Steve Buscemi will never appear on Hot Ones, and no amount of money will change his mind. The actor said so during an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he was promoting his new films Wild Horse Nine and Klara and the Sun. He called the idea of eating progressively hotter chicken wings on camera confusing, and said it makes him angry.
“I’m confused why people like spicy food, why they like their mouths hot,” Buscemi said on the podcast. “Sam Rockwell told me that he and Parker Posey did Hot Ones. That’s something I would never do. I don’t care how much you paid me, how much they said, ‘But it would really support the film!’ No. It not only makes me confused, it makes me angry.” He added, with a laugh: “You’ll never get me, Hot Ones!”
Hot Ones and the wings Buscemi will not eat
Hot Ones is the YouTube talk show hosted by Sean Evans, in which guests eat chicken wings covered in sauces that get hotter with each round while they answer interview questions. The show launched in 2015 and has become a routine stop for actors promoting new films. Its signature sauce is Da Bomb, rated at 135,600 Scoville units, and the show’s later rounds are known for leaving guests in visible distress.
Buscemi’s co-stars have been through it. Rockwell told him that he and Parker Posey did the show while promoting their work, and Buscemi’s answer was a flat refusal. He said he would turn down any fee and any argument that an appearance would help the film. The actor’s stance is unusual in an era when most stars treat the show as a standard part of a press tour.
Hot Ones as a press tour stop
The show has grown from a small online series into one of the best-known celebrity interview formats in the United States. Evans has hosted hundreds of guests, and clips from the show spread widely on social media. For many actors, a Hot Ones appearance is now as expected as a late-night talk show slot, and publicists build it into release schedules.
Buscemi has never been a standard press tour guest. He has built a long career as a character actor, with roles in Fargo, Reservoir Dogs, The Big Lebowski and Boardwalk Empire, and he has directed films of his own, including Animal Factory. He is known for picking his projects carefully, and he has been open about the parts of fame he does not enjoy.
Wild Horse Nine and Klara and the Sun
Buscemi appeared on the podcast to promote two films. Wild Horse Nine, directed by Martin McDonagh, reached theatres on November 6, 2026, and Buscemi plays a CIA bureau chief in it, opposite John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell. Klara and the Sun is his other new film. The podcast appearance ran for just under an hour and covered his career, his films and a bracket of his own work, in which he finally named Ghost World as his favourite.
The Happy Sad Confused episode was recorded as part of the press tour for Wild Horse Nine. Buscemi’s comments about the wings show came during a round of questions about the things he dislikes, and Horowitz let the answer run. The clip then spread across entertainment news sites and social media.
Why Buscemi will not do Hot Ones
His objection is simple: he does not understand why anyone would want their mouth to burn, and the idea of doing it for publicity makes it worse. He did not attack the show or its host, and he did not say other actors should stay away. He said only that it is something he would never do, at any price, and that no argument about supporting a film would move him.
For now, Hot Ones will have to carry on without Steve Buscemi. The show’s producers have not responded to his comments, and there is no sign the actor will change his mind.