Top 10 Angry Outbursts Caught on Live TV

In late February 2020, convicted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich appeared on CNN to talk with Anderson Cooper. Blagojevich was serving fourteen years in prison for soliciting bribes, a sentence later commuted by President Donald Trump on February 18, 2020. Blagojevich is playing up his prison time, referring to himself as a “political prisoner” and comparing himself to Nelson Mandela. Cooper rightfully calls this comparison “offensive.” But that’s not all. As the interview goes on, Cooper grows increasingly resentful and impatient with Blagojevich’s statements, and he eventually refers to his “alternate universe of facts” as “bullshit.” (xref) This isn’t the first time that Cooper has spoken his mind: back on “Anderson Live,” he called the so-called Human Barbie a “dreadful” person and cut the interview short.

We all get a case of the winter blues sooner or later. It affects some people worse than others. Even the meteorologists. In 2018, a Grand Rapids, Michigan meteorologist named Garry Frank let loose on one particularly cold day venting not as much about the cold weather but the reactions and expectations of his co-workers for constantly complaining about it. His sarcastic rant includes mimicking his co-workers’ disappointed sighs and suggesting maybe he should just misrepresent the weather to be warmer to make everyone happy. It’s actually refreshing to see such human moments like this on the news.

Back in 2009, Drew Smith, a news anchor for SNN News 6 in Sarasota Florida, had very little patience for poorly-worded transcripts. After struggling to get through a story, Smith sighs in frustration and hangs his head in shame. After a brief pause, Smith brandishes his copy of the script, and asks “Who writes this stuff!?” and asks either the crew or the viewers at home if they are as confused as he is. Before continuing on, Smith seemingly answers his earlier question by stating “some intern at NBC News Channel writes this crap.” But we get it. Poorly worded news is confusing for everyone, and quality control is important.

Sports commentators aren’t ones to mince words. If a performance sucks, they’re going to tell you about it. And Alexi Lalas, a former soccer star and pundit for Fox Sports, certainly told us about it. While covering a match between the Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy, Lalas unleashes a barrage of insults against the national United States soccer team. He singles out specific people, including Tim Howard, Geoff Cameron, and Clint Dempsey, and says that those he didn’t single out “don’t even warrant a mention.” And that’s before calling them all “soft, underperforming, tattooed millionaires.” We don’t know if this is tough love or just straight up mean!

If this list proves anything, it’s that meteorologists are hanging on by a thread! This outburst concerns Chad Myers, the severe weather expert for CNN. While discussing Hurricane Katrina, anchor Carol Costello interrupts Myers and asks him to clarify the complex and technical terminology that he's using. Myers proceeds to yell, “Let me talk, Carol!” and throws his papers on the ground in frustration. Costello and Myers both laugh the incident off, and Myers states that he was “just having fun” with Costello. It seems clear that they do this simply to diffuse the palpable tension, because Myers was obviously not “having fun.” He is stressed the heck out.

This is a hot one. OK, not literally, but there is fire involved! Mika Brzezinski is the co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” a weekday morning political talk show. Back in 2007, Brzezinski grew frustrated with the constant coverage of Paris Hilton. She attempts to set her news documents on fire, saying, “I’m done with the Paris Hilton story!” When her co-anchor takes the lighter away, Brzezinski gets up and throws the papers into a nearby paper shredder. When reflecting on the moment for a ten-year anniversary special, co-anchor Willie Geist called it “a symbolic moment for the show,” in that Brzezinski was refusing to air and discuss such trivial matters of celebrity.

Back in October 2014, Ben Affleck appeared on the talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” alongside author and podcast host Sam Harris. And it didn’t take too long for the fireworks to really get going. The discussion veers towards the subjects of radical Islam and Islamophobia, and battle lines are quickly drawn. Maher claims that Islam is “the only religion that acts like the Mafia” and Harris says that “Islam is the motherload of bad ideas.” The Oscar winner then goes off on the two men, calling their assertions “gross,” “racist,” and “ugly things to say.” All this while sitting back in his chair in frustration and muttering “Jesus Christ” under his breath. So, suffice to say he didn’t agree with their opinions.

And here we have another disagreement arising over religion and extremism. Back in 2010, political commentator Bill O’Reilly appeared on “The View” to promote his book “Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama.” The discussion turns towards an Islamic community center called Park51, then scheduled to be built near Ground Zero. O’Reilly claims (without proof) that “70% of Americans don’t want that” and that it’s inappropriate “because Muslims killed us on 9/11.” Whoopi yells “Oh my God!,” shoots back in her seat, and swears at O’Reilly, before she and Joy Behar storm off the set. This is anything but scripted, just a real impassioned reaction.

This legendary argument took place on July 19, 2001. “Good Day New York” anchorman Jim Ryan is watching a report from Dick Oliver on a landlord-tenant dispute. It’s pretty normal, everyday stuff. Until it isn’t. After Oliver lets his tenant interviewee leave, Ryan chastises him for the quality of his reporting. This results in a bitter and very awkward back and forth on live television, and you can even see the tenant cringing and suppressing a laugh in the background. This incident would become so infamous that it inspired Bill Hader’s “Herb Welch” character on “Saturday Night Live,” with Hader portraying an elderly reporter as combative as he is incompetent.

Back in 1992, Mike Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison for the rape of 18-year-old Desiree Washington. This topic was brought up years later, in 2014, when Tyson was visiting Toronto’s “CP24” news channel on a promotional tour after meeting with the city’s then-mayor, Rob Ford. News anchor Nathan Downer broaches the idea that the mayoral meeting could possibly have interfered with Ford’s election race, as Tyson is a “convicted rapist.” And Tyson is not happy. He initially responds in a seemingly controlled manner before utterly and profanely losing his composure multiple times eventually calling Downer “a rat piece of shit.” Downer reminds Tyson that they were on live TV, but he doesn’t seem to care. At all.