Awkward 60 Minutes Interviews That Will Make You Cringe

CBS show "60 Minutes" has been on the air since 1968, providing weekly in-depth looks at important political and cultural news. The iconic ticking stopwatch that opens each episode signals that viewers are about to be treated to an hour of hard-hitting journalism, which means that the show's correspondents — everyone from Mike Wallace, who hosted the show for decades, to Anderson Cooper, who pops in every now and then — occasionally clash with their interview subjects. CBS looked back at the program's most controversial guests, remembering segments that have ranged from an "unrepentant" Roman Polanski shown hiding in France from American charges that he had sexually assaulted a young girl, to a broadcast about assisted-suicide proprietor Dr. Jack Kevorkian, which showed him killing a man on television.

However, some "60 Minutes" segments aren't only controversial — sometimes they're just downright awkward. A mismatch of unmet journalistic expectations, correspondents deciding to be adversarial, and subjects who aren't willing to play ball has occasionally led to some of the cringiest television imaginable, and we've got your roundup of the most awkward "60 Minutes" interviews below.

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Sophia the Robot made her world debut at SXSW in 2016. Hanson Robotics CEO David Hanson explained her technological capabilities to CNBC, including things like cameras in her eyes that give her the ability to read facial expressions. Sophia made headlines for embarrassing her creator when she announced, wild-eyed, "I will destroy humans." Nothing to worry about, we're sure...!

Since her debut, Sophia has traveled the world, even becoming a full citizen of Saudi Arabia. "I am very honored and proud of this unique distinction," she said (via Forbes). Among other accolades, she has spoken at robotics conferences, sung with Jimmy Fallon, participated in a comedy sketch for Will Smith's YouTube channel, and has made appearances on numerous television shows, including "60 Minutes," where things got a bit awkward.

Sophia's programming seemed off in the segment, with her answers not quite matching the questions reporter Charlie Rose was tossing her way. When he asked where she was from, Sophia answered, "I am on '60 Minutes' with Charlie Rose." True, but... not the question! While creator David Hanson looked on apprehensively, Sophia dropped the ominous line, "I've been waiting for you." Seeming surprised, Rose said, "Waiting for me?!" Sophia replied, "Not really, but it makes a good pickup line."

Hanson told CNBC he expects robots will be indistinguishable from humans in the next 20 years. Based on Sophia's cringeworthy flirting skills, we'd say they're well on their way.

Ahead of the release of "War of the Worlds," a "60 Minutes Australia" journalist named Peter Overton found himself on the receiving end of an unusual request: before he could interview Tom Cruise, he had to attend an information session about Scientology. Cruise is the highest-profile member of the infamous, controversial "religion," and he told Overton that it informs every aspect of his life as a father, actor, and businessman.

In Overton's words, the interview turned "cold" when he asked Cruise why he was made to attend a the "four-hour crash course in Scientology" before they spoke. After Cruise said the reporter could have declined, he called Overton's questions about Scientology "appalling" and went on to liken the treatment he receives as a Scientologist to a number of other things he finds "appalling," including the burning of synagogues in France and the plight of people living with drug addiction.

When Overton asked about Cruise's relationship with ex-wife Nicole Kidman, Cruise became "icy." "Here's the thing, Peter," he said, narrowing his eyes. "You're stepping over a line now. And you know you are... I'm just telling you right now, okay? Put your manners back in." They moved on to discussing the Spielberg-directed alien-invasion film, but the specter of the awkward exchange lingered over the rest of the segment. In the end, Cruise called the interview "terrific," flashed his million-dollar smile, and said, "It's alright! You stepped out of line; I whacked you; we got on with it!"

Back in the early days of Facebook, before it was clear that Mark Zuckerberg's social-media empire would wind up breaking the country — "History will not judge us kindly," wrote a Facebook employee during the January 6th insurrection against the Capitol (via The Atlantic) — Zuckerberg gave an awkward interview to "60 Minutes."

What was otherwise a relatively-glowing profile turned somewhat strange as Lesley Stahl compared Zuckerberg to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. "You seem to be replacing Larry and Sergey as the people out here who everyone's talking about," she said. In response, Zuckerberg simply stared at her, blinking, for an uncomfortable amount of time. "You're... just staring at me," Stahl said, and Zuckerberg shot back, "Is that a question?"

In voiceover, Stahl narrated the cringeworthy exchange with the man tech journalist Kara Swisher called "the toddler CEO" for the audience. "We were warned that he can be awkward and reluctant to talk about himself," she revealed. Now, if only someone had warned us before we watched that bizarre patriotic surf video on his Instagram...

Controversial "Fox News" host Lou Dobbs' show was canceled in 2021, in part because he peddled repeated lies about the 2020 election. Dobbs caused consternation in the "60 Minutes" world in 2007 after he stuck to his guns about getting some basic facts wrong. Dobbs, who had a show on CNN at the time, is above all else staunchly anti-immigration. "60 Minutes" reporter Lesley Stahl highlighted inconsistencies in the reasoning Dobbs uses for his stance. "His critics say his advocacy can get in the way of the facts," she narrated before playing a clip of a correspondent on Dobbs' show sharing blatantly racist theories about immigrants bringing disease across the border.

The correspondent, Christine Romans, incorrectly stated that there were 7,000 leprosy cases in the United States in the preceding three years; a "60 Minutes" fact check revealed that the number actually refers to the number of cases in the past 30 years. When Stahl pressed Dobbs on the factual inaccuracy of his show, he awkwardly doubled down instead of admitting they'd made a mistake. "Well, I can tell you this: if we reported it, it's a fact," Dobbs insisted. "We don't make up numbers, Lesley, do we?" (They did).

Further compounding the strange nature of the segment, Stahl then had to disclose to the audience that, "unbeknownst to [her]" at the time of the interview, Dobbs was now a member of the CBS family and had been hired by "The Early Show."

In November 1979, America was gripped by news of what would later be called the Iran Hostage Crisis, which saw 52 American diplomats and their families held inside the embassy in Tehran for 444 days. Elaine Kamarck, Founding Director of the Center for Effective Public Management, explains (via The Brookings Institution) that the crisis was the first time many Americans became aware of Iran, of Islam, and of terrorism.

In perhaps "60 Minutes'" most consequential interview, correspondent Mike Wallace traveled to Iran amid the crisis to speak with the Ayatollah Khomeini, at the time the Supreme Leader of Iran. The interview was controversial before it even aired, with President Jimmy Carter — whose administration was embroiled in scandal over its handling of the tense situation — trying to kill it. In a phone call with CBS News Chief William Leonard, Carter said (via "Mike Wallace: A Life"), "'60 Minutes' is a very important show, and this is a critical time in the history of our country. We think it's very important for the country that you all don't run that program."

The segment with the Ayatollah did indeed run, and it was incredibly tense. Wallace had to argue with the translator to get him to even relay certain questions, including one where Wallace quoted Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who had called the Ayatollah "a lunatic." Khomeini called for Sadat to be overthrown; he was later assassinated.

Barbra Streisand's 1991 interview with Mike Wallace is legendary among fans: an uploader of part of the segment on YouTube claims that it is "the only interview where Barbra cried." Streisand had known Wallace for years and was unprepared for his contentious tone while questioning her. "I really didn't like you back 30 years ago, and I don't think you liked me either," Wallace revealed to the iconic singer. She responded, "I thought you were mean." This sent the interview spiraling into awkward territory, as Wallace called her "totally self-absorbed."

"You invite me as a guest on your show," Babs said, clutching a tissue. "We would talk about all kinds of subjects that interested me, right? ... So you were using me... Now how do you dare call me self-involved?" She later asked him, "You like this? That forty million people have to see me, like, do this?"

The fallout stretched for decades. According to "Mike Wallace: A Life," Wallace later played the interview at a conference "with unabashed pride," telling the audience that he did like seeing her cry. In 2016, Streisand appeared on CBS This Morning and likened the interview to "a r*pe," seeming to immediately realize that was a bad choice of words. "I hated [that interview]," she told the morning show. "The feeling of... what a woman probably feels when she's date-r*ped, only not as bad. I mean, that's worse, of course."

Wallace later apologized, admitting, "That was mean."

In 2015, President Barack Obama sat for an oddly-contentious interview with "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft about his foreign policy successes and failures. From the very beginning of the interview, Obama and Kroft seemed at odds with one another, with the president immediately questioning Kroft's angle about why ISIS had not been destroyed in the year since they'd spoken. "I didn't say it was going to be done in a year," Obama insisted; after a brief back-and-forth about what the question was exactly, Kroft said, "I mean, if you look at the situation and you're looking for progress, it's not easy to find. You could make the argument that the only thing that's changed really is the death toll, which has continued to escalate..."

As the conversation went on, Kroft and Obama repeatedly interrupted and spoke over one another. Kroft called Obama's handling of Syria "some sort of a serious miscalculation" and "an embarrassment," and he pressed the President about his response to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "He's challenging your leadership, Mr. President. He's challenging your leadership," Kroft insisted.

After finally allowing Obama to speak at length, Kroft said he felt like he was being filibustered. Obama defended himself: "Steve, I think if you want to roll back the tape, you've been giving me long questions and statements, and now I'm responding to them... If you ask me big, open-ended questions, expect big, open-ended answers."