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11 of the most controversial celebrity moments of 2016

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Aka and Bonang open up about their relationship

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A photo posted by Bonang Matheba (@bonang_m) on

Bonang and AKA’s romance has hogged headlines ever since AKA’s baby mama‚ DJ Zinhle, took to her blog revealing Queen B was the reason that they had split. Even though AKA and Bonang fiercely denied rumours at the time‚ they finally revealed in 2016 that they are a couple.

From MCM, WCW to Twitter rants this relationship has us hooked to our Twitter timelines. Then AKA took to Twitter to rant about Zinhle after the DJ posted a picture of herself wearing Euphonik’s Nonke t-shirt. Pearl Thusi got involved, Euphonik got involved and even DJ Zinhle had a few things to say to AKA – this was just messy.

Black Coffee Slaps AKA’s manager

In September, at the DSTV iRock Limpopo Festival, an altercation broke out between internationally acclaimed DJ Black Coffee and Letshwene (AKA’s road manager) which ended with Black Coffee slapping Letshwene right across the face.

Following the incident, social media was buzzing with puns and users went on to label the DJ an “Mpama Champion”. The hashtag #ThingsBlackCoffeeShouldSlap started trending not long after. Black Coffee later apologized during his set at popular Johannesburg club KONG, stating that it was very out of character for him.

Brangelina split

A photo posted by @buseonthego on

This September, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split up, leaving behind a trail of tabloid tears. After 12 years together Angelina called it quits - citing irreconcilable differences for their split. For more than a decade they were the definition of couple goals.

The Kim K robbery

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A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on

On October 3rd Kim Kardashian West was robbed at gunpoint in her apartment at the Hotel de Pourtalès in Paris. The thieves, dressed as policemen, burst into her room, tied her up and locked her in the bathroom, ultimately taking off with over R137million worth of loot including luxury jewels.

While Kim was physically unharmed, she suffered psychological trauma in the wake of the attack. Her husband, Kanye West, abruptly ended his performance at the Meadows Music and Arts Festival at Citi Field in New York when he learned of the assault.

Prior to the heist, Kim was known for her 24/7 social media presence, but since the attack, Kim has gone silent on social media and rarely ventures outside for public appearances.

Kanye West’s drama

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A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on

The producer turned hip-hop legend turned fashion maverick was the controversial tale of 2016. The Taylor-Kanye saga dates back to 2009 at the MTV VMAs where Kanye stormed on stage and interrupted Swift’s award acceptance speech for Best Female Video of the year. This created a Taylor-Kanye feud which later became the Taylor-Kanye Friendship.

Fast forward to 2016, when it looked as though the past was buried, all of that changed with the release of his song Famous off his most recent album, The Life of Pablo where the rapper referred to Taylor as a “bitch” on his album, without her knowledge and consent. Then Kanye called Taylor out for lying about not knowing about the lyrics. Taylor denied this. Kim then, in a GQ interview, backed up her husband’s claims. But Kim went one step further and released snapchats of the conversation about Famous that took place between Swift and Kanye. With that being said, it looks like the feud between these three celebs is far from over.

After dealing with Taylor in the row over Famous, Kanye and Kim were inarguably on top. Unfortunately, Kim’s robbery seemed to push Kanye into a mental tailspin, which coincided with his grueling “Life of Pablo” tour. At one performance, he claimed that he would have voted for Donald Trump—if he had bothered showing up to the polls.

At another concert in Sacramento, California, the rapper devolved into strange rants and made the poor decision to come for Jay Z and Beyoncé, insisting, “I’ve been sent here to give y’all the truth. Jay Z, call me, bruh! You still ain’t call me! Jay Z, call me! Jay Z, I know you got killers, please don’t send them at my head. Just call me! Talk to me like a man!” Kanye ultimately cancelled his tour and was hospitalized for temporary psychosis.

Unfortunately, Kanye’s involuntary break didn’t rehabilitate him in the way that fans may have hoped. Instead, West celebrated his release by heading to New York to meet with Donald Trump. Kanye subsequently tweeted, “I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future President if we truly want change,” making him one of the only celebrities who has publicly pledged to work alongside the president-elect.

Taylor Swift’s love life

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A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on

Swift’s love life for 2016 is bound to bring us a few hit albums to add to our collection. After dating for almost a year and a half, Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris (real name Adam Wiles) broke up at the end of May.

Taylor wasted no time moving on, though, and was kissing Tom Hiddleston, on the beach in Rhode Island just two weeks later. The romance was hot and heavy, but after just three months, this relationship ended too. But there were so many rumours that Taylor and Tom’s relationship was nothing more than a publicity stunt and that they were actually just shooting a music video. Who really knows though?

Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian got together, had a baby and then broke up

2016 may forever be known as the year Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna began one of the greatest and controversial modern day love stories. The relationship between Rob and Chyna moved quickly and most definitely struck a chord with the Kardashian clan - and for good reason.

Blac Chyna is rapper Tyga's ex and the two have a son together, King Cairo. Blac Chyna was previously close pals with Kim Kardashian West, though the friendship appeared to fizzle after Tyga, started dating Kardashian West's sister Kylie Jenner.

Despite having only started dating in January, the pair has gotten engaged, starred in their own reality show, had multiple splits (the last one saw Chyna taking their baby, furniture and all their food and leaving Rob) and welcomed their first child together -a daughter named Dream Renée.

Ryan Lochte’s Rio Screw-Up

The 12-time Olympic medal winner has been suspended for 10 months after vandalising a petrol station bathroom and then fabricating a story about it to police during the Rio Olympics.

The gas station incident, which has embarrassed the US, saw Lochte and three other gold medal-winning US swimmers involved in a controversy after he gave a shocking -and false- account of how they had been robbed at gunpoint. He then faced charges from the Brazilian authorities and was suspended.

Prince Harry’s new girlfriend

Meghan Markle has not only had the royal family talking, but the whole world too. Although, many have welcomed this relationship, the couple -especially Meghan- has received a lot of backlash online. From racial hate comments to threats, this fairytale story has not had its magical beginning.

Gareth Cliff

He's back! #TheGarethCliffShow #GCS #unradio

A photo posted by The Gareth Cliff Show (@thegarethcliffshow) on

Gareth and controversy have always been synonymous. Earlier this year, South Africa was thrown into a racial debacle after comments made by Penny Sparrow dominated social media.

Gareth Cliff weighed in on the issue. His comment not only saw him dominate our feeds, get trolled and labelled a racist, it also, almost, cost him his job as a judge on Idols. Then, he took the matter to court and won with costs.

Then, just a few weeks before the end of the season 12 , Gareth announced that he would be leaving the show.  Just a few days later Gareth announced that he had a new book out. Cliffhanger: Confessions of a Shock Jock immediately made headlines after it was reported that Gareth admitted to 'spiking' former Idols judge Mara Louw's drink with vodka. At the time he told people that the headline was sensationalist and simply not true.

Boity Thulo

The TV personality has made the headlines a few times this year.  First it was because of her split with Cassper Nyovest after dating for 5 months. This public romance filled our timelines with baecation goals and envy.

Secondly, rumours that she has become a sangoma had been swirling since the night of the 22nd SAMA awards after being spotted wearing beads around her wrist, said to be worn by people who have been called upon by their ancestors to become traditional healers. The actress then took to Instagram in traditional attire, captioning her pic: "They Called. I Answered. The Proudest, most incredible day of my life. A Beautiful gift that I will never take for granted. #ThokozaGogo #KgosigadiDabulamanzi #Blessed #OwnYourThrone."

Lastly, she made it to our timelines when fake images of her did the rounds where it looked like you could see her lady bits through her dress and she used it to talk about the double standards society has towards the female body.

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