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I think it is rude to put your hands on anyone without their permission, but Kelly Ripa blew it out of portion. She should have told him in private that she didn't like what he did, but she is going on and on like a little baby. Suck it up Kelly.

Ripa has paid her dues as is making her way in a big sea of publicity - Aiken is unprofessional, inexperienced and unmannered in this industry. Everyone needs to put it in perscpective and let it lie. Ripa is a smart girl and as she put it..."It's water under the bridge".

I think Kelly reacted like anyone would. Clay's actions were extremely rude and unprofessional. It made him look like an immature child. You go Kelly! You had every right to react like you did. I am so glad that Kelly called in and defended herself on the View as well

Well, first of all he could not get a word in edgewise...she knew this and continued talking without allowing him to speak. Her ego got the best of her. And she was very rude. She could have been more curtious to her novice guest host. She continued to let her ego get the best of her by the way she reacted or should I say overreacted to it.

However, it was rude of him to put his hand over her mouth too. Given that he is young and very new at the talk show hosting scene...maybe not a surprise he did it out of frustration... but still not acceptable.

I too have a problem with people touching me without permission. But, to tele the truth... Ms. Ripa is too loud and far too overbearing..It seems that no one else is permitted to speak.

I think she is most likely a lovely person....but she seems to have some need to dominate any conversation. I was watching The VIEW and Rosie spoke with her via phone. Rosie could not get a word into the conversation .
:-) Victoria

I do agree that it was rude of Clay to do that to Kelly, but my guess was that he was just tired of her dominating the interview.

Clay had no right putting his hand over Kelly's mouth!!! He was out of line and it was disrespctful!!! Go Kelly. Rosie need not get involved.

Yes it is very rude to put your hand over someone's mouth while they are talking, but honestly, if you were doing a show with Kelly Ripa, wouldn't you do the same thing? :) Come on, she's pretty irritating. But Clay should know better. Clay, are ya goin' for a bad boy thing now? Because I hate to tell ya, you can't pull it off. Why is everybody freaking crazy these days?

Regardless of who they both are, it's rude and disrepectful. I doesn't matter if they were people of no celebrity or who they are, it's just downright uncalled for. You do not put your hand over someone's mouth. Point Blank. I think anyone would've been miffed if that happened to them.

As the real host of the show, Kelly's job is to keep the conversation rolling along smoothly. Clay doesn't have the ability to jump into the conversation like most of the co-hosts and even the guest co-hosts do.

But to invade her personal space the way he did was unconscionable.

i don't like people touching my face, so i can understand kelly not wanting his hand over her mouth. however, as a mature adult who's been in television for a while, i think kelly should've had enough tact to express that off the air. thank God for regis & the fact that kelly KNOWS he's the boss & her bread & butter! otherwise, i can easily see another star jones in the making! kelly is quickly becoming an irritating little priss! as my granny use to say..."she's starting to smell herself"! i think it's time regis gets another co-host! i almost hate watching the show now because of kelly!

I feel Rosie needs to remind us on a DAILY basis about her sexuality.O.K.... we get it .Pretend your 're Ellen Degeneris and provide entertaining daytime t.v. without your personal agenda constantly being at issue.

P.S..As of this writing, I believe neither you nor your wife,Kelly,
are recognized as being married.I feel making fodder of your "mother-in law" (especially on the air) is akin to Clay Aiken 's poor choice of judgement.

Whether a guy or girl (straight or gay) put their hand over my mouth while i was speaking , I cannot fathom my true reaction or yours.Reality bites Rosie.

Kelly Rippa never shuts up, and if that was the only way Clay could talk, kudos to him. He's the only guest host or interview-e who's had hte courage to get her to SHUT UP so they could say more than three words at a time. Thank you Clay, you're still the best!

So after reading this I went to Utube to see if I can find this, which of course I did. I saw what Aiken did and he was wrong. Was Kelly dominating the interview? Yeah. But you know what? Its her job... its kind of "her show" if Regis isn't there. Its her ratings. Its Regis' ratings. Not Clays ratings. If he can't get a word in then he should just sit there and keep his mouth shut. He's not the co-host of this show. I can see what he did was meant as a joke, but as jokes go, both parties are supposed to find it funny. She kind of made a joke of it a bit after he did it, but I can see thinking about it over the weekend and with people calling her about it, yeah i can see how it would tick me off if someone did that to me.

Regis asked her and she told him what happened. She was annoyed about it. And then you have someone like Rosie. You know what, Rosie is hetero-phobic. I kind of think its f'd up that Rosie just outed Aiken... I think its f'd up, but I think its kind of funny. She's trying stand up for him, but then outs him... I don't think Aiken's going to be too happy about that. How is getting mad about someone putting their hands over someone's mouth homophobic? Rosie is out of her mind.

Kelly was right. Who knows where his hands have been and if he's shaking everyone's hand in the audience, I don't blame her, cause who knows where their hands have been. Its one thing to do that to someone you know, but to do that to someone you don't know, its messed up. I've seen clips where she does that to Regis and I bet if he did that to her, it would be different because they know each other. If a friend did that to me I would laugh, but if someone I met for the first time did that to me, then I would be mad about it.

I think this was very tacky of Clay to do. I do not blame Kelly for overreacting because most pathogenic bacteria and viruses are on the hands and transmitted this way (I can't help it I'm taking a microbiology class this semester). Hope he washed his hands before touching her mouth! Ew. He needs to go back to doing singing and leave daytime talk to the professionals.

I thinbk she blew it all out of proportion.. its not like she's never put her had up to Regis before.. oh i'm sorry what's good for the goose is somehow not good for the gander... lol get over it Kelly...

I miss Kathy Lee and think someone should replace Kelly Ripa.
She offers little to the program and has a way of allenating
people. Regis could do much better.

There was a clip shown where Kelly Rippa put her hand over Regis's mouth....

As far as the post that talked about Rosie outing Clay, Rosie interpreted Kelly's behavior relational to her experience.
If Rosie is hetero-phobic, I cannot blame her, there is so much prejudice against gays being expressed now, and debate from a religious perspective that disenfranchises gays and denies equal rights granted in our constitution. This is not a democracy,it is a theocracy. This country will not elect someone who does not believe in God.
The majority of Americans who believe in God equate being gay with being wrong.
There were people 50 years ago that did not stand up for themselves, and millions died. It was 30 or fifty when religious
people in this country killed people because of the color of their skin.
Don't ask don't tell, either way you're going to Hell.

I have to say that I really agree with most of the comments here. It saves me from having to type out most of my thoughts. :) Rosie does seem to be a bit on the hetro phobic side. Yes, Rosie, you are gay. We get it already. I'm not a fan of Kelly's. I think she talks to much and acts like a goofy schoolgirl, but she definitely has a right to be mad about Clay putting his hand over her mouth. Hopefully, he is in the habit of washing his hands after shaking hands with a hundred strangers or using the bathroom. Like someone said, if it were a friend doing it to a friend, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, if you hardly knew the person, it would be quite offensive. Blech. Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl. It wasn't just unprofessional. It was nasty. I have no idea where Rosie would get such an idea that it was a homosexual thing though. I agree with the poster who suggested she start acting like Ellen. I totally disagree with Mr Harwell. My lordy, Kathy Lee was just as annoying as Kelly is. Lol!

I totally admire Kelly for sticking up for herself on the view! Tell that heifer like it is girl! :)

You go Kelly! If you guys don't like the way Kelly acts on the show, change the channel. Kelly is what Kelly is, and I find her very funny and charming. Kathy Lee was put on, and, you want to talk about irritating? She really pushed my buttons. Clay Aiken is not Kelly's victim, but Rosie O'Donnell's, for outing him on national television. If he really is gay. Some men have feminine traits and are not gay. Boy, what a huge gaff!! What do you have to say now Rosie, my queen!!!

Let's get it straight! A hand OVER one's mouth is different than one's hand ON another's mouth! Mr. Aiken put his hand *on* Kelly Ripa's mouth & face! Eeuuuw! You just don't do that sort of thing! Not after shaking hands with so many other strangers in the TV audience or even the staff people!
"Where was that hand?" simply implies *just* this!

Rosie O'Donnell's tirade & insistense that Kelly's comment was homophobic had me totally wondering just where she was coming from! P'rhaps Ms O'Donnell is a bit heterophobic???
I just don't get her stance on this one.

I have to agree with Ryan (11/23/06)! Rosie did more of a disservice to Clay Aiken's personal life & prefernces HIS own with this public statememt & truly undermined any respect due him.

And, then to hear Rosie the next day state that she "didn't feel that Kelly Rippa should have been allowed to talk 'live' to voice an objection to what Rosie was espounding!! And, that "It could have been dealt with better off-air, in private conversation!" Sure, Rosie! Let yourself postulate & slam Ms Rippa on national TV....but, you don't think it was right for her to defend herself at that very time via the same venue? C'mon! Now, who's phobic?

Kelly should have smacked Miss Aiken.

Kelly needs to get a grip and get over it. If Clay is so immature and unprofessional, she should be the "bigger person" and chalk it up to Clay being "such a child". She wasn't saying A WORD when Clay put his hand on her mouth, he was just trying to get a word in. Why the heck was he there, if not to ask ONE QUESTION during the interview? I thought he was being funny, to tell the truth.

And honey, don't ask someone to help you if you're choking on a shrimp. If anything, you should be asking for another shrimp. Or 50.

I used to be such a Kelly fan, and now I just see her as overbearing, annoying, and a crybaby. Get over it, Kelly. And maybe share the attention from time to time.

I miss Kathy Lee too and would like to see her back with Regis! She would have handled the situation with more finesse. Although Kelly Ripa is young, she is most emphatically, correct in reprimanding Clay Aiken about his poor manners. Rosy is crass and too "Butch" and that is why she no longer has her own show. How pitiful! She should take a lesson from Ellen and stick to the comedy.

Considering the fact that Ripa would NOT shut up... I think Clay reacted naturally. How much worse would it have been if he'd told her to shutup? She dominates conversations, alienates guests and allowed her ego to get the best of her.

I'm straight and her comment about "where his hands have been" made her sound like a homophobe. Yes, it's her job to keep the interview going but not allowing your guest host to get even a word in is just downright rude. She could have handled it privately but she whined to the media like a baby. It got her additional publicity... whine on Ripa. I don't watch the show anymore because quite frankly... if I want to listen to a yapping Chihuahua... I'll purchase one.

Not only was Kelly rude to her guest host, Clay Aiken, she is a hypocrite as well. Dont' be so quick to jump on Kelly's band wagon until you see the video clip of Kelly holding her hand over Regis' mouth during a past host chat session. She owes Clay Aiken a huge apology for acting like such a classless diva. What a disappointemnt. Remember Kelly, if you're going to be a host, you should be courteous to your guests and the guest host who sits in Regis' chair. Surely it can't be that difficult.

Kelly Ripa has only shown by her overblown reaction to this tiny incident that she is a control-freak and a Super b---ch. What a freakshow to react like that! Get a grip and grow up! She's the disrespectful one, if anything! What a diva.

I watched that show. I like Clay. I like Kelly. I do NOT believe that Clay would have put his hand over Regis' mouth; and I did find him rather pushy. Perhaps it was because it was his first time. I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt - THIS time! I do think he needs to learn some manners. He did not help her into her chair as virtually EVERY co-host has done. He did interrupt and there was no need to say something like: Let me know when I can say something. And- the body language told volumes. NOT okay for LIVE TV! He was a GUEST. I hope NO one invited to my home/work would EVER behave so rudely.

Ripa is a spoiled, jealous, untalented personality. She lied on the air about what Clay did; she lied to THE VIEW about what she did; she raged on and on while Clay handled it off-camera in a professional manner. She made her own ugly bed when she ragged about how unprofessional it was to put one's hand over another's mouth. Within hours, clips emerged of all the times she slapped her germ-carrying hands over another's mouth. Ripa has no credibility, she slandered Mr. Aiken, and she deserves to be sued for her public lies about Mr. Aiken's behavior. Let's go to the videotape. The truth is there. Ripa: you should be fired for what you said and did. And good riddance to a heartless, talentless person.

The act of "putting your hands on someone else's mouth" does not necessarily mean professional nor unprofessional. It depends on how the act was done. In this case, some people think it is unprofessional. Why? Just because they are in a talk show? This talk show is not CNN nor is it a talk show where important intellectual conversation are being held.

The incidence was but a playful act which is part of the show. C'mon now - talk about professionalism, Ripa is not professional herself in many ways. Quirkiness and playfulness can be professional, but being a blabber mouth and with her manner of speaking and with her vocal tonation, sorry to say, but that will never pass in a credible, professional show. One example of a credible, intelligent show would be, The Daily Show with Jon Stuart.

Ripa does not only deserve her mouth cupped. It needs to be duct taped, stapled and sent to a reputable public speaking class course!

i think she was right for being annoyed about his hand over her mouth.
if he is offended then he shouldn't have done it.
she wasn't being a homofobe. it was all about cleanliness.
and why is he so popular?
just think it was a slow news week when this is a top subject.

Good job clay!!!!

Giving consideration that poor Clay had no say in the interview, if I was him, I'd probably do the same to shut her up. I think the whole thing makes Kelly look bad, not Clay. Honestly, at her age, you'd think that she'd be classy about it, but by her actions, she's nothing but a class act ego gone out of control.

I think that Clay is inexperienced and made a bad choice by putting his hand over Kelly's mouth, and I'm sure he has learned a good lesson on what not to do again. Kelly handled it fine and now it is history. I'd like to stick up for Kelly and say to the people that are calling her annoying and irritating, that is it unfortunate that you feel that way. Regis and Kelly have really great chemistry, and the show is very enjoyable. If at all possible I try and at least catch the first 20 minutes of their show because they are such a delight and they brighten my day.

I happened to be watching Live the day Clay was on. There was tention the whole time I did think that he was being rude. However he was probably just nervous. And some people do just have that sort of personality. I also think that Kelly should have kept her feeling off air. I've never really cared for Rosie. I just find her personality irritating. I think that her accusations were totalyy off base. I'm glad that Kelly called and defended herself. If Rosie wasn't on The View I would probaly watch it more regularly.