Robin Williams so seriously insulted Australia last week that the prime minister himself felt he had to defend his nation’s honor. Williams told David Letterman that “Australians are basically English rednecks… I realized that if Darwin landed in Australia, he would have gone, ‘I’m wrong. I don’t know what I was thinking.’” Australia’s P.M. Kevin Rudd immediately fired back in a radio interview: “First of all, I think Robin Williams should go and spend a bit of time in Alabama, before he frames comments about anyone being particularly redneck.” (Alabama could not let that comment stand, so Gov. Bob Riley sniffed, "I'm not sure if Prime Minister Rudd has ever been to Alabama… If he has, he would know that Alabamians are decent, hard working, creative people.") Williams eventually apologized to Australia, saying, “Mr. Rudd, I apologize. I would like to modify my terminology and use the term 'English good old boys' instead… Every time I've been in Australia it's been wonderful, I love it down there. Please let me come back to Australia without a cavity search.” Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images Comedian Adam Carolla should know better than to pick on on a boxer. Carolla mounted a F-bomb-laced attack on the Philippines in his podcast this week, railing against the nation for its boxing god Manny Pacquiao and its lack, by Carolla’s estimation, of any industry unrelated to sex. Pacquiao is also running for public office, a campaign the comic finds objectionable. “Really, you want some guy with brain damage running your country?” he said. “They got this and sex tours, that’s all they have over there. Get your shit together, Philippines. Jesus Christ. I mean, again, it’s fine to be proud of your countrymen. But that’s it? That’s all you got?” Filipinos around the world were outraged by the comments. Carolla quickly retreated via Twitter: “Read your comments. Sorry if I offended many of u. I don’t preplan my commentary. I try to be provocative, funny but I crossed the line & im sorry.” ( Later, an addendum: “By the way, I think manny is a great fighter.”) Kevin Winter / Getty Images Demonstrators ignited effigies of Richard Gere in protest of his insult to Indian culture in 2007. Gere’s grave offense was kissing the winner of Celebrity Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty, at an AIDS awareness rally in New Delhi. PDA remains taboo in India, and though Shetty described the smooch as “not so obscene," some protesters shouted “death to Shilpa Shetty!” and demanded apologies. A warrant was issued for Gere’s arrest by a court in Jaipur because he "transgressed all limits of vulgarity." A conviction could have meant a three-month prison sentence. A month later, the Indian Supreme Court declared the legal action “ frivolous” and cleared the pair. Gurinder Osan / AP Photo Things can get ugly pretty quickly when you insult a billion people at once. CNN’s Jack Cafferty learned that lesson the hard way in 2008, when he referred to the Chinese as “a bunch of thugs and goons” and Chinese products as “junk” on an episode of The Situation Room. Almost immediately, China demanded an apology for the “malicious” comments and protesters descended on CNN. The network quickly apologized for the incident, explaining that Cafferty was referring to his “strongly held” opinion of the Chinese government rather than the Chinese people themselves, adding, “It should be noted that over many years, Jack Cafferty has expressed critical comments on many governments, including the U.S. government and its leaders." Kathy Willens / AP Photo It may not have featured burning crosses as in Madonna’s "Like a Prayer" video, but Akon’s recent video for "Sexy Chick" was enough to get him banned from Sri Lanka. A statue of the Buddha is briefly visible in the background of the otherwise standard semi-nude pool party clip, which inspired hundreds of Sri Lankans to storm a local television station in protest of the singer’s upcoming concert, leaving four workers injured and significant damage in the area. Akon quickly apologized for the gaffe, saying, “I am a spiritual man, so I can understand why they are offended,” claiming he hadn’t realized the statue was in the background. Authorities continue to deny his visa application citing "controversial video images, offensive song lyrics and strong protests coming from various cultural, religious groups and organizations in the country," and his management has canceled an upcoming concert. Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images Frank Sinatra was never exactly one to pull his punches—particularly the ones involving his fist—but in 1974, while filming The Night We Called It a Day in Australia, he took a swing at Aussie journalists, who had been hounding him. “They are parasites who take everything and give nothing,” Ol’ Blue Eyes told an audience at a show in Melbourne. “And as for the broads who work for the press, they’re the hookers of the press. I might offer them a buck and a half. I’m not sure. After being immediately threatened with never being allowed to leave the country, Sinatra issued an apology, saying that the statement wasn’t “any general reflection on the moral character of the working members of the Australian media.” Sinatra’s camp also apologized to journalists that had been “manhandled” by his security guards and unions eventually lifted their ban on the singer, allowing him to finish out his Australian tour. “It’s smiles all around,” one of Sinatra’s promoters told a newspaper at the time. Ray Stubblebine / AP Photo Perhaps Sharon Stone just needed a new dictionary. Following a devastating 2008 earthquake in China, the actress chalked the natural disaster up to “karma,” explaining, “I’m not happy about the way that the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else.” China immediately launched a boycott of her films, leading Stone to apologize and offer to aid in earthquake relief, but not before she was dropped from her place in Christian Dior’s Chinese ad campaigns. Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images In 2008, Jamie Oliver offered further proof that Holocaust jokes aren’t funny, when he told an audience about a scene in one of his specials during which young chickens were gassed, saying, “We had a lot of complaints about the gassing of chicks from the Germans. This has gone all round the world and the one country that had a problem with it… I thought f****** hell!” Germans were less than amused at the comment, and hoping to maintain the chef’s widespread popularity in the country a representative said, “We love all Germans. I'm sure he didn't mean to offend them.” Oliver previously had to apologize to the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, with whom he had an endorsement deal, after making critical comments about the company’s use of factory farming. “I know what I am like. I have got a reasonably big mouth,” Oliver later said. “More often than not I'm a professional s*** stirrer.” Chris Jackson / Getty Images The last place Cameron Diaz thought the Chinese characters on her bag could cause a stir was Peru. She thought wrong. While visiting Machu Picchu in 2007, Diaz was spotted carrying an olive green bag with a red star and the Maoist slogan, “Serve the People” printed in Chinese characters. The problem was that in Peru, the Maoist Shining Path movement was responsible for a bloody string of bombings and massacres that claimed nearly 70,000 lives in the 1980s and early 1990s. Diaz felt more than a little embarrassed and immediately apologized to the people of Peru. “It was certainly never my intention to reopen what I now know is a painful wound in this country's history," she added. Karel Navarro / AP Photo The question from David Letterman was innocuous enough: Might Alec Baldwin like to have more children? Baldwin, who was going through a bitter divorce with Kim Basinger at the time in 2009, said he would before joking that he was "thinking about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point ... or a Russian one." The Philippines did not take it well. (Russia, however, let the quip slide.) One Philippine senator even threatened to beat him up if he ever visited the country. “Let him try to come here in the Philippines and he'll see mayhem,” he said. Baldwin published a public apology on the Huffington Post, which he combined with a clarification on a story he wrote there about the U.S. auto industry—two birds with one stone. Evan Agostini / AP Photo During a 2008 concert in Shanghai, Bjork added herself to the long list of celebrities who have made waves with comments about Tibet, yelling, “Tibet! Tibet!” at the end of her song “Declare Independence,” which she had used to advocate for Kosovo in previous performances. Chinese fans and authorities criticized the statement as having "caused dissatisfaction among the broader Chinese audience,” but with the Beijing Olympics on the horizon a Chinese culture minister billed the outburst as an isolated incident and promised that it wouldn’t affect other performers being allowed in the country. More recently Bob Dylan was denied a permit to perform, causing speculation that Chinese authorities are still on the defensive as a result Bjork’s statements. China Photos / Getty Images In today’s small world, any television appearance can and will be seen by the folks back home. In 2009, enough Australians saw Sydney-raised Nicole Kidman blowing meekly into a didgeridoo on German televsion to be offended. What she didn’t realize is that by trying to play the instrument she violated an Aboriginal custom, which states that only men may play it. (Some Aboriginal groups believe that if a woman plays it, she will become infertile.) It did not help much that while she tried, her co-star in the movie Australia stood on one leg to mimic a dance performed by Aboriginals. Evan Agostini / AP Photo Bill Maher seriously offended many Americans—especially at ABC—just six days after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Discussing the characterization of the terrorists as cowards on his late night talk show, Politically Incorrect, Maher said, “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.” Advertisers were especially taken aback and Federal Express and Sears immediately pulled their sponsorship, while some ABC affiliates canceled the show. The network ultimately did the same eight months later, though it was careful to specify that Maher’s comments on the 9/11 attacks had nothing to do with it. Vince Bucci / Getty Images