Reporters Who Had Meltdowns At Their Guests On Live TV

Even though the world is a very big place, not enough truly newsworthy stuff happens to fill 24 hours of airtime. With the advent of cable news came the 24-hour news cycle, in which outlets like CNN and Fox News keep anchors and reporters in front of a camera and behind a microphone all day, every day. They have to fill time somehow, and in a way that makes for engaging and exciting television, which is why so many cable news networks load their days with discussion programs. Either in a one-on-one format or featuring a large panel, it's a foundational concept in TV news — people from mostly opposite ends of the political spectrum discussing, debating, and even fighting about current events.

It's up to a cable news host or anchor to keep the proceedings civil and moving forward. They don't always succeed with that. While respected news anchors can be terrible people, many of these trained journalists and television personalities can sometimes get caught up in the heat of the moment or get so offended (rightfully or not) that they can't help but let their humanity shine through in front of millions of viewers. Once in a while, a news anchor absolutely loses it on their guests, for whatever reason, and it's beamed out everywhere. Here are the news anchors who lost their cool in front of, and to, pundits, politicians, and thinkers.

Rod Blagojevich was convicted on 18 felony charges of corruption he committed while he was the governor of Illinois. A politician who got greedy and then lost his job, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In February 2020, President Donald Trump commuted the sentence, freeing Blagojevich from federal prison after eight years. Blagojevich then appeared on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" and attempted to present the argument that justice had been served. He argued that he'd been persecuted and said pundits opposed to the commutation were wrong. "I don't think they've looked carefully because I am a political prisoner," Blagojevich said.

Host Cooper, part of the Vanderbilt family tree, immediately took issue with that statement from an objective point of view. "You're a political prisoner?" Cooper asked. "Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner. Political prisoners have no due process and are unjustly jailed. You had a jury convict you. You had appeals courts look at your sentencing, and you even appealed to the Supreme Court twice, and they refused to hear you. You're hardly a political prisoner."

Blagojevich struggled to defend himself, while Cooper continued to poke holes in the argument, doubling down on the legal invalidity of the political prisoner stance. Along with a lot of laughter and smirking, Cooper eventually just had enough. He called Blagojevich's talking points "a whole new alternate universe of facts, and that may be big in politics today, but it's still, frankly, just b*******."

Fox News personality Bill O'Reilly made the media rounds in October 2010 to promote his latest book of pop political theory, "Pinheads and Patriots." One of his stops was the ABC panel program "The View." As the talk show is produced in New York City, the conversation turned to a controversial plan to build an Islamic cultural center and a mosque a few hundred feet away from the former site of the World Trade Center, destroyed in attacks on September 11, 2001. O'Reilly bluntly made his opposition to the construction project known. "Seventy percent of Americans don't want that mosque down there," O'Reilly confidently stated. When asked by co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar why it would be such a bad idea to build the mosque, O'Reilly pointed a finger at Goldberg and said "Muslims killed us on 9/11." 

At that point, most everyone on "The View" stage was yelling something, and Goldberg's words were the clearest. "That is such bull****," she said to O'Reilly's argument. "What religion was Mr. McVeigh?" she asked in a louder tone, meaning one of the men convicted in the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City." Goldberg and Behar then walked off the set before returning moments later.

Julia Hartley-Brewer hosts an eponymous weekday current events talk show on U.K. news network TalkTV, and in January 2024, she spoke with Dr. Mustafa Barghouti via a remote link-up. He's a member of Palestine's parliament, and he appeared on the program to discuss the fallout of an Israeli drone strike that killed a leader of the Hamas organization. As Barghouti tried to steer the conversation to the topic of Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hartley-Brewer grew immediately and greatly annoyed.

As Barghouti talked, Hartley-Brewer interrupted and shouted over the guest, laughing and offering up quips like, "Please don't say that again, we don't have time for that, you've made that point five times already." When Barghouti asked what the host was referring to, she yelled out, "For the love of god, let me finish a sentence!" before accusing the MP of not even being accustomed to or liking to hear women speak. Following the interview, U.K. media regulatory agency Ofcom received over 15,000 complaints from viewers, mostly citing what they felt was Hartley-Brewer's rude and dismissive attitude.

A major news story widely reported in May 2017 surrounded President Donald Trump allegedly handing over classified government secrets to Russian authorities. The main sources for the potential bombshell report were unnamed ex-officials who chose to remain nameless for security reasons. Carl Higbie, chairman of the George Washington Leadership Foundation and a rare individual who survived Navy SEAL training, defended the Trump administration by way of calling for a more conservative response to information that came from yet-to-be-vetted and anonymous sources. "Come out, name those people, then we'll have something to talk about," Higbie said during a panel discussion on CNN International's "State of America."

Higbie was interrupted by the program's host, Kate Bolduan, who felt that the pundit was criticizing the esteemed reputation of the reporters who had researched and published the Trump story. After Bigbie accused the officials and reporters of collusion and "hiding," Bolduan raised her voice. "Oh please," she said. "Please. Do not even start with me that you're just going to attack sources. That is ridiculous. ... Do not attack the stellar reporters of CNN who have their sources and would protect their sources."

Days after the December 2024 killing of United Healthcare executive Brian Thompson in New York, Luigi Mangione was arrested and charged with murder. Mangione enjoyed a groundswell of support from mostly young people online, who praised his act as a heroic stand against the controversial American healthcare system. Newspaper reporter-turned-influencer Taylor Lorenz weighed in on the pro-Mangione response — and the perplexed critics of that movement — in the CNN documentary "MisinfoNation:Extreme America." "It's hilarious to see these millionaire media pundits on TV clutching their pearls about someone stanning a murderer when this is the United States of America — as if we don't lionize criminals," Lorenz said. "We give them Netflix shows," she added.

Then Lorenz squared off against one of those very critics, appearing on "Piers Morgan Uncensored." The host got to the point quickly. "I was pretty aghast at the tone that you took in relation to Luigi Mangione," Morgan told Lorenz. "Because, as I pointed out on X, the guy is an effing cold-blooded killer." He then called Lorenz's remarks on Mangione "fangirling" and "swooning." The reporter insisted that her comments had been decontextualized and that she wasn't quite a fan of the accused murderer. Morgan wouldn't have any of that, however, and he continued to critique and lambast Lorenz. "I just didn't like the whole tone of it," he said. "Where was the condemnation of this hero worship?" he later asked. "It wasn't there."

In April 2025, the Supreme Court debated a case involving the rights of parents who object to school materials deemed supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, citing religious convictions. "The Story with Martha MacCallum" on Fox News similarly weighed the contentious issue in an installment the same month. MacCallum's primary guest that day was Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers since 2008. At one point, Weingarten praised a school district in Massachusetts, which she perceived as a model of inclusivity that fostered "a real culture of a safe and welcoming school."

MacCallum didn't agree, and viewers could tell by her subtle, dismissive laughter and disbelieving head shakes. She also delivered some cogent and considerate counterarguments. During that spiel, Weingarten interrupted MacCallum in the middle of a sentence, and with a fair amount of hostility. "Martha, Martha, Martha, sweetheart, sweetheart, listen to me," Weingarten began. That agitated the host, who curtly replied, "Please don't call me sweetheart." A surprised Weingarten backed off and apologized.

In late 2024, previously ousted president Donald Trump won reelection to the White House. A big late-campaign assist came from billionaire tycoon and news-making gadabout Elon Musk, whom many stars just can't stand. Some suggested that the industrialist even had an untoward power over the president-elect. 

The exact nature of the relationship between Trump and Musk was discussed on a December 2024 episode of Fox News' "The Faulkner Focus," guest hosted by Julie Banderas. The anchor's guest that day was David Carlucci, a Democratic former New York state senator turned political pundit. Carlucci took umbrage when Banderas suggested that outgoing president and 2024 election sitter-outer Joe Biden was a figurehead official acting out the orders of others. "If we're concerned about who's calling the shots in the White House, we should stand up and do something about it, because I think we should have concerns about co-president Elon Musk in the White House," Carlucci quipped. In response, Banderas all but shouted, "That's such a Democratic talking point about Musk, come on!"

Then the pair engaged in a heated debate, with both interrupting the other as they disparaged various political leaders. Finally, after Carlucci called out Musk's frequent and controversial postings on X, formerly known as Twitter, Banderas shouted a retort: "At least Donald Trump is out there talking to the American public!"

Under the direction of President Joe Biden's administration, the 20-year U.S. occupation of Afghanistan ended in 2021, when all troops were withdrawn. The transition included many egregious snafus, and the hardline Taliban regime ultimately took control of Afghanistan. Those perceived failures were the topic of the day on a September 2021 Newsmax segment anchored by Grant Stinchfield. The host placed the blame for what happened, including the failure to get all Americans safely out of Afghanistan, on Biden. "This didn't happen under President Trump," Stinchfield said. "And I know there's a lot of people on the left that want to blame President Trump."

Stinchfield's guest via remote hookup was Joe Saboe, a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Iraq War and founder of Team America, an organization attempting to retrieve Americans in Afghanistan. He didn't entirely share the host's viewpoint. "With due respect, Grant," Saboe started, before attempting to explain that the Afghanistan War raged through multiple presidential administrations. According to Saboe, the fault can't be placed with just one leader. Immediately, Stinchfield stopped Saboe from elaborating. "I'm already low on time, Joe," he said before asking producers to drop Saboe's feed. "Cut him off, please. Cut him off now!" Stinchfield yelled. "You're not gonna blame this on President Trump on my show. That's not happening!"

CNN's "NewsNight" often brings on an ideologically diverse group of guests for political discussions moderated by anchor Abby Phillip. On an October 2024 episode, the guests included news personality Mehdi Hasan and conservative pundit Ryan Girdusky. The main topic of conversation was a Donald Trump campaign rally held in New York a day prior, in which multiple speakers had used offensive and racially charged language. As Hasan and Girdusky's conversation grew more intense, the former remarked that he'd been unfairly accused of antisemitism due to his public support for Palestine. Girdusky quickly shot back, "I hope your beeper doesn't go off."

Girdusky's dark joke referred to an attack on Lebanon in September 2024, in which multiple explosions were triggered by a signal sent out on pagers. When the gravity and meaning of the remark became clear, a perplexed Hasan asked, "Did you just say I should die?" At that point, the entire panel began shouting over each other, and Girdusky apologized.

Philip remained deeply bothered by the beeper quip. "Don't say, 'Then I apologize.' You literally accused him ..." she began before "NewsNight" broke for a commercial. When the program returned, Gidursky was gone, and Philip revealed she had asked him to leave. "There was a line that was crossed there, and it's not acceptable to me," she explained. "It's not acceptable to us at this network." In a statement, CNN announced that Gidursky had been banned from appearing on any of the network's shows.

In the weeks after the surprise victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, cable news channels aired panel discussions to figure out the political and cultural factors that led to that result. On the November 22, 2016 episode of "CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin," the topic was fringe political groups' support of Trump. Baldwin interviewed journalist Charles Kaiser, who is white, and conservative pundit Paris Dennard, who is Black. When the topic turned to allegedly racist Trump groups supporting Trump and people who publicly uttered racial epithets, Kaiser casually delivered a charged remark of his own. "If you don't want to support the alt-right, don't choose as a White House counselor a man who uses the word 'n*****,'" he said — on live television,specifically criticizing Trump advisor Steve Bannon.

Stunned, Baldwin chastized Kaiser for using such a loaded, racially insensitive word and ordered him to never use it again. Kaiser claimed that he was merely quoting another person, but Baldwin abruptly and prematurely ended the segment with a pointed takedown. "The more I've sat here and listened to the fact that somebody used the n-word on the show ... It is not okay!," he said. "It is not okay. ... By the way, the claim that Mr. Bannon used the n-word, I've never heard of this. So there's that. Take a break."

Primarily reporting on and delivering news regarding economics and business affairs, Richard Quest is an editor-at-large for CNN who hosts the daily "Quest Means Business" broadcast on the scandal-plagued CNN's offshoot CNN International. On an early April 2025 episode, the topic was tariffs, a big change Donald Trump's presidency could bring by imposing de facto taxes on goods imported from countries around the world. Quest posited about the effect tariffs may have on job generation in the United States. While discussing the matter with conservative political strategist Scott Jennings, his guest for that installment, Quest wondered about the kinds of professions that could see growth in the U.S. "America needs a high-paying, high-skilled, digital new-wage, AI-based economy," Quest said . "What Trump's talking about bringing back is old stuff."

Quest apparently meant the manufacturing of durable and usable goods, because he used his shoe to illustrate his point. Specifically, he took it off of his foot and waved it at Jennings and the camera. "Here is a shoe. It's my shoe, right? It is made in China," Quest explained. "This is going to be 34 percent more expensive." Unfazed and refusing to discuss the host's shoe or the analogy, Jennings continued to compliment Trump's tariff action, calling it "the ballsiest and gutsiest thing a president has done in decades."