10 Reasons Celebs Were Banned From Talk Shows

When a celebrity talk show interview isn't going well, it's quite evident. The typical structure of those conversations is as follows: the guest shares one or two amusing anecdotes about their personal or professional lives, highlights their most recent endeavors and concludes with a nice thank-you from the host. However, a guest's appearance doesn't always go as planned. When a talk show interview takes a wrong turn, the guest can leave the stage or never be asked back.
Some celebrities, including the following ten names, have been prohibited from appearing on talk programs. For some, it was a specific appearance that suddenly worsened. Others said it was because the host just disliked them.

1. Joan Rivers - 'The Tonight Show'

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For over 30 years, Joan Rivers was barred from appearing on The Tonight Show. The comedian got her start there, and while Johnny Carson was in charge of the show, she served as a guest presenter. However, once Rivers received a Fox program of her own in 1986, Carson forbade her from ever appearing on The Tonight Show again, stating that she had not been honest with him about leaving for her show.
The prohibition was later maintained by Jay Leno when he was the show's host "out of respect for Johnny." When Jimmy Fallon took over as host of The Tonight Show in 2014, Rivers made his long-awaited comeback to the show. According to her statement to Variety, "being in the studio brought back the most lovely, fantastic memories of the night that launched my career."

2. Leif Garrett - 'Watch What Happens Live'

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Rosie O'Donnell said during a May 2020 interview on Watch What Happens Live that she had barred former teen star Leif Garrett from her program because the one time he appeared, he had a "new wound from a pipe that he used for crack" on his face.
She said he got hurt while awaiting the interview in the green room. Garrett, though, refuted O'Donnell's account. He admitted to TooFab, "I was sober at that moment, for that show.

3. Madonna - 'Access Hollywood'

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Controversial talk show presenter Piers Morgan has been involved in a long-running, seemingly one-sided battle with Madonna about bread. Morgan outlined why the pop star was excluded from his CNN show on Access Hollywood in 2011.
He said that he and Madonna had never actually agreed on anything. "There was an incident involving a photographer and a bodyguard at a hotel in the south of France during the Cannes Film Festival. Another incident involved a bar owned by her recently deceased husband, Guy Ritchie, where my brother was the manager.

4. Hugh Grant - 'The Daily Show'

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In a 2012 fundraising interview with Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart said he would "never" bring Hugh Grant back to The Daily Show. According to Stewart, Grant grumbled about the clip from his film, Did You Hear About the Morgans? that was supposed to be broadcast during his time on the program and claimed he had other things he needed to do. Stewart referred to the man as "a major pain in the a**" and "giving everyone s*** the whole time."

5. Donald Trump - 'Seth Meyers' Show'

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It's hardly unexpected that Donald Trump won't appear on many talk programs as a guest. To begin with, O'Donnell forbade Trump long before he became president. She admitted to thinking he was a hack when she told Vulture in June 2021 that she wouldn't have him on her program, which ran in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
More recently, during the 2016 campaign, Seth Meyers barred Trump from appearing on his show. Even though he has never visited, begged to come here, or would ever be seen dead here, we implemented this ban. Meyers jokingly said it takes an unbelievable amount of guts on our side.

6. Kardashians - 'Watch What Happens Live'

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The best place to share somebody you don't want on your program is on Watch What Happens Live. Cohen questioned Anderson Cooper in 2012 about which guests he wouldn't accept on his daytime talk program. Cooper chose the entire Kardashian family rather than just one individual.
On his broadcast, Anderson also mocked the Kardashians. He said it was "depressing" that their reality TV program had been renewed and continued, "The men on it appear horrible."

7. Kathy Griffin - several Shows

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Comedian Kathy Griffin has been blacklisted from several talk shows. Griffin said she was expelled from The Late Show "for years" after offending David Letterman in an interview with O'Donnell in 2012 (via HuffPost).
Additionally, she claimed that she was kicked off The View for making a joke about Barbara Walters, the show's originator, and a longstanding co-host, having sex with Howard Stern. She then made a statement about a time when Jay Leno made her weep during an interview. She said that after a "long period," she wasn't invited back to The Tonight Show, but they had reconciled.

8. Piers Morgan - 'The Rosie Show'

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Both Morgan and others have been blacklisted for their actions by Morgan. O'Donnell barred Morgan from appearing in her program The Rosie Show, which ran from 2011 to 2012. When Access Hollywood asked O'Donnell whether there was anyone she wouldn't let appear, she responded, "Piers Morgan has indeed been barred.
When his program debuted, he arbitrarily banned Madonna, so I'm banning Piers Morgan! Although I don't have anyone on a ban list, he would be on it if I had to." O'Donnell and Madonna are close friends and co-stars in the 1992 film A League of Their Own.

9. Howard Stern -  'The Tonight Show'

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Since 1995, when Stern visited The Tonight Show, he and Leno have been at odds with one another. In what Stern claimed to be the first lesbian kiss on television, he invited two adult film stars on stage with him, according to Entertainment Tonight Canada.
According to reports, Leno came into Stern's show and said that the radio host had "gone beyond the accepted limits" after claiming that Stern "s*** in his house." Since then, Stern has been a harsh critic of Leno and has even referred to him as a "spineless grub." It is hardly shocking that he was not called back.

10. Dax Shepard - 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien'

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After an appearance in 2004 that took place while he was battling a drug and alcohol issue, actor Dax Shepard was permanently barred from appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The Punk actor looked to slur his words, destroyed a small table while comically falling over, and deviated from the narrative he was intended to deliver during his time on the program.