Ever end up rolling your eyes at weird celebrity headlines (ours excluded, of course)? If so, it’s probably because of the breathless descriptions of one celebrity “fighting” with another celebrity. The headlines gas you up to expect some sort of physical brawl, but when you read the article, you discover that the entire “fight” was just two bored celebs sniping at each other on Twitter.
Well, we decided to go the extra mile and find you the real stories of actual celebrity fights caught on live television. These events always include some nasty verbal abuse, and more often than not, end with two big names trading physical blows. Ready to see some high-and-mighty celebs getting down and dirty in unscripted fights? Keep reading to discover our definitive breakdown of the weirdest celebrity fights ever caught on live television!
Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler
It’s easy to think of nasty celebrity fights on live TV as a modern phenomenon…the kind of thing that took off after the advent of social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. But the truth is that trashy celebs fighting one another is a decades-old tradition, and one of the greatest examples is the onscreen clash between Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler.
In 1982, an episode of Late Night With David Letterman brought together famous comedian Andy Kaufman and famous wrestler Jerry Lawler. These two already had a major history of sniping at each other, and Kaufman couldn’t resist taking a few cracks at his longtime foe. This led to a physical altercation in which Lawler attacked Kaufman (who was wearing a neck brace), and the comedian later returned to snipe at Lawler more.
The whole thing is vintage crazy TV, and the look on Letterman’s face is priceless as he realizes there is no stopping the nastiness he accidentally unleashed.
Will Smith and Chris Rock
Thanks to incidents like the fight between Andy Kaufman and Jerry Lawler, most imagine celebrity fights to be the domain of late-night talk shows. However, the most famous recent celeb fight didn’t take place in a cramped studio…instead, it took place during one of Hollywood’s most prestigious events. Yes, Virginia, we’re talking about the Academy Awards altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock.
Rock was hosting the ceremony and made a joke about Smith’s wife, fellow Hollywood heavyweight Jada Pinkett Smith. Smith laughed until he saw his wife wasn’t amused, and he decided to rectify this by taking the stage and slapping Rock, then further berating him from his seat. Making the whole thing more surreal is that Smith wasn’t escorted out, which is a good thing because he ended up winning the Oscar for Best Actor less than an hour later!
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier were no strangers to fighting. Both of the men brawled plenty of other foes and even each other over the years, but as professional boxers, they took their aggression out in the ring. On one memorable occasion, though, these two fought each other outside the ring, and television history was never the same.
It all started when the two were sitting down with boxing host Howard Cosell and analyzing some footage from the ring. They began by teasing each other, but it didn’t take long for this to descend into some very heated insults. Ali started trash-talking, Frazier responded, and the whole event ended up with these two on the ground and grappling for superiority. Fortunately, security showed up and broke the fight up before anyone could achieve a knockout punch.
Geraldo Riviera’s all-out brawl
While he never gained the outsized prominence of Oprah Winfrey, Geraldo Riviera is still one of the biggest names in talk show history. He was never afraid to push the envelope on his show, which is why he scheduled a debate in the ‘80s between white supremacists and racial justice advocates. It was a bit of stunt broadcasting that soon went off the rails in the wildest possible way.
It all started with a skinhead calling Roy Innis a slur. This led to an all-out brawl between the two sides in which nobody was safe. In fact, Riviera was hit by a flying chair at one point (!) and broke his nose. Just before things could become a complete riot, security broke things up and escorted the skinheads out. As for Riviera, he continued to host the entire episode with a broken nose, demonstrating just how unflappably cool he really was.
Cardi B and Nicki Minaj
Is this a safe space for us to admit something kind of ugly? Ok, here it is: part of us is a little sad when celebrity fights get broken up. We don’t necessarily want to see anyone get hurt, of course, but when two celebs are ready to throw down, we kind of want to see who winds up on top. And that’s why we were so invested in the aborted fight between rivals Cardi B and Nicki Minaj after they ran into each other at the Harper’s Bazaar Icons party.
Allegedly, Minaj started things by talking trash about Cardi B’s daughter. Pretty soon, things got physical, with the two musical legends punching each other. At one point, Cardi B even threw her shoe at Minaj! Soon, though, the two were separated, leaving us to wonder who would come out on top if the fight kept going.