Summary
Megan Fox’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in Michael Bay’sBad Boys IIhas a pretty controversialbackstory. Six years after making her acting debut opposite the Olsen twins inHoliday in the Sun(2001),Megan Fox had her breakout role as Mikaela Banes inTransformers(2007),directed by Michael Bay. Fox returned for the first sequel,Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,in 2009, but after a falling out with Bay sparked by her comments comparing him to “Napoleon” and “Hitler” on set (viaWonderland), Fox was replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as the female lead inTransformers: Dark of the Moon(2011).
Contrary to popular belief,Transformersdid not mark the beginning of Fox and Bay’s professional relationship. Fox and Bay’s first time working together actually took place four years prior, when Fox had a background role inBad Boys II(2003), the first sequel to Bay’s action comedyBad Boys(1995) starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Fox’s cameo inBad Boys 2lasts all but a few seconds, but it ended up drawing major controversy years later.
Where To Watch All 3 Bad Boys Movies
All three of the original Bad Boys movies released before the 2024 installment Ride or Die are available to watch online via various platforms.
Fox was an extra in a club scene that takes place early on inBad Boys II. As Mike (Smith) and Marcus (Lawrence) fly to the hospital in a helicopter after Mike accidentally shot Marcus in the butt, the camera travels through the vents of astrip club where the owner is selling ecstasy. A youngFox appears for a split second during the montages of partygoersdancing to blaring techno music under bright flashing lights. The shot happens so fast that she can be difficult to spot, but she’s donning a red cowboy hat and dancing provocatively.
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Fox Was Still A Teenager When She Filmed This Scene
Fox’s cameo inBad Boys IImay have been brief, but it has since drawn controversy because of her age at the time.Bad Boys 2was filmed between July and December 2002, whenFox was only 16 years old. Having a teenager dancing in a strip club is bad enough, but Fox’s outfit makes it even worse. Though it’s hard to tell in the actual scene,Fox later recalled in a 2009 interview onJimmy Kimmel Livethat, besides the cowboy hat,she was wearing nothing but “a stars-and-stripes bikini…and 6-inch heels” while filming that scene.
Fox initially claimed she “had just turned 15” while filming her cameo inBad Boys 2,but since her birthday is June 02, 2025, she would’ve just turned 16 based on the timeline.
Given the context of the scene combined with her minimal clothing and sensual dancing, there’s no denying that Fox was heavily sexualized in herBad Boys 2role.
Fox also revealed that since she couldn’t be shown drinking at the bar of the strip club,Bay instead had her “dancing underneath a waterfall,getting soaking wet,“referring to the sprinklers on the ceiling of the club. It may not come across as much in the finished product, but given the context of thescene inBad Boys 2combined with her minimal clothing and sensual dancing, there’s no denying that Fox was heavily sexualized in herBad Boys 2role. Knowing that she was just a teenager makes the whole thing pretty uncomfortable.
In the same interview with Kimmel from 2009,Fox emphasized just how young she was when Bay instructed her to dance in a bikini inBad Boys II,reiterating that this was just “a microcosm of how Bay’s mind works.” While she did go on to work with him again in the first twoTransformers,as mentioned, Fox and Bay had a falling out due to his behavior on theTransformersset and didn’t make up until years later.
Fox would go on to partially address the backlash Bay received for her underagedBad Boys 2appearance when her 2009 Kimmel interview and the clip from the movie resurfaced in 2020. At the time, the false rumor that Bay made her wash his car in a bikini while auditioning forTransformersalso began circulating again, leading some to believe that she was also underage during this fictitious bikini-cladTransformersaudition.
On Instagram, Fox clarified that while she was “around 15 or 16 years old when [she] was an extra in Bad Boys II,” she was not underage when she auditioned forTransformers,nor was she wearing a bikini or “undressed or anything similar” at any point. In the same post,Fox stated that “when it comes to my direct experiences with Michael… I was never assaulted or preyed upon in what I felt was a sexual manner.”
Fox also clarified that she never washed Bay’s car during her audition, but that she was asked to mimic doing mechanical work on one of his Ferraris in one scene.
Bayreposted her statement on his Instagram account with a still from herTransformersaudition to prove she was fully dressed and not washing his car. In the caption, Bay added, “I personally think[s] Megan is fantastic. I’m proud to have worked with her, and still am planning on working with her.” While Fox’sBad Boys IIcameo was definitely questionable given her age, based on her comments, it seems that Fox does not look back on it as a wholly negative experience.
