Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘creepy’ interview with Megan Fox is still disturbing years later: "She looks so..."
Megan Fox made her acting debut with the 2001 film 'Holiday in the Sun', however, she got wide recognition after starring as Jennifer Check in the 2009 comedy/horror 'Jennifer's Body'. After tasting success, she earned a lead role in the 'Transformers' franchise the same year. However, Fox reportedly accused director, Michael Bay of sexualizing her in one of his other ventures while appearing on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'. "They were shooting this club scene and they brought me in and I was wearing a stars and stripes bikini and a red cowboy hat and six-inch heels," she said referring to her 'Bad Boys II' (2003) role.
According to The Things, the 'Bumblebee' director approved her sequence despite opposition from the production team due to her age. Fox recalled the moment, calling Bay a "tyrant on set," and shared, "He approved it and they said, 'Michael, she's 15 so you can't sit her at the bar and she can't have a drink in her hand.'" After facing considerable backlash, Bay improvised on the scene by making Fox dance underneath a waterfall. The actress said, “So his solution to that problem was to have then me dancing underneath a waterfall getting soaking wet.” Laughing at this, Jimmy Kimmel said, “Perfectly wholesome.” Adding to this, she said, "At 15, I was in 10th grade. That's kind of a microcosm of how Bay's mind works." However, Kimmel gave a nonchalant reaction to her ordeal, "Yeah, well that’s really a microcosm of how all our minds work," he remarked. This remark left Fox visibly uncomfortable and it hasn't gone down well with fans ever since.
The original video has since been deleted but fans lashed out at the comedian for displaying insensitive behavior after the controversial interview resurfaced on YouTube. "Just the fact that he’s had several shows with this attitude proves that behind the scenes it’s much worse for women," a viewer commented under the video. "This isn't even as cringe as his comment about needing to convert after she mentioned Camp counselors sleeping with her (in her dorm) at Bible Camp or his hideous drawing of him on her in bed. This is sick!" another fan slammed. During the same interview, Kimmel also presented a lewd drawing of him and Fox in bed, as per Fox News.
He was depicted as a hairy monster in the hand-drawn illustration, french kissing the actress under the covers. "Here's my picture of us together, and I think this just captures our relationship," the television host joked."You've got your tongue out and I've got my tongue out there," Kimmel added. "You can see my body hair is at full attention. What do you think of that?" Fans raged in the comments section calling for Kimmel to be canceled. "He was so rude to her like this whole interview why isn’t he canceled," an angry fan wrote. "She looks so uncomfortable with his creepy questions," another viewer agreed. "So many wrong messed up things from this interview," a netizen chimed.
Fox remained visually uncomfortable about the graphic depiction throughout the rest of their conversation. Fox was sacked from the third installment of 'Transformers' and blacklisted from Hollywood as a result of calling out Bay. While doing an exclusive with Glamour UK in 2022 the actress-turned-author stated that Hollywood attacked her for openly criticizing 'misogynistic' views back then. Since her interviews vehemently denounced patriarchal, misogynistic, and abusive practices in the early history of the entertainment industry, she declared herself the forerunner of the Me Too campaign.
We're delighted to publish Pretty Boys Are Poisonous by @meganfox today! This heartbreaking and dark collection of poetry is simply unmissable. Just look at it 😍 pic.twitter.com/NST6k6faiq
— Headline Books (@headlinepg) November 7, 2023
Fox went on to release a highly acclaimed poetry book 'Pretty Boys Are Poisonous' in 2023 where she detailed her 'objectification' at the hands of men. She concluded, "I don't know if the psychological breakdown was strictly related to being objectified, it was more related to just being dehumanized and criticized and judged constantly."
