35+ Celebrities Who Were Banned From Talk Shows And The Real Reasons Why

Charles Grodin – Saturday Night Live

Charles Grodin, renowned for his role as the stern father in the film Beethoven, found himself among the individuals banned from Saturday Night Live. This talented actor joined the list of notable figures who faced restrictions from appearing on the show. This is because when he hosted the show in 1977, the late actor made some interesting character choices. Grodin wanted to play a meta version of himself who was bad at hosting SNL.

Evan Agostini / Liaison Agenc

Consequently, Grodin intentionally neglected his lines, delivered terrible ad-libbing, and performed poorly in his sketches, contributing to a lackluster and unsuccessful appearance on the show.

Louise Lasser – Saturday Night Live

Louise Lasser, renowned as Woody Allen’s second wife and a prominent actress of the 1970s, achieved the infamous distinction of being the first-ever guest host to be banned from Saturday Night Live. While hosting the finale of season one, Lasser was incoherent and didn’t seem like herself. According to reports, Lasser proved to be exceptionally challenging to collaborate with, insisting on not appearing in scenes alongside any cast members except Chevy Chase.

Image via T.A.T. Communications Company

Her unwillingness to work with others made the production process difficult, ultimately leading to her ban from the show. Lorne Michaels was so upset about the episode that he never let it re-air again.

Sinead O’Connor – Saturday Night Live

Sinead O’Connor, the singer who gained prominence in the 1980s, has consistently been a controversial figure, known for her outspokenness and candid expression of her beliefs. However, one stunt she pulled while performing on SNL sent producers and fans over the edge, making her unwelcome at the show ever again.

Image via YouTube

During a performance of Bob Marley’s “War,” Sinead O’Connor infamously took out a picture of Pope John Paul II and tore it in half while passionately singing the word “evil” and urging people to “fight the real enemy.” The entire studio went silent because they couldn’t believe what happened.

Heather Mills – Piers Morgan Live

You may be curious about what Paul McCartney’s ex-wife did to upset Piers Morgan and subsequently get banned from his show. The incident revolves around their divorce. It seems Morgan wasn’t happy with their settlement as he was the one who introduced the pair. Following the divorce, Heather Mills received a settlement of $50 million, which contributed to the emotional and financial distress Piers Morgan felt responsible for.

shutterstock

As a result, he imposed a lifetime ban on Mills as a way to compensate for the pain he believed he had caused. That seems pretty dramatic, considering he didn’t cause their divorce.

Rage Against The Machine – Saturday Night Live

Rage Against the Machine is a rock band known for their strong liberal political beliefs. Hence, fans found it rather peculiar when they discovered that McCartney and Mills were the musical act on Saturday Night Live during the same week that Republican presidential nominee Steve Forbes made an appearance on the show.

Trixie Textor/Getty Image

Right before they performed, the band hung American flags upside down from the amps, only to get taken down seconds later by stagehands. Subsequently, the band was abruptly removed from the stage and faced a ban from future appearances on the show.

Fear – Saturday Night Live

While the punk rock band Fear might not be a familiar name to everyone, many are aware of their biggest fan, John Belushi. In 1981, Belushi had already left SNL to pursue an acting career, but he wanted to help the band. So when he couldn’t get them on the soundtrack for his movie, he got them a gig on SNL.

George Rose/Getty Images

Despite the well-intentioned gesture, things did not go as planned. The band, Fear, ended up using highly offensive language during their performance and caused significant damage amounting to $20,000. They were subsequently banned.

Kim Burrell is Not a Fan of The Gay Community

While numerous bans from appearing on Ellen’s show remain as rumors or speculation, one person’s exclusion has been officially confirmed. Gospel singer Kim Burrell is not permitted on the show due to negative comments she made about the gay community.

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

Ellen said, “I actually didn’t know her; her name is Kim Burrell. She made a statement when she was doing a Facebook Live, and she said some very not nice things about homosexuals, so I didn’t feel that it was good of me to have her on the show to give her a platform after she was saying things about me.”

Sherri Shepherd – Ellen

While Ellen DeGeneres advocates for kindness towards others, it is known that she has made the decision to exclude numerous potential guests from her show who do not align with her beliefs. One of those people was Sherri Shepherd.

Erika Goldring/Getty Images

Degeneres decided to ban The View host from her show because of comments she made that DeGeneres perceived as anti-gay. There were rumors suggesting that DeGeneres was upset with Shepherd for allegedly drawing away her audience.

Elvis Costello – Saturday Night Live

In the 1970s, as Elvis Costello was establishing his reputation both in the UK and America, he received an invitation to perform on Saturday Night Live. Prior to the show, he agreed to perform the song “Less than Zero.” However, as he started to sing the song, he did something shocking. Costello yelled, “Stop! Stop,” and said, “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen,” he added, “but there’s no reason to do this song here.”

Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

During his appearance, Elvis Costello decided to perform his song “Radio Radio,” which contained lyrics critical of corporate-controlled broadcasting. This unexpected choice left Lorne Michaels, the show’s producer, furious. As a consequence, Costello faced a ban from performing on Saturday Night Live for a staggering 12-year period.

Cherie Blair – Piers Morgan

While Piers Morgan maintains a cordial relationship with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the outspoken TV host doesn’t hold a favorable opinion of Blair’s wife. Morgan said it was a clash of personalities. He also said if she were to be on the show, he believes it would get violent. Morgan is definitely not shy about banning people from his show.

Rob Stothard/Getty Images

However, it could be considered quite audacious to suggest that Blair would engage in a verbal altercation with him if they were to appear together on the air.

<< Previous