they were thwarted by a blogger with access to a library. National Geographic reports that Japanese military blogger Kota Yamano decided to do a little fact-checking on Amelia Earhart's fate. He looked up the alleged location of the photograph in the Japanese national library'southward database and found it right away. He said it took him a one-half hour. Turns out, the photo was published in a Japanese java tabular array book in the year 1935. 2 years before Earhart took her flight. And so fifty-fifty if it were Amelia Earhart in that photo (information technology'due south not), it definitely doesn't evidence anything about her disappearance. In response, the History Channel promised that they take a squad of experts "exploring the latest developments about Amelia Earhart," and they volition surely keep the public informed if she should pop up once again.

The Expletive of Oak Island featured (surprise!) false documents

Everything about The Expletive of Oak Island feels totally fake, or at the very least just stupid. Like oh, wow, look, it'due south a slice of wood. That probably has zilch to do with the fact that human beings take been edifice stuff for thousands of years and the island is covered with wood. But hey, no 1 can really say for sure where those bits of wood came from, so become ahead and phone call that proof of buried treasure. Knock yourself out.

But here's a piece of and so-called evidence that we know is false: the Oak Island map that appeared during season six. This item map includes a drawing of the island and looks like it got torn out of a journal someone purchased at the Dollar Tree, but the notes are in French. That means it'southward authentic, right? Co-ordinate to the show, this map is somehow supposed to exist connected to a much more than mysterious and valuable "Templar document."

But co-ordinate to Donald Ruh, who was once in possession of both of those documents, the 2 accept nothing to do with each other. In fact, Ruh believes that the Oak Isle Map is actually a fabrication, created by someone in the 1970s (which, granted, does predate the Dollar Tree). If the show's apply of those two pieces of evidence is what amounts to "proof," we don't really think much of everything else that'southward happening on Oak Island.

The History Aqueduct gave this dumb conspiracy theory a platform

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It'southward one of the earth's almost ridiculous conspiracy theories: the government is filling the air with chemicals so that they can mind-command anybody on planet Earth, or make anybody sick, or control the weather or something. Just selection your favorite. Most people intuitively understand the sheer stupidity of this idea, considering if it were actually true that the government was filling the air with chemicals in a bid to mind-control everyone, they announced to be really, really bad at information technology. Take you noticed an unusually large number of people stumbling around in our streets muttering things like, "Must manipulate futures prices?" Neither take we.

Anyway, the whole idea is so patently stupid that most people don't fifty-fifty retrieve almost information technology, except History, who evidently felt like it was worth devoting part of a prove to the weather condition-specific parts of the theory. (Thankfully they skipped the mind control $.25.) But according to Contrail Scientific discipline (and now everyone who believes this stuff is shouting, "You tin can't trust Contrail Scientific discipline because they are totally in on information technology!") the History special basically merely repeated the whole stupid conspiracy theory and provided a platform to the whack-jobs who actually believe it, thus making the theory seem credible ... which is but such an crawly thing to do in an era where half the population already doesn't trust science. Thanks, History, for making it someone else's chore to remind everyone that yous can't trust a conspiracy nut, even one who gets to exist on the History Channel.

The devil on 'The Bible' looks like Obama

It was already somewhat debatable whether a TV adaptation of the Bible really belonged on the History Channel in the beginning place. Nevertheless, the mini-series The Bible was a huge striking for the network in 2014 ... except for that i skid-up where the producers cast an histrion who looked a whole lot like President Barack Obama to play the devil. Whoops. Every bit described in the Guardian, the comparison went viral most immediately after the 10-hour mini-series first premiered. You couldn't throw a stone emoji without hitting several hundred posts of Obama's face next to Moroccan actor Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni (who, to credit his devilish acting, definitely looks grumpier than the president). Producer Roma Downey claimed the resemblance was a total coincidence and that the controversy was consummate nonsense and exactly what the devil would have wanted, but the impairment was already washed.

Time reported that when The Bible producers cut downward their series for the feature-length film version, Son of God, they decided to goose egg Satan entirely, hoping audiences would focus their attention on Jesus instead.

In the wild, no i can hear you scream. Except all those camera people.

The reality competition Alone is totally nearly history, because everything yous'll encounter in whatever given episode was shot in the historical timeframe of half dozen months ago.

This particular reality show tries to one-up Survivor by abandoning its contestants in the middle of nowhere and then following their journey to survive lone in the wilderness. Happily, none of these people are naked, because another truly atrocious reality show already did that.

According to Eastward-Celebrity, i really stupid thing that got viewers fired upwardly about the bear witness (and not in the proficient manner) is the fact that contestants aren't being forced to survive miles from culture, which is what the showrunners desire yous to believe. No, in many cases the contestants are actually within an hour's walk of the nearest town, and sometimes they're in a place where there is a network of trails, which definitely seems to suggest that they're just non really that isolated.

The Mountain Human who got disrepair for building code violations

History'due south Mountain Men is totally almost history, considering it features people pretending like they are living in the 17th century ... except for when they watch television while no one is looking.

One of the stars of Mountain Men is Eustace Conway, and his deal is instruction people how to exist self-sufficient and also how to be super pretentious about their self-sufficiency. "Like Thoreau," says Conway's bio, "Eustace has gone to the woods to live deliberately, fronting simply the essential facts of life, to see if he could not learn what it had to teach, and non when he came to die discover that he had not lived." Oh wow, dude, seriously? Yeah, he's that kind of guy.

When he's not existence pretentious on Mount Men, he's existence pretentious on his 1,000-acre wild animals preserve in Northward Carolina, where he teaches people how to live in the wilderness for a mere $700 a week, or $65 an 60 minutes if you'd rather just spend an afternoon riding around in a horse-fatigued wagon. According to The Wall Street Journal, the preserve was recently raided by wellness, construction, and burn officials who deemed many of Conway's buildings "[not] fit for public apply." But you know, Daniel Boon's outbuildings also weren't fit for public employ, and you didn't run into health inspectors itch all over his property. Modern safety standards are so unfair.

I am a lumberjack and I'yard illegally logging

When you think of lumberjacks, you usually remember of burly dudes in plaid, chopping down copse, putting "wipe your butt on a spotted owl" stickers on their trucks, and mayhap pressing wildflowers like in that Monty Python song. You lot don't typically call up of them pulling stuff out of the water, because that'southward not where trees usually are.

According to NPR, though, there was a time when lumberjacks used to put felled trees on rafts and float them down the river, and every now and then the trees would fall off the raft and sink to the bottom. And they don't rot down there, either — if the h2o is common cold, the trees will stay preserved at the bottom for a long time, and can eventually exist salvaged.

The problem is, salvaging sunken trees is non legal in the land of Washington. That didn't stop Ax Human star Jimmy Smith from fishing those logs out of the river on national freaking television set, which was either ridiculously arrogant or ridiculously stupid. Smith had an entirely altruistic reason for his actions, though: to protect people participating in h2o sports on the river, in example they're using like an 11-foot-long oar or something and they accidentally get information technology stuck on a log. "If I can save on kid or i boater, I think information technology's worth it," Smith said. And nosotros're certain that the money he got for those logs didn't factor into information technology at all.

The bandage of 'Pawn Stars' was sued for $5 million

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Pawn Stars is a wildly popular History Aqueduct reality evidence, featuring the supposedly "existent" day-to-day activities of the World Famous Gold & Silverish Pawn Shop in Las Vegas. Much like Ice Route Truckers, the show has been widely criticized for having a rather loose definition of reality, and the shop itself has previously gotten into trouble over some of its merchandise. According to ABC News, they may take once melted down $50,000 worth of stolen coins. But the most valuable treasures at the Gilt & Silver Pawn Shop, obviously, are the titular Pawn Stars themselves.

Huffington Mail reported in 2012 that the erstwhile talent agents of the Pawn Stars stars were suing their ex-clients for switching agencies, demanding $v million in lost commissions. The agency, Venture IAB Inc., claimed that History Aqueduct executives had intentionally seduced the stars away from their original representation, convincing them to rent Venture rival Michael Camacho of UTA as their agent instead and losing Venture millions they would have made on that sweetness, sweetness pawn shop Goggle box drama. It's unclear what happened with the lawsuit, which commonly means information technology was either dismissed or settled out of court.

Chumlee has a less-than-stellar record

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Pawn Stars fan favorite Austin Lee Russell is better known by his stage name, Chumlee. He's portrayed as the comic foil at the Golden and Argent Pawn Store, where he's oft the butt of jokes. Occasionally he'll print his fellow pawn shop workers with his talent at the game of pinball. More frequently, he'll deliver his lines in a mode that lets you lot know the coin is but barely keeping him on the show. In not-televised reality, though, Chumlee's life is somewhat less whimsical and comedic.

Equally Us Today reports, police carried out a search of his house while post-obit up on sexual attack allegations in 2016. They did not find the testify to convict Chumlee of sexual assault, simply they did find drugs in his regrettably named "Chum Chum" room, including marijuana and meth, besides as numerous illegal firearms, and quite a few items usually plant with people who parcel and sell narcotics. According to the New York Daily News, notwithstanding, the reality star was able to avoid jail time with a plea deal despite being charged with quite a few felonies.

Danny Koker from Counting Cars made some ignorant statements nearly the environs

Counting Cars is totally about history because its star has a core value organization from 1969.

The fact that Danny Koker is living in a hippy-hating, musculus machine-loving, masculine stereotype with its roots in a gentler time, when no one cared about things like being able to breathe or actually meet the horizon is not too surprising. He's a machine guy, and he likes combustion engines, loud noises, and high speed, and actually none of those things are compatible with a world in which people can breathe or meet the horizon.

"Prius, I've got no use for," he told the Canadian Morning Prove in 2013. "If it gets 4 miles to the gallon and has 800 horsepower, I'thousand thrilled. We've got more oil than we can milkshake a stick at. The politicians are playing a game. Allow's burn this stuff and have a good time."

So okay, we go it Danny. Make clean air isn't exactly good for your bottom line. Only most people tin can't spend 40 bucks a day on a five-mile round-trip commute, either, so you lot might want to rethink your opinion almost fuel economy only a picayune.

Rick Dale from American Restoration got called out for doing shoddy work

YouTube

When your livelihood depends on your reputation as a purveyor of high-quality work, and your work is suddenly on brandish to an enormous tv audience, it seems like it would be in your best interests to brand sure you keep producing loftier-quality work. Sure, you might feel like your fame has put yous on the elevation of the world and it volition never terminate, but that's how Spencer Pratt felt, too. Who is Spencer Pratt, you lot inquire? Exactly.

So our advice to reality stars is this: Exercise high-quality piece of work. Co-ordinate to the Vegas Tourist, though, at to the lowest degree i reality star has failed to follow that piece of advice.

Rick Dale from American Restoration was called out in 2012 for restoring a 1950s-fashion jukebox only declining to actually repair the matter. He kept the jukebox for two months, did a neat task making it look expert, but when the possessor got it back he discovered that it wasn't in working gild, fifty-fifty though restoring it to working society was role of the original agreement. Now, information technology'south great to have a sharp-looking, jukebox simply what yous really want is a precipitous-looking jukebox that plays music, and you lot especially want that if you paid someone $4,000 to get in expect sharp and play music. But non but did Dale reportedly fail to admit that the piece of work wasn't consummate, he also cashed the bank check and stopped returning his customer's phone calls. How professional person.

The shamelessly offensive American Jungle

History

Reality television is role exploitation, part making fun of people who deserve information technology, and function totally, utterly, and completely false. Only there are lines that even reality television producers try not to cross, and the producers of American Jungle definitely crossed i or two of them. It's one thing to exploit swamp people or weird mountain men who maybe want to be exploited, and it'due south quite another to exploit native people who do not want to be exploited.

The 2013 show American Jungle was short-lived, so you might non fifty-fifty remember it. Basically, it was a show most native Hawaiians from rival clans fighting each other over hunting rights. Simply reading that synopsis probably gave you a bad gustatory modality in your mouth, but for some reason it never occurred to anyone at the network that pushing a faux narrative about native people and simultaneously misrepresenting their history was a terrible idea. The Hawaiian government was certainly non amused, claiming the testify might have been entirely faked and that it was culturally insensitive regardless. According to CBS, the show depicted illegal activities, also, such as hunting at nighttime and hunting feral cattle without a let. We're not sure how much any of this had to do with the show's swift cancellation, but information technology didn't get past its offset eight episodes.

The Vikings weren't similar that (sorry)

You will be shocked to hear that History's Vikings is a dramatization, non a documentary.

Now in History'south defense, Vikings is based on the sometime Norse sagas, which National Geographic says were written downwards in the 13th century but were passed down verbally for centuries before that. And so the "facts" that are recorded in the Norse sagas probably aren't really facts — they've likely been embellished, altered, or fifty-fifty completely fabricated up. Historians don't really even concord on whether the show'southward central character, Ragnar Lothbrok, even existed.

One of the biggest liberties showrunners took was with the human relationship between Ragnar and Rollo. In real life (assuming Ragnar existed, obviously), the ii men were non but not brothers, it's unlikely they ever even met. And the show's timeline is all off, too — we see our favorite marauders raiding a monastery in Season i, and then attacking Paris in Flavor iii, which are two events that happened 120 years apart. Also, the Vikings did wear helmets (though not horned helmets like you're probably picturing), Christians themselves did not regularly practice crucifixion, the Vikings near never fought pitched battles (they preferred raids), and as much every bit we love the shield maidens, in that location probably weren't that many of them, if they existed at all. Sadly, that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for the truth.

Surprise: The Founding Fathers probably weren't that hot

Sons of Liberty is what American history would look like if the Founding Fathers were all moonlighting as characters on Riverdale. If you believe that the Founding Fathers were hot, more often than not-young men who were super-athletic and totally rocked those tricorn hats, you lot might also be tempted to recall you can go an American history education by devoting a few hours to this miniseries. But you would be totally incorrect.

History (real history, lowercase "h") remembers the Sam Adams of 1765 as a centre-aged dude with a paunch, but in Sons of Freedom he's, um, not. In fact, he'southward non just swoonworthy, he'due south also surprisingly nimble for a 43-year-sometime dude. And that's not the show'south just inaccuracy — the Journal of the American Revolution listed 22 missteps just in the first episode.

Now, this is historical fiction, and well-nigh every piece of historical fiction ever written contains inaccuracies — sometimes it'southward merely sloppy research, and sometimes it'south done deliberately so events will be more entertaining, or because the storyline needs to motion along more quickly than actual history does. It'southward called creative license, but the problem with using it in History (the channel, uppercase "h") dramas is that just nearly everyone who watches is going to presume that the things unfolding on the screen come directly from history. So when y'all tune into Sons of Liberty, it's worth keeping this in mind: Fiction is fiction, whether it's on HBO or History.

Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar was condemned by UNESCO

Shows nearly buried/sunken treasure and unsolved historical mysteries tend to do well for History, but as anyone who was inspired by Indiana Jones to get an archaeologist tin tell you, existent treasure hunting is super-irksome. So to become people to actually melody in to a testify about buried/sunken treasure, you kind of need to sensationalize, embellish, and simply make things up equally you go along. The trouble is, most people believe reality television receiver volition contain some bodily reality, and the accuracy of most treasure hunting shows is questionable at all-time.

The History show Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar was a short-lived serial starring forensic geologist Scott Wolter and treasure hunter Barry Clifford. Their squad was searching sunken wrecks off the coast of Madagascar that they believed were continued to the Portuguese Templars.

The show was chosen out for unprofessionalism by UNESCO, which accused them of treating the research and recovery of the vessels in "an unscientific fashion, without the necessary precautions and leading to damage to the sites besides every bit making information technology more than difficult to understand the historic groundwork of the sites." In response, Wolter basically claimed that UNESCO was just jealous. "UNESCO hates Barry Clifford simply because he is the well-nigh successful pirate ship discoverer in history," he wrote on his web log. Oh, okay, that must exist it. However, the show only lasted ane season, then he clearly isn't that successful of a discoverer.

Counting money

Reality telly stars be in that messed-up void between fame and "dude, no one knows who you are." Some of them are really bad at walking that line. Y'all encounter, truly famous people tin can mess up spectacularly, clamber off to their mansions to lick their wounds, and and so accept a near-complete career rebound. Reality TV stars don't usually recover from their spectacular screw-ups because at the end of the 24-hour interval, no ane really cares that much about what happens to them.

Joseph Frontiera had a comfortable piddling stint as a reality TV star/groundwork character on the History series "Counting Cars," simply then he blew it — or at least, that'due south what a lawsuit filed against him by his onetime employers at Count'southward Kustoms says. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Frontiera was accused of embezzling effectually $75,000 from the store and using the money to buy airplane tickets and make a down payment on a Range Rover. How did he exercise this? His accusers think he made condom postage stamp copies of the company bosses' signatures so the company'due south checking account could become his own personal checking account.

This scandal was big news for a while, but the resolution hasn't been as widely reported. Courtroom records bear witness that in April 2019, Count'southward Kustoms won the case against Frontiera, who was ordered to pay $41,000 in restitution and costs.

History'south Project Bluish Book is all true, except for the parts that aren't

History

So at a certain point, one must wonder when "History" is going to change their name to something slightly more descriptive, like "Opposite of History" or maybe "Fiction." Because they certainly don't seem to be heading downwards a trajectory of finding more historically important and factually authentic subjects to talk about. But hey, who can blame them? Ask millions of high school students how much fun it is to learn nigh history, and most of them will, you know, be asleep before you get to the cease of the question.

Anyhow, 1 of History'south semi-recent shows is a scripted drama called "Project Blueish Volume," which is — surprise — another stupid show about aliens. Co-ordinate to Collider, though, it does have a lot of factually correct stuff in it. Dr. J. Allen Hynek, for case, was a real person who worked as a scientific consultant for a government program chosen "Project Blue Volume," which collected 12,000-plus accounts of unidentified flying objects. The problem with the series is that information technology doesn't but stick to the real story, and it's not considering the real story is super tiresome, either. It'southward because it's simply non exciting enough for big ratings. And so History dumped a whole bunch of made-up crap into the mix and gave it a stir, then there'southward simply plenty untruth that viewers accept no idea what'due south real and what's fake. Brought to you lot by the "Opposite of History" channel.

History Channel had to repent to Lyndon B. Johnson'due south family

Who doesn't dear a good Kennedy bump-off conspiracy theory? Most people, actually, but that didn't stop History from ambulation a long series called "The Men Who Killed Kennedy." Originally created past ITV in 1988, History Channel re-aired information technology in 2003 and filmed several new episodes series aired as role of History's 40th anniversary, um, commemoration(?) of that moment that concluded America's innocence and spawned a whole generation of nutjobs who sit around in their parents' basements trying to find sinister messages in famous people's tweets.

According to the L.A. Times, the only people who really paid attending to the series were the relatives of Lyndon B. Johnson because an episode chosen "The Guilty Men" basically ended that it was Johnson himself who plotted to kill Kennedy so he could become president himself. Johnson's family wanted to be able to rebut the episode, and History Channel tried to appease them by saying they'd hire some experts to review the episode that they already knew was fabricated crap, you know, just in case information technology independent even more than crap that they didn't already know well-nigh. Then, if they institute more crap, they promised to air another program that would publicly deflate the theory they already knew was full crap.

Well, their experts must have plant something implausible in "The Guilty Men," considering History did consequence an apology during a 1-hour special entitled "The Guilty Men: A Historical Review," which concluded that the original episode should have never been circulate.

Okay but seriously, don't mess with skinwalkers

Just for the record, Bigfoot is totally imitation and aliens are almost always totally false, and Vikings didn't dress like bikers but skinwalkers — well, let'due south just leave that alone. No, seriously, leave that right the heck alone because that stuff is terrifying, and there'due south no way we're gonna say it's false considering if nosotros do the skinwalkers will legitimately Come. And. Get. Us.

So and then History was all, "Allow'due south brand a program almost skinwalkers." Because supernatural stuff fits right into the new theme of Contrary of History, and then why not. According to Meaww, History's "The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch" was supposed to be a level-headed, scientific assay of the weird things that happen on the infamous Utah ranch, but when you lot actually sit down and watch the evidence (which no ane should because eek, skinwalkers) you brainstorm to suspect that maybe the team is just using science to endeavour and support what they already think they know is happening. At that place'southward even an astrophysicist on the program — considering astrophysics are totally relevant here — and even his theories seem to lean more religious than scientific. By Episode 2, viewers were already hate-tweeting and abandoning the show in droves. "What investigation???" wrote one disappointed viewer. "It's but a bunch of dudes playing with high-tech toys."

And then adept, everyone tin can stop watching this show now. Considering for the dearest of God, just end watching this show right now.

History'south "Knightfall" turned a bunch of medieval bankers into action heroes

The Knights Templar had a cool name, fifty-fifty though no one has whatever thought what the heck a "Templar" is only whatever. They were mysterious, they were powerful, and they looked awesome in chain mail. Well, nosotros can't really ostend that last bit but of grade they did.

The Knights were originally supposed to protect pilgrims crossing into the Holy Land, merely hither's the deal: They acquired the blessing of the Pope, who exempted them from taxes and other rules that applied to non-Templar people, and they somewhen became really, really rich. Then rich that they gear up a agglomeration of banks and so pilgrims could withdraw money once they were in the holy land and not accept to worry about getting robbed en road. Yep, you read that correctly, they were bankers.

Not so according to History's "Knightfall," though. In "Knightfall," the Knights Templar are an elite fighting strength who await keen in chain mail and accept a lot of affairs and get sweaty merely still somehow manage to stay sexy underneath all the blood. According to Salon, the show kind of has to embellish the Knights because they probably weren't really an aristocracy fighting force and so much equally a powerful financial institution, and King Philip IV of France probably took them downwards because he owed them money. You might get a few guys on Wall Street to tune in for that show, but History'due south viewers probably prefer the fiction.

The rich white dudes who "built" America

Somehow, the title of this bear witness fabricated it past History's team of whoever it is that looks at titles and points out the ones that are really bad. Because it seems odd that yous could get all the way to 2012 and it wouldn't occur to anyone running a popular television network that a show called "The Men Who Congenital America" would not necessarily be an inherently awesome idea. And as it turns out, the show not only sounds gross, it was pretty gross, too.

According to the Baffler, "The Men Who Built America" was non only desperately named, it was basically simply capitalist self-aggrandizement in that it celebrates the accomplishments of a agglomeration of really rich white dudes and generally just ignores women and minorities and, possibly even more tellingly, downplays or even villainizes the contributions of the people who toiled to bring these "visionary" heroes' visions to life for not very much money and a whole lot of danger. One episode in the miniseries depicts the Homestead Steel strike, but even though the testify is a documentary it gets a lot of the facts completely wrong, implying that there was something sinister virtually the strike and the workers who plotted against poor, wealthy Andrew Carnegie. Then it goes on, asking viewers to venerate all those wealthy white dudes because they congenital some cars and bridges and loaned a lot of coin to people. Hooray for income inequality.

Let's dig up some expressionless guy on national television receiver

FBI/Wikipedia

History doesn't exactly shy away from the morbid or the tasteless, and so it should accept surprised no one when they publicly announced they'd be making a documentary that would end spectacularly with the exhumation of a corpse. Can't ... await?

John Dillinger, in example you lot demand a refresher, was a gangster who gained infamy in the 1930s for robbing banks and also for beingness handsome. The punchline of Dillinger's story is that he was taken down by the FBI and so buried under iii feet of concrete, and e'er since there are people who say it wasn't really John Dillinger who got shot by the FBI that dark, hence all the concrete.

According to the Chicago Tribune, this rumor has persisted for so long that Dillinger's relatives decided to have him exhumed in order to finally answer the question, and History was all, "Cool, permit's go that on video." As it turns out, though, it's not actually that easy to get permission to dig up a corpse, and Dillinger's family had to abandon the idea later a judge dismissed their case against the cemetery, which had denied permission for the exhumation. Before that decision, though, History decided to back out of the project. They didn't say why, but it might accept had something to practice with the fact that earthworks upward corpses is morbid and morally bankrupt. And then once more, that hasn't stopped History before.

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Source: https://www.grunge.com/145033/the-biggest-scandals-to-ever-hit-the-history-channel/