Top 10 Cringiest Celebrity Interviews

As the backstage drama with 2024’s “It Ends with Us” unfolded, journalist Kjersti Flaa reuploaded her 2016 interview with Blake Lively and Parker Posey. There to promote “Café Society,” the chat went off the rails after Flaa congratulated Lively on her pregnancy, referencing her “little bump.” Immediately, the actor turned it around by doing the same for the Norwegian’s “little bump,” although Flaa was not pregnant. When Flaa asked them about the 1930s costumes, Lively questioned if men get asked the same. The two actors then talked amongst themselves for the remainder. It was bizarre, and the actors were called “mean girls.” To make it worse, Flaa said that at the time, she was experiencing fertility issues that added extra pain from that comment.

Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland have a long, controversial relationship. From the ‘60s until 1998, “The Troubles,” a series of conflicts between Brits, Republicans, and Loyalists took place. So it can be problematic to call an Irish person “British.” As part of the press junket for 2010’s “Inception,” actors Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy spoke to a journalist who said both actors were British. When Murphy corrected him that he was Irish, the interviewer double-downed. Once more, the “Oppenheimer” star reiterated his nationality, only for the journalist to say he was from an “area of North Europe.” Hardy’s uncomfortable head shakes and grimaces only pointed up the awkwardness of the exchange.

In 2011, ABC’s Dan Harris sat down with Paris Hilton after the third arrest of stalker James Rainford. The conversation started standard enough, with Harris asking the Reality TV legend about her screen persona. But then he got more combative as he asked Hilton if she worried Kim Kardashian was overshadowing her. While the heiress responded that she wasn’t worried, Harris didn’t drop the subject. Then he got brutal by asking if she worried if her moment had passed. This caused Hilton to look off-camera to her publicist and then leave. Later, she returned to finish the interview, but no one would've blamed Hilton if she hadn’t after that disrespect.

Considering everything that came out about “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Dakota Johnson is even more of a hero for standing up against the former talk show host. In 2019, Johnson came onto the show to promote her work in “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” DeGeneres immediately brought up the actor’s 30th birthday party and mentioned she wasn’t invited. Johnson called her out, stating she had asked her, which DeGeneres’s producers confirmed. DeGeneres made an awkward attempt at covering by saying she “had a thing” and only just remembered the invite. Johnson also went viral for her 2015 interaction with her mom, Melanie Griffith. Interviewed at the Oscars’ pre-show, Johnson took shots at Griffith for refusing to watch “Fifty Shades of Grey” due to the intimate scenes.

After being sued for battery in 2023, people began revisiting Vin Diesel’s super cringy and objectifying interview in 2016. Speaking to Brazilian YouTuber Caról Moreíra to promote “XXX: Return of Xander Cage,” the actor was immediately weird in how he spoke to Moreíra. And it only got worse. Diesel kept interrupting Moreíra with variations of him saying how beautiful she was, even looking around the room for others to support him. By the end, he got on his knees and shuffled towards her. Yikes. In the video she uploaded, during the introduction, Moreíra stated that while she laughed when it happened, she was uncomfortable and didn’t like the situation at all.

Who knew that if you start an interview by introducing the guest with the wrong name, the rest might not go too well. In 2015, to promote “Paper Towns,” Cara Delevingne appeared on “Good Morning Sacramento” after she was introduced as “Carla.” After getting some sarcastic responses, such as responding that she hadn’t read the book or script, Mark Allen pushed his way into the conversation to ask if she was exhausted due to her lack of excitement. Taken back, Delevingne responded well before Marianne McClary took further shots by patronizingly telling the actor to take a nap or drink Red Bull. The book’s author, John Green, called out the casual sexism displayed by the hosts. Delevingne later posted they didn’t understand her sarcasm.

An interview likely caused too much controversy when the hosts scrub the video from their channel. That’s what happened with “The Zach Sang Show.” In 2024, as Sabrina Carpenter’s popularity rose, fans discovered her 2017 interview on the podcast. During it, co-host Dan Zolot questioned Carpenter if she had received intimate text messages. Already massively inappropriate, it gets worse with the knowledge that moments before, he asked Carpenter her age and realized she was a minor at 17. But Zolot still went ahead with the gross question! Carpenter, clearly uncomfortable, does a great job of diplomatically responding. Sang then chimed in that getting intimate photos is an “ego boost” for him, which was also weird.

Every so often, this infamous incident on the “Late Show with David Letterman” in 1998 gets showcased to a new audience, and they too get to be as creeped out as everyone else who’s seen it. Speaking to Jennifer Aniston to promote her work in “The Object of My Affection,” Letterman scooted behind the actor and told her to forgive him if it’s rude. He grabbed her neck, slowly leaned in, frightening the actor, and finished by putting strands of her hair in his mouth and sucking! Horrendous. He then hands her a tissue to wipe his drool away. This incident, and other controversies when interviewing female celebrities, have called into question Letterman’s legacy as a legend in the talk show industry.

In 2014, KTLA’s Sam Rubin spoke to Samuel L. Jackson to promote the movie “RoboCop.” But it went off the rails when the journalist asked the actor about the reaction he got from his Super Bowl commercial. It seemed that the interviewer had confused Jackson with another Black actor, Laurence Fishburne. The actor then berated Rubin, telling him that while he and Fishburne are both Black and famous, they “don’t all look alike.” Afterward, Rubin apologized and explained that he was referring to the “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” trailer but had gotten flustered. Weeks later, the duo met on camera again and showed it was water under the bridge as Samuel jokingly mocked Rubin’s mistake.

In her 2023 memoir, Britney Spears called this interview “completely humiliating” and described it as a “breaking point.” And that’s understandable. In 2003, she spoke to Diane Sawyer for “Primetime.” The journalist seemed to have an agenda against Spears and felt entitled to know all about her private life. Sawyer probed the singer on the reasoning behind her breakup with Justin Timberlake and took his side. She then brought up a threatening remark then-First Lady of Maryland Kendel Ehrlich had made about Spears, which clearly stung. Sawyer scolded Spears throughout, criticizing her more provocative side, shaming her as much as possible, and making her cry. It’s horrendous that a journalist could behave this way toward a young celebrity and suffer no repercussions at the time.

Who’s the most wholesome interviewer? Alison Hammond? Sean Evans? Kelly Clarkson? Or someone else? Let us know below!