28 things you probably forgot happened in the whirlwind that 2020 has been

Can you believe we’re 6 months into the year and all this stuff is behind us?

(Getty)

Somehow we’ve made it to June, and we’re going to bet that this was not how you expected your year to go.

With the COVID-19 pandemic still raging on and a new civil rights movement being taken to the streets, it’s hard to remember what came first.

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So let’s take a look at all of the wild things that happened so far this year that you probably already forgot about, shall we?


January

Jan. 2: Brush fires destroyed millions of acres of land in Australia. A third state of emergency was called on this day in New South Wales as the brush fires continued.

Residents look on as flames burn through bush on January 04, 2020 in Lake Tabourie, Australia. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images) (2020 Getty Images)

Jan. 3: Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed in a drone strike by the U.S. It was a shocking event, and many feared that President Trump was leading the U.S. into a third world war. Luckily, tensions were de-escalated.

Jan. 8: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were officially stepping down from their duties in the royal family. They said they would be financially independent and split their time between the U.K. and North America.

Jan. 8: A Ukrainian flight crashed in Iran, killing 176 passengers on board.

Jan. 16: The official impeachment trial for President Trump began.

Jan 17: Rapper Eminem shocked the music world with a surprise album called “Music To Be Murdered By.”

Jan. 22: In a strange publicity stunt, Planters announced that Mr. Peanut, the mascot for the nut brand, had died.

Jan. 26: Legendary NBA player Kobe Bryant, along with his daughter Gianna Bryant and seven other passengers, were killed in a helicopter crash in California.

Jan. 31: After years in the making, the U.K. officially withdrew from the European Union, officially making Brexit a reality.

February

Feb. 4: The results of the Iowa caucus were delayed due to “quality control.” The entire thing was a hot mess, and Americans didn’t find out who came out on top until days later.

Supporters wait for the results of the Iowa caucus. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (2020 Getty Images)

Feb. 5: After months of investigations, hearings and lots of tweets from Trump, the president was acquitted by the Senate on both articles of impeachment.

Feb. 13: Netflix released a new reality TV dating show called “Love Is Blind,” in which contestants fall in love and get engaged before ever seeing the other person. All they do is chat in “pods” until they fall in love. It was a nightmare of a show, but viewers became obsessed and could not stop watching.

Feb. 18: The Boy Scouts of America filed for Title 11 bankruptcy.

Feb. 21: First responders in Texas were attacked by a swarm of 40,000 bees.

Feb. 24: Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual acts. It was the allegations against Weinstein that sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017.

March

March 5: Sen. Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the 2020 presidential race after not performing well in primaries.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the campaign trail. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) (2019 Getty Images)

March 11: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were diagnosed with COVID-19, becoming the first major celebrities to announce they were sick. For many Americans, the threat of the virus became very real after such well-known figures confirmed they had the virus.

March 11: The NBA officially canceled the rest of the season due to COVID-19.

March 11: Former politician Sarah Palin appeared on “The Masked Singer” and closed out the show by singing Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

March 20: Netflix released a new true-crime documentary series called “Tiger King." It was the perfect distraction for many people who began to isolate, trying to stop the spread of COVID-19. Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin soon became household names.

March 24: The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were officially canceled and rescheduled for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

April

April 8: Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the 2020 presidential race, leaving Joe Biden to be the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party.

Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) (2019 Getty Images)

April 18: A man allegedly dressed as a police officer in Nova Scotia killed 16 people, making it one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history.

April 27: After a lot of confusion, conspiracies and rumors, South Korea told the media that Kim Jong-Un was “alive and well,” even though there was mass speculation that the dictator had died.

April 29: The Pentagon released videos of possible UFOs. It was unclear what exactly the objects flying the sky were (obviously), but it sure was creepy.

May

May 4: It was reported that giant insects called “murder hornets” were spotted in the U.S., specifically, Washington state. If stung multiple times, a person can die from the murder hornet.

May 6: Video footage of an unarmed black man, Ahmaud Arbery, was released from February showing Arbery being gunned down and killed by two white men while he was jogging in a Georgia neighborhood.

May 25: George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer who had his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes. Floyd’s death caused an uproar across the globe, with protests popping up worldwide.

Protesters take part in a 'Black Lives Matter' demonstration near Marble Arch on June 01, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) (2020 Getty Images)

And now we’re in June. It’s hard to believe that all of those things happened during a pandemic, so who knows what else is next?

What do you think was the craziest thing to happen in 2020? Let us know in the comments.


About the Author
Jack Roskopp headshot

Jack is a Digital Content Editor with a degree in creative writing and French from Western Michigan University. He specializes in writing about movies, food and the latest TV shows.

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