What would get an actor banned from a talk show? Well, don't touch that dial:
we're about to count down a list of banned actors and get into just what went awry,
from inebriation to interjection to altercation.
In the 1990s, Vivica A. Fox was a major star. She hasn't been part of a blockbuster hit in decades,
but she's more than capable of a comeback at any time — except on Jimmy Kimmel Live,
following a bitter feud with its host that got her banned as a guest.
It all started in 2005 when Fox appeared on Kimmel's late-night
show. During his usual snappy, joke-laden introduction of the former Soul Food star,
Kimmel made a crack about one of Fox's close friends, The View host Star Jones.
In an awkward and uncomfortable interview Fox pushed back at Kimmel's insults.
"You know, I'm a ride or die chick. You not gonna talk about my sister."
In an attempt to salvage the interview, Kimmel argued that jokes go both ways,
but Fox wasn't pleased, and ultimately walked off the stage midway through.
Speaking to Bravo host Andy Cohen nearly a decade later, Kimmel said he banned Fox from
the show after that and even suggested she may have been using drugs during her appearance. This
didn't sit well with Fox for obvious reasons, and the two have been at odds ever since.
In the mid-2000s, Dax Shepard was an up-and-comer,
appearing in slacker comedies like Employee of the Month, Idiocracy, and Let's Go to Prison.
"Guilty as hell."
He finally cleaned himself up after a struggle with substance abuse. But before he got sober,
Shepard was banned from one of the biggest late-night shows.
During an appearance on the podcast The Pursuit of Healthiness, Shepard talked about a 2004 interview
he did on Late Night With Conan O'Brien while he was at a particularly low point, admitting,
"I had done the pre-interview in a blackout, and I woke up to the hotel security shaking me awake."
After being rushed to the set of the show,
a disastrous interview with host Conan O'Brien ensued.
"You know what? I would never have me back if I were you."
Shepard recalled,
"I don't know what he's talking about. I can tell he's queuing me up for stories I've told,
but I don't know any of the stories. So, I'm just doing what I can to be funny out there,
and I am a mess. So I was banned from that show for some years until I got sober."
Since getting clean, the actor has appeared on Conan's TBS show many more times.
As Star Trek's Captain James T. Kirk, William Shatner went boldly where no
man had gone before. But while Kirk could defeat alien entities, vengeful madmen,
and Klingon warlords, he met his match in the form of Tonight Show host Johnny Carson.
Tonight Show guests were banned for giving controversial interviews, being belligerent
and combative, or even for being under the influence. But Shatner was apparently given
the heave-ho for not being able to shut up. He came clean in his 2011 memoir Shatner Rules:
Your Guide to Understanding the Shatnerverse and the World at Large. In a particularly
lively passage about his adventures in talk show land, Shatner writes,
"I was even banned from Carson after a mid-1980s appearance where I talked
too much and monopolized our discussion. It seems some of
these talk show hosts prefer to be the ones who get all the laughs."
Shatner returned to the series years later, after Carson retired.
British icon Hugh Grant was nominated for best actor Emmys in 2020 and 2019 for his roles in
prestige dramas A Very English Scandal and The Undoing. But, while his recent success on the
small screen has garnered him accolades, there was a time when he was a bigger name on the big
screen, particularly after his leading role in the classic rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral.
However, despite his worldwide celebrity, Grant was banned from The Daily Show in
2001. As reported by Third Beat at the time, then-host Jon Stewart appeared at a charity
fundraiser and talked about banning Grant. He described a frustrating appearance during
which Grant complained about the clip they were using from his recent film,
describing him as the worst guest they'd ever had. Stewart said,
"He's giving everyone s--- the whole time,
and he's a big pain in the ass. [...] And we've had dictators on the show."
In 2012, Grant actually admitted he was wrong in a Twitter confession, writing,
"Turns out my inner crab got the better of me. [...] Unforgivable.
J Stewart correct to give me kicking."
In the 1980s, pop star Madonna was known for her controversial hits such as "Like
a Virgin" and "Papa Don't Preach" but it wasn't her music that got her on British
talk show host Piers Morgan's blacklist. In a 2011 interview with Access Hollywood,
Morgan made it clear that his acrimony towards the Queen of Pop was personal,
and described what he called "a series of crimes" against him.
Morgan told host Billy Bush,
"A few things have gone down between Madonna and I. She knows."
Morgan claims his animosity began years ago, explaining,
"There was a bread roll throwing incident in London in the mid '90s;
there was an incident at [...] the Cannes Film Festival involving a photographer and a bodyguard;
there's been an incident involving a pub owned by her [...] [ex-] husband, Guy Ritchie."
Apparently, Morgan hasn't forgiven the pop star. In 2023, he tweeted:
"I think Madonna's become the biggest cringe-making fiasco in world entertainment."
Piers Morgan seems to have a problem with almost everyone in Hollywood.
Another target of his ire is Frasier star Kelsey Grammer, though this time it might
be understandable. While his feuds with other celebs stem from personal dislike,
Morgan's reason for banning Grammer has its roots in an appearance the sitcom star made in 2012.
"I didn't like it."
Grammer was to appear on Piers Morgan Live but wasn't happy when the show used
an image of his ex-wife Camille Donatacci in the opening. Grammer and Donatacci had
a troubled relationship and divorced in 2010. While he'd been booked as the featured guest,
when the time came, Grammer was a no-show.
"This isn't gonna work."
Morgan tweeted,
"I like Kelsey Grammer personally, but this was
a shockingly unprofessional thing to do. I wasn't even going to mention his ex-wife!"
As a result of the incident, Morgan publicly banned Grammer from the show.
Late-night talk shows have spawned plenty of famous fights. Back in the '80s,
then-host of The Tonight Show Johnny Carson famously held a grudge against
comedian Joan Rivers. Rivers first appeared on The Tonight Show in 1965. In the 1980s,
she became the de facto host any time Johnny Carson needed a night off. But
things were never the same after Rivers became the host of her own talk show.
In a CNN segment aired after her death in 2014,
Rivers recalled telling Carson about her new show, saying,
"Fox came with this amazing offer and we took it. And he was the
first one I called. And, as I said, he hung up."
Apparently, an unhappy Carson ended their friendship.
From then on, Rivers was banned from The Tonight Show, a prohibition that
continued even when Jay Leno took over. In a 2014 interview with Access Hollywood, Leno explained,
"I didn't want to do it while Johnny was alive out of respect."
Leno's successor, Jimmy Fallon, ended the ban in time for Rivers to make a
triumphant final appearance just before her death.
While there are plenty of celebrities and actors who were banned by hosts of a single talk show,
controversial comedian Kathy Griffin says she's been banned from several. In fact,
she's proud of the reasons she's been prohibited from the likes of The Talk.
"I crossed the line? What line?"
In 2022, Griffin told her Twitter followers she'd been banned thanks
to her vocal criticism of CBS chairman Les Moonves, throwing her weight behind
allegations of sexual assault that had dogged him for years. She was also embargoed from
David Letterman's show in the 1990s and remains persona non grata at The View.
But that's still not the end of it. Griffin's ongoing battle with Ellen DeGeneres left her
uninvited, if not formally banned. Sparked by Griffin's defense of Joan Rivers, the two
wound up nearly at each other's throats, with vitriol apparently hurled both ways.
The Walking Dead's chopper-riding, crossbow-wielding Daryl Dixon is
one of the few characters to live through the entire series. In fact,
he's set for a spin-off. Yet the actor who plays him, Norman Reedus, has at least one nemesis:
radio talk show host Howard Stern, who Reedus claims refuses to have him on his show.
On Jon Bernthal's podcast Real Ones, Reedus, a huge Stern fan,
lamented the ban and claimed not to know what was behind it. According to Bernthal,
Stern's dislike of Reedus likely stems from an encounter the actor had with
the talk show host's wife, Beth Ostrosky, who happens to be a big fan of the actor.
Stern suggested there was some kind of flirtation between Ostrosky and Reedus, but Reedus denies it.
By Reedus' account, he only chatted with Stern's wife over their mutual love of cats. But Bernthal
thinks Stern's obsessed with their meeting, and as a result, wants nothing to do with Reedus.
Dax Shepard isn't the only guest banned by host Conan O'Brien.
Comedian and Howard Stern colleague Artie Lange was banned because Conan
and network executives were concerned he might be relapsing into drug abuse.
Lange was confused at being denied a guest spot on Late Night after
two previous appearances, telling the Daily News,
"I am sober. I can't be a third guest? I mean, I'm not asking to bump George Clooney."
But the ban didn't last forever. In 2012, Lange appeared as a guest on Conan on TBS, where O'Brien
made clear that past treatment of Lange was out of nothing but concern for his health.
The late comedian Gilbert Gottfried was known for his wacky, off-the-wall persona and silly voice.
"I like to get the Internet to hate me right away."
"Well, we're well on our way tonight, Gilbert."
He played iconic roles in Aladdin and Problem Child, but his younger fans weren't aware of his
filthy side. Gottfried actually had an entire comedy album titled Dirty Jokes. But it wasn't
his vulgarity that got him banned by Howard Stern. In fact, it's still a bit of a mystery
why Gottfried's longtime friend Howard Stern refused to have him on as a guest for years.
None other than Artie Lange confirmed that Gottfried was banned, announcing it on Twitter
in 2018. Lange suggested it may have been because Gottfried wasn't a popular draw,
while others believe it started in 2010, when Gottfried jokingly spit in a couple
of cupcakes meant for Stern show staffers after his interview, then dared crew members to eat
them. Gottfried passed away in 2022, so, unless Stern is willing to open up about
just what happened between them, this is one ban that may forever remain a mystery.
It seems that Tonight Show host Johnny Carson had a tendency
to hold a grudge. In addition to Joan Rivers and William Shatner,
Everybody Loves Raymond star Brad Garrett also got on his bad side.
Garrett was banned from The Tonight Show
after defying orders to alter the material in his stand-up routine.
"I told Tommy Newsom I had sperm bigger than him. Not funny."
"But true."
As a result, he was never invited back,
proving there was a steep price to pay for crossing Johnny Carson.
That's not the only controversy Garrett stirred up on the show. According to his
book When the Balls Drop: How I Learned to Get Real and Embrace Life's Second Half,
Garrett defied house orders and did an impression of guest host Bill Cosby that
drew laughs from the audience but a cold stare from Cosby himself.