“I crossed a line… and they walked.”
For over 25 years, fans have wondered what really happened the night the legendary Bee Gees — Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb — stormed off Clive Anderson’s BBC talk show, All Talk, in one of the most awkward walkouts in live television history.
Now, TV host Clive Anderson, 67, is finally breaking his silence — and what he reveals is jaw-dropping.
In an exclusive conversation with Express.co.uk, Clive admitted that the interview, which aired in 1997, spiraled from fun banter to full-blown disaster in a matter of minutes. “It went from the best to the worst,” he confessed. “I didn’t get the tone right — and I knew it the moment they stood up.”
The show began with light-hearted teasing, but Anderson’s jokes quickly veered into dangerously personal territory. He mocked Barry Gibb’s iconic falsetto, comparing it to Mickey Mouse. He made a crude pun about the Bee Gees’ name missing a letter from “hit.” And then, in a move that stunned even longtime fans, he joked that the brothers “sounded more like sisters.”
At first, the Bee Gees tried to laugh it off. But the moment Clive joked, “Don’t Forget to Remember? I forgot about that one,” the mood shattered. Barry Gibb snapped.
He stood up, glared at Clive, muttered a sharp insult that never made it to broadcast, and stormed off the set. Robin and Maurice followed without a word, leaving Clive speechless — and alone. The broadcast ended in stunned silence.
“I’ve interviewed hundreds of musicians,” Clive reflected.
“Many of them have wild stories — riches, losses, comebacks. But that moment with the Bee Gees? That’s one I’ll never forget. And frankly, I blew it.”
The infamous walkout has gone down in TV history — a moment of uncomfortable truth where humor went too far, and dignity walked out the door.
Now, after decades of silence, Clive Anderson owns it.
And the world finally knows what broke the Bee Gees on live television.
