Laura Ingraham's Most Unforgettable Live TV Gaffes

Let's face it: live TV can often turn into a series of viral moments when things don't go exactly as planned. Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner to millions during the Miss Universe pageant in 2015, Wendy Williams famously called Dua Lipa "Dula Peep" during a live broadcast, and let's not forget the infamous slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. The point is that things can head south quickly, but the show must go on.

Being an on-air journalist is no different, with reporters like Laura Ingraham constantly finding themselves in awkward moments that are broadcast live. The TV personality has been doing her segment, "The Ingraham Angle," on Fox News since 2017, but her history with live media coverage extends back nearly two decades, as she held a wildly popular radio show from 2001 to 2018. Regardless of being a seasoned pro, Ingraham still has her gaffes and inaccuracies, not to mention questionable outfits, from time to time. Let's dive into some slip-ups that we'll never forget.

One of Laura Ingraham's humbling moments came from a "gotcha" approach by sports author Steve Almond. The broadcast is from January 2023, less than a week after football player Damar Hamlin suffered from a nearly fatal blow during a Bills vs. Bengals game that caused him to go into Cardiac Arrest.

During the segment, Ingraham asked Almond what the NFL could do to prevent life-altering injuries such as these from happening again. He then seamlessly compared the NFL settling injury-related lawsuits to Fox News throwing money at the number of sexual harassment cases perpetrated by their employees (Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, and Ed Henry are among the names that have been alleged).

Ingraham tried to come back from this by trying to trip him up. "What do you want? I'm not getting it," she firmly recited. Almond replied to this with a myriad of answers, saying that an "economic incentive" is what is needed to foster an actual change, proving her tactics ineffective. Later on in the interview, he accused her of the same pattern he addressed with Fox News and the NFL from a Tweet she made regarding one of the survivors of the Parkland High School shooting. She wrote on X, formerly Twitter, back in March 2018, "David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA...totally predictable given acceptance rates.)" Understandably, Ingraham took a lot of heat for this take, and the skeletons would come back to bite her. "A couple of years ago, when you taunted a survivor of the Parkland mass shooting, you apologized only because advertisers withdrew from your show." Her only response was, "Nice try, buddy." And just like that, the interview was over.

During a broadcast from November 2024, Laura Ingraham was discussing a few key figures taking legal action against Donald Trump. "History is going to remember Jack Smith and Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis and the judges who let these cases get as far as they did as modern-day Keystone Cops, who chased Trump around, hounding him, trying to keep him off the campaign trail because they hated his agenda..." But there was one critical mistake: as she was reciting this, graphics of the names she mentioned appeared on-screen: Jack Smith, Alvin Bragg, and a third woman who was not Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, but of Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York.

Later in the broadcast, Ingraham halfheartedly corrected the mistake. "Earlier in the 'Angle,' we accidentally showed a graphic that had a photo of another vicious anti-Trump figure, Letitia James, when we were talking about Fani Willis, so that was our mistake," she then tried to downplay the error, "but they both hate Trump." The damage had already been done, though, as Ingraham follows a pattern when it comes to identifying African-American people.

Back in March 2024, Ingraham was using a graphic during her broadcast (the YouTube clip has since been corrected) when she was discussing prosecutor Nathan Wade's resignation from Fani Willis's election interference case against Donald Trump after they were involved romantically. The graphic showed two sides of a broken heart, with Willis on one side, Judge Scot McaFee in the middle, and where Wade was supposed to be on the right, which was instead a photo of a different black attorney, Terrence Bradley. Later in the broadcast, she gave a similar one-note apology, but for many, this is how she will be remembered: sloppy journalism that adheres to racial stereotypes.

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to making a live news station run; there's the camera crew, teleprompter operators, and writers, and when there are that many people in the mix, there are bound to be slip-ups. Unfortunately, some of these oversights can be quite embarrassing for those on-air; fortunately for the viewer, it makes for hilarious TV.

In January 2025, Laura Ingraham introduced Charlie Kirk as a guest on her show. It was just as she was acknowledging him as the "Turning Point USA founder" when an audible "Oh s***" could be heard from a voice not seen on-screen. Ingraham tried to cover up the blunder by raising her voice and refusing to acknowledge the admittedly satirical fumble, and Kirk followed in her lead, but it was too late. The memes started flying before the broadcast even ended.

A source later explained what had transpired to Mediaite. "The audio operator accidentally slid the wrong fader, which was allotted for a different guest. That guest, in turn, was adjusting his IFB at the time and said, 'Oh s***,' which was accidentally transmitted on the air." But again, by the time the explanation came, people had heard all that they needed to, "Fox is trying to restore fair and balanced journalism, starting with hot mic commentary," one X user posted, "They should introduce all the guests with this audio," added another.

Fox News is known for throwing darts at many democrats who don't follow their agenda, one of the key players being Joe Biden while he was in office. One bold claim from by Laura Ingraham was made in poor judgment, and she got schooled.

During a broadcast from October 2023, she and Raymond Arroyo were watching a speech made by the former President about Artificial Intelligence. During the speech, Biden mentioned the Webb telescope, a piece of equipment Ingraham doesn't seem too familiar with. She joked with Arroyo, thinking that Biden misspoke, "Did he call it the 'Webb telescope'? Isn't it the Hubble? Is he thinking of Webb-Hubble? I don't understand," she mocked. Turns out she didn't. Biden was referencing the correct telescope, and Ingraham would come to eat her words. "There is a Webb telescope that I didn't know about," she said later before easing back into humor, "I stand corrected by Joe Biden." Well, at least she acknowledged it, but it was certainly awkward for those watching at home.

Saturday Night Live has had its cast do political impressions since its origin, many of which have had full-circle moments of the figures appearing on the show with the actors doing their impersonation, think Maya Rudolph and Kamala Harris, Sarah Palin and Tina Fey, and Kate McKinnon and Hillary Clinton. Politicians and news personalities can easily show their human side, and sense of humor when it comes to how they react to being impersonated, and Laura Ingraham took a particularly interesting approach.

You can add Ingraham to McKinnon's long-running list of political impressions, but it's hard to tell how the news anchor felt about the bit. After showing the clip during a show from January 2022, Ingraham went meta and impersonated Mckinnon's impersonation. Using the same hanky accent and mannerisms the comedian did, she began by paying her respects, "Now there's a reason I like Kate McKinnon: I have so much respect for her as a talent, she's so even-handed in her political commentary." She then continued, almost seeming bothered that she was portrayed, "But seriously, think of all the low-hanging fruit provided by Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi ... the Squad on a near-daily basis. I mean, I think this is kind of comedy gold, don't you?" Ingraham was trying to be funny, but the punchline fell flat. Maybe leave the humor to the comedians next time.