16 Celebrities Who Have Been Banned From Talk Shows

Good conversations on TV Shows typically have the same structure: the guest shares one or two hilarious stories about their personal or professional lives, they highlight their most recent accomplishments, and the host graciously extends their appreciation.
But that doesn't always happen when a guest shows up. It's quite normal when an interview with a famous person on a talk show isn't going well. Some left turns during talk show interviews can result in the guest leaving the stage or never being asked back. Some celebrities, including the very next 16 names, have been banned from appearing on talk shows. Some people blamed it on a particular appearance that went horribly wrong. Others attributed it to the host's dislike of them.
Read on to find out how these well-known people came to be banned, along with a tale involving Madonna and a crucial loaf of bread. These Celebrities Banned From Talk Show might include your favorite stars. 

#1 All the Kardashians

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The best place to share somebody you don't want on your show is on Watch What Happens Live. Cohen asked 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 show had been renewed and continued, "The guys on it seem dreadful."

#2 Dax Shepard

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After a 2004 appearance during which he was battling a drug and alcohol use disorder, actor Dax Shepard received a lengthy suspension from Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The Punk'd star looked to slur his words during his time on the program, destroyed a small table while comically falling over, and deviated from the story he was intended to deliver. Shepard said as much on the Pursuit of Healthiness podcast in May 2021: "I was banned from that show for some years until I got sober,"   Conan O'Brien interviewed him a "bazillion times" after that, he continued.

#3 Donald Trump

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It's not surprising that Donald Trump won't appear on many talk shows as a guest. To begin with, O'Donnell forbade Trump long before he became president. In June 2021, she told Vulture that she would not invite him to appear on her program because she believed he was a hack.
More recently, during the 2016 campaign, Seth Meyers barred Trump from appearing on his show.  "We instituted this ban even though he's never been here, or asked to be here, or would ever be caught dead here, and I just think that takes an amazing amount of courage on our part," Meyers jokingly said.
One of the people who indicated they wouldn't interview Trump is Ellen DeGeneres. "I don't want to give him a platform because it just validates him."

#4 Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump

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His older sons are also banned, making Trump not the only member of his family to do so. Jimmy Kimmel identified Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. as the two guests he would not be hosting on his show during a 2019 interview on Watch What Happens Live. At the time, Kimmel didn't go into detail about why, but he did once state on his show about the family,  "The president's son, Eric Trump… Is he the smart one? No, there are no smart ones."

#5 Howard Stern

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Since 1995, when Stern visited The Tonight Show, he and Leno have been at odds with each other. In what Stern claimed to be the first lesbian kiss on television, he brought two adult film stars on stage with him, according to Entertainment Tonight Canada. According to reports, Leno came into Stern's show and claimed that the radio host had "gone beyond the accepted limits" and gone beyond the acceptable standards" 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 maggot." It is hardly shocking that he was not called back.

#6 Hugh Grant

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In a 2012 fundraising interview with Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart stated that he would "never" bring Hugh Grant back to The Daily Show. According to Stewart, Grant complained 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 said "He's giving everyone s*** the whole time, and he's a big pain in the a**,"
Grant responded by posting on Twitter, "Turns out my inner crab got the better of me with TV producer in 09. Unforgivable. J Stewart correct to give me kicking."

#7 Jay Leno

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A talk show argument between Leno and O'Brien in 2010 was so serious that it got its own Wikipedia article. O'Brien was assured he would take over as host of The Tonight Show, but there was a problem with the NBC contracts for both hosts. O'Brien did take over as host of The Tonight Show, but Leno was later brought back. Later, O'Brien hosted Conan on TBS and declared that Leno would never be a guest.
O'Brien stated to Playboy in 2010: "He can come as the musical guest, because that I want to see; no one knows he has an operatic range," But he said, "No, there are certain things I will not do, regardless of the price."

#8 Joan Rivers

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The Tonight Show forbade Joan Rivers to appear for over 30 years.
There, the comic got her start, and she even served as a guest host while Johnny Carson was in charge of the show. However, when Rivers obtained her show on Fox in 1986, Carson forbade her from ever coming back to The Tonight Show, stating that she hadn't been completely honest with him about leaving for her show. Then, during his time as host of the program, Jay Leno maintained the prohibition "out of respect for Johnny." Rivers eventually made a comeback to The Tonight Show stage in 2014 when Jimmy Fallon took over as host. She told Variety: "Being in the studio brought back the most wonderful, wonderful memories of the night that jump-started my career."

#9 Kathy Griffin

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Comedian Kathy Griffin has been banned from many talk shows. Griffin said that she was barred from The Late Show "for years" after David Letterman took offense at her during an appearance with O'Donnell in 2012. Additionally, she claimed that she was kicked off The View for making a joke about Barbara Walters, the show's creator 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 claimed that after a "long time," she wasn't invited back to The Tonight Show, but that they had reunited.

#10 Kelsey Grammer

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After leaving the set of a 2012 interview for the movie Fraiser, Morgan removed Kelsey Grammer from his talk show. According to Express UK, Grammer left the area when he noticed that a picture of his ex-wife, Camille Grammer, had been used as the episode's opening image. When Morgan tweeted,  "So, Kelsey Grammer saw a photo of his ex-wife, Camille, in the open to our show and legged it. Extraordinary. Never had this happened before." It was also apparently Morgan's last time inviting Grammer, according to reports. In a statement, Grammer's representative reportedly said, "Piers needs to take responsibility for what he did to Kelsey. It's called accountability."

#11 Leif Garrett

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Leif Garrett, a former teen hero, was reportedly banned from Rosie O'Donnell's show because she said he had a "fresh wound from a pipe that he used for crack" on his face the one time he appeared. Garrett, though, refuted O'Donnell's account. He admitted to TooFab, "I was at that time, for that show, I was sober,"
It's on YouTube, Garrett said, "I don't know if she's got Alzheimer's or doesn't remember what happened, but it's on YouTube," "You can watch the clip on YouTube. She said I had a little burn on my face from using crack, which is so not true." He did admit that he was concealing a drug-related wound on his hand with a scarf at the time.

#12 Madonna

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For years, Madonna and Piers Morgan have engaged in what appears to be a one-sided argument over... bread? Morgan outlined the reasons for the pop star's exclusion from his CNN show on Access Hollywood in 2011.
"There was a bread roll throwing incident in London in the mid-'90s; there was an incident at a hotel in the south of France [at] the Cannes Film Festival involving a photographer and a bodyguard; there's been an incident involving a pub owned by her recently departed husband, Guy Ritchie, where my brother was the manager." Additionally, he stated that Madonna's manager had informed him that the singer was not expecting a child, but the following day, the news surfaced in another publication.

#13 Omarosa Manigault Newman

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Omarosa Manigault Newman, a star of The Apprentice and a former adviser to Donald Trump, was one of the persons Andy Cohen mentioned during Jimmy Kimmel's visit on Watch What Happens Live as people he wouldn't have on his show. Cohen had already made a joke about the possibility of the reality star joining the Real Housewives. In 2018, the executive producer tweeted, "That's a HARD PASS."

#14 Piers Morgan

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Morgan has done some banning, including himself. Morgan was prohibited by O'Donnell from appearing on her 2011–2012 OWN program The Rosie Show. Access Hollywood questioned O'Donnell about who she wouldn't let appear on the show, and O'Donnell responded, "Yes, I've banned Piers Morgan. He banned Madonna for no reason when his show started, so I'm banning Piers Morgan! I don't have anybody banned, but if I have to make a list, he's on it."

#15 Vince Vaughn

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After having appeared in a film that contained a homophobic joke, Vince Vaughn allegedly received a ban from The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The Dilemma's 2011 trailer had Vaughn's character claiming, "Electric cars are gay. I mean, not homosexual, but my-parents-are-chaperoning-the-dance gay." The phrase was later dropped from the trailer but retained in the film. Vaughn wasn't going to appear on DeGeneres' show again, according to Page Six, although he did start doing so a few years later. According to another source who spoke to Page Six, Vaughn and DeGeneres "love each other" and that the reason he wasn't on the show was that he wasn't marketing anything.

#16 Vivica A. Fox

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Vivica A. Fox is another celeb who has been barred from Jimmy Kimmel Live! According to Hollywood.com, when Fox appeared on Kimmel's show in 2005, he made fun of her friend Star Jones, which led to her leaving the interview before it was finished. Later, Kimmel declared he wouldn't let Fox back on during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live. Later, in 2015, Fox remarked during her appearance on WWHL, "He dissed my good friend Star Jones, and I had just been in her wedding. And, you know, I'm a ride-or-die chick. You're not going to talk about my sister." Fox added that she was taken aback by Kimmel's claim that he had banned her since he had already expressed regret to her.