Talk Show Hosts Who Are Terrible People

Think of classic American TV, and alongside the westerns, sitcoms, and cop dramas, you may picture the relatively humble-looking talk show, in which hosts invite guests — usually famous, often funny and entertaining — to simply converse for the sake of the viewer's entertainment. But these benign personalities are sometimes very much an act for their audiences, and on occasion, their flaws are exposed for all to see — warts and all.

The legendary Johnny Carson, host of "The Tonight Show" from 1962 to 1992, is often considered the architect of the classic talk show format. Since then, talk shows have become ubiquitous, with even news shows having taken on the talk show format, to feature news anchors, expert pundits, and other guests mingling at a studio desk to discuss the latest current events, opinions, and forecasts. But in the age of streaming, rolling news, and the immediacy and ease of social media platforms, traditional TV talk shows are on the wane. And, with the media landscape changing, many stars are moving on to greener pastures, which may be just as well, as the age of the all-powerful talk show host has truly ended.

In recent years, hosts that may have assumed that they had made it to the point in their careers, where they would be revered like Carson, are facing intense scrutiny in terms of their behavior on and off camera, with some seeing their careers go up in smoke as a result. Here are some of those whose reputations have recently taken a nosedive, thanks to their own terrible behavior.

Few talk show hosts in the history of American television have spoken with such a sense of having the moral high ground as Bill O'Reilly, whose show "The O'Reilly Factor" featured fiery monologs concerning the state of the nation, as well as interviews with figures from across the political spectrum, each of whom would feel the brunt of O'Reilly's trademark sneer. By 2016, he was the most popular host on Fox News, having won an Emmy and set the template for the network's firebrand style of news commentary.

Some sense of O'Reilly's off-screen personality has previously emerged through various outtakes that were uploaded to YouTube, which featured the host ranting and raving at members of his production crew. But few could have predicted the nature of the Fox News Channel's key anchor's downfall.

In the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against O'Reilly's Fox colleague Roger Ailes in 2016, the following year The New York Times broke a story in which it was claimed that O'Reilly's team had spent tens of millions of dollars settling similar claims against O'Reilly. O'Reilly denied any wrongdoing, as well as accusations that he had been abusive to his ex-wife. But as Fox began to hemorrhage advertisers, pressure grew to remove him from the network, and he left with a $25 million payoff.

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NBC's long-running "Today" show was first broadcast way back in 1952, and became such a staple of American TV that on its 60th anniversary, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama made a special appearance to commemorate the occasion. Many talented anchors have fronted the beloved show down the years, but in the 21st century, one name was more closely associated with "Today" than any other: Matt Lauer.

In November 2017, The New York Times reported that Lauer had been fired from the show he had hosted for two decades after an internal investigation, following a complaint from a female colleague. Variety later published an exclusive feature claiming that Lauer had sexually harassed multiple female colleagues, which included the star exposing his genitals, making lewd remarks, and, in one incident, buying a co-worker a sex toy.

Things went even further in 2019, when Ronan Farrow published his book "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators," in which the journalist shared testimony from Lauer's former NBC colleague Brooke Nevils — with whom Lauer had conducted an extramarital affair while covering the 2014 Sochi Olympics – claimed that the "Today" anchor had raped her. Lauer later admitted publicly to the affair but said that all physical contact was consensual. Farrow's book also makes the shocking claim that Harvey Weinstein used his knowledge of Lauer's industry-known sexual misconduct to keep stories about himself from being broadcast. Years on from his shock firing, Lauer remains largely off the air.

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Don Imus set the template when it came to over-the-top radio broadcasting. During the almost half a century that his widely syndicated show, "Imus in the Morning," was on the air, Imus' anarchic and unpredictable presenting style never wavered.

However, the broadcaster seemingly showed his true colors in 2007, when he used a racial slur to refer to the Rutgers University women's basketball team. Imus apologized, but for his critics, that wasn't enough.

Imus was often compared in the later part of his career with Howard Stern, a fellow radio "shock jock" who typically sailed close to the bone in terms of what is legally broadcastable. However, when Imus' career seemed ready to implode, Stern condemned his fellow talk radio star, discussing with his sidekick Robin Quivers, who is Black, Imus' history of using racist language, which Quivers said she had experienced firsthand. "If there's a blackened core of a human being, that's Imus," Stern told his listeners, and suggested Imus' supposed popularity with the public was exaggerated (via howardstern.com). Nonetheless, Imus was back on the air within months, albeit shorn of much of his previous syndication.

In the years that Jimmy Fallon has been hosting "The Tonight Show," his on-screen persona has become something of a meme thanks to his monotonously gleeful tone, which he adopts in almost every interview and segment.

But a recent bombshell report published in Rolling Stone in September 2023 tells a different story, suggesting Fallon behind the desk and Fallon off camera are two separate people entirely, especially when interacting with his coworkers. In the piece, journalist Krystie Lee Yandoli shared the testimony of two "Tonight Show" staffers and 14 former employees, who claim that Fallon is a difficult and erratic star.

Though the show has remained a runaway success since Fallon took over in 2014, those interviewed claimed that "The Tonight Show" has long been created in a toxic work environment, with much of the tension dependent on the kind of mood its star is in on any particular day. Outsiders have pointed to the turnover of nine showrunners in as many years as evidence of the chaos that has underpinned the show. One interviewee said: "Nobody told Jimmy, 'No.' Everybody walked on eggshells, especially showrunners ... You never knew which Jimmy we were going to get and when he was going to throw a hissy fit. Look how many showrunners went so quickly. We know they didn't last long." Rolling Stone later reported that Fallon had since apologized to those involved.

Dr. Oz (first name Mehmet) formerly worked as a surgeon for many years, so it seemed to many that his advice was grounded in medical reality. But even before he was famous, Oz was an advocate of alternative medicines, and as his fame grew in the late 2000s, following a slew of book publications and TV appearances — including his own "Dr. Oz Show" — the blessing of "America's doctor" could make or break a particular drug or treatment in the U.S. market, whether studies backed up its efficacy or not.

Even in the early years of Oz's public life, medical experts began sounding the alarm over the former surgeon's willingness to promote quack treatments, such as homeopathy and the intervention of self-professed psychics (per Missouri Medicine). Meanwhile, Scientific American has condemned Oz as a purveyor of pseudoscience and misinformation, who is interested more in making a profit than helping people. The magazine notes that some of Oz's cures, such as his suggestion of taking hydroxychloroquine to combat COVID-19, are actively harmful.

The British comedy actor James Corden was a renowned and respected stage and screen performer in the early 2000s, but he only really made a big splash in the U.S. when he became the host of "The Late Late Show" in 2015. Under his stewardship, the show maintained the silly and anarchic style that viewers had grown accustomed to. Segments such as "Carpool Karaoke," which saw Corden giving full voice to various hits alongside various A-list celebrities, often went viral, raising Corden's profile during his tenure.

Corden announced in 2022 that he would be leaving the show in the following year, reportedly to spend more time with his family. But the announcement coincided with a seismic reputational shift for Corden, whose relative anonymity in the early days seemed to play to his advantage. But as the years passed, for many, his attention-seeking presenting style came to overshadow many of his guests, hinting, critics said, at Corden's hugely inflated ego.

And in recent years, lurid stories concerning the talk show host's behavior offscreen also began to shape how the viewing public perceived him. One in particular, in which the owner of the prestigious Balthazar restaurant in Soho, London, accused Corden of being "a tiny cretin of a man" and "the most abusive customer" he had encountered since the restaurant began a quarter of a century earlier, spread across the internet like wildfire. Others also shared their unfortunate encounters with the star, who was criticized as "difficult" by a former colleague, per The News International.

The name Jeremy Kyle isn't particularly well known in the U.S., but ask any Brit, and they will tell you that Kyle is synonymous with a particularly nihilistic form of daytime programming that often makes "The Jerry Springer Show" look lighthearted.

The bread and butter of "The Jeremy Kyle Show" — a version of which did air in the U.S. in the early 2010s – involves inviting members of the British public to discuss infidelity, paternity, betrayal, addiction, and all manner of scandals that people might find themselves entangled in their private lives. However, the added appeal — if you can call it that — of the show is Kyle himself, whose trademark turn is to bellow moralistic denunciations into the faces of those he shames, making the show feel less like public therapy and more like a kangaroo court. The infamous show was a constant presence on British TV for many years.

But amid sustained criticism that the show purposefully courted participants' distress for pure entertainment, tragedy struck, when a guest who had failed a lie detector test on the show died by suicide shortly after. Accounts of mistreatment by the show's producers, and news of another death related to the show, convinced the broadcaster, ITV, to drop Kyle in 2019.

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The TV personality and former model Tyra Banks is undoubtedly a big personality, whose charm and charisma pushed "The Tyra Banks Show" — a daily talk show that aired between 2005 and 2010 — to two back-to-back Emmy wins in 2008 and 2009.

But the thing she is most famous for is undoubtedly "America's Next Top Model," a show she created and executive produced. The show was a network smash for both the United Paramount Network and The CW, and remained a cult favorite after its 2018 finale. However, in recent years, former fans have looked back at the show — and Banks' role in particular — and been forced to re-evaluate. Ostensibly a talent show, "America's Next Top Model" featured countless moments in which the judges, especially Banks, were brutal in their treatment of contestants, whom they criticized with reference to such factors as their weight and sexuality. As reported by Business Insider, some alleged that Banks' show also exposed contestants to unsafe working conditions and emotional trauma.

But perhaps the most damning episode in the ongoing backlash against "America's Next Top Model" is the story of Angelea Preston, who had told producers she had previously worked as an escort. Preston later sued Banks and the show, claiming that she had been disqualified because of her past, though the suit was later dropped in 2018. When old clips of "America's Next Top Model" took the internet by storm in 2020, Banks took to Twitter to apologize for the show's "insensitivity."