A Brief History of Wendy Williams Burping and Farting on TV

Wendy Williams cannot be contained. Every morning from 10 to 11 a.m. on The Wendy Williams Show, the outspoken, often messy TV host lets it all out—from her extremely shady hot takes on celebrities, to her personal struggles with drug addiction and divorce, to her endlessly cringe moments and meme-worthy reactions.

But this week viewers got a bit more of Williams then they asked. During a segment in which she was delivering a trademark hot take on Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s divorce and making some assumptions about Kardashian’s dating life (“And she’s probably got five new boyfriends,” Williams said), her guts unionized against her and she let out a one-two combination of a burp and fart.

The gas was released in quick succession—a guttural eruption ricocheted by a butthole squeaker, released so fast it almost gave viewers whiplash. Williams realized immediately what had happened as the crowd gasped and laughed. “I apologize, I apologize,” she said, and quickly moved on as if it was no big deal. And to Wendy, it probably wasn’t considering how often she drops gas baskets on TV.

In fact, this is far from the first time the brash talk show host has let a ripe one loose on air. On January 22, 2020, she was once again delivering her Hot Topics segment while perched in a leaning position on her rose-colored velvet chair, one butt cheek up off the seat, and as she looked directly at the camera, we hear a loud, cartoon-like fart sound. The incident was later coined Fartgate by Williams herself when she addressed the alleged flatulence on an episode the following day. 

“I have never farted once on this show,” Williams said. “As a matter of fact, I barely fart, you know why? Because gas gets released several different ways and mine is belching, because all I do is talk.” I’m no gastroenterologist, but—excuse the flex—I have regularly seen one due to my own ever-evolving and fascinating gastrointestinal issues, and I’m not sure this is a thing. Healthline does say swallowed air leads to farts, but doesn’t specify if talking a lot, on or off camera, can cause such a gassy buildup. The excuses got even more wildly questionable when a stagehand named John Anderson came forward on the show and blamed the fart sound on a fish tank being filled up backstage without a “proper hose.” 

“The air was just coming out and it was sputtering like someone was farting,” he said. “Okay? So that’s what it was. It wasn’t Wendy!” A fish tank? Come on, Wendy.

We could give Williams the benefit of the doubt here, but the evidence is damning. And in light of the fish tank claim and the recent fart/burp situation, it's worth diving even deeper into her history of breaking wind on TV.

This clip from a 2020 episode that seems to serve as the proto-burp fart combo she is now infamously known for is a good place to start.

There was also an incident in a 2017 episode during a yoga segment in which Williams appears to loudly blow up the stage as she gets up off her yoga mat. Literally, just from standing up; not even during downward facing dog or any other pose that rearranges your guts enough to produce an air biscuit. At minute 2:02 she says, “I had beans for breakfast,” so I guess we know the culprit there. Jump to 1:15 for the butt bomb in question.

And it’s not just tooting Williams has been known to do. She is also a champion belcher, having burped on air more times than I could reasonably document. This 2018 compilation is filled with years worth of moments in which Wendy Williams cuts mouth cheese. 

Highlights in this compilation include the wild-eyed Williams burping: while standing a foot from a blonde white woman’s head and holding some drag queen Beetlejuice-looking shoes; as $250 loafers embroidered with the word “snob” are displayed on a large screen; while wearing a Phenomenal Woman t-shirt and an image of Kim Zolciak-Biermann is projected behind her, after which she follows it by saying “classy;” as she’s explaining that Blue Ivy’s middle name is Ivy; and immediately after saying the words “she passed away in 2010.” What’s most amazing is how she somehow shocks herself every time she burps despite regularly doing so. How is someone who is notoriously gassy so surprised by the contents of her colon and/or stomach freeing themselves unto the world?

Sometimes Williams denies the beef she blows for the airwaves, and sometimes she embraces it as a raunchy quirk. During a 2016 appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Williams explained that talking then inhaling air, as well as being from New Jersey and as a result being “very tacky in a loving way,” was to blame for her burping. To be fair, this is a woman who last year hosted from home in a robe and delivered a gossip segment while heating up a Slim Jim with a lighter.

She clearly gives no fucks about what’s respectable or professional or even kind of weird, and that’s part of why so many love her. She always delivers, whether it's a shady interview with Omarosa or the contents of the day’s lunch from the recesses of her bowels. Williams is just out here, unconcerned, and you almost have to respect it. Her inability to GAF is her trademark. Wendy is Wendy, and whatever is on her mind or in her guts will not be silenced.