{"id":136984,"date":"2026-06-26T11:02:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/clay-aiken-says-kelly-ripa-feud-sparked-the-most-catastrophic-week-of-his-life-136984"},"modified":"2026-06-26T11:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:02:21","slug":"clay-aiken-says-kelly-ripa-feud-sparked-the-most-catastrophic-week-of-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/clay-aiken-says-kelly-ripa-feud-sparked-the-most-catastrophic-week-of-his-life-136984","title":{"rendered":"Clay Aiken says Kelly Ripa feud sparked the ‘most catastrophic’ week of his life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Clay Aiken is reflecting on the 20-year-old feud with Kelly Ripa<\/a> that he says sparked the “most catastrophic” week of his life.<\/p>\n

During a recent appearance on the “Hollywood Raw”<\/a> podcast, the former “American Idol” star looked back on the 2006 incident that unfolded while he was co-hosting “Live with Regis and Kelly.” The controversy began after Aiken playfully placed his hand over Ripa’s mouth during a live segment.<\/p>\n

Aiken revealed that he has not spoken to Ripa since the incident, despite crossing paths with her at several events over the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

“Maybe I should feel bad that I have not gone up and said something myself, but she hasn\u2019t either. We\u2019re talking about something that happened \u2026 20 years ago this year, which became this huge blowup,” he said.<\/p>\n

HOWIE MANDEL CALLS OUT KELLY RIPA\u2019S BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT IN TENSE LIVE TV MOMENT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“That was the most catastrophic week of my life, to be honest with you \u2026 No one would remember but me because I was the one with the scars,” Aiken added.<\/p>\n

The musician went on to describe his experience co-hosting alongside Ripa, explaining that he had hoped the appearance would showcase his ability to host on his own.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m on the show because I wanted to show them I could handle this myself. I could host something, and I wasn\u2019t getting to talk,” he said.<\/p>\n

Aiken claimed that although there were cue cards with his name on them, he wasn’t able to say his lines, and that’s when he decided to put his hand over Ripa’s mouth.<\/p>\n

“I tried to be funny, and I did what I did, which was incredibly innocent. And then it got a little cold in the room,” he recalled.<\/p>\n

He said he immediately realized the joke had not landed<\/a> after feeling the audience’s reaction.<\/p>\n

“Is that a no-no?” Aiken remembered asking Ripa.<\/p>\n

“Oh, that\u2019s a no, no, no. Don\u2019t know where that hand\u2019s been, honey,” Ripa replied at the time.<\/p>\n

Aiken said he doesn’t remember exactly when he and Ripa parted ways but recalled that it happened after Regis Philbin returned to the daytime talk show.<\/p>\n

KELLY RIPA SAYS ‘DESPERATE TIMES’ LED HER TO GET COSMETIC PROCEDURE DONE ON HER BACKSIDE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Following the incident, Ripa described Aiken as “hostile.”<\/p>\n

“There was a lack of respect, and when you\u2019re a certain person, you\u2019re in the public eye, you have to be respectful of other people,” she said at the time, according to Page Six.<\/a><\/p>\n

“And I don\u2019t think that he was respectful in any way,” she continued. “If that upsets his fans, I\u2019m sorry to hear that, but you don\u2019t put your hands over somebody\u2019s face and mouth when they\u2019re conducting an interview, even if it\u2019s for a laugh. And that\u2019s all I\u2019m gonna say.”<\/p>\n

The controversy intensified after Rosie O’Donnell criticized Ripa on “The View<\/a>,” calling her response “homophobic.” At the time, Aiken had not publicly come out as gay. Ripa phoned into the show to defend herself, and the discussion shifted to Aiken’s sexuality.<\/p>\n

“I have three kids. He\u2019s shaking hands with everybody in the audience. I mean, it\u2019s cold and flu<\/a> season. That\u2019s what I meant. To imply that it\u2019s anything homophobic is outrageous, Rosie, and you know better. You should be more responsible,” Ripa said.<\/p>\n

LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Looking back, Aiken said only a small circle of people knew he was gay at the time.<\/p>\n

“I was not out at the time. I was to Rosie \u2026 I was out to people who I knew, but I wasn\u2019t publicly out about it,” he said.<\/p>\n

Aiken explained that he had not even come out to members of his own family, including his grandparents.<\/p>\n

“Not only does Rosie call it a homophobic remark \u2014 which I think she accidentally said, and then she tried to walk it back a little bit \u2014 but then Kelly calls in live to ‘The View’ that day, and they get in an argument over it.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Not only did she out me, but they had a big argument about whether I was gay and who talked about me being gay,” he added.<\/p>\n

In response to the backlash, Aiken said his publicist and several interns compiled clips showing instances in which Ripa had similarly placed her hand over his mouth.<\/p>\n

“The tides sort of turned,” he said.<\/p>\n

Aiken also revealed that he sent Ripa flowers to apologize. According to Aiken, Ripa later invited him to return to the show. While he said he has “tried” to make another appearance, he claimed those efforts have been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to Ripa for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/clay-aiken-says-kelly-ripa-feud-sparked-most-catastrophic-week-his-life <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clay Aiken is reflecting on the 20-year-old feud with Kelly Ripa that he says sparked the “most catastrophic” week of his life. During a recent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-136984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nClay Aiken says Kelly Ripa feud sparked the 'most catastrophic' week of his life - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/clay-aiken-says-kelly-ripa-feud-sparked-the-most-catastrophic-week-of-his-life-136984\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Clay Aiken says Kelly Ripa feud sparked the 'most catastrophic' week of his life - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Clay Aiken is reflecting on the 20-year-old feud with Kelly Ripa that he says sparked the “most catastrophic” week of his life. 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