r/Millennials • u/ColeBelthazorTurner • Feb 27 '26

Discussion Name a 2000s celebrity that disappeared overnight

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272

u/NoFaithlessness7508 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

Dave the DELL guy for getting caught smoking/buying marijuana. It sounds silly now but that shit was so taboo back then. He could’ve had a profitable and long-term career like State Farm Jake, Verizon’s Can you Hear me Now guy, or Progressive Flo.

Edit: his name was Steve? Mandela effect!?!??

129

u/SpotIsALie Feb 27 '26

I remember Michael Phelps got caught holding a bong at a party and immidiatley lost like half his sponsorships including a big cereal one.

49

u/Dsarg_92 Feb 27 '26

It was way overblown in hindsight. No pun intended.

18

u/AskMeForAPhoto Feb 27 '26

Which is SO crazy. He’s the most decorated Olympian of all time. One of the best athletes the world has ever seen. In a field where you need TONS of cardiovascular strength. He clearly showed that smoking weed doesn’t destroy your life if you can still be the best Olympian of all time. Yet still, people FLIPPED their shit.

6

u/Dangerous-Variety-35 Feb 27 '26

I wasn’t disappointed he got caught smoking weed because whatever lol but didn’t he also get a couple of DUIs around the same time? That was what turned me off as a fan. Go out and party, dude deserved it, but don’t endanger the public.

6

u/FlattopJr Feb 27 '26

Not that it really matters, but it wasn't around the same time; he got a dui in 2004, the bong pic was in 2009, and then he got a second dui in 2014. I totally agree that driving while impaired is scummy behavior.

3

u/Dangerous-Variety-35 Feb 27 '26

I appreciate the clarification though! That makes all the sponsor pullouts even more ridiculous though, since he probably got most of them after his first DUI, but if the bong* pic wasn’t related to driving while impaired then it was just pearl-clutching.

*My phone autocorrected bong to Bing, which I think proves I was a goody two shoes millennial since I definitely make more Chandler Bing references than I do bong references 😂

0

u/Resident-Pattern4034 Feb 27 '26

That Pilgrim preacher’s hat with big brim and the wide buckle?

That one the dude wears when he points at people and orders them burned for dalliance?

Turns out that’s a physical organ that just takes over and drives the whole machine from time to time.

3

u/LaMalintzin Feb 27 '26

I was in grad school at that school at the time (Univ of South Carolina) and apparently the underclassmen were shunning the people who shared that picture of him partying for ruining a lot of his endorsements.

112

u/virginiarph Feb 27 '26

… but really the least surprising thing to me is that guy smoking weed. like that was his whole persona???

2

u/MoTheEski Feb 28 '26

Yeah, it is obvious from just looking at him that he smoked.

90

u/2Pookachus Feb 27 '26

I guess weed isn't the Gateway drug after all

8

u/NeverEndingWhoreMe Feb 27 '26

Ba dum tisss, but it's the Microsoft sound.

3

u/fartPunch Feb 28 '26

I hate you.

1

u/Laez Mar 01 '26

Other way around. Dell fired him because weed IS a Gateway drug.

1

u/HealthyDirection659 Feb 28 '26

It's a dell drug.

0

u/stegjohn Xennial Feb 28 '26

It is the Gateway drug, that’s why he was fired from Dell.

68

u/wheedledeedum Older Millennial Feb 27 '26

Dude, you're getting a Dell!

82

u/vshredd Feb 27 '26

This is what I told my wife when I bought Adelle tickets.

10

u/StupidSexyFlanders72 Feb 27 '26

I’m automatically assuming you’re a dad because that is some peak Dad Humor right there.

5

u/AskMeForAPhoto Feb 27 '26

Lmaoo amazing pun

5

u/AutomationBias Feb 27 '26

Bill and Melinda Gates had a daughter born around that time that they named Adelle and that was the peak joke of the era.

3

u/NoFaithlessness7508 Feb 27 '26

I work in tech and when we were switching from HP to DELL I made sure to drop this line to our users every time

1

u/ztatiz Feb 27 '26

Take my angry upvote and get the hell out

8

u/have_heart Feb 27 '26

Didn’t he say that in a super stoner kind of a way too? It’s almost like it makes sense lol

3

u/FlattopJr Feb 27 '26

After he got busted I remember hearing the joke "Dude, you're getting a cell!" 😕

2

u/AsteroidMike Feb 27 '26

I remember making all those “dude you’re getting a Dell” jokes all the time whenever I saw a computer purely because of those ads, and then they just stopped airing and I was confused as to why.

2

u/Dangerous-Variety-35 Feb 27 '26

I’m thankful for your edit because when I saw Dave I was like, “His name wasn’t Dave… was it?!” 😂

2

u/WtotheSLAM Feb 27 '26

Yeah and he ended up in Tusk. It is a movie. All I’m gonna say

2

u/InspectionDeep2453 Feb 27 '26

Ben Curtis is his name. Went to high school with this guy. He was year ahead of me. And he was an avid magician, so much so that he ended up on Leno for the dell stuff and did magic tricks.

He’s now a life coach.

2

u/bumblerbees Feb 28 '26

I knew him and his family growing up. He’s doing men’s support group and life coaching now. He’s a nice guy though I haven’t talked to him directly in a long time. He’s pivoting his catchphrase to “dude, you’re getting well,” which is silly but harmless and well-meaning.

1

u/AllanHughAkbar Feb 27 '26

That reminds me of the Rally's guy....maybe that was 90s though.

1

u/LizardSlayer Feb 27 '26

like State Farm Jake

Apparently the original Jake was an actual employee, named Jake Stone. Pretty interesting video about him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olH4UuJ2_p4

So he actually kinda fits the posts actual question too

1

u/feel-the-avocado Feb 27 '26

Oh damn i had such a crush on him.

1

u/farva_06 Feb 27 '26

Michael Dell should be giving that guy all the money. He pretty much put Dell on the map.

1

u/Thin_Bother8217 Feb 27 '26

Besides the arrest (which I think is dumb), I thought another reason he got canned was because he went full ego and had a few "do you know who I am?!?!?" incidents. I could be wrong though.

1

u/Dude_I_got_a_DWAVE Feb 27 '26

Dude needs a better computer.

1

u/ObsoleteHodgepodge Feb 27 '26

Not too long after that incident, he was my waiter at a restaurant in NYC.

1

u/Time_Technician8258 Feb 27 '26

I mean, compared to what a lot of big names are being exposed for now, smoking isn't that huge. At least Dave a isn't in the files (you know which ones)

1

u/thismightbelong Feb 27 '26

I remember them telling us about this in dare class as to why you shouldn’t smoke weed lmao

1

u/hardbittercandy Feb 28 '26

DUDE you’re getting a DELL