Wendy Williams Controversial History: Talk TV's Wild Card

On February 17th, 2020, Dr. Amie Harwick was murdered in her Hollywood Hills home, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend. A well-known Los Angeles sex therapist and former fiancée of Drew Carey, Harwick’s murder shocked and saddened the Hollywood community. But three days after Harwick’s murder, Wendy Williams made an ill-advised joke about the incident on her show.

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This is not the first time Wendy Williams has made inappropriate comments. Williams admitted that she’s always been someone who "spoke too loud, too fast and too much," even as a child. Williams got her start as a radio DJ in the late ‘80s, in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. A “shock jock” who styled herself after Howard Stern, Williams soon became notorious for her unapologetically blunt comments about the lives of celebrities, as well as her own personal struggles. While this approach definitely made her a success — her syndicated talk show, The Wendy Williams Experience, attracted 12 million listeners, and she was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2009 — it also made her plenty of enemies. Her comments sparked feuds with music stars like Tupac Shakur, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

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In 2008, Williams transitioned to television with The Wendy Williams Show, which was nationally syndicated by 2009. Williams proved to be a success in front of the camera, racking up five Daytime Emmy nominations over the years, but she was still just as controversial as she was during her radio days. During her “Hot Topics” segment, Williams offers her opinions about the day’s celebrity and pop culture gossip, and there’s always a possibility that she will take things way too far. Over the years she’s had to apologize to everyone from A-listers to the LGBTQ+ community to the NAACP.

Wendy Williams’ first known feud was with none other than West Coast rap legend Tupac Shakur. In 1995, Williams told her listeners that Tupac Shakur had been raped while in prison. Shakur was understandably insulted by the rumor. In response, he dedicated much of his 1996 song “Why U Turn on Me?” to dissing Williams. In the song, Shakur repeatedly tells Williams to go to Jenny Craig, which is the most minor insult of the song. It’s the first time a singer released a song specifically targeting Williams, but it wouldn’t be the last.

For her part, Williams wasn’t bothered by the song. “Without those song mentions, I might not be on TV right now,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012.

For years, Wendy Williams wasn’t afraid to discuss Whitney Houston’s personal life on her radio program, despite not knowing her personally. According to Houston’s best friend and lover, Robyn Crawford, that never sat well with Houston.

So when Houston stopped by Williams’s radio show in 2003 to promote her new album, Just Whitney, for their first and only face-to-face conversation, there was already plenty of baggage. But during the interview, Williams repeatedly asked about Houston’s alleged drug use. Houston didn’t appreciate it, and even said, “If this were back in the day in Newark, I’d meet you outside.”

Williams would later clarify that she didn’t confront Houston for kicks, but rather because, as a former drug user herself, she felt they had a lot in common. Houston remained angry at Williams for years afterward. When Robyn Crawford appeared on Williams’ talk show in 2019, she said that she and Houston had actually considered confronting Williams outside her radio studio.

In 2006, Method Man’s wife, Tamika Smith, was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, and Wendy Williams shared this information with her listeners. Problem was, Method Man and Smith had been trying to keep it a secret — they hadn’t even told members of Smith’s family. Method Man was understandably upset. "This is the big "C", big "C" for cancer,” he told allhiphop.com. “I was ready. I was so mad, I was crying right there and I’m like I’m gonna kill some f--king body and these Wu Tang friends kept me in there, kept me in L.A."

As if exposing personal medical information wasn’t enough, Williams also implied that Method Man was having an affair with the doctor who was treating his wife. "She said me and the doctor was f--king,” Method Man said. “What kind of s--t is that, man?", he said. "You don’t do that to nobody. You say the f--k you want to say about me, say nothing about my family, man".

Smith went into remission, but Method Man still wasn’t happy with Williams. In a Rolling Stone interview, he said he showed up to Williams’s studio to discuss the incident, but she wouldn’t have him on her show.

Wendy Williams has repeatedly commented on Mariah Carey and her personal life over the years, and in 2008, Carey finally responded with a song. Referring to Williams in her single, “Touch My Body,” Carey sang, “Cause they be all up in my business like a Wendy interview.” Williams wasn’t fazed. “It’s my job to be all up in their business in interviews,” she replied.

Williams got under Carey’s skin eight years later. When discussing Carey’s 2016 reality show, Mariah’s World, Williams said that Carey is “too fragile for reality TV.” She also said that Empire creator, Lee Daniels, agreed.

In response, Carey posted three videos of herself and Daniels with the caption “Don’t come for us unless we call for you @wendyshow.” In one of the videos, Daniels says, “I’m the bitch that’s fragile, okay?” while Mariah laughs.

In 2014, transgender woman Chloie Jonsson sued Crossfit when the company forbade her from competing in the women’s division of the program and instead required her to compete in the men’s division. Crossfit made the decision even though there’s no evidence that transgender women on hormone replacement therapy have a competitive advantage over their cisgender competitors. Crossfit ended up settling Jonsson’s lawsuit and changed their policy in 2018.

Wendy Williams and her guests discussed the lawsuit on her show in 2014, and it didn’t go well. Guest Joe Pardavila of The Todd Show opened with a joke about Jonsson’s last name. Williams followed that up by misgendering Chaz Bono, then doubting Jonsson’s argument. "This is an unfair advantage," Williams said. "You can take away female or male parts or whatever — it's like Chaz Bono! You know, Chaz is a man now, but I bet she still fights like a girl like the rest of us, and she's not as strong as a man who was born a man."

Public backlash was swift, and Williams pulled the clip from the Internet. She then Tweeted an apology, “Didn’t mean to offend when discussing transgender topic. I’m a long LGBT ally & @GLAAD supporter & will use this 2b better educated on the T.”

It seems Wendy Williams didn’t learn her lesson from the Chloie Jonsson fiasco. In 2015, Williams once again made an offensive statement about transgender people. The women of the Kardashian-Jenner family appeared on the cover of the November issue of Cosmopolitan, under the headline “America’s First Family.” The cover included Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kylie Jenner but not Caitlyn Jenner.

Williams noticed and brought it up during her “Hot Topics” segment. “It features all the Kardashian women,” Williams said. “No, not Caitlyn. Caitlyn still has a member, so that is not a ...” Williams then paused and looked at her producers off camera before continuing, “I mean, until you don’t, aren’t you caught in limbo?”

Williams’s audience replied with an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

Jenner herself didn’t respond to Williams’s comments, but other observers described them as “transphobic.”

To kick off 2016, Wendy Williams angered yet another community, nursing mothers and those who advocate for breastfeeding in public. Alyssa Milano had stopped by The Wendy Williams Show to discuss her family and her children, who were four years and 16 months old at the time. The conversation started off well, but then Williams brought up a photo the Melrose Place star had shared on social media, which showed her nursing her daughter.

The photo had already attracted controversy, but Williams, a mother herself, doubled down. "I'm opinionated ... I don't need to see that. Because I just don't want to,” Williams said. Williams suggested that Milano should have fed her baby under a blanket or inside a car.

When Milano asked why Williams was uncomfortable with the sight of her breast, Williams said, "I'm a mom also. But breastfeeding is only a particular amount of time. The rest of your life, your breasts are sexual things."

But it was Milano who got the last word, "You're lucky the baby's not here," Milano said. "I'd whip 'em out and feed (her) on your show."

Williams’s comments attracted much more criticism than Milano’s photo did, but Williams never apologized.

Wendy Williams has a long history of interesting statements about sexual assault and sexual assault victims, and in 2016, she directed them toward the rapper Kesha.

In 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against her former producer, Dr. Luke, a.k.a. Lukasz Gottwald. In the suit, Kesha accused Gottwald of sexual harassment, forcing her to use drugs and alcohol to lower her inhibitions and sexual assault. According to the suit, Gottwald gave Kesha what he described as “sober pills,” after which Kesha woke up naked in his bed with no memory of what happened. Kesha alleged that the abuse — in total — took place over a period of 10 years.

In early 2016, Williams expressed her skepticism of Kesha’s account of events. “Kesha’s no spring chicken. I mean she’s, like, 30 years old?” Williams said. “So she wasn’t stupid 10 years ago and neither was her mother when the sexual abuse — alleged sexual abuse — started. Why weren’t they rolling camera on it?”

Williams also was unsympathetic about Kesha’s attempt to be freed from her contract with Dr. Luke. “Unfortunately, business is business, and it sounds like it’s fair,” she said. “If everybody complained because somebody allegedly sexually abused them, contracts would be broken all the time.”

Williams’s comments were not well-received, especially in the wake of the #MeToo movement. After Kesha revealed that Dr. Luke had offered to release her from the contract if she would recant her allegations — an offer Kesha refused — Williams changed her tune. “You know what, unfortunately a lot of people lie about rape so I was just being skeptical, that’s what I do,” Williams said. “I wasn’t sure, but I’m also woman enough to say ‘damn, Kesha, I apologize.’… I don’t think a lot of women could rise to the occasion the way you did, Kesha, you keep going.”

The legal battle would stretch on for years and is still ongoing. After her lawsuit stalled, Kesha dropped it on August 1st, 2016. Kesha was contractually required to release music under Dr. Luke’s label, and she’s released two albums since. Dr. Luke has filed several defamation suits against Kesha and her mother, many of which have been dismissed. But on February 6th, 2020, a Manhattan judge ruled that Kesha had defamed Dr. Luke in an earlier text conversation with Lady Gaga.

Just months after her Kesha comments, Wendy Williams found herself mired in controversy once again. In July 2016, Grey’s Anatomy star and human rights activist Jesse Williams won BET’s humanitarian award for producing the documentary, Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement. In his acceptance speech, Jesse spoke out against police killings, racial inequality and cultural appropriation.

While Wendy did praise the speech, she also took the opportunity to share her opinions about historically black colleges and universities and the NAACP. “His speech was very poignant, on one hand,” Wendy said. “On the other hand, you know, I would be really offended if there was a school that was known as a historically white college.” “We have historically Black colleges. What if it was the National Organization for White People only? There’s the NAACP.”

Wendy’s remarks were met with condemnation once again. Chevrolet pulled their sponsorship of her program, and Wendy walked back her comments shortly after. “I want to apologize to everyone that I might have offended regarding my remarks,” she said. “I was wrong.”

Following her apology, Wendy invited journalist Roland Martin onto her show to explain to her the significance of HBCUs and the NAACP.

In October of 2017, a woman in Washington state accused the rapper Nelly of raping her on a tour bus. Nelly was arrested shortly after, but maintained his innocence. By December, prosecutors dropped all charges after the accuser declined to cooperate.

But shortly after Nelly’s arrest, Wendy Williams discussed the incident on her talk show, offering the accuser some unsolicited advice. “If she did not put herself in that situation, this wouldn’t have happened,” Williams said. “Young lady, you’ve got to stay out of tour buses.”

Williams’s comments were met with criticism, and she was accused of victim blaming. During Williams’s subsequent apology, she blamed the incident on being a solo performer who doesn’t have another person to play off of. Her apology also attempted to clarify her earlier statement: “What I meant to say is young ladies, we should be able to go wherever we want to go, but we always have to know where the exits are. We always have to have our $20 bill, just in case. And we have to be aware. That’s all I was saying, I apologize.”

In January 2020, Joaquin Phoenix celebrated his first Oscar win for his captivating portrayal of the main character in The Joker. But Wendy Williams put a damper on the celebratory mood with her comments about Phoenix’s appearance.

Williams was actually trying to pay Phoenix a compliment but took things too far. After admitting that she finds Phoenix “oddly attractive,” she went on to say, “When he shaves off his mustache he’s got a hairline fracture, he’s got one of those — what do you call it? Cleft lip, cleft palate," she said, referring to the scar on Phoenix’s upper lip, which was caused by a microform cleft. According to the CDC, a microform cleft is one type of cleft lip, which is a birth defect that occurs when a baby’s mouth or lips don’t fully form during pregnancy.

Williams then pulled her upper lip up with a finger to look like Phoenix.

Phoenix himself didn’t respond to Williams’ comments, but plenty of other celebrities did. Cher, who’s done charity work for the Palate-Craniofacial Association, demanded an apology. So did Canadian football player Adam Bighill, who was born with a cleft lip, as was Bighill’s son, Beau.

Bighill Tweeted a photo of Beau at Williams on the day Beau was scheduled for surgery to repair his cleft lip, and the talk show host backpedaled. She Tweeted an apology and — on Beau’s behalf — made a donation to Operation Smile, a charity that treats children with cleft lips and cleft palates.

When it comes to Wendy Williams, even a topic as benign as Galentine’s Day can spark a firestorm of criticism. On February 13th, 2020, Williams asked her studio audience who would be celebrating the alternative to Valentine’s Day popularized by Parks & Recreation, during which women celebrate their female friendships instead of their romantic relationships.

After asking the question, Williams excluded her male audience members from participating. "Well, first of all, if you're a man and you're clapping, you're not even a part of this," Williams said."You don't even understand the rules of the day. It's women going out and getting saucy and then going back home. You're not a part."

But then, Williams specifically excluded gay men. "I don't care if you're gay," Williams continued, pointing out that gay men don’t get periods. "You can do a lot that we do, but I get offended by the idea that we go through something you will never go through."

And to top it all off, Williams said, "And stop wearing our skirts and our heels. Just sayin' girls, what do we have for ourselves?"

Yet again, Williams’s comments were condemned. Some accused Williams of being homophobic, especially in light of her past history. Over the years, Williams has accused male celebrities she disagreed with of being gay, like LL Cool J, Usher and Tyler Perry.

Others saw her comments as transphobic, especially in light of her previous comments against people like Chloie Jonsson and Caitlyn Jenner. Some interpreted them as a slight against Pose star Billy Porter, who often rocks genderfluid fashion.

And for the second time in two months, Williams had to make an apology. "I’ll start by saying, I apologize. I did not mean to offend my LGBTQ+ community on yesterday’s show," Williams said. “I’m very persnickety about how I do my show and one thing I can tell you right now is that I never do the show in a place of malice. I understand my platform with the community from first grade to intermediate school to high school to college to radio, and now to TV ... I didn’t mean to hurt anybody’s feelings. I’m just having a conversation. If you know me long enough, then you know."

At the end of February 2020, sex therapist Dr. Amie Harwick was found dead at her Hollywood Hills home. Harwick, 38, had been strangled and then thrown from her third floor balcony. Her former boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse, against whom Harwick had previously twice filed restraining orders, was charged with one count of murder and one count of first-degree residential burglary.

Harwick was also the ex-girlfriend of comedian and The Price Is Right host, Drew Carey. During the “Hot Topics” segment of her show, Wendy Williams reported on Harwick’s death and then said “Come on down!,” Carey’s Price Is Right catchphrase. The studio audience met the joke with awkward silence and Williams quickly moved on.

Williams’ joke was immediately condemned. Harwick’s brother, Chris Harwick, demanded an apology. “Domestic violence is something no one should be joking about,” he said. “This is a difficult time for my family, and for Wendy Williams to make light of this tragedy is very upsetting to us and extremely distasteful.”