Throughout The Rosie O’Donnell Show's six-year run, the host talked to hundreds of celebrities, but one stood out to Rosie O’Donnell for the wrong reasons. More than two decades after her show ended, O'Donnell has revealed who she banned from The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Read on to find out who it is, and for a celebrity guest turned down by another host, check out The One Guest Ellen DeGeneres Banned From Her Show.
On an episode of Watch What Happens Live in May 2020, host Andy Cohen asked O'Donnell if there were any celebrities that she never invited back to The Rosie O'Donnell Show during its run from 1996 to 2002. O'Donnell said that there were about five people on her "do-not-ask-back" list (mostly due to "excessive drug use that was evident... and they weren't able to focus"), but she only named one: 1970s teen idol Leif Garrett.
In talking to Cohen, O'Donnell was very explicit about her issues with Garrett, who was on her show in 1999. "Leif Garrett came with a fresh wound from a pipe that you use for crack," O'Donnell said. "Like, he sort of nodded out."
"So when I went in and met him in the green room, he had a normal face," O'Donnell continued. "He came out a few minutes later, and he had a huge red welt of burn from being in the green room those 20 minutes that I didn't see him."
O'Donnell still seemed quite disappointed with Garrett's behavior. "People who are that messed up shouldn't be on TV," she added.
However, shortly after O'Donnell's interview with Cohen, Garrett responded to her allegations, saying he was sober at the time and that the host got it wrong. In an interview with TooFab, Garrett admitted that when he was on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, he did have a drug-related injury on his hand since he was still recovering, but he wasn't under the influence. "I was at that time, for that show, I was sober," Garrett said. "Never assume, man. Look at the footage of me on the show, you can tell what she said was not true."
He added: "The funny thing was she even said that I supposedly used crack in her green room and then was nodding off. ... Anyone knows if you use crack, you don't nod off."
O'Donnell hasn't responded to Garrett's correction, but the rocker also told TooFab that there were "no hard feelings."
But Garrett is hardly the only star who's been on a host's no-invite list. For more celebrities who've been banned from certain talk shows, read on. And for one memorable less-than-gracious host, check out The Worst "SNL" Host of All Time, Cast Says.
1 | Madonna
Featureflash Photo Agency/ShutterstockPiers Morgan banned Madonna from his CNN show Piers Morgan Live, which ran from 2011 to 2014. In a 2015 interview with Meredith Vieira, Morgan explained that he found the pop star very annoying. "She's just one of these people that she seems to always want to show and offend us," Morgan said. More recently, Morgan shared his thoughts about one of Madonna's Instagram videos, calling her "attention-seeking." And for a talk show interview gone awry, check out The Worst Guest "The View" Ever Had, Former Host Says.
2 | The Kardashians
Tinseltown / Shutterstock.comOn a 2012 episode of Watch What Happens Live, Anderson Cooper was asked to pick one guest he'd ban from his talk show at the time, Anderson Live. But rather than naming one person, he called out the entire Kardashian family.
When Kristen Johnston was on Anderson Live that same year, they both discussed how much they dislikedKeeping Up With the Kardashians. "The guys on it seem dreadful," Cooper said. And for another celebrity who made a bad impression, check out The Worst "Late Night" Guest Conan O'Brien Ever Had.
3 | Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesDuring a 2019 interview on Watch What Happens Live, Jimmy Kimmel revealed that he would never want Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr. on his late night show. While Kimmel didn't say why he effectively banned this pair from Jimmy Kimmel Live!, it wasn't the first time he expressed his negative thoughts about the Trump brothers. In 2018, during a monologue, Kimmel made a remark about the former president's sons. "Eric Trump… Is he the smart one? No, there are no smart ones," Kimmel said. And more celebrity news sent to you directly, sign up for our daily newsletter.
4 | Omarosa
Evan El-Amin / ShutterstockDuring that same interview between Cohen and Kimmel in 2019, Cohen also revealed that one guest he wouldn't want on Watch What Happens Live was Omarosa, former political aide to the former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Cohen didn't give any more details to his answer, but he did diss Omarosa in the past. In 2018, TMZ tweeted that D'Andra Simmons, star of The Real Housewives of Dallas, thought Omarosa would be perfect for the Bravo show. However, Cohen, who is an executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise, replied to the tweet with, "Love D'Andra but that's a HARD PASS." And for Cohen's most cringeworthy interview, check out The Worst Guest Andy Cohen Ever Had on "Watch What Happens."
