Celebrity businesses are constantly popping up everywhere. It seems like every time you turn around, there’s another celebrity starting up a business venture. While some celebrity businesses are very successful, there are others that fail to rise to the occasion and crash and burn rather quickly. You’d be surprised to hear about some of the bizarre celebrity businesses that didn’t take off, and for some of them, we’re really glad that they didn’t.
The Kardashians – The Kardashian Kard
In November 2010, the Kardashian sisters released the Kardashian Kard, which was a prepaid debit card featuring their faces on the card. Not long after the card was released, sales were stopped after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that the card targeted “financially unsophisticated” young adults with outrageous fees, according to Reuters. Apparently, those who had the card faced an insane amount of fees, including fees for ATM withdrawals and even speaking with a phone operator, hence the extreme backlash and downfall of the card.
Vince McMahon – XFL
Vince McMahon decided to start his business venture by founding the XFL, an American professional football league. Initially, the league was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between WWE and NBC. According to The Sportster, the XFL had a hard time finding and keeping an audience, so the league only lasted for one year.
In 2018, McMahon tried to bring the XFL back again, with new rules and features to try to bring excitement back to the league that had failed. Its first real season was in 2020, and thanks to COVID-19, things came to an end after a few weeks into the season, making it another failure.
Pete Wentz – Angels & Kings
As a rockstar, it’s no surprise that Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz likes to party. That’s why, back in 2007, the bassist decided that he wanted to open his own bar in New York City, Angels & Kings. While the bar was very popular among Pete, his bandmates, and other famous rockstar friends, it ran into a boatload of problems. The bar had a whopping two and a half stars on Yelp and was even forced to temporarily close in 2009 by police after it received a third citation for serving alcohol to minors. In 2012, the bar closed for good.
Curt Schilling – 38 Studios
Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling had a love for video games, so he decided that he wanted to start his own video game company, 38 Studios. Founded in 2006, he retired from baseball in 2009 to fully focus on the company. In order to help move the company from Boston to Rhode Island, the state loaned Schilling and 38 Studios $75 million to relocate. Not long after, the company declared bankruptcy in 2012, with more than $150 million in debt and only one game created, according to The New York Times.
Steven Spielberg – Dive!
As the director of some of our favorite movies, Steven Spielberg has a big imagination. That’s why in the 90s, he decided that he wanted to create a submarine-themed restaurant called Dive! With two locations, one in Los Angeles and one in Las Vegas, their restaurant made patrons feel like they were in a submarine that felt like it was submerging under water every couple of minutes. The restaurant took $7 million to build, but it eventually closed due to the lack of patrons.
Donald Trump – Trump Shuttle
As far as celebrity businesses that have failed, President Donald Trump has had plenty of them. One of his worst was the Trump Shuttle. Kicking off in 1989, Trump had a fleet of planes that flew between Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. According to Simple Flying, a little over a year after it launched, the company was already over $1 million in debt. Within two years, the airline was being sold to US Airways, where it was absorbed into American Airlines.
Natalie Portman – Té Casan Shoes
Another one of many celebrity businesses that failed was Natalie Portman’s collaboration with Té Casan Shoes. Natalie Portman should probably stick to acting since her dream of being a shoe designer really didn’t go so well. In 2008, she partnered with shoe brand Té Casan to create a line of vegan footwear. Unfortunately for her, the shoes didn’t do well at all, and neither did the company, as the entire company folded at the end of that year.
Flavor Flav – Flav’s Fried Chicken
Flavor Flav decided to start his own business venture back in 2011 when he wanted to open a fried chicken restaurant called Flav’s Fried Chicken. Apparently, things went south pretty quickly as he pulled out of the restaurant not long after its opening, according to The Guardian. At the very first restaurant he opened, there were apparently some expired side dishes, and it wasn’t up to Flav’s standards. He immediately pulled his name from the franchise, and the restaurant closed.
Jay-Z – J Hotel
We know that Jay-Z is a mogul in every sense of the word, so it only makes sense that he wanted to give owning a hotel a try. There have been many celebrity businesses over the years that deal with hotels and owning them, and very few have been successful, and Jay-Z is one that failed. Due to money issues with lenders, the would-be hotel went into foreclosure. Since the journey started in 2007, Jay-Z hasn’t tried to start up his hotel company again.
Steven Segal – Lightning Bold
In 2005, Steven Seagal decided that he was going to try his hand at creating an energy drink. Apparently, when it came to creating said drink, he claimed to have hiked around Asia for the special and best ingredients to put in it. Apparently, the public didn’t really like Lightning Bold, nor did they want to buy it, so as quickly as it came out, it was even faster to disappear.
When you have a disposable income like a celebrity does, business ventures are pretty easy to come by since there is already financial backing. Unfortunately, money isn’t everything, and because of that, these celebrity businesses come and go constantly. Some celebrity businesses already know the recipe for success, while others… not so much. These celebrity businesses should definitely take note!
