American actor Neil Patrick Harris' problematic comments about a teenage Nick Jonas have resurfaced online.
On October 25, an old video of the 49-year-old star from his 2015 interview with Wendy Williams was shared on TikTok, wherein he can be seen discussing Jonas being his celebrity crush. Harris made some controversial comments stating that he had a crush on Nick Jonas before it was "allowed," adding that it was "being a bit of a problem."
A TikTok user named @girlbossvideos shared the video and captioned it as:
"How do celebs get away with comments like this? He was 42 here."
Several netizens slammed Harris for his comments regarding Nick Jonas.
Neil Patrick Harris' remarks on Wendy Williams' show get him under fire
While appearing on The Wendy Williams Show, Neil Patrick Harris took on the Hot Seat challenge. When asked about who his celebrity crush has been, he replied with:
“David knows it, so I guess it’s not a bad thing to say. Nick Jonas. He was really good-looking before it was kind of allowed to think he was good-looking.”
He further added:
“Which was a bit of a problem, you kind of had to wait ’til he turned to be, y’know… 19, 20, you’re like: ‘What is happening?'"
Nick Jonas rose to fame when he was 12 years old, after forming a band, Jonas Brothers, with his older brothers Kevin and Joe. During the problematic interview, Nick was aged 22 while the How I Met Your Mother actor was 42.
Although the video is old and Wendy Williams laughed off Neil Patrick Harris' comments at the time, several users have now called out the actor for his remarks.
According to Buzzfeed, one user wrote, “this is completely inappropriate,” while another commented, “He’s always been problematic.”
A third user stated:
“I love his on-screen characters but him as a person... yikes.”
Neil Patrick Harris was also criticized for his Halloween party
This is not the first time that Neil Patrick Harris has been called out for his actions. In May 2022, a graphic image of an Amy Winehouse platter from the star's 2011 Halloween Party resurfaced online, which had garnered him severe online backlash at the time.
Winehouse had passed away in July 2011, due to alcohol poisoning, and three months later, Harris and David Burtka, his husband, displayed an Amy Winehouse platter at their Halloween Party buffet.
Captioning it as “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse,” the graphic image of the dish was shared by Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband Justin Mikita on Twitter.
The picture depicted a rotting corpse, complete with Amy Winehouse's signature hairstyle and her iconic tattoos on the body.
After Ferguson's picture went viral, Neil Patrick Harris faced severe backlash online, after which he had to issue an apology via Entertainment Weekly.
"A photo recently resurfaced from a Halloween-themed party my husband and I hosted 11 years ago. 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."
As of now, Harris has not yet commented on the backlash over his controversial remarks about Nick Jonas.