Celebrities must look back with nostalgia on the pre-YouTube era. Back then, Billy Bob Thornton could have made a fool of himself on Canadian radio and only a few hundred thousand people would have heard. Instead, many millions saw the actor-musician angrily insult the entire country after the interviewer had the temerity to mention that the “Sling Blade” star is better known for his movies.
1. Joaquin Phoenix — Until Mr. Thornton flipped out, the word “meltdown” immediately brought to mind the young actor who insisted he was retiring from film to become a rapper and his bizarre, bearded appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman” in February.
2. Farrah Fawcett — Wondering what Mr. Letterman meant when he declared during Mr. Phoenix’s interview, “We owe an apology to Farrah Fawcett”? The actor’s spaced-out behavior almost made the actress’s notorious 1997 appearance on the show — she thought his famous skyline background was real — look dignified.
3. Tom Cruise — Take your pick: There’s the 2005 argument with Matt Lauer on the “Today” show in which the actor criticized Brooke Shields’ use of anti-depressants and dismissed the entire field of psychiatry, and “The Oprah Winfrey Show” appearance that same year that gave the world the phrase “jumping the couch” to indicate a particularly public kind of meltdown.
4. Whitney Houston — Actually, all the best interview meltdowns result in a catchphrase. In the troubled singer’s 1993 interview with Barbara Walters, it was “Crack is whack.” When Babs asked about drug-abuse rumors, Miss Houston patiently explained, “Crack is cheap. I make too much money to ever smoke crack.”
5. Bill O’Reilly — It’s not always interviewees who do the melting down. The Fox News Channel host actually made Barney Frank look composed when he savagely shouted “coward” and “bull,” among other things, at the congressman in a discussion of the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac debacle.
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