Neil Patrick Harris slammed for ‘disgusting’ comments about teenage Nick Jonas
American actor, singer, and television host Neil Patrick Harris is perhaps most well-known for playing Barney Stinson, the sassy, suit-wearing womaniser who was somehow still loveable in the hit television series How I Met Your Mother. Over the years, however, ‘the Barnacle’ has exhibited some not-so-loveable behaviour that routinely resurfaces on the internet.
One such video is currently dividing TikTok, with users increasingly calling for the actor to be held responsible for his long list of problematic actions. In the resurfaced clip, Harris can be seen discussing his “celebrity crush” during his 2015 appearance on The Wendy Williams Show.
After being put on the ‘hot seat’ by the host, Harris appears to hesitate before prefacing that his husband David Burtka was aware of his feelings—which somehow made it okay to share his thoughts on public television. “David knows it, so I guess it’s not a bad thing to say,” the actor remarked on these terms, later answering: “Nick Jonas.”
“He was really good-looking before it was kind of allowed to think he was good-looking,” Harris continued. “Which was a bit of a problem, you kind of had to wait till he turned to be, you know… 19, 20. You’re like, ‘What is happening?’” While Jonas himself was 22 years old at the time of the interview, he had been in the public eye throughout his teens—having shot to fame when was just 12 as a part of the Jonas Brothers in 2005. Meanwhile, Harris was 42 when he made the revelation.
Following his comments, the actor raised an eyebrow at Williams as he sought the host’s approval. While both Williams and the audience found his remarks rather entertaining at the time, the segment did not bode well with TikTok.
“Sometimes certain things shouldn’t be said out loud,” a user commented, while a second added: “I love his characters but him as a person… yikes.” A third echoed, “Neil is always doing something problematic.” However, some users voiced their support for the actor and argued that he was referring to a legal-aged Jonas.
“Neil actually acknowledged he couldn’t have said that while he was underage and he never did anything about it. Not predatory,” one said. “Why would they not get away with this? Simply saying this is no criminal offence,” another admitted. Meanwhile, others outlined how The Sun did a public countdown when Emma Watson turned 18. “Gay celebs seem to get more stick for this than anyone else,” they continued.
In the past, the now-49-year-old actor has exhibited a list of questionable behaviour. Less than three months after English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse’s death in 2011, Harris had the worst Halloween idea in the history of Halloween ideas: a meat platter graphically rendered to resemble the icon’s rotting corpse. At the time, Harris and his husband Burtka served the dish at a party and thought it would be cool to name it “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse.”
Fast forward to May 2022, an image of the gross platter resurfaced on social media platforms and Harris faced renewed backlash for his stunt. He later apologised in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, explaining: “It was regrettable then, and it remains regrettable now. Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-generation talent, and I’m sorry for any hurt this image caused.”
In 2018, since the actor couldn’t attend the Tony Awards, he took to Twitter and uploaded his live commentary throughout the event. It was then that Harris unnecessarily took a swipe at comedian Rachel Bloom. “Who is the woman in the top hat backstage at @TheTonyAwards?” Referencing his son, he added, “Gideon remarked that she says ‘like’ and ‘oh my god’ a lot. I’m confused…”
In an interview with GQ, Bloom later admitted how Harris’ reaction made her feel. “Basically… I saw that tweet. And I was kind of devastated,” she said. “I was actually going to tweet, ‘This makes me sad’.” Instead, Bloom responded with “I’m a big fan of yours. We’ve met numerous times and my husband, Dan Gregor, wrote for How I Met Your Mother for five years. Notably, he wrote the episode where your character finally meets his father.”
To this, Harris replied with an “Indeed! Well said. Thanks for the reminder. How was backstage?”—thereby dodging an apology. Following Bloom’s interview, however, he took to Twitter once again and voiced regret for his actions.
Sincere apologies to @Racheldoesstuff for my Tony tweet. I failed to research her before pressing ‘send’, and what I thought was a funny comment in our living room must have been far from funny to read, backstage, mid show. As a performer and a parent, I should have know better.
— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) June 13, 2018
Harris has also previously made a poorly-timed joke about Dana Perry’s outfit at the 2015 Oscars, just moments after she dedicated her award to her son who died by suicide. “It takes a lot of balls to wear a dress like that,” the actor said. Although the comment didn’t land well with some, Perry later admitted that she thought it was fine.
