Fans are divided over Howie Mandel’s latest interview on LIVE with Kelly and Mark. The interview starts off warm, yet leads to a rather awkward exchange between the Deal or No Deal host and Kelly Ripa over a remark on his physical appearance.
It all kicked off when the talk show hosts, Ripa and Mark Consuelos, congratulated Mandel on recently celebrating his 70th birthday. But when Ripa began to comment on how great he looks, Mandel was under the assumption her implication meant “you look great for your age.”
Inside Kelly Ripa and Howie Mandel’s Awkward Exchange On Live TV
When it was highlighted that the former America’s Got Talent judge just turned 70, Ripa responded in amazement, saying, “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t make any sense?” said Mandel. “Because I look great? That doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“Yes it does,” Ripa disagreed.
“No, no, no. I don’t like that,” Mandel said in the interview. “Because that’s a caveat.”
Ripa tried to clarify that she didn’t mean he looks great “for 70.” Instead, she meant that he looks fantastic in general.
But Mandel continued to push back on the comment. Finalizing his point, he said, “It’s like saying ‘you’re smart for a stupid person.’”
Fans Have Mixed Responses to The Exchange with Ripa and Mandel
While some viewers thought Mandel’s remarks were uncalled for and took Kelly’s comments too seriously, others believe the podcast host actually makes a valid point in his argument about the undertones behind the statement about aging.
“I mean.... he's not wrong,” one commenter wrote in the YouTube comments section for Page Six.
Yet another commenter offered a less favorable response to Mandel’s interview, saying, “I think this fool has a complex about turning 70.”
