It’s great when celebrity guests and talk show hosts can be comfortable with each other, but sometimes, the hosts get a little too comfortable and end up crossing boundaries. The resulting questions or bits range from cringey to cruel.
Here are 16 wildly uncomfortable or inappropriate interview bits that celebs were forced to endure live on air:
1.
During a Comic Relief 2017 program, Graham Norton brought up a story Cara Delevingne had told him backstage about having sex on a plane. She expressed discomfort with him sharing the story because her dad was in the audience, but he kept going because he thought her “embarrassment threshold’s quite high.”
2.
In a 1977 interview, Barbara Walters asked Dolly Parton several pointed questions about her body, essentially wanting to know if her “fuller figure” was the result of cosmetic work.
Here’s the full clip, with this part starting at the 0:42 mark:
3.
On a 2013 episode of The View, Corey Feldman spoke out about the alleged abuse he and his late friend Corey Haim experienced as child actors. As he tried to warn parents to be cautious about putting their children into acting, cohost Barbara Walters interrupted him to defend Hollywood.
4.
On a 2019 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, the host awkwardly asked Margaret Qualley about the armpit hair she grew out for Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.
You can watch the full clip below, with this part starting at the 6:06 mark:
5.
When BTS was on The Ellen Show in 2017, Ellen asked if they’d ever “hooked up” with any of their fans. When RM tried to redirect the conversation, Ellen kept pushing for an answer.
Watch the full clip below, with this part starting at the 3:20 mark:
6.
On a 2015 episode of The Ellen Show, Ellen displayed Justin Bieber’s nonconsensual nude paparazzi photo and questioned why he didn’t notice the photographers watching him.
Here’s the full clip, with this part beginning around the 1:05 mark:
7.
In a 2019 interview, Ellen brought Zac Efron’s shirtless Baywatch wax figure out onstage. He pointed out that it didn’t represent a body standard anyone else should strive for, but Ellen lifted his shirt to compare them.
8.
After insisting that Taylor Swift was lying about never having dated Zac Efron, Ellen showed a slideshow of her rumored exes and tried to get her to ring a bell when the subject of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” popped up. When Swift refused, the host started ringing the bell herself.
Watch the full clip below:
9.
Before Mariah Carey was ready to share her pregnancy announcement publicly, Ellen pressured her to drink champagne onstage and “toast to [Mariah] not being pregnant.”
10.
On a 2017 episode of The Ellen Show, Ellen tried to teach Sofía Vergara an “English word of the day” then laughed when she struggled to pronounce “discombobulated.”
Here’s the full clip, with this part starting at the 2:14 mark:
11.
During a 2002 episode of The Howard Stern Show, Howard and some of his male coworkers tried to bet on who could guess Anna Nicole Smith’s weight. When she refused to tell them, Stern tried to get her to step on a scale.
Here is the full video, with this part starting around the 24:10 mark:
12.
In Erica Durance’s pre-interview before The Howard Stern Show, she was advised to make up a story about hosting “West Van” parties where all attendees were naked. During the show, Stern made her uncomfortable by continuously asking about it. When she tried to get him to move on, he told her she was “way too uptight.”
Years later, on the Inside of You podcast, she shared that her experience was much worse behind the scenes.
Watch the full clip below:
14.
On a 1995 episode of Late Show with David Letterman, Uma Thurman was there to promote a movie, but Letterman made the conversation about how old of a man she was willing to date.
The full clip stars at the 5:06 mark in this compilation:
In this compilation video, the clip stars at the 1:27 mark:
16.
And finally, while interviewing The Birdcage costars Nathan Lane and Robin Williams jointly, Oprah veered toward the subject of Lane’s sexuality, which he was not ready to discuss openly. However, Williams redirected the conversation by turning the way she asked the question into a joke.
You can watch the full interview below, with this moment unfolding at the 16:50 mark:
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