Top 20 Shadiest Moments on Watch What Happens Live

Sometimes, guests are kicking hornet’s nests before they know it. But Jenna Dewan knows she’s just kicked the Beyhive. When Andy Cohen asks the dancer-actress about a pet peeve she has about pop singers’ dancing skills, she demonstrates a particular way of walking in heels that irks her. Of course, Cohen presses her to give an example. Her answer is an act of incredible bravery or foolishness, depending on how you look at it. Dewan insists that the icon has since improved her heel work. Still, it’s quite a moment.

Things are already tense enough on the set, as “The Real Housewives of New York” original and Andy Cohen are clearly hashing out some backstage drama in real time. But it’s Bravolebrity Jeff Lewis who throws fuel on the fire by subtly intimating that Bethenny Frankel’s recap podcast is an unoriginal idea. She hits right back about not being fired from her show. Lewis, of “Flipping Out” fame, was famously let go from Bravo at one point. Although he tries to deny that he meant anything shady by it, Frankel isn’t one to let even a lowkey dig go unchecked.

Former “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member and “Days of Our Lives” star Lisa Rinna is famously protective of her husband, actor Harry Hamlin. But when she brought up his ex, “Desperate Housewives” actress Nicollette Sheridan, it touched off a social media war. Sheridan accused Rinna of lying about how her marriage to Hamlin ended. Rinna’s response in the Clubhouse proves that actions speak louder than words. But even after making her rude gesture for the cameras, she has to get another dig in.

What should have been a standard promo appearance for her stint on “Empire” became a tea-dumping session when Vivica A. Fox arrived in the Clubhouse. Andy Cohen asks her about former flame 50 Cent’s alleged criticism of the show for its amount of queer storylines. Her awkward but scandalous response has Cohen and fellow guest Kandi Burruss desperate for more info. Fox doesn’t even backtrack right away. She lets that implication sit and stew for a minute before adding fuel to the fire by bringing up a magazine cover featuring her ex and Soulja Boy.

If a celebrity subtweets someone, it’ll probably haunt them all the way to “Watch What Happens Live.” In this 2017 episode, singer and human slingshot Pink fields a question about some Twitter shade everyone assumed was about Kim Kardashian. She doesn’t just confirm it. She gives a reason. The 2016 post came after a social media spat between Kardashian and legendary performer Bette Midler. The former’s attempts to call the “Beaches” star out for being a fake friend annoyed Pink, who is a die-hard fan of Midler. What’s more, she’s not sorry at all.

These two OG “Real Housewives” almost got into it in the Clubhouse. “Orange County” star Vicki Gunvalson may have been on the first franchise, but Ramona Singer insists that “The Real Housewives of New York” put the entire brand on the map. In fact, she goes so far as to say that no one even knew about “RHOC” before the New York edition came along. The great thing is Singer probably doesn’t even understand how shady this is. It’s the kind of self-absorption we’ve come to know and love, or love to hate, from her.

In 2018, megawatt musician and producer Quincy Jones made comments about the “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” artist’s dislike for his 1985 charity hit, “We Are the World.” Jones took issue with Cyndi Lauper’s purported disdain for the song. A fan called in to “Watch What Happens Live” and asked Lauper about this. She actually takes it all in stride. That opens her up to talk about the song itself, and that’s when things get shady. Lauper insists she never would have told Jones that she hated his song. But that doesn’t mean she never said it at all.

During a game of Plead the Fifth, Andy Cohen, being himself, dredges up the singer and future daytime talk show host’s tweet citing “pitchy strippers.” At the time, this was seen as shade towards Miley Cyrus’ infamous VMAs performance in 2013. However, Kelly Clarkson reiterates that she never said who it was about. But she doesn’t do much to convince us. She makes it clear that it’s not her fault other people thought that label applied to Cyrus’ performance, which just makes it even shadier. Cohen’s attempts to get her to cop to it are just as hilarious.

When the legendary comedian saw an opening, she took it. Here, Cohen asks Joan Rivers a fan question: what gay man would she love to take to bed if she were a gay man herself? She doesn’t hesitate to throw down a name. This is peak shade because it’s a compliment in a way. However, the implications are loud and clear. But she does her due diligence in adding a legally-protective caveat to the end of it — you know, to not get hit with a slander lawsuit. Not that anyone can even hear this over the raucous laughter of fellow guest Rashida Jones and the studio audience.

Leave it to this “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star to shade someone’s entire career — no, existence — right in front of them. While Andy Cohen swears he didn’t mean to book these two Twitter enemies on the same show, he can’t help but bring up some unkind comments Rapaport made about Moore. Let’s just say she’s unimpressed. Not just with his comments, but with his entire being. The two smile like they’re having the time of their lives, but their insults say otherwise. They trade barbs so well that Moore starts to wonder if Rapaport is angling for his own peach.

When Aguilera appeared on the show, she was subject to Cohen’s segment “”, in which hard-hitting questions are asked in a short amount of time. Cohen asked Aguilera how she felt towards Eminem, who has used her name in at least two songs, “The Real Slim Shady” in 2000, and a freestyle in 2018. We have to see the shade she throws as a little justified, however, as in the first song, Eminem refers to her promiscuity amongst peers, and in the second, crudely refers to her breasts (among other inappropriate comments). Aguilera refers to the rapper as “thirsty”, yet in this case, we take it to mean desperate for attention more than anything else.

When NeNe Leakes appeared on the show, she was basically handed the opportunity to throw shade on a silver platter. A video of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” was shown, with the wives gossiping about NeNe behind her back. Andy Cohen then asked her if she wanted to respond, and of course she obliged. She proceeded to rattle off all of the insults she had just watched, and responded to each in a rapid fire of shade bullets. On top of this shade, when the video was shown, NeNe appeared in the corner of the screen, reacting to the footage as it played, in the style of a sports commentator. It was basically a shade-o-thon.

Oh, the “Housewives”… a constant source of shade. When a caller to the show asked her about her thoughts on Lisa Vanderpump, Williams immediately responded with “Who?” She then went on to imply that all of these Housewives are essentially replaceable, with one taking the spotlight only to be replaced by another after the former’s 15 minutes of fame have passed. Williams ends the quick rant with “I don’t care.” We can’t disagree with Williams here, as every week, there seems to be a new kid on the posh “Housewives” block. Let’s call this justified shade.

Rapper feuds are a dime a dozen. And they also make the occasional appearance on talk shows. When 50 Cent appeared on “Watch What Happens Live”, he too was given the opportunity to play “Plead the Fifth”. He answered the other questions as politely as he could, and made the audience laugh more than once. When asked which hip hop star he considered to be overrated, he said Jay-Z, although he followed it up by saying Jay-Z himself would admit to this himself, as it is better to be overrated than to be underpaid. 50 Cent might seem tough in his music, but he is always a bit of a charmer on talk shows. His shade towards Jay-Z didn’t even sound rude or insulting.

Zoe clearly isn’t a fan of Lily Allen. Allen had recently written a book, detailing her tour with Kravitz’s band Lolawolf. She claimed that the two grew close, and ended up kissing. Kravitz clearly had a different version of the story, and was compelled to say so following a viewer’s question. Reminiscent of Wendy Williams’s entry, Kravitz began by saying “Who’s Lily Allen?” She then went on to say that Allen didn’t kiss her, but actually attacked her with the kiss. When Cohen asked her if she read the book, she said she didn’t think anybody read the book. Now that is some serious shade!

Mariah Carey’s 2014 Rockefeller Center tree lighting performance is implanted in the memories of everyone at this point as a complete disaster. Billy Porter himself performed at the event, and when a caller asked him what the “vibe” was like following the infamous Carey performance, he simply put his head back and awkwardly smiled. He then went on to say that the situation was “pandemonium” all day, and those present for the event and its preparations were not surprised by the dismal result. This leaves much to the imagination, but we can tell Porter is being as polite as possible, and Cohen moves on before he can add anything more.

Paris Hilton had her own turn in the “Plead the Fifth” hotseat, and was asked to say three nice things about her then-enemy Lindsay Lohan. We can see the seething hatred in her expression before Cohen even finishes his sentence, and it is then followed by an awkward pause. Hilton then says “she’s beyond…” which is rather strange. She follows it up with “lame and embarrassing”, which are two not-so-nice things. We’re not sure about that first one, it could go either way… Paris Hilton’s lingo can be confusing at times. But we’re sure she would have given far more colorful adjectives had she not been on live television.

Now here’s a woman who doesn’t hold back. Patti LuPone is a Broadway actress, and has performed as Eva Perón on stage, as Madonna did in the film adaptation. When Cohen asked her what she thought of Madge’s performance in the film, she seemed to pause for a second and consider her answer, but then decided to just speak her mind. She called Madonna’s “Evita” a piece of crap, and then went on to call the singer a “movie killer”, criticized her acting, and claimed she should stay away from film and stage (in an acting capacity), as she is not an actress. Ouch.

Naomi Campbell is definitely not known for her modesty, or for keeping her thoughts to herself. At New York Fashion Week, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B had an altercation at the Harper’s Bazaar “Icons” afterparty, which resulted in Cardi B being escorted out, sporting a bump on her forehead. Campbell was asked for her thoughts on the situation, and began her answer by saying that she doesn’t know why it was called the Icons party, as there were no icons present. Meow. She then went on to express her disappointment in the two women. Campbell was equally shady when asked about Kendall Jenner. We kind of expect this from her at this point.

Mariah Carey is a character. After an interview in which she claimed not to know Jennifer Lopez, Carey was again asked if she knew J.Lo. She once again repeated that she did not, and went on to say that the two have only shaken hands and politely greeted each other. However, Carey is known for being quite the diva, as can be seen in other “WWHL” appearances where she makes comments on Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande. Lopez has apparently claimed that the two do in fact know each other. Confused? So are we… Carey stands her ground on not being in the know with J.Lo, and this can be seen as shady, as she is adamant in her denial, and it appears a little condescending.


Did these shady moments give you everything you needed or were you thirsty for more tea? Let us know in the comments.