Neil Patrick Harris faces backlash for ‘disgusting’ and ‘inappropriate’ comments about teenager Nick Jonas

Neil Patrick Harris is facing a backlash after problematic comments he made about teenager Nick Jonas resurfaced online.

During a 2015 appearance on The Wendy Williams ShowNeil told the host he had a crush on Nick before it was “allowed” – which he later described as “a bit of a problem”.

Nick was just 12 when he first shot to fame as one-third of the Jonas Brothers in 2005, and was 22 when Neil’s interview was filmed.

Meanwhile, Neil was 42 when he made controversial remarks while taking part in the show’s ‘hot seat’ challenge, which saw Wendy ask him who his ‘celebrity crush’ was.

The how I Met Your Mother The star seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then referred to husband David Burtka, replying, “David knows that, so I guess that’s not a bad thing to say.”

“Nick Jonas,” Neil said, raising his eyebrows at Wendy as she shared his approval.

“And he was really handsome before it was allowed to be thought he was handsome,” Neil continued. “Which was a bit of a problem, you kind of had to wait until he became, you know… 19, 20, you’re like, ‘What’s going on?'”

Wendy laughed at the time, but what Neil said sparked a very different reaction when the clip was recently reposted on TikTok.

And it didn’t take long for TikTok to gain traction, with many people flocking to the comments section to share their shock at what Neil had said.

“This is completely inappropriate,” one person wrote. Another added: “He’s always been problematic.”

Someone else echoed: “That’s disgusting 🤢” and another commented: “I like his characters but him as a person…yuck.”

“Not surprised,” wrote one user. “He literally threw a party and the main course was supposed to be Amy Winehouses corpse.”

“Between this and the Amy wine house thing, I’m really starting to drift away from nph 🤢,” said another. Someone else asked: “Remember shortly after Amy died he had a cake from her corpse 🥺 why hasn’t it been canceled yet?”

In case you missed it, Neil came under intense scrutiny in May when the ‘disgusting’ and ‘graphic’ platter he served at a Halloween party after the death of Amy appeared online.

The British singer had publicly struggled with alcohol and drug abuse throughout her career and died of alcohol poisoning in July 2011 aged 27.

Just three months later, Neil and David performed “The Corpse of Amy Winehouse” at their Halloween party buffet. Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s husband Justin Mikita shared a photo from the set on Twitter after attending the party.

The disturbing photo showed a gory depiction of a rotting and bloodied corpse, complete with Amy’s signature beehive hairstyle and recognizable tattoos.

If there was any doubt as to who the dish was supposed to represent, a handwritten description placed next to the food read: “The corpse of Amy Winehouse”.

Detailing what the platter was made of, the note continued in parentheses: “Beef ribs, pulled pork, chicken sausage in spicy barbecue sauce.

In 2011, the controversy was quickly dismissed and neither Neil nor David addressed their decision to serve the dish. But more than a decade later, a Twitter user sparked a new backlash against the couple when he tweeted about the set this year.

Shortly after, Neil apologized for the “regrettable” set in a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly, which read: “A photo recently surfaced at a Halloween themed party that my husband and I organized 11 years ago. It was regrettable then, and it remains regrettable today.”

“Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-generation talent, and I’m sorry for the hurt this image caused,” he concluded.

But the speech had led others to bring up other examples of Neil’s problematic past behavior, including the time he shaded actress and comedian Rachel Bloom in 2018.

In a much-appreciated response, Rachel told Neil that they had met several times in the past and that he had worked closely with her husband.

“I’m a huge fan of yours. We have met several times and my husband, Dan Gregor, has written for ‘how I Met Your Mother‘ during 5 years. He notably wrote the episode where your character finally meets his father,” she wrote.

Rachel later told GQ that the experience had “sort of devastated” her, especially since she and Neil had spent time “very recently” at a Broadway show.

“What he said in response wasn’t really an apology,” she added at the time.

And last year Mayim Bialik revealed she and Neil “didn’t speak for a long time” after going to see him in a production of Lease in the 90s and didn’t give him a standing ovation.