Awkward Photos & Videos Of Pete Hegseth That Will Haunt Him Forever

Since being appointed as the Secretary of Defense by Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth has been involved in multiple major controversies and scandals. He has also repeatedly offended people through his proclamations regarding military fitness and drawn criticism for his war against beards in the armed forces. However, long before his public profile skyrocketed as an embattled politician – hounded by rumors of an illicit affair and allegations of sexual misconduct – he was an embattled Fox News host who embarrassed himself on and off screen.

While Hegseth has been involved in many political controversies, from the Signal scandal to the Pentagon's pressuring of reporters, it will probably be some of his more awkward and embarrassing moments that will haunt him forever. Though Hegseth surely hoped that these incidents would somehow fall through the cracks and be forgotten, these moments were instead caught on camera and will live on in perpetuity online.

One painful and embarrassing moment for Pete Hegseth came as he was guest hosting a Fox News morning show segment in September 2025, and he accidentally nailed himself in the junk with a skateboard. The painfully hilarious mishap occurred on live TV and was shared all across the internet.

Pete Hegseth accidentally flipping a skateboard into his nuts on live TV
pic.twitter.com/5VHROpcyFb

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) September 29, 2025

The moment in question came when the show did an on-the-street piece involving skateboarding. Hegseth tried to flip the board up to catch in his hand; instead, it popped up and smacked him right between the legs, leading to an almost cartoonish look of surprise and pain.

Kick-flipping a skateboard into his delicate bits wasn't the first time Pete Hegseth turned an outdoors morning show segment into an inadvertent meme. Back in 2015, Hegseth took part in a segment about ax-throwing, for which producers set up a wooden target outdoors in the New York City courtyard.

As seen in the above CNN report about the incident, Hegseth took aim with an ax and then missed the target board entirely. The ax flew over the target and hit a West Point drummer who had been inexplicably positioned behind the target. Luckily, the dangerous weapon hit the drummer in the arm on its broadside, not with the blade, but still led to some lacerations and a deeply embarrassed Hegseth (who was later sued for the incident).

Sometimes Pete Hegseth doesn't realize he's getting embarrassed on camera. This was the case with an interview he did outside the White House during the Easter festivities in April 2025, in the wake of the "Signalgate" scandal. 

Pete Hegseth attacks media as his kids cringe pic.twitter.com/lNFIsewS8U

— The Recount (@therecount) April 21, 2025

While Hegseth railed against the so-called woke, left-wing media, his children were behind him on the White House lawn, awkwardly cringing as their dad got more and more intense. One commenter on X summed things up perfectly, writing, "Those are faces of kids who've seen dad get riled up before and are worried that he's going to really lose it."

Back in August 2025, Pete Hegseth teamed up with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. to introduce the so-called "Pete and Bobby Challenge." This includes doing 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups all under 10 minutes. Kennedy managed to do the challenge, all while rocking his weird trademark workout jeans.

However, some commenters on Facebook remarked on just how much Hegseth seemed to struggle with the pull-ups. They poked fun at him for using his legs for propulsion, and for how Kennedy showed him up despite being a quarter of a century older than Hegseth.

When it came time to celebrate New Year's Eve and ring in 2023, Pete Hegseth opted to take a plunge in a dunk tank full of alcohol. He eventually emerged from the boozy bath with a bottle of champagne.

Trump Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, said he doesn't have a drinking problem. Here he is drinking on the job during a New Years Eve Fox News broadcast 2 years ago.

Hegseth (and his children) also drank out of the dunk tank which was filled with champagne. pic.twitter.com/SLv3GQ7ndP

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) December 31, 2024

The soaked Hegseth chugged from the bottle and then drank cupped handfuls of the alcohol bath all during the live broadcast. The bizarre and hedonistic moment has haunted Hegseth ever since, especially amid allegations of past alcohol dependency issues.

When the Minnesota-born Pete Hegseth hopped on stage at the FOX Nation Patriot Awards in November 2023, the TV newsman decided to dress up like an old-school country music star for the occasion. The awards show was held at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, so the large cowboy hat and ornate Western-inspired black tux might have worked for someone else with some southern charm. However, on Hegseth, the whole ensemble made it look like he was dressed up like a fancy cowboy at a Halloween party.