Clay Aiken recalls 2006 Ripa clash as ‘catastrophic’

Singer Clay Aiken is sharing new details of what he describes as “the most catastrophic week of my life” following a television appearance with Kelly Ripa 20 years ago. The “American Idol” veteran appeared on this week’s episode of the “Hollywood Raw” podcast, where he was asked about his guest-hosting stint on the Nov. 17, 2006, episode of “Live With Regis and Kelly.” As fans may recall, Aiken placed his hand over Ripa’s mouth during an interview with “Dancing With the Stars” winners Cheryl Burke

and Emmitt Smith, joking he wasn’t getting an opportunity to get a word in. Ripa, however, did not seem amused and proclaimed, “Oh, that’s a no, no, no. I don’t know where that hand’s been, honey.” In his “Hollywood Raw” chat, Aiken revealed he’d been asked to fill in for host Regis Philbin because he was in talks with the show’s production company, Buena Vista Television, about the possibility of hosting his own show. “I’m on the show because I wanted to show them I

could handle this myself, I could host something, and I wasn’t getting to talk,” he said. “There were cue cards that had my name on them, so I tried to be funny, so I did what I did, which was incredibly innocent.” Aiken, however, knew instantly that Ripa wasn’t pleased. “Then it got a little cold in the room,” he said. “I felt bad and I was really worried I had upset her . and I tried not to think much of it.” Ripa made

her distaste for the moment clear on Nov. 20, 2006, episode of “Live With Regis and Kelly,” when she criticized Aiken’s actions. “He’s a Southern boy, so I expected a certain amount of Southern hospitality and manners,” she told Philbin at the time. ”[If] you’re in the public eye, you have to be respectful of other people. And I don’t think that he was respectful in any way.” “You don’t put your hands over someone’s face and mouth when they’re conducting an interview, even if

it’s for a laugh,” she continued. That same week, former “View” co-host Rosie O’Donnell deemed Ripa’s remarks “homophobic,” prompting Ripa to angrily call the show to reiterate her take on AIken’s “unprofessional” gesture. “He’s shaking hands with everybody in the audience. I mean, it’s cold and flu season,” Ripa said. “To imply that it’s anything homophobic is outrageous, Rosie, and you know better.” O’Donnell and Ripa’s on-air exchange, Aiken now says, exacerbated the situation, given that he had yet to publicly identify himself as gay.

“I was out to people that I knew, but I wasn’t publicly out about it,” he recalled. “I was not out to my grandparents and people in my family . I was caving in on myself, and so it was lot.” Aiken, who came out publicly in 2008, said he began to “take ownership back” of the situation by poking fun at it during a joint appearance on the 2006 American Music Awards with Tori Spelling. Later, he sent Ripa flowers, after which he says

the daytime TV host called him to apologize. As for his relationship with Ripa today, he quipped: “We’ve been in a few places at the same time, like show openings and whatnot. I have not gone up and said something myself. But she hasn’t, either.” Though Ripa has yet to address Aiken’s remarks, a source close to her told Entertainment Weekly, “This all happened 20 years ago, so it is rather silly to be a story now.” Watch Clay Aiken’s “Hollywood Raw” appearance below. His

comments on Kelly Ripa begin around the 31:05 mark.

Clay Aiken, Kelly Ripa, Live With Regis and Kelly, Hollywood Raw, Rosie O'Donnell, Regis Philbin, Buena Vista Television, Dancing With the Stars, Cheryl Burke, Emmitt Smith, American Music Awards, Tori Spelling