Source: NBC / Getty
Media mogul Wendy Williams has been known to ruffle a few feathers over the years with her off-the-cuff and controversial hot takes, from commenting on Ariana Grande’s appearance to sending the Beyhive into fury with her comments about Beyonce’s intelligence. We’ve seen the revered talk show host give her unfiltered opinion on everything in pop culture, but has there ever been a time when the media maven has taken it too far? Let’s take a look back at 10 times Wendy Willams might have went way, too, far!
10. Making Light Of TikTok Star Matima “Swavy” Miller’s Death
The 56-year-old personality and talk show host is currently trending on Twitter after she treated the death of 19-year-old TikTok star Matima “Swavy” Miller’s like an aside. The young social media personality died of a fatal gunshot wound on July 5.
Williams started off her infamous “Hot Topics” segment stating that she didn’t know who Swavy was.
“I have no idea who this is. Neither does Norman. Neither does one person in this building,” Williams said, before asking her audience to clap if they were familiar with the star.
Wendy then went on to comment on Swavy’s massive following of over 2.5 million on TikTok, however, the opinionated media host didn’t seem too impressed by his Instagram numbers, noting that he had more followers than she on the platform.
Finally, after an awkward pause, Wendy turned to the photo of the young dancer and said “Here he is. He’s 19 and he was murdered Monday morning.”
In the clip, you could hear the audience utter a collective gasp over the news.
The cringey segment has garnered over 4 million views on Twitter and social media warriors are dragging the star for mocking the fallen TikTok dancer.
Miller, who was also known as Swavy and Babyface S, boasted over 2.9 million followers on the budding streaming platform. The star was known for his viral dancing videos and comedy bits. On Instagram, Swavy had racked up near 472,000 followers under his @oneway.swavy handle.
“She is so hateful. Like, she basically treated the announcement of his death like it was funny gossip,” said one outraged fan on Twitter. “Why disparage him? Why even talk about him at all if you and your audience are that removed from even knowing who he is? … She really coaxed laughter from the audience before announcing this young man’s murder.”
Another social media watchdog chimed in:
“We all know Wendy to be messy and with the s–ts, but this wasn’t cool at all. I don’t know this man, but may he rest in peace. I’m sorry his friends and family had to see this. Wow…”
Sadly this isn’t the only time that Wendy has shocked viewers with her wildly inappropriate and unsolicited opinions.
9. Her Simon Guobadia “Straw Hut” Comment
Wendy Williams took aim at Real Housewives Of Atlanta star Porsha Williams and her burgeoning romance with fiance and businessmen Simon Guobadia. During her Hot Topics segment, Williams made a few scathing remarks about the pair’s plan to have three weddings, with one, in particular, that was going to be thrown at one of Guobadia’s houses overseas.
“Now, don’t be impressed,” said Wendy. “You know how land is cheap, and houses are cheap, and you can say you have a house but really it’s a trailer on one property in one state, a straw hut in another, and a little something with a shared pool by the community in another? So you ‘have houses!”
The “Straw Hut” line sent social media into a tizzy, with people noting that the remark was ignorant in particular because of Simon’s Nigerian background.
“#WendyWilliams can’t be that ignorant. There are mansions and billion dollar homes in Africa,” wrote one Twitter user. “The hut jokes are so stupid. Wendy u wish an African man would but they won’t. U need to apologize to every African that watches your show.”
“Culture-less a$$ @WendyWillaims is once again insinuating Africans live in huts. Why is this ok,” another user chimed in.
Simon eventually clapped back at Williams captioning in a since-deleted Instagram post:
“I don’t wanna brag, but I’ll be. The best you’ve ever had,” he wrote over a video of the house in question. ‘Hut’ living. How you doin’ Porsha?” he sarcastically added.
8. Criticizing Tabitha Brown For Retiring Her Husband
Wendy went trending into oblivion after she gave some unwarranted marriage advice to ‘The Chi” actress Tabitha Brown. Brown made the exciting announcement earlier this month that she was able to retire her husband Chance Brown from 15 years of service in the LAPD, but Williams seemed to have a huge qualm with the star’s willingness to support her husband.
“I was married to one of those. ‘I make the money!’ and so on and so forth ‘Go live your dreams! Open a business! Go, go, go!’ See how that turned out,” she said during her ‘Hot Topics” segment.
“I predict that this marriage is going to be on real rocky ground in a moment. ‘Live your dream’… They may invest in stuff and lose the money. They invest in something else then the money gets swindled or stolen. Then they invest again and he comes home and throws his bag down. She’s like ‘What? What?’ And he’s like, ‘I can’t do this and this is your fault. You’re over here making your money and stuff and had me quit my job.’”
The 42-year-old actress caught wind of the former radio show host’s comments and responded back with a prayer sprinkled with a hint of elegant shade.
“I was his dog in the fight and he believed in me and we did it together for the last 15 years. I did every year with him in the LAPD and he did every year with me with rejection and nos in this entertainment industry. However, God has blessed me…I’ve been praying on this for a very long time and it has now come to pass. That is the power of God. It’s also the power of allowing God to be first in your marriage. That’s how it remains successful, we keep Him first. He is first in our marriage. Not money, not business, not success, but God. He’s first.”
Tabitha concluded her peaceful clap-back sending her well wishes to Wendy, noting that she hopes the star can find love just as exciting and committed as hers.
“I pray that somebody finds you, love finds you that excites you the way I’m excited for my husband to grow his business, pour into children and coach these kids and do other things he’s dreamt about,” she said. “I pray this type of excitement and love finds you and anybody else who seems to not understand this. I pray that type of love finds you,” she said.
7. Slamming Megan Markle
Back in 2019, Megan Markle appeared in a documentary for Britain’s ITV News where she revealed the intense pressure she received from tabloids and press about her marriage to Prince Harry. “Not many people have asked if I’m ok … it’s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes,” Markle mentioned during the segment. Megan also added at the time that the intense media spotlight was difficult during her pregnancy with baby Archie. Williams slammed the Dutchess of Sussex for her comments offering no mercy to Markle.
“Meghan, nobody feels sorry for you. You knew what you were signing up for, girl!” Williams said back in October 2019. “You knew exactly what you were doing. And I applaud her plot-ation on the royal situation. But please, don’t try to garner sympathy from us. You knew what you were doing.”
“Don’t be surprised that the paparazzi are everywhere, of course, because you’re now a royal,” she added.
6. Saying Beyonce Has A “5th Grade Education”
Williams enraged the Beyhive in December of 2012 while discussing Beyonce’s HBO documentary “Life Is But A Dream on her talk show.
Fans of Bey were sent spirling when Wendy commented on the way the 39-year-old Grammy Award-winning icon spoke during the film.
“Fortunately one of the TVs in our kitchen has closed-captioning, so I’ll be able to understand what she says,” Wendy told her audience. “You know Beyoncé can’t talk. She sounds like she has a fifth-grade education. … We have to call a spade a spade.”
6. Commenting on Caitlyn Jenner’s Transformation
Back in October of 2016, the Ask Wendy author faced some serious backlash from viewers after she rudely commented on Caitlyn Jenner’s transgender status. Williams pointed out that all the Kardashian women were female, except for Jenner, who had just come out as a transgender woman the previous year.
“Caitlyn still has a member,” she said as the cameras cut to the audience and tv crew shaking their heads in dismay.
5. Going Toe To Toe With Whitney Houston
It was the most talked-about interview for years. In January of 2003, Wendy Williams grilled the late R&B queen Whitney Houston about her drug abuse, former romances and past financial struggles during a shocking radio interview. The legendary singer sent a fair warning to the talk show host to “watch what you say, baby girl” prompting Wendy to reply snarlingly, “Watch what you do.” Shortly after Houston hung up the phone on Wendy cutting off their heated conversation.
4. Leaking Method Man’s Wife’s Cancer Diagnosis
Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man called out Williams in 2006 after she let slip on her radio show that his wife, Tamika Smith, had been battling breast cancer. “You don’t do that to nobody. You say [what] the f–k you want to say about me, say nothing about my family,” he said at the time, noting that some of Smith’s own family members had not even known about her diagnosis yet.
Wendy added more fuel to the fire of her beef with the “Liquid Swords” rapper after she alleged this year that she and Method Man had a one-night stand. Williams dished the secret during an interview with DJ Suss One.
“I smoked a blunt with Method Man while I gave him a bath and it was a one-night stand,” she explained. “He’ll deny it, maybe not. It wasn’t in the movie because [he] is still very angry at me for being me – for telling the truth. It was a one-night stand,” she re-iterated.
The steamy allegation prompted a heated response from Method’s wife Tamika too.
3. Making Fun Of Ariana Grande’s Appearance.
In 2015, The Wendy’s Got The Heat Author had viewers side-eying her over the comments she made about singer Ariana Grande’s physical appearance. Williams said she didn’t think the “Problem” singer was woman enough because she looked “too young.”
“She’s 21. She’ll forever look 12 which I don’t mean that in a good way,” began the host. “I mean that in a you know, it’s nice to look younger than you are, but when you look too young and then you’re short — she’s only like 4 feet 11-like, I don’t look at her as like a woman.”
2. Asking Rude Questions About Laverne Cox’s Transition
Laverne Cox politely declined to respond to Wendy William’s invasive questions about her transition during an interview in 2014. Wendy asked the star about what type of surgeries were involved throughout her transformation process.
“You’ve got breast implants,” asked Wendy outright. “They’re tasteful whatever’s going on there,” she added.”
Cox respectfully declined to comment. “I’ve chosen not to talk about any of the stuff I’ve gotten done because I think so often when trans people situations are talked about, we always far too often focus on surgeries and transitions, so I don’t talk about that but, I’m very happy with the situation” she replied.
1. Asking Then 18-Year-Old Actor Marcus Scribner If He Was A Virgin
Back in 2018, Black-ish actor, Marcus Scribner sat down for a wildly awkward interview with Wendy. The host flat out asked the 18-year-old star at the time if he was a virgin and to make matters even worse, Scribner’s father was apparently sitting in the audience too. Ultimately, Scribner said he would leave it up to the audience to decide.
