Anderson Cooper Reflects On the Time He Danced With Madonna on Stage: ‘It Was Mortifying’

Anderson Cooper is a hard-nosed professional journalist, a serious guy by-day. But he’s also got a rock-solid sense of humor.

Back in 2015, Cooper was the center of attention when, during Madonna’s Rebel Heart concert at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, he was pulled on stage for a fun moment with the Queen of Pop.

The CNN host’s time in the spotlight had an unexpected twist, as Madonna playfully spanked and humped him during her performance of “Unapologetic Bitch.”

After the song ended, the Material Girl extended the laughs when she forced Cooper to stand and wait while she gifted him a banana.

Of course, fans captured the action on their devices, ensuring Cooper’s dance moves will live on for eternity.

This week, the TV star reflected on his funny business with Madonna for bestie Kelly Ripa’s Sirius XM podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera.

“That I choose to forget. I’m mortified,” Cooper recounts. “I mean, I loved the whole idea, I love the experience of it. I don’t love the video that exists of it, the reality.”

The 19,000-capacity venue lapped it up. Though Cooper “didn’t know what the hell was going on. I was terrible. I danced terribly. It was mortifying,” he remarks.

Madonna, on the other hand, made it look easy. “We all watch people perform at these stages and they make it look like it’s all so natural and normal,” Cooper adds. “Even the way they’re like dancing, running, walking down the stage. I’m like, ‘I don’t, do I skip?'”

As for the piece of fruit. Well, “all of a sudden you find yourself like you’re standing on this thing, and then she hands you a banana, and right before that she like pushed me over and humped me. Which I didn’t expect it all” he says.

“So I open it up and I start to peel it and eat the banana, and then all of a sudden I start lowering down on this little electronic elevator disappearing on the stage just like eating this banana,” Cooper quips. “I don’t know. To this day, I don’t know what happened.”

All jokes aside, Cooper and Madonna go way back. In 2013, gay advocacy group GLAAD tapped Madonna to present Cooper with the Vito Russo Award, saluting openly gay media professionals.

He returned the favor in 2016 by introducing Madonna as the person of honor at Billboard’s Woman of the Year event.

Madonna won’t be getting up to any on-stage shenanigans for a little while yet. The 65-year-old diva is on the mend following a bacterial infection that kept her in hospital for several days and forced back her touring schedule. Rescheduled dates for her massive, career-spanning Celebration tour have already been announced.

Stream the interview below.