Top 10 Celebs Banned from Talk Shows

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#10: The Kardashians
“Anderson Live” (2011-13)

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This family’s reality stardom has made them a pop cultural phenomenon. However, with that fame has come backlash at how pervasive they are. One such critic is Anderson Cooper, who claimed during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” that none of the Kardashians would ever appear on his show because they were already everywhere else. The fact that Khloe Kardashian tweeted her love for Cooper around the same time is pretty bad timing, but given that Cooper’s talk show is no longer around, the family probably doesn’t have to worry about the ban any longer - if they ever did.

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#9: Howard Stern
“The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (1992-2014)

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As the host of his own long-running radio talk show, Howard Stern has drawn plenty of controversy over the years. Stern has never shied away from speaking his opinions - and his criticism of former “The Tonight Show” host Jay Leno didn’t even stop when Stern appeared on Leno’s show. Stern’s behavior on-set, including bringing scantily clad women onstage and interrupting the other guests’ interviews apparently got him banned and even publicly trashed. Despite the media’s portrayal of a so-called longstanding feud, and Stern being supposedly threatened by NBC executives for voicing his hate, Leno himself appears to have nothing but respect for Stern - or, at least his views of him have changed as time went on.

Gary Busey is infamous for his…let’s say, sometimes erratic, behavior – a head injury can do that to a guy. But the actor’s bizarre temperament while appearing on “The Howard Stern Show” meant that he was never asked back. Most notably, Busey hugged Stern’s co-host and kept trying to keep the bear hug going until they were on the floor and then he wrestled Stern. Busey has since claimed that he has multiple personalities, and that one of them was responsible for the incident. Whoever the culprit is, the fact is that Busey won’t be returning to Stern’s show.

Unless you’re big fans of these actors, you probably don’t remember that Vince Vaughn and Kevin James were once in a Ron Howard-directed buddy comedy about adultery. Critics weren’t kind to it and neither were movie-goers; in fact, it didn’t even make back its $70 million budget. However, those may not have been the only reasons why “The Dilemma” barely made a dent in movie history: the story goes that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper brought it to Ellen DeGeneres’ attention that there was an offensive line about homosexuals in the trailer. This allegedly led to Ellen banning Vaughn from her talk show - or at least of him doing any promotion of the 2011 movie on it. In any case, the ban seems to have been temporary, as Vaughn has appeared on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” since.

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#6: Jay Leno
“Conan” (2010-)

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This one is a no-brainer, folks! In 2009, with Jay Leno’s contract with NBC due to expire, the network went forward as planned to hand over the reins of “The Tonight Show” to Conan O’Brien. However, in a bid to keep Leno on the network, they retained him in a new variety show. When ratings weren’t great, executives aimed to bump Leno back to his previous time slot and Conan after him. Understandably upset that Leno went along with NBC’s decision, Conan has gone on record saying that he won’t ever have Leno on his self-titled TBS show.

Given that “The Daily Show” is a show often reliant on political humor, one might expect someone banned from the show to be involved in some part of the political process. Instead, it was English leading man Hugh Grant that got the boot while Jon Stewart was behind the desk. During Grant’s appearance in 2009, he was reportedly rude to people backstage and generally in a foul mood, which earned him a ban from the show. Grant has since owned up to his bad behavior at the time, so at least he knows he did wrong.

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#4: Kelsey Grammer
“Piers Morgan Live” (2011-14)

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Piers Morgan is somewhat well known for banning several people from his former talk show. The fact that Howie Mandel, his former co-judge on “America’s Got Talent” is one of them is understandable – the two of them did not get along. But one surprise was when he banned Kelsey Grammer. Grammer was scheduled to appear on the show in 2012, but left after a picture of his ex-wife was shown in the opening credits. Although Grammer was prepared to discuss his ex on air, and even had done so on the show before, he had requested that a picture of her not be shown and so the interview never happened.. And while we’re on the subject of Piers Morgan…

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#3: Piers Morgan
“The Rosie Show” (2011-12)

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Always one to make friends, one of Piers Morgan’s other banned guests was Madonna, whom Morgan thinks is “incredibly annoying,” leading to the singer’s moratorium from his show. However, this ban actually led Morgan to be banned from another show himself, as Rosie O’Donnell, out of loyalty to her friend Madonna, banned Morgan from her own talk show. Still, given that O’Donnell later appeared on Morgan’s show herself for a candid interview and even guest hosted it, it’s clear they made up later - though her own show’s cancellation may have made the point moot anyway.

For many years, Joan Rivers and Johnny Carson were great friends, with the comedian being a frequent guest on “The Tonight Show.” However, all that changed after Rivers got her own talk show on the new (at the time) Fox Network. Carson, who had a tradition of having new talk show hosts appear on his show before their premieres, felt betrayed by his longtime friend, and not only banned Rivers from the show, but reportedly never spoke to her again for the rest of his life. When Jay Leno took over hosting duties, and during Conan O’Brien’s brief tenure, the ban seemingly continued as well, with Rivers only appearing on the show again once Jimmy Fallon became host.

Kathy Griffin is quite the comedian, seeming to draw controversies like a magnet. It should be no surprise then that in terms of the number of talk show bans, she’s easily the number one, at least in terms of quantity. Her bans include “Leno,” “Ellen,” “The View,” “Live with Regis and Kelly,” “The Today Show,” and “Letterman,” among others. While she has managed to get several of them lifted, she has also been re-banned from others, so clearly her style of humor and conversation is not always suited for every talk show.