12. Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol is an artist in every sense of the word. Drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, film, music, Warhol did it all. He even managed to dabble in computer-generated art shortly before his death in 1987. So who would want to shoot him? Why an “artist” of very different caliber.
Valarie Solanas was a radical feminist known for founding the “Society for Cutting Up Men,” of which she was the only member, as well as her self-published SCUM Manifesto in which she advocated the elimination of government, money, and the male sex. Solanas would have likely been forgotten by the annals of history had she not forced her way into the records.
Solanas had badgered Warhol to read her play two years earlier, and while he had little interest in her crazed scribbles, she did managed to gain an appearance in his 1968 film “I, a Man.” What set in motion these tragic events was Solanas requesting the return of her script, but it seemed it had been misplaced.
She then showed up at Warhol’s office and, without a word, fired a barrage of bullets at Andy and a business associate. While his friend sustained minor injuries, Warhol was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, his odds of survival 50/50. “One bullet had entered his left side, above his hip, gone around his rib cage and emerged from his back, after narrowly missing his spinal cord.”
Solanas turned herself into a rookie cop a few days later, claiming Warhol “had too much control over [her] life.” She finally gained the attention she craved, but at a grave cost. Warhol recovered from the shooting but with both lasting physical and psychological damage. His newfound fear of hospitals prevented him from gaining medical attention for his gallbladder until the last minute. While the surgery was a success, he suffered from a fatal heart attack the next day.
11. Akon
Akon is one of those megastars whose fame just fizzled out over time. At the height of his stardom he was unavoidable, now you’d have to explain his entire existence to the new generation of music listeners.
Luckily it wasn’t a bullet that knocked the R&B singer out of the limelight. In 2004, Akon and his manager Robert “Screw” Montanez were meeting with rapper Capone of Capone-N-Noreaga to tape a promotion between the two artists outside of a New Jersey bar. A man, later identified as Almalik Ward, began trying to take Capone’s chain.
Akon’s manager got between the two and a fight quickly broke out between Ward and Montanez. They wrestled to the ground, but the fight ended with Ward firing his gun into Screw and then firing into the crowd, hitting Akon in the shoulder. While Akon may have been fine, Montanez did not survive the shooting.
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