Clay Aiken Speaks Out on Tense On-Air Exchange With Kelly Ripa in 2006

And while he tried not to think too much about it, the moment gained traction the following week on both Live With Regis & Kelly—where Ripa recounted the incident saying there “was a lack of respect”—as well as on The View when host Rosie O’Donnell called Ripa’s reaction homophobic and Ripa called in to defend herself. 

But as Aiken explained, the comment from O’Donnell was slightly nerve-wracking as he had not publicly come out as gay at the time. (The “Rewind” singer publicly came out in 2008.)

“I was not out at the time. I was to Rosie,” he explained. “I was out to people who I knew, but I wasn’t publicly out about it. I was not out to my grandparents and the people in my family.”

“And not only does Rosie call it a homophobic remark—which I think she accidentally said, and then she tried to walk it back a little bit—but then Kelly calls in live to The View that day and they get in an argument over it,” Aiken continued. “Not only did she out me, but they had a big argument about whether I was gay and who talked about me being gay.” 

Aiken felt like he was “caving in” on himself and asked DianeSawyer for advice. She suggested he wait to see if it would blow over. 

Amid the fallout, Aiked poked fun at the mouth-covering incident while presenting at the AMAs with ToriSpelling and his team even found footage of Ripa putting her own hand over Philbin’s face. All that together helped and Aiken sent Ripa flowers. And when she called to thank him, the two smoothed their issue over.

“She apologized for it becoming blown out of proportion and everything,” he said. “She said, ‘Come back on the show anytime, etcetera, etcetera.’ But I do know we tried and were not allowed. So I just haven’t tried since. It’s not a big deal. I mean, I honestly have not spoken about it until right now.” 

As for Ripa, the daytime host has not discussed the incident since the week it happened. 

“There was some impropriety there. There was a lack of respect, and when you’re a certain person, you’re in the public eye, you have to be respectful of other people,” she told Philbin during their show at the time. “And I don’t think that he was respectful in any way. If that upsets his fans, I’m sorry to hear that, but you don’t put your hands over somebody’s face and mouth when they’re conducting an interview, even if it’s for a laugh. And that’s all I’m gonna say.” 

While Aiken and Ripa managed to put aside their feud, keep reading for more stars who have had their own issues over the years.