Jimmy Kimmel Live! is filled with incredibly awkward moments. It's part of what makes the comedian's late-night chat show work so well. But there have also been moments that have been deemed controversial.

His 2009 interview with Megan Fox is certainly one of them...

Related: Fans Think This Was One Of The Most Awkward Moments On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!'

While you can look at this interaction through many lenses, some fans on Twitter seem to think this interview is worthy of discussion.

Here's why...

The Issue Between Megan Fox And Jimmy Kimmel Is Rooted In Her Portrayal On-Screen

Even though Megan Fox has since been in quite a few notable projects, there's no doubt that one of her biggest roles was in Michael Bay's Transformers movies. In fact, it was her role as Shia LaBeouf's love interest in the action flicks that made her a major star. Of course, that didn't come without some controversy.

It's quite well-known that Megan and Michael got into quite a few spats. Megan even publically called him "Hitler", claiming that he was nothing but a dictator on set. This comment eventually got her fired from the third Transformers movie and ended up tanking her career for a few years.

Michael has also been criticized for some of the comments he's made about Megan over the years. While their relationship has improved dramatically since the Transformers days, Michael is still criticized for over-sexualizing Megan. After all, some of the shots of her awkwardly bending over a motorcycle or under the hood of a car are pretty obvious.

Then again, this is a trait that Megan has seemingly embraced in all of her most famous roles, including in the music videos of her partner, Machine Gun Kelly. Even before Transformers, Megan played the stereotypical 'hot girl' in TV shows like Hope & Faith, Two and a Half Men, and The Help (the show, not the movie).

Related: 10 Reasons We Can't Get Enough Of Machine Gun Kelly And Megan Fox

Megan seems to know that sex sells and also seems to embrace the fact that she's seen as an alluring symbol of femininity and sexuality.

However, it's clear she appeared to have a problem with that label when she was underage...

Little do people know that Megan's second credited role was in Michale Bay's Bad Boys 2. While her moment on screen amounted to nothing more than 6 seconds, it was the basis of her controversial encounter with host Jimmy Kimmel.

Inside The Moment People Are Angry About

"I had just turned 15 and I was an extra in Bad Boys 2. And they were shooting this club scene. And they brought me in and I was wearing a star and stripes bikini and a red cowboy hat and like six-inch heels," Megan explained during the 2009 interview with Jimmy on his show. "And [director Michael Bay] approved it and they said, 'You know, Michael, she's 15 so you can't sit her at the bar and she can't have a drink in her hand.' So, his solution to that problem was to then have me dancing underneath a waterfall and have me soaking wet."

"Perfectly wholesome," Jimmy joked.

"At 15. And I was in tenth grade."

"Wow!" Jimmy said, clearly blown away by the audacity of it all.

"So, that's sort of a microcosm of how Bay's mind works."

"Yeah, well, that's really a microcosm of how all our minds work. But some of us have the decent to repress those thoughts. and pretend that they don't exist."

It was this response that people are so angry about. It may not have caused a firestorm on Twitter and in the court of public opinion when it originally aired in 2009, but it sure did in 2020. So much so that hashtags demanding that Jimmy be fired circulated on Twitter.

When this video resurfaced, many called out Jimmy for making a comment that seemingly excused Michael Bay's decision to portray a 15-year-old girl in a highly sexualized manner. Additionally, many feel that Jimmy even related to Michael's desire to see the underaged Megan this way.

According to The Daily Mail, one Twitter user named Liz W shared the resurfaced video and it was subsequently viewed 5 million times. Along with the video, Liz W wrote:

"Megan Fox tells a story about Michael Bay sexualizing her as a 15 y/o. The crowd laughs, and Kimmel makes gross jokes. Teen girls being preyed on by older men has never been taken seriously and still isn’t."

A lot of the reaction has to do with a reevaluation of how the media and the populace, in general, treated Megan during the height of her fame.

Related: Megan Fox Shows Her Support For LGBTQIA On Instagram And Fans Are Loving It

While a lot of this is just clearly true, it's most important to take Megan's own feelings into account. Not only has she seemingly made up with Michael Bay, but she also categorically denies rumors that he objectified her. This includes a rumor that her audition involved her washing his car. This has been debunked by both Megan and Michael.

As for Jimmy Kimmel... this was, admittedly, not his finest hour. But Megan doesn't seem to be all that upset with him as she's done his show multiple times since.

Jimmy also responded to the resurgence of the old clip by saying that he's hoped that "he's evolved and matured over the last twenty-plus years, and I hope that is evident to anyone who watches my show."

Regardless of how you may feel about this controversy, there isn't a single one of us who hasn't said or done something that we don't regret. As is the world, we are in a constant state of evolution and change and that means dealing with some growing pains.

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