12 Times Celebs Outclassed Their Interviewer

Celebrities have long had a symbiotic relationship with the media. Actors, musicians, directors, and other showbiz types produce products that they hope will be exposed to as many people as possible, and enlist the power of the media to get the message out. This typically involves junket interviews, talk shows, press conferences, and other means putting celebs front and center to answer questions about those projects. 

That hand-in-glove affiliation between celebs and those who interview them has been, by and large, a win-win proposition for everyone involved — stars' projects are promoted, while their interviews can boost ratings for TV talk shows, or increase sales of magazines. Every so often, though, a line is crossed and the whole enterprise to go off the rails, resulting in contentious encounters between stars and interviewers that have been as entertaining as they were fiery.

Then, of course, there are those celebs who demonstrate poise and dignity when handling inappropriate questioning. For a look at some of the most notable of those, read on for a rundown of 12 times celebs outclassed their interviewer.

Back in 2011, pop singer Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis were promoting their new rom-com, "Friends with Benefits." That brought them to Moscow, where they appeared together at a press conference. During the questioning, a Russian journalist asked the former member of boy band *NSYNC — in Russian — why he was now acting in movies. Kunis, who was born in Ukraine, is fluent in Russian, and was taken aback by the question. Kunis asked the journalist to elaborate, and she responded by noting that people from other corners of showbiz other than acting haven't always been great when they've attempted acting. "Wait, you're asking why he wants to be in movies?" Kunis fired back in Russian. 

Kunis then proceeded to shut down the entire line of questioning. "Well, what would you rather have him do?" she queried, still in Russian. When the journalist responded, "But isn't showbiz enough?" Kunis responded, "Well, if he wants to make movies, why shouldn't he? What kind of question is that? Why are YOU here?" Clearly flustered, the journalist insisted she was merely doing her job. "Well so is he!" Kunis said, still speaking Russian. "It's the same thing!"

The takeaway: Kunis will easily rise above insulting interview questions while putting interviewers in their place — and can do it in multiple languages.

First bursting on the music scene as frontman of scrappy rockers The Stooges in the late 1960s, Iggy Pop experienced far greater success as a solo artist. In 1977, Pop (whose real name is James Osterberg) appeared on Canadian TV talk show "90 Minutes Live," where he was interviewed by host Peter Gzowski. The row, which aired on CBC, was an unexpected cross-border snafu involving Canada's musicians' union had scuttled plans for Pop to perform alongside David Bowie (who'd produced his latest album), playing as a member of his band. After apologizing for the situation, Gzowski quipped, "But that's life. That's showbiz." Pop responded icily: "Is it?" 

In a video of the encounter, Gzowski asked Pop to tell him about punk rock, a term with which he'd been associated, but was clearly not thrilled with. "Well, I'll tell you about punk rock," said Pop. "Punk rock is a word used by dilettantes and heartless manipulators, about music that takes up the energies, and the bodies, and the hearts, and the souls, and the time, and the minds, of young men who give what they have to it ... it's a term that's based on contempt ... and everything that's rotten about rock 'n' roll."  

When Gzowski asked if he doesn't like the label, Pop fired back, "I don't like to hear it come out of someone's mouth." Gzowski went on to mention Pop's outrageous onstage antics, which included vomiting, but Pop refused to take the bait. "I was ill," the singer explained. "I'm not sorry, I was ill."

Stand-up comic Bill Burr is not someone to be trifled with — as evidenced by the hilarious and unbelievably profane rant he once unleashed on an unruly Philly audience. Ponytailed Atlanta radio host Southside Steve Rickman clearly didn't know that when he interviewed Burr ahead of an upcoming comedy gig. The interview — a word used loosely — starts off badly and gets worse, with Rickman introducing himself and declaring, "This is Bill Burr." Rickman then shoved a large microphone in Burr's face. "That's your question?" Burr asked incredulously, displaying an annoyed smirk. Rickman then ordered Burr to perform his stand-up routine. Bill took a pass. "And I'm gonna do stand-up in front of nine people in a radio station?" Burr quipped. "No, I'm not doin' that."

When Rickman continued to awkwardly thrust the mic into Burr's face, the comedian asked permission to take the mic. After Rickman handed it to him, Burr declared, "That's the number one thing you don't do — I learned that in broadcasting school, you never give up the microphone. See, now I have the power."

Burr proceeded to demonstrate why giving him control of the microphone was such a bad idea by relentlessly roasting the radio guy. "This is the worst interview I've ever done, and he's wearing Stetson cologne or something," Burr joked, adding, "He looks like the first guy who gets his ass kicked in a Steven Seagall movie."

In the 1990s, Robert Downey Jr.'s struggles with addiction and stint in jail made headlines. That difficult period, however, was decades in the past when he appeared at a 2015 promotional junket for "Avengers: Age of Ultron." That was when Downey encountered British journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who was hellbent on dredging up the actor's painful past, asking Downey if he felt "free" of his past issues with addiction. Downey was seething when he finally cut the whole thing short. "I'm sorry, I really don't ... what are we doing?" Downey said, grimly smirking and offering a wave. "Bye," he announced, pulling off his mic and walking off.

Downey blasted his interviewer during a subsequent appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," explaining he felt the line of questioning was inappropriate within the context of promoting a superhero movie. "This has nothing to do with your creepy, dark agenda that I'm feeling like all of a sudden ashamed and obligated to accommodate your weirdo s*** ... You're a bottom-feeding muckraker," Downey said of Guru-Murthy (via The Hollywood Reporter). 

The actor also regretted not pulling the plug faster. "What I have to do in the future is I just have to give myself permission to say, 'That is more than likely a syphilitic parasite, and I need to distance myself from this clown. Otherwise, I'm probably going to put hands on somebody, and then there's a real story,'" he added.

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Interestingly, Robert Downey Jr. hasn't been the only celeb to take offense at the questions posed by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. Back in 2013, the British journalist was interviewing director Quentin Tarantino, and asked a very loaded question about the connection between violence depicted in his movies and real-life violence. "I'm not biting," Tarantino responded. "I refuse your question." When Guru-Murthy asked why he wouldn't answer, Tarantino fired back, "Because I refused your question. I'm not your slave and you're not my master. You can't make me dance to your tune. I'm not a monkey."

As Guru-Murthy continued to press, Tarantino held firm, explaining that he's already said everything he could possibly say about that subject — and if anyone wanted to know what that was, they would only have to do a quick internet search. "I haven't changed my opinion one iota," Tarantino said. "No, but you haven't fleshed it out," the interviewer continued, to which Tarantino replied, "It's not my job to flesh it out!" 

Guru-Murthy then claimed it was his job to ask him about it, but Tarantino still wasn't buying it. "And I'm shutting your butt down," the director declared.

From 1973 until 1981, NBC's "Tonight Show" was followed by "Tomorrow," a late-night talk show hosted by broadcaster Tom Snyder, whose on-air shtick had been hilariously spoofed by Dan Aykroyd on "Saturday Night Live." Snyder had interviewed countless celebrities, yet he truly met his match when he welcomed John Lydon, who'd been known as Johnny Rotten, vocalist for the Sex Pistols, when he'd previously appeared on Snyder's show. This time, Lydon was promoting the launch of his new post-Pistols project, Public Image Ltd.

Lydon arrived angry and agitated; the interview began on a contentious note and went downhill from there. When Snyder asked Lydon — who was appearing with fellow PiL member Keith Levene — about comments they'd made declaring their hatred for rock 'n' roll, Lydon went off an epic rant. "It's dead, it's a disease, it's a plague, it's been going on for too long, it's history," Lydon said. "It's vile. It's not achieving anything ... they play rock 'n' roll at airports."

Continually bumming cigarettes from Snyder, Lydon managed to frustrate every line of questioning he attempted. Exasperated, Snyder pithily summed up their discussion so far. "Not a band, a company. Not a performance, a gig," Snyder said before changing course by asking whether he could ask some questions sent in by viewers. "It's bound to be awful," predicted Lydon. "You really don't care what your audiences think of you, do you?" Snyder said, to which Lydon replied, "No. It doesn't matter. It's irrelevant."

Dylan McDermott is best known for playing crusading lawyer Bobby Donnell on acclaimed TV legal drama "The Practice." What some fans may not know is that when he was 5 years old, his mother was murdered. Understandably, this tragedy is a sensitive subject for the actor.

That sensitivity would seemingly be obvious to anyone, yet that somehow eluded comedian Jim Norton when McDermott appeared on SiriusXM's "Jim and Sam Show." "Now I know your mom was killed," Norton blurted out at one point in the interview. McDermott was clearly not keen on broaching that topic. "Yeah, I don't really want to get into that now," McDermott said, attempting to shift the conversation to the TV show he was there to plug. 

Norton and fellow comedian Doug Stanhope, however, were not reading the room. Not only did Stanhope make an awkward murder joke, Norton continued to press on, wondering what role his mom's murder had in his decision to become an actor. McDermott sidestepped that entirely, remaining cordial with the hosts while also appearing perturbed that he'd had to deal with something that he so clearly did not want to discuss during what had otherwise been a light-hearted, laugh-filled interview.

Tom Cruise has developed a decades-long reputation as a nice guy with good manners and a generally respectful attitude toward others. However, he's also not immune to firing back at blatant rudeness, which was the case when he was on the red carpet in 2005 promoting his latest big-screen blockbuster, "War of the Worlds." 

In a clip, Cruise is seen discussing the film with an interviewer, who abruptly sprays water in Cruise's face with a water pistol. Cruise is understandably surprised and put off. "Now why would you do that?" he asked, repeating his question as the interviewer attempted to get away while a gaggle of publicists entered the vicinity. "What's so funny about that?" Cruise asked, staring down the interviewer. "It's ridiculous. Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?" At that point, the interviewer attempted to flee, but Cruise refused to let that happen. "Hey, hey, no, no — don't run away," Cruise told him. "That's incredibly rude. I'm here giving you an interview and answering your questions ... You're a jerk." The interviewer finally slunk away, while a crowd of bystanders booed his exit.

Britain's Channel 4 subsequently apologized, issuing a statement to The Guardian. "The stunt was intended to be light-hearted rather than malicious and we would apologize to Mr. Cruise for any offence that was caused," the statement read, noting that the stunt had been intended for an upcoming TV show that "involves playing light-hearted comedy pranks on celebrities and members of the public."

Back in 2011, Matt Damon joined his mother — a Boston schoolteacher — at the Save Our Schools march in Washington, D.C. Damon was standing next to his mom when he was approached by a reporter from libertarian news outlet Reason TV, who suggested a teacher's job security might impact their work ethic. "There's an incentive to work hard and be a better actor because you want to have a job, so why isn't it like that for teachers?" the interviewer asked.

Damon, however, vehemently disagreed with the entire thesis. "So you think job insecurity is what makes me work hard?" Damon responded. "It's like saying a teacher is going to get lazy when they have tenure, a teacher wants to teach!" Damon continued. "I mean, why else would you take a s***ty salary and really long hours and do that job unless you really love to do it?" 

That was when the guy who'd been filming the encounter decided to drop in his two cents, declaring, "Ten percent of teachers are bad," to which Damon's mom responded, "Where did you get that number?" Suddenly put on the spot, the camera operator replied, "I don't know, 10% of people in any profession maybe should think of something else." Damon then offered a scathingly perfect response that shut down the interview: "Well, okay. But maybe you're a s***ty cameraman, I don't know."

When Ariana Grande sat down for a radio interview on Power 106 FM in 2015, she was immediately asked by a male host whether, if forced to choose using one or the other for the final time, would she pick makeup or her phone. "Is this what you think girls have trouble choosing between?" she replied with surprise. As the interview progressed, the conversation turned to the recently unveiled unicorn emoji, which the male hosts felt was strictly for women and girls, while Grande contended it was for whoever wanted to use it, regardless of sex. 

Having hurtled over that sexist line of questioning, she made her opinion apparent when she was posed with a theoretical conundrum. "If you could fix one problem in the world, what would it be?" one of the hosts said. "I have a long list I'd like to change," Grande responded. "I think judgment in general. Intolerance, meanness, double standards, misogyny, racism, sexism. All that sh*t. There's lots that we've got to start on. That's what we need to focus on. We've got work to do."

Fashionista pop star Rihanna made a shift from music to movies when she made her acting debut in the 2012 film "Battleship." At the time of the movie's release, tabloid rumors were flying, claiming that she'd been having an affair with Ashton Kutcher.

During a London press conference promoting "Battleship," the singer-turned-actor was posed a long and winding question that began about her career before segueing to her personal life, concluding with, "Will we see a certain Mr. Ashton Kutcher perhaps making a trip over here?" Rihanna's demeanor instantly shifted from the appearance of interest to a look of sheer disgust. "Wow, how disappointing was that question," she said, shaking her head and chuckling humorlessly. "Shall we move on to another one," a voice added, to which Rihanna responded, "Absolutely."

Rihanna then made a brief return to the original question, stating, "I'm happy and I'm single, if that's what you are really asking."

There's no denying that Jerry Seinfeld is hilarious, yet the beloved comedian can also become prickly from time to time. For proof, watch the video of when Seinfeld, in the midst of a red-carpet interview, was approached by Kesha, who asked if she could give him a hug. "No thanks," deadpanned Seinfeld, sending the startled pop star scurrying away in tears. 

Several years earlier, Seinfeld's caustic side was on full display during a 2007 appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live." Host Larry King's famed refusal to prepare for interviews was on full display when he sought clarification about whether or not the comedian made the choice to end his mega-hit sitcom "Seinfeld." "You're not aware of this?" Seinfeld asked King incredulously. "You think I got canceled? I thought that was pretty well documented — is this still CNN?" he continued, pointing out that "Seinfeld" was TV's No. 1 show when it ended nearly a decade earlier, in 1998. "Do you know who I am? Seventy-five million viewers, last episode!" Seinfeld ranted. "It's a big difference between being canceled and being No. 1 — geez!"

Following King's 2021 death at age 87, Seinfeld referenced the seemingly testy interview when he tweeted, "Always loved Larry King and will miss him. The 'canceled' bit was just me having fun with his little mistake. Nothing more. Or less."