Clay Aiken says he is revisiting a live-television incident from more than two decades ago when he placed his hand over Kelly Ripa's mouth on “Live with Regis and Kelly”.Aiken calls the public backlash that followed the gesture the most catastrophic week of his life and says Rosie O'Donnell's accusation that Kelly Ripa was homophobic intensified the controversy and effectively outed him before he had publicly come out.He says he sought advice from
Diane Sawyer, smoothed relations by sending
Kelly Ripa flowers after the dispute, and that they have not directly discussed the episode since despite offers to return to the program; he also notes other celebrity clashes have produced similar sustained debate.