Bill Murray slammed for forcibly kissing Naomi Watts in ‘horrifying’ and ‘shameful’ live TV talk show moment

Bill Murray sparked backlash earlier this month after forcing a smooch from King Kong and The Ring actress Naomi Watts while on a US talk show.

While appearing on Watch What Happens Live, Murray went in for an unexpected kiss with his The Friend co-star, grabbing her face in the process.

This happened after Watts was asked to name who gave her the best on-screen kiss throughout her impressive TV and movie career.

Watts appeared to be completely shocked and taken aback by the ballsy move from Murray.

However, she managed to smile, laugh, and go along with the joke, even if a forced kiss from the controversial Ghostbusters actor was the punchline.

“You’ve got lipstick on your face,” she told Murray after him planting the smooch, as she appeared to hold back laughter.

“Okay, did I go red?” she then comedically asked the host.

“That was too easy,” Murray quipped after giving a thumbs-up to the camera.

Despite the moment being improvised for comedic effect, users online labelled the entire moment as “disgusting” and “shameless.”

Some also expressed that the joke was fine, but the execution was just too much.

“All he had to do was pretend like he was going in for a kiss for the joke to land. He didn’t have to actually do it,” one user said on the matter.

“That was too disgusting to watch,” a second added.

“He seems shameless. What a full of shame in him,” a third wrote.

“This is what happens when someone faces no repercussions for their behaviour time and time again. They think they can take and do whatever they want,” a fourth chimed in.

“Add this to the list of inappropriate things Bill Murray has done to co-workers,” a fifth added.

Although public reactions can often be divided, it’s tough to find anyone directly calling Murray’s forced kiss a good thing.