Sex scandals, extortion plots and decades-long feuds sound like story lines straight out of a soap opera — but as reality TV fans know, some of the best dramas are unscripted. From The View cohosts not getting along to Today’s most shocking exit, these are some of the biggest controversies in daytime and late-night talk show history.
Megyn Kelly‘s NBC morning show was short lived, but its reputation for upsetting viewers — and guests like Jane Fonda — is long.
In 2018, the former Fox News anchor came under fire when she defended wearing blackface makeup years ago on Halloween. Although she apologized in an email to staffers and read a statement on air, her show, Megyn Kelly Today, was canceled shortly after.
Two months after her exit, she came to an agreement with NBC and reportedly received the remaining sum owed to her from her original $69 million contract — $30 million.
In summer 2020, The Ellen DeGeneres Show made headlines after multiple former staffers claimed that the show was a toxic atmosphere to work in.
A second report accused the producers of sexual misconduct, which they denied. Ellen DeGeneres sent an email to her team in July, explaining that she told her staff the show “would be a place of happiness” and is “disappointed” to learn that something has changed over the years.
“I am sorry. Anyone who knows me knows it’s the opposite of what I believe and what I hoped for our show,” she said in the memo obtained by Us Weekly. “We all have to be more mindful about the way our words and actions affect others, and I’m glad the issues at our show were brought to my attention.”
DeGeneres continued, “I promise to do my part in continuing to push myself and everyone around me to learn and grow. It’s important to me and to Warner Bros. that everyone who has something to say can speak up and feels safe doing so.”
In May 2021, the comedian announced that season 19 of her talk show would be its last. “It’s going to be really hard on the last day, but I also know it’s time,” the Finding Nemo star told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.
Keep scrolling to learn more about the biggest controversies in talk show history:
After numerous clips of Kimmel wearing blackface on his ‘90s talk show, The Man Show, went viral, the late-night host apologized for his “embarrassing” portrayals of Black celebrities including NBA star Karl Malone. "I have long been reluctant to address this, as I knew doing so would be celebrated as a victory by those who equate apologies with weakness and cheer for leaders who use prejudice to divide us,” he wrote in a statement in June 2020. “That delay was a mistake.” The Jimmy Kimmel Live host continued: “There is nothing more important to me than your respect, and I apologize to those who were genuinely hurt or offended by the makeup I wore or the words I spoke." Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube
The Tonight Show host was criticized for his 2016 interview with then-presidential candidate Trump in which he avoided asking the Apprentice alum hard questions and playfully tousled his hair. Two years later, Fallon apologized for the infamous sit down, telling The Hollywood Reporter in June 2018, “I’m sorry if I made anyone mad. And, looking back, I would do it differently.” Andrew Lipovsky/NBC; Olivier Douliery - Pool via CNP / MEGA TheMegaAgency.com
Williams dedicated a July 2021 segment to 19-year-old TikTok star Swavy, who was shot and killed in Wilmington, Delaware. However, instead of paying tribute to the teen, whose real name was Matima Miller, she turned his death into a joke. "I have no idea who this is," she said. "Neither does one person in this building." Williams let the crowd know, "He's got more followers than me — 2.5 million," before bragging that she had more Instagram followers than him. Swavy’s mother, Chanelle Clark, told Philadelphia’s CBS3 that she didn’t appreciate Williams’ commentary. “Like, as a mother, Wendy Williams, how dare you?" Clark said shortly after the episode aired. "So disrespectful." Shutterstock; Courtesy of Swavy/Instagram
In summer 2020, multiple former staffers accused DeGeneres of creating a toxic workplace on her talk show. She later sent her team a lengthy memo apologizing and promising to change things moving forward. While many of her celebrity friends — including Katy Perry and Kevin Hart — defended her, others like Brad Garrett and Lea Thompson claimed they had heard about negative experiences. WarnerMedia launched an investigation into the show in July 2020, shortly before filming resumed. Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
The View cohosts were known for butting heads over their differing political views. However, it was an offhand remark Behar made about not missing McCain while she was on maternity leave that led the Arizona native to leave the show for good after four seasons. “You missed me so much, Joy. You missed me so much when I was on maternity leave,” McCain teased amid a heated exchange during a January 2021 episode. Behar fired back, "I did not. I did not miss you. Zero." McCain told Variety before her August 2021 exit that the public squabble led her to have a panic attack after filming wrapped. "I couldn't stop crying, and I'm not always crying. I couldn't compose myself,” she said. “I threw up in the garbage can.” The Dirty Sexy Politics author added that Behar never apologized for the comment. Shutterstock (2)
NBC News chairman Andrew Lack fired Lauer in November 2017 after a female employee accused the longtime Today host of sexual harassment in the workplace. The New York Times and Variety later published additional allegations of misconduct against Lauer, who apologized and admitted in a statement that there was “enough truth in these stories.” He and his wife of 19 years, Annette Roque, quietly began the divorce process after the scandal. Noam Galai/WireImage
During a 2014 appearance on Tucker's former CNN show Crossfire, the former Daily Show host accused him and cohost Paul Begala of “partisan hackery” and “hurting America.” The interview sparked outrage and Stewart addressed the heated exchange on his Comedy Central show. "Apparently, when you invite someone on a show called Crossfire and you express an opinion, they don't care for that," the Big Daddy actor said days after his Crossfire episode aired. The political debate show was canceled one year later with Begala accusing Stewart's appearance of being the final nail in the show's coffin. In March 2021, Stewart reignited his feud with Carlson in a tweet that apologized for calling the Fox News correspondent a “d--k” all those years ago — well, sort of. “It’s high time I apologize ... to d--ks,” the Problem With Jon Stewart host wrote via Twitter. “Never should have lumped you in with that terrible, terrible person.” Shutterstock (2)
Kelly felt the wrath of Fonda when she asked the Oscar winner, then 80, about aging and plastic surgery on Megyn Kelly Today in September 2017. A visibly agitated Fonda shot back, “We really want to talk about that now?” before continuing to discuss her movie Our Souls at Night. The actress joked about the exchange months later on the Today show, prompting the TV host to accuse her of being “fixated” on it. NBC
Strahan informed Ripa during an April 2016 meeting that he was leaving Live With Kelly and Michael after nearly four years. A source told Us at the time that Ripa was “definitely blinded” and saw it as a “huge sign of disrespect” that nobody had told her earlier. After taking a full week off from the show, Ripa returned to her chair and delivered a monologue about “respect in the workplace.” That same day, Strahan confirmed in a statement that he would leave Live in May, four months ahead of his previously scheduled departure, to join Good Morning America as a full-time cohost. Sandy SooHoo/Disney-ABC Domestic TV via Getty Images
Jones had a bitter falling-out with her View co-hosts in 2006, when she preemptively announced she would be the leaving the show instead of going along with the pre-planned reveal agreed upon with Walters. She later slammed the 20/20 alum for writing about an affair in her memoir. "It is a sad day when an icon like Barbara Walters...is reduced to publicly branding herself as an adulterer...for the sake of selling a book," Jones told Us. "It speaks to her true character." Ray Tamarra/Getty Images; Jason Merritt/WireImage
Hasselbeck was a polarizing presence from the moment she joined The View in 2003. After years of heated arguments with her co-hosts -- including a very contentious debate with Rosie O'Donnell regarding the war -- producers opted not to renew her contract in 2013. "The viewers they polled all said she was too extreme and right wing," an insider told Us at the time. "People did not watch the show because of Elisabeth." Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
O'Donnell and Hasselbeck were often at odds over their differing opinions, but things got really ugly between them in May 2007, when they squared off about the war in Iraq. During the live, unedited fight, their View co-hosts watched awkwardly as the two women traded insults that were both personal and political, with O'Donnell calling the famously conservative Hasselbeck "cowardly." Immediately after their blowout, ABC announced that O'Donnell would not return to the show. Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images; Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
The Talk host Osbourne made headlines in November 2013 when she slammed the ladies of The View during an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. Though she claimed she "idolized" Barbara Walters, she said "the rest [of the hosts could] go f--k themselves." A few days later, she apologized for her remarks, telling fans she was "trying to be funny," and that she actually had a lot of respect for the women. "I'm not well!" she said. "I'm not responsible. I'm really just a loose cannon." Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
Curry's messy exit from the Today show in June 2012 got even messier when reporter Brian Stelter wrote about it in his book, Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV. Stelter alleged that the former co-anchor had been made fun of and mistreated by other staffers, and that her final months at Studio 1A were "torture." New York Magazine writer Joe Hagan made similar claims, quoting a source who said Lauer "didn't want her there." Peter Kramer/NBC/NBC NewsWire/Getty Images
O'Brien was tapped to replace Leno on The Tonight Show back in 2009, but in one of the most famous late-night shake-ups ever, he was ousted after just seven months so Leno could take his job back. The fracas proved to be divisive not just for the comedians involved but also for their fellow late-night hosts, many of whom sided with O'Brien. "The odds are we will both leave this Earth without speaking to each other, which is fine," O'Brien said of Leno in 2012. "There's really nothing to say." Win McNamee/Getty Images; Kevin Winter/Tonight Show/Getty Images
Leno also had a famous feud with late-night host Letterman, who was passed up for The Tonight Show when Johnny Carson retired in 1992. Their rivalry was the subject of a 1996 HBO film, The Late Shift, and persisted for more than two decades. After the Conan O'Brien drama in 2009 and 2010, Letterman quipped that there are "two kinds of talk show hosts: Jay Leno, and those who have been victimized by Jay Leno." He later said, however, that they had buried the hatchet. Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images; Robin Marchant/WireImage
Baldwin's MSNBC show was canceled in November 2013, after the famously outspoken 30 Rock actor made headlines for directing a gay slur at a paparazzo in New York City. "Words are important. I understand that, and will choose mine with great care going forward," he said in an apology after the incident. "What I said and did this week, as I was trying to protect my family, was offensive and unacceptable." Gary Gershoff/WireImage
Kimmel stirred up controversy when he aired a segment on his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, in which he asked kids how the U.S. should pay back the money it owes China. One child said, "Kill everyone in China," to which Kimmel replied, "That's an interesting idea." The "joke" resulted in a White House petition signed by more than 100,000 people calling for Kimmel to apologize for the skit. "I thought it was obvious that I didn't agree with that statement, but apparently it wasn't," he later said. Kevin Winter/Getty Images
You can't make this stuff up. Letterman copped to a sex scandal back in 2009, telling the audience of his late-night show that he had had sexual relationships with members of his staff, and that someone had tried to extort him as a result. With the assistance of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, he forked over a bogus $2 million check to his blackmailer, which ultimately led to the individual's arrest. Statia Photography/Getty Images
Months after Remini left The Talk in 2011, she took to Twitter with allegations that Osbourne had been responsible for her firing. "Sharon thought me and Holly [Robinson Peete] were 'ghetto'...we were not funny, awkward, and didn't know ourselves," Remini tweeted. "She has the power that was given to her." Osbourne, for her part, denied the claims, tweeting, "I had absolutely nothing to do with her departure form the show and have no idea why she continues to...spread this false gossip." Tiffany Rose/WireImage
In February 2022, the longtime View cohost was suspended from the show after she said the Holocaust wasn't "about race" during a discussion of Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus. “Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” Kim Godwin, president at ABC News, said in a statement released one day after the comedian's comments. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.” Hours after the incident, the Oscar winner apologized during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “It upset a lot of people, which was never ever, ever my intention,” she said. “I thought it was a salient discussion because as a Black person, I think of race as being something that I can see. So, I see you and know what race you are. I thought [the Holocaust] was more about man’s inhumanity to man. … People said, ‘No, no, we are a race.’ I felt differently. I respect everything everyone is saying to me.” She issued a formal apology via Twitter later that night. "On today's show, I said the Holocaust 'is not about race, but about man's inhumanity to man.' I should have said it is about both. As Jonathan Greenblatt from the Anti-Defamation League shared, 'The Holocaust was about the Nazis' systematic annihilation of the Jewish people — who they deemed to be an inferior race.' I stand corrected. The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I'm sorry for the hurt I have caused. Written with my sincerest apologies, Whoopi Goldberg." ABC/Jenny Anderson
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