Inappropriate Things Politicians Said On Live TV
The following article contains references to racism, sexual assault, and ableism.
The political game is a carefully manufactured and micromanaged performance, but sometimes the performers stray from the script. On occasion, politicians have uttered some wholly inappropriate comments on live TV, ranging from bumbling non sequiturs to flagrant racism. That's not what the spin doctor ordered.
Politicians making ridiculous comments on TV is nothing new. Since the rise of the television medium in the 1950s, politicians have been expected to become slick orators, and with that came scope for things to go epically wrong. During his infamous 1977 interview with David Frost, Richard Nixon found himself in hot watergate after some astounding assertions. It was George Costanza of "Seinfeld" fame who said, "It's not a lie if you believe it." Well, the president had a few Costanzaisms of his own when chatting to Frost. Notably, he uttered the immortal words, "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal."
Nixon paved the way for politicians to make complete fools out of themselves in the decades that followed. We can't help but wonder if he's looking down on this sorry bunch and thinking, "Well, you screwed it up real good, didn't you?"
With the advent of social media, politicians' gaffes can now be digitally immortalized and thus haunt them for all eternity. Keep reading to find out what inappropriate things politicians have said on live TV.
Barack Obama's inappropriate Olympics joke
Oh dear, Obama. You gave the public the audacity of hope. But in this interview, you were just plain audacious. During a 2009 appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," the newly elected President made a highly inappropriate joke. Chatting about his bowling skills — or lack thereof — Obama said, "I bowled a 129," prompting the audience to cheer, with Leno noting, "That's very good." Obama could have just left it at that, but he proceeded to make a major blunder. "It's like the Special Olympics or something," he laughed.
Deriding disabled people is, unfortunately, not all that surprising when it comes out the mouth of Donald Trump. But an ableist jibe is certainly not what we expected from his Democratic predecessor, who always presented himself as a dignified and eloquent leader. Understandably, he appeared to almost immediately regret his insensitive gaffe.
Before the interview even aired, Obama swiftly apologized to Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver. "He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, I think, in a way that was very moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population, certainly didn't want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or just suffering," Shriver told "Good Morning America" (via ABC News), adding, "Importantly, he said he was ready to have some of our athletes over to the White House to bowl or play basketball or help him improve his score."
Mike Huckabee shows how much he knows about birth control
Male politicians have long felt that they wield the authority to speak about women's reproductive rights. Of course, noted, ahem, feminist Mike Huckabee is no exception. Speaking at the Republican National Committee, the 2016 presidential candidate made some alarmingly sexist and classist remarks.
"If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it," he said, per CNN. Clearly, Huckabee knows very little about birth control. Or sugar daddies (seriously, who's ever wanted a "sugar uncle"?). Or women.
Birth control has, of course, nothing to do with rampant libido. But if there's a contraceptive to stop Mike Huckabee from spawning more offensive speeches like this, we're all for it. What makes Huckabee's comments all the more inappropriate is that he refers to women as if they are not human beings. As The Washington Post argued, "Did he not attend the classes on how to talk to women? The short version is that you should talk to women as though they are in the room. That's it. It's that simple. We can hear you!" I Heart Huckabees? Enough women didn't heart Mike Huckabee enough to help him remain competitive in the 2016 presidential race.
Boris Johnson's porcine utopia
Boris Johnson has built a reputation around being somewhat of a "bumbling buffoon," as the Mirror described him. This is, after all, the man who got stuck on a zip wire when he was London Mayor and did press-ups for The Daily Mail. Johnson's schtick is endearing to an extent before one realizes that some of his behavior is extremely inappropriate for a world leader. In November 2021, at the height of economic uncertainty in the U.K., Johnson was supposed to give an inspiring speech to the Confederation of British Industry. Instead, he ended up making a bizarre analogy.
After forgetting his lines and repeatedly uttering "forgive me" as he fumbled through his notes, Johnson found himself in the mud when he discussed the merits of Peppa Pig World, an amusement park, which he praised as a utopian ideal that the U.K. should emulate. "Hands up anybody who's been to Peppa Pig World?" Johnson began, per Sky News. "Not enough. ... I loved it. Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place –- it has very safe streets, discipline in schools, heavy emphasis on new mass transit systems, I noticed. Even if they are a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig."
This prompted a Sky reporter to ask Johnson, "Frankly, is everything okay?" to which he replied that people understood the "vast majority" of his speech. BoJo has told a few porkies in his time, but this one takes the bacon.
Donald Trump gets out the tape measure
There's nothing like a faux pas, but no one has mastered the art of the spiel quite as skillfully as The Donald. The former president really knows what not to say — and when not to say it. Let's be honest: we can make several entire lists of Trumpisms, but we'll set aside his numerous creepy observations regarding his own daughter for a minute and take a look at some of his questionable remarks when running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
During a debate with his fellow GOP candidates, Trump took the notion of a hung parliament a little too far. Yep, he actually ended up talking about the size of his manhood. "Look at those hands, are they small hands?" Trump said in reference to comments made by rival Marco Rubio, per ABC News. "And, he referred to my hands — 'if they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem."
To say that Trump's comments were inappropriate for a political debate is an understatement. Critics likened the debacle to an, erm, appendage measuring contest — and it became just that. As Rolling Stone drolly noted, "Having a major-party frontrunner discuss his penis size in a nationally televised debate is a bridge we have not yet crossed in American elections."
While this interaction stopped short of Trump and Rubio getting the tape measure out, Vanity Fair cited "several scientific studies" to prove that the Don is indeed "short-fingered."
Joe Biden's inappropriate comments on race
After the shenanigans of Donald Trump, and the chaos that ensued before his successor's inauguration, it seemed that America had found a man of reason, tact, and diplomacy as president, sans the crude comments that Don casually threw at anyone with whom he disagreed. Joe Biden seemingly beat Trump in the 2020 election because he was perceived as representative of everything the former president isn't — and not just the lack of orange spray tan. But Biden pulled the Trump card when he made a wholly inappropriate comment during a campaign rally in 2019.
An unfortunate blunder, Biden addressed an audience at the Asian and Latino Coalition and said (via Time), "We have this notion that somehow if you're poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids." In an effort to quickly cover his tracks, Biden continued, "Wealthy kids, Black kids, Asian kids."
New York mayor Bill de Blasio condemned the comments, tweeting that Biden's slip of the tongue was emblematic of his latent "racism and sexism." However, Biden's advisers claimed that the Democratic hopeful made an innocent mistake, while fellow nominee Andrew Yang defended him, suggesting that there was some veracity in Biden's tactless gaffe. "The fact is there are many, many poor kids in this country who are underrepresented minorities, kids of color," Yang told CNN. "And it's Joe just trying to express an idea that came out the wrong way."
Hillary Clinton lived to regret this speech
During Bill Clinton's presidency, first lady Hillary Clinton chaired the task force on national healthcare reform. But she didn't always use her political position for good. Campaigning for her husband in 1996, Clinton gave a speech on gang crime and her approach veered dangerously towards outright bigotry.
"They are often the kinds of kids that are called super predators. No conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first we have to bring them to heel," Clinton said in a clip obtained by C-Span and widely circulated by her opponents during the 2016 presidential campaign.
At the time, Clinton was promoting a tough-on-crime agenda, but now her remark sounds like a racist dog whistle. Clinton has long been criticized for supporting her husband as he promoted the prison industrial complex through the war on drugs, which predominantly targeted black people, per The New Republic. Accordingly, "bring them to heel," which eerily conjures imagery of racial oppression and slavery, is not the kind of language a politician should be using.
However, it wasn't just her conservative enemies who were targeting Clinton for her choice of language. Even noted Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders condemned Clinton for using the term "super predators." "It was a racist term and everybody knew it was a racist term," Sanders said, as per CBS. Clinton later apologized for her offensive statements, telling The Washington Post, "Looking back, I shouldn't have used those words, and I wouldn't use them today."
David Cameron swore on live TV
British politicians are considered a stuffy old bunch and are expected to speak the queen's English. Well, former Prime Minister David Cameron didn't get that memo, unless Liz II has a secret penchant for foul language. Much to the shock of the British public, Cameron ended up swearing on live television.
During an appearance on "This Morning," Cameron discussed his life after leaving 10 Downing Street due to the fiasco of the Brexit vote. It was, after all, Cameron's fault that there was an EU referendum in the first place, per Vox, as he attempted to appease a growing number of Eurosceptics in his own party. Yet, in his interview, the newly ousted prime minister did a good job of diverting the blame.
When asked about the lies disseminated by the "vote leave" brigade during the referendum, Cameron said that he "s**t at the TV," per the Daily Mail. "Never said that on 'Newsnight!'" joked host Phillip Schofield in an attempt to lighten the mood after the vulgar slip-up. Meanwhile, Cameron insisted that he actually meant to say "shout." Truly, the shout hit the fan.
Despite the cringeworthy faux pas, some people praised the former PM for supposedly breaking political convention by speaking the truth. "'I s**t' most honest statement from a politician maybe?" tweeted one viewer. We've all heard of verbal diarrhea, but Cameron's expletive-laden gaffe takes the concept a little too far.
Vladimir Putin's sexist remarks
Russian president Vladimir Putin is no stranger to controversy. But unlike many other world leaders, don't expect Vlad to apologize for his derogatory non sequiturs any time soon. No wonder Donald Trump sought out Putin as a would-be BFF.
During a live interview with CNBC, Putin made a highly inappropriate remark (translated by Russia Insight) towards host Hadley Gamble when she queried him on Russia's energy delivery to the EU. "Beautiful woman, pretty. I say one thing, and she responds with something entirely different. As if you didn't hear what I said," the Russian leader said to the audience, gesturing towards Gamble. Red tape? More like red flags. More red flags, in fact, than Moscow Square. Putin him in his place, Gamble quipped, "Mr. President, I heard you."
What makes Putin's remarks even more unpleasant is the fact that Russian media went on to sexualize Gamble and brand her an American temptress who sought to rock the macho status quo, as highlighted by The Daily Beast in a series of translations of pro-Putin interviews.
Putin's behavior is reflective of his flagrant machoism. After all, who can forget those snaps of him riding shirtless on a horse and busting out his Judo uniform, presumably for the enjoyment of Putin stans? His chauvinism towards Gamble is one example in his long history of sexist behavior, including some truly disgraceful remarks about rape, as chronicled by BBC News.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Todd Akin's shocking sexual assault claims
The late Republican representative Todd Akin made comments that were so vile and extreme that they offended even the most hardline conservatives. During an interview with KTVI-TV (via ABC News), he reiterated his anti-abortion stance and claimed that there was such a thing as "legitimate rape," leading to widespread backlash.
In one of the most bizarre — and just plain wrong — sentiments of the century, Akin said, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Inevitably, this led to audible disgust and outrage. Then-president Barack Obama condemned Akin's horrifying views. "Rape is rape and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me," he stated, per Reuters.
A woman's right to have agency over her own body is often inexplicably at the center of discussion among male politicians, but Akin left even the most seasoned Republicans squirming. Mitt Romney, who can hardly be called a feminist, was appalled by Akin's comments. "Congressman's Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong," Romney told National Review (via Politico). "Like millions of other Americans, we found them to be offensive."
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Gordon Brown and bigot-gate
Beware: code Brown alert. Gordon Brown, that is. The Scottish politician already had big shoes to fill when he took over from Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2007, but, by Gordon, he didn't make things easy for himself. The U.S. had Watergate; the U.K. had bigot-gate.
In footage broadcast by Sky News, the then Prime Minister chatted to a supporter, who had some questionable views, during the lead up to the 2010 U.K. election. "All these Eastern Europeans what are coming in here, where are they flocking from?" the woman, Gillian Duffy, queried, to which Brown aptly replied that they are coming from Europe.
After speaking to Duffy, Brown returned to his car and made the rookie error of assuming that he had turned his mic off. But his ensuing comments were caught by Sky News and broadcast to the British public. Perturbed by Duffy's anti-immigration views, Brown said to his advisers, "That was a disaster — they should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that? ... She was just a bigoted woman."
Although he meant well in defending the rights of immigrants, Brown's remarks fed into ideation of the political elites mocking Joe Public. Ultimately, the incident became one of the many factors that contributed to his election loss.
A decade after the incident, Duffy told the Mirror that she has come to empathize with migrants, but said that she stood by her decision to confront Brown. "People should hold politicians to account," she said.
Marjorie Taylor Greene compared wearing masks to the Holocaust
What happens when a school shooting denier and QAnon supporter gets elected to congress? Alt-right politician Marjorie Taylor Greene isn't one to soundbite her tongue. Pity, since she made some absolutely horrific comparisons during a live TV interview. The grass may be Greener in some places, but it's looking pretty grim with Marjorie in charge.
Appearing on the conservative show "Real America's Voice," Taylor Greene drew an absurd analogy when discussing mask mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic. "You know, we can look back at a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany," Greene said, per CNN. "And this is exactly the type of abuse that Nancy Pelosi is talking about."
The notion that mask-wearing is comparable to the Holocaust is not only bunk but also grossly offensive. And despite Taylor Greene's insistence that masks are ineffective, a study by Science Direct illustrates the efficacy of mask-wearing in heavily reducing the transmission of Covid-19. Comparing mask mandates to the oppression of Jewish people during WWII is clearly beyond a false equivalence.
As reported by BBC News, Greene apologized for her remarks, but the damage of spreading pernicious falsehoods was already done.
Mitt Romney's brazen lies
Maybe don't lie if you're a public figure. No matter how insignificant a fabrication may seem, the fibber is always caught eventually.
Speaking live at the George Bush Presidential Library, Mitt Romney told a flat-out lie when campaigning as the Republican nominee in the 2008 presidential election. "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King," he asserted. It didn't take long for this claim to be refuted. While his father, George Romney, was indeed a vocal supporter of Civil Rights, he didn't actually march alongside Dr. King.
Faced with the consequences of his fibs, Romney pulled a Bill Clinton (lest we forget his struggle with "what the meaning of the word 'is' is") by claiming that he was speaking metaphorically. "If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of in the sense I've described," he told reporters, per The Times. "It's a figure of speech and very familiar and it's very common and I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great [civil rights] effort."
Accordingly, The Atlantic argued that, while the elder Romney was a passionate supporter of initiatives to tackle racism, Mitt Romney's policies were completely antithetical to what his father stood for: "George Romney's programs ... diverge nearly entirely from those advocated by his son."
Michael Grimm threatened a reporter
Being a politician means conducting oneself with decorum and restraint. No matter how annoying a politician may find an interview, it's paramount that they maintain their composure. Threatening violence against journalists, for instance, should be a no-brainer in terms of political self-assassination. But one politician decided to play The Grimm Reaper.
In a video obtained by The New York Times, former New York congressman Michael Grimm ended up threatening NY1 reporter Michael Scotto live on TV in 2014. Scotto was questioning Grimm regarding discrepancies in his campaign financing, but the Staten Island rep was pretty evasive and unwilling to address any of the claims against him, abruptly leaving before Scotto concluded their chat. Just as we thought the interview was over, Grimm returned and told Scotto, "Let me be clear to you, you ever do that to me again I'll throw you off this f***ing balcony." Incredulous, Scotto explained that he was simply doing his job and asking a "valid question," but Grimm was having none of it. "No, no. You're not man enough, you're not man enough. I'll break you in half like a boy," he threatened.
The unpleasant exchange was captured for the whole world to see. Worst of all, Grimm was hardly apologetic regarding his behavior. "I doubt that I am the first member of Congress to tell off a reporter, and I am sure I won't be the last," he said in a statement obtained by The New York Times. Yikes.
Angela Smith's racist WTF moment
It's one thing for a public figure to have their historical racist tweets unearthed years after they become famous. While such behavior is undeniably deplorable, it's quite another matter for public figures to make unequivocally racist statements at the height of their careers. And on live television, no less.
In 2019, British Independent politician Angela Smith made some shocking comments on BBC's Politics Live when discussing the BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) community. "It's not just about being black or a funny tinge, you know, a different ... From the BME community," Smith said in a truly WTF clip obtained by The Guardian. Meanwhile, fellow guest Ash Sarkar echoed viewers' collective incredulity, looking entirely astounded as she muttered, "A funny what?" Smith's baffling "funny tinge" comment appears to have come straight out of some colonial literature from the British Empire.
Backlash ensued, with journalist Michael Segalov tweeting what we're all thinking: "did Angela Smith on live BBC TV just now *actually*, when talking about BME people, say 'it's not just about being black or a funny tinge'?!?!??!?!!??'" Smith later apologized on Twitter, claiming that she "misspoke." She continued, "I'm very sorry about any offense caused. ... It's not what I am. I am committed to fighting racism wherever I find it in our society."