Katie Couric Says She Was 'Shaken' & 'Uncomfortable' After This Denzel Washington Interview

Katie Couric is speaking out about the “uncomfortable” interview she had with Denzel Washington back in 2004.

A little backstory: Katie interviewed Denzel on Dateline back in 2004 to promote his film The Manchurian Candidate. During the interview, Katie asked if “Hollywood folks should stick to acting.”

Denzel then responded, “I don’t know what Hollywood folks are, first of all. Hollywood is a town that has some stars on the sidewalk. I don’t know anybody from there. So, I don’t – that’s like saying – calling you a ‘type’ of folks. I’m not a Hollywood folk. I don’t know who they are.”

“Are you one of those people that–” Katie said, attempting to rephrase the question.

Denzel then interrupted, “Ah, there you go. Am I one of those people? Hmmm, isn’t that interesting?” “Oh, stop, stop, stop,” Katie said.

“No, don’t stop. I heard what you just said. ‘Am I one of those people?’ No, I’m not,” Denzel said.

“No, are you an actor who would rather not —” Katie responded back. He then said, “No, I’m not that either. I’m a human being. My job is acting.”

Well, all these years later, Katie spoke about the interview on her recent “Everything Iconic With Danny Pellegrino” podcast appearance.

“I think he totally misconstrued a question I asked and kind of jumped all over me. It was so uncomfortable because he was doing it with Meryl Streep…” Katie said. “I don’t think I said anything wrong… I don’t know what happened.”

Katie continued, “I think he must have been having a really bad day because he later wrote a really big check to my colon cancer organization, which I thought was super sweet. I love him, I admire him so much. He’s one of my favorite actors, but I remember walking out and feeling really kind of shaken that he had kind of gone after me in a way that was completely, weirdly uncalled for.”

On that same podcast, Katie opened up about another subject everyone has been anxiously awaiting her opinion on.