1 00:00:04,755 --> 00:00:08,995 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:23,235 --> 00:00:27,035 Speaker 1: So we're doing this again. Huh So we're doing Hillary 3 00:00:27,075 --> 00:00:31,875 Speaker 1: Clinton's emails again. Huh so we're doing Hillary's emails again. 4 00:00:31,915 --> 00:00:35,595 Speaker 1: How New York Times. So we're gonna claim shoplifting and 5 00:00:35,795 --> 00:00:40,115 Speaker 1: armed robbery with murder are the same thing again. A 6 00:00:40,355 --> 00:00:44,115 Speaker 1: Washington Post. So we're gonna hype trivia and very real 7 00:00:44,275 --> 00:00:50,515 Speaker 1: news again. Ha. CNN, so we're gonna falsify the actual stories. 8 00:00:50,595 --> 00:00:55,315 Speaker 1: So the TV version is sexier than the print version. Again, CBS. 9 00:00:56,875 --> 00:01:01,275 Speaker 1: Late yesterday, CBS News broke a legitimate, albeit likely to 10 00:01:01,315 --> 00:01:04,795 Speaker 1: be obscure story, which it headlined on its website, and 11 00:01:04,875 --> 00:01:08,475 Speaker 1: please listen carefully to its phrasing on the website. US 12 00:01:08,555 --> 00:01:15,195 Speaker 1: attorney reviewing documents marked classified from Joe Biden's vice presidency 13 00:01:15,595 --> 00:01:22,595 Speaker 1: found at Biden think tank. Correct documents marked classified real 14 00:01:22,635 --> 00:01:28,835 Speaker 1: classification level unknown if any, found at a Biden think tank, 15 00:01:29,395 --> 00:01:32,915 Speaker 1: not at his home, not in his possession, not in 16 00:01:32,995 --> 00:01:37,635 Speaker 1: his White House. The online CBS version emphasizes that about 17 00:01:37,675 --> 00:01:41,315 Speaker 1: ten documents with the classified markings on them were found 18 00:01:41,395 --> 00:01:44,635 Speaker 1: in November by Biden lawyers, who immediately notified the National 19 00:01:44,715 --> 00:01:47,915 Speaker 1: Archives that day and they were returned to the National 20 00:01:47,995 --> 00:01:52,075 Speaker 1: Archives the next day. The CBS televised version of that 21 00:01:52,595 --> 00:01:56,475 Speaker 1: as read by Nora O'Donnell, who I now regret to say, 22 00:01:56,475 --> 00:02:01,115 Speaker 1: began her television career on my first MSNBC show, Hyped 23 00:02:02,075 --> 00:02:06,915 Speaker 1: and Breathless. Quoting her SEEBS News has learned that the 24 00:02:06,955 --> 00:02:13,915 Speaker 1: Department of Justice is reviewing classified Obama Biden records. Shame 25 00:02:13,955 --> 00:02:19,395 Speaker 1: on you, Nora, and here come Hillary's emails. The New 26 00:02:19,435 --> 00:02:22,835 Speaker 1: York Times, the first comparison to the Trump wholesale nuclear 27 00:02:22,915 --> 00:02:28,195 Speaker 1: Kleptomania is in paragraph five. It is taken seriously. The 28 00:02:28,235 --> 00:02:32,595 Speaker 1: authors are Charlie Savage, Clan Thrush, and naturally Peter Baker. 29 00:02:33,235 --> 00:02:35,155 Speaker 1: I'm surprised you didn't hold it off for a book 30 00:02:35,195 --> 00:02:40,475 Speaker 1: for the year. Utter failure, New York Times, Utter failure. 31 00:02:41,835 --> 00:02:45,555 Speaker 1: And the Washington Post did worse in its sub headline 32 00:02:45,595 --> 00:02:50,395 Speaker 1: to this story, quote the case echoes the investigation into 33 00:02:50,435 --> 00:02:56,675 Speaker 1: Trump's Marilago documents. No it doesn't. If that's in the 34 00:02:56,715 --> 00:03:00,995 Speaker 1: print edition, recall all the papers and burn them and 35 00:03:01,155 --> 00:03:08,555 Speaker 1: fire everybody. The conservative Washington Examiner did a far more 36 00:03:08,875 --> 00:03:12,635 Speaker 1: fair report on this story than did the Washington Post. 37 00:03:14,475 --> 00:03:19,475 Speaker 1: Give it away to a charity, Jeff Bezos utter failure. 38 00:03:21,915 --> 00:03:27,875 Speaker 1: But for the journalistic train wreck of the night of 39 00:03:27,995 --> 00:03:33,875 Speaker 1: the year so far, for irresponsibility, for malpractice, for malfeas 40 00:03:33,955 --> 00:03:40,275 Speaker 1: it's for conservative ass kissing. Nothing compares to what CNN 41 00:03:40,395 --> 00:03:46,715 Speaker 1: did because, and this is extraordinary context and timing, at 42 00:03:46,755 --> 00:03:50,635 Speaker 1: about eight p m. CNN broke a real news story, 43 00:03:50,795 --> 00:03:55,395 Speaker 1: a tremendously important news story last night that Special Council 44 00:03:55,555 --> 00:04:00,275 Speaker 1: Jack Smith had opened an entirely new line of investigation 45 00:04:00,435 --> 00:04:05,235 Speaker 1: into Trump by subpoena ng Rudy Giuliani and a host 46 00:04:05,315 --> 00:04:09,555 Speaker 1: of other Trump henchmen and demanding that they turnover records 47 00:04:09,555 --> 00:04:13,515 Speaker 1: to a federal grand jury records about the scam Trump 48 00:04:13,595 --> 00:04:19,035 Speaker 1: ran after the election, the entire phony Save America pack 49 00:04:19,435 --> 00:04:25,355 Speaker 1: and assorted similar organizations, which conned thousands of stupid Americans 50 00:04:25,635 --> 00:04:29,675 Speaker 1: into donating to what they thought were recounts and legal 51 00:04:29,795 --> 00:04:33,115 Speaker 1: challenges on Trump's behalf. You got a coup, and then 52 00:04:33,155 --> 00:04:35,395 Speaker 1: on top of the coup, you got a grift. And 53 00:04:35,475 --> 00:04:39,435 Speaker 1: now the Special Council is subpoena NG over it. As 54 00:04:39,435 --> 00:04:42,355 Speaker 1: I pointed out in the Alderman Versus Trump series in November, 55 00:04:43,235 --> 00:04:46,155 Speaker 1: the fine print on the mailers from Trump's supposed campaign 56 00:04:46,195 --> 00:04:50,995 Speaker 1: Legal Defense Fund gave that game away quote. Contributions will 57 00:04:51,035 --> 00:04:55,835 Speaker 1: be allocated according to the following formula for the retirement 58 00:04:55,875 --> 00:05:00,715 Speaker 1: of general election debt to the r n c S 59 00:05:00,835 --> 00:05:09,715 Speaker 1: operating account. Giuliani peanut amid special Council investigation into Trump's fundraising, 60 00:05:10,035 --> 00:05:14,675 Speaker 1: It's got Giuliani, It's got Trump, It's got fundraising. Follow 61 00:05:14,755 --> 00:05:19,115 Speaker 1: the money, bring in Woodward and Bernstein. And not only 62 00:05:19,795 --> 00:05:24,915 Speaker 1: was CNN's Giuliani scoop their own story again, not only 63 00:05:24,955 --> 00:05:27,755 Speaker 1: was it outstanding and vitally important, but in the kind 64 00:05:27,795 --> 00:05:31,315 Speaker 1: of kiss metch that even somebody like the guy when 65 00:05:31,315 --> 00:05:33,755 Speaker 1: we worked together in MSNBC we all thought used to 66 00:05:33,795 --> 00:05:38,595 Speaker 1: eat paste. The new CNN hatchet chairman Chris lickt even 67 00:05:38,635 --> 00:05:41,315 Speaker 1: he could understand it, and even he would start dancing 68 00:05:41,355 --> 00:05:44,995 Speaker 1: in the hallways over the timing. On Sunday, CNN will 69 00:05:45,035 --> 00:05:50,355 Speaker 1: premiere a documentary series about Rudy Giuliani, a documentary series 70 00:05:50,395 --> 00:05:54,035 Speaker 1: about him. And here is an headline breaking exclusive scoop 71 00:05:54,075 --> 00:05:59,875 Speaker 1: about Rudy Giuliani that's fifty seven minutes old. So CNN's 72 00:05:59,955 --> 00:06:05,915 Speaker 1: nine PM Hour begins with a promo for the Giuliani series. Guliani, 73 00:06:06,195 --> 00:06:09,395 Speaker 1: What happened to America's mayor. Well, I can tell you that, 74 00:06:09,475 --> 00:06:11,635 Speaker 1: but good for you, And then they cut to the 75 00:06:11,675 --> 00:06:15,875 Speaker 1: body double for the late life Spencer Tracy Anderson Cooper 76 00:06:16,595 --> 00:06:19,635 Speaker 1: breaking news tops the Hour and I think for once, 77 00:06:20,235 --> 00:06:25,755 Speaker 1: CNN hype, Anderson Cooper, hype and journalism have aligned like 78 00:06:25,875 --> 00:06:29,155 Speaker 1: the stars when the moon is in the seventh House. 79 00:06:30,235 --> 00:06:35,475 Speaker 1: And then the world's longest running failed TV marketing experiment, 80 00:06:35,915 --> 00:06:39,995 Speaker 1: the master of the board delivery himself, Anderson Cooper in tones. 81 00:06:40,795 --> 00:06:42,795 Speaker 1: Turns out the former president is not the only one 82 00:06:42,795 --> 00:06:45,915 Speaker 1: with the classified documents problem. The current president has one 83 00:06:45,955 --> 00:06:53,395 Speaker 1: as well. I know because you listen to this that 84 00:06:53,515 --> 00:06:57,275 Speaker 1: you already know. You knew before I did that. All 85 00:06:57,355 --> 00:07:01,555 Speaker 1: American media people pretty much divide for me into two groups, 86 00:07:01,555 --> 00:07:05,315 Speaker 1: and two groups alone, those who should resign and those 87 00:07:05,355 --> 00:07:09,315 Speaker 1: who should be fired. But Anderson Cooper should resign for that, 88 00:07:09,675 --> 00:07:12,795 Speaker 1: and whoever wrote it for him should be fired at 89 00:07:12,835 --> 00:07:16,715 Speaker 1: whoever produced it should resign, and Chris Lick should go 90 00:07:17,195 --> 00:07:23,995 Speaker 1: eat more paste their own story, their own superb scoop. 91 00:07:24,355 --> 00:07:28,235 Speaker 1: They buried it so they could run with as naked, irresponsible, 92 00:07:28,275 --> 00:07:30,995 Speaker 1: and indefensible. An example of both sides is him and 93 00:07:31,075 --> 00:07:35,035 Speaker 1: what about is him, since well, the reason we mentioned them, 94 00:07:35,075 --> 00:07:39,035 Speaker 1: since Hillary's emails in the worst case scenario for the 95 00:07:39,075 --> 00:07:42,235 Speaker 1: sitting president of the United States, the documents in the 96 00:07:42,315 --> 00:07:47,395 Speaker 1: Biden think tank compared to the documents in Trump's glorified 97 00:07:47,555 --> 00:07:52,715 Speaker 1: All you can Eat Florida Golden Corral, the way my 98 00:07:52,915 --> 00:07:57,875 Speaker 1: Swiss army knife compares to Jack the rippers murder weapon. 99 00:07:58,955 --> 00:08:03,395 Speaker 1: For once, the assumed Mark Twain quote is a Mark 100 00:08:03,475 --> 00:08:07,715 Speaker 1: Twain quote. He really said this. The difference between the 101 00:08:07,755 --> 00:08:11,915 Speaker 1: almost right word and the right word is the difference 102 00:08:11,955 --> 00:08:17,755 Speaker 1: between the lightning bug and lightning. This is the difference 103 00:08:18,315 --> 00:08:24,995 Speaker 1: between the lightning bug, the Biden papers and lightning. Well, 104 00:08:25,075 --> 00:08:28,995 Speaker 1: Anderson Cooper doesn't understand that, and Anderson Cooper's producer doesn't 105 00:08:29,035 --> 00:08:32,715 Speaker 1: understand that, and Chris Licked doesn't understand that. And now, 106 00:08:33,195 --> 00:08:36,555 Speaker 1: after building up a journalistic monolith on the backs of 107 00:08:36,555 --> 00:08:39,555 Speaker 1: a thousand people in the nineteen eighties, of whom I 108 00:08:39,675 --> 00:08:44,475 Speaker 1: might rank as high as one thousand, now CNN doesn't 109 00:08:44,515 --> 00:08:49,155 Speaker 1: understand that. And online CNN added to its crimes it 110 00:08:49,275 --> 00:08:52,395 Speaker 1: quoted Kevin McCarthy. Oh really, they just found them now, 111 00:08:52,435 --> 00:08:58,315 Speaker 1: after all those years, Kevin McCarthy, Trump's whore who thanked 112 00:08:58,475 --> 00:09:01,835 Speaker 1: Trump after his election as Speaker of the House slash 113 00:09:02,115 --> 00:09:05,675 Speaker 1: hostage the way Dave Foley the Kids in the Whole 114 00:09:05,795 --> 00:09:09,115 Speaker 1: Comedy Troupe once portrayed and actress at an award ceremony, 115 00:09:09,275 --> 00:09:11,595 Speaker 1: saying she wanted to thank her agent and the producers 116 00:09:11,595 --> 00:09:14,635 Speaker 1: Sid and Marty, Sid Martinson, and she wanted to thank Hitler. 117 00:09:16,435 --> 00:09:18,595 Speaker 1: Turns out the former president who is not the only 118 00:09:18,595 --> 00:09:21,795 Speaker 1: one with a classified documents problem. The current president has 119 00:09:21,795 --> 00:09:27,155 Speaker 1: one as well. No, No, turns out Fox News is 120 00:09:27,155 --> 00:09:29,915 Speaker 1: not the only one with an alter the facts to 121 00:09:30,075 --> 00:09:33,915 Speaker 1: try to gin up the audience problem. CNN has won 122 00:09:34,035 --> 00:09:38,755 Speaker 1: as well, and The Times and The Washington Post and 123 00:09:38,875 --> 00:09:43,835 Speaker 1: CBS and an NBC News reporter named Ryan Nobles, who 124 00:09:43,835 --> 00:09:49,195 Speaker 1: scored a hat trick of incompetence. In one tweet, he wrote, 125 00:09:49,355 --> 00:09:54,435 Speaker 1: quote reports that President Biden took classified docs after leaving 126 00:09:54,475 --> 00:10:00,115 Speaker 1: as Vice president. Where does it say anywhere that anybody 127 00:10:00,155 --> 00:10:04,555 Speaker 1: even suggested Biden took these documents? Where does it say 128 00:10:04,555 --> 00:10:07,715 Speaker 1: that at Ryan Nobles? Where does it say that NBC News, 129 00:10:08,635 --> 00:10:11,515 Speaker 1: Where does it say that NBC News chairman saysar Conde. 130 00:10:11,835 --> 00:10:15,195 Speaker 1: Where does it say that NBC CEO Jeff Shell, who 131 00:10:15,235 --> 00:10:20,435 Speaker 1: reported that Joe Scarborough reported that Chuck Todd reported that 132 00:10:22,315 --> 00:10:26,755 Speaker 1: Ryan Nobles, who should be suspended for this tweet by itself, 133 00:10:27,435 --> 00:10:30,755 Speaker 1: then quoted the official Biden smearer of the new Congress. 134 00:10:31,195 --> 00:10:36,315 Speaker 1: James Comber also noticed Jimmy, I come from a town 135 00:10:36,355 --> 00:10:39,675 Speaker 1: full of skeletons in my closet. Comber, who has been 136 00:10:39,755 --> 00:10:43,075 Speaker 1: Chairman of the House Oversight Committee for nearly four days, 137 00:10:43,755 --> 00:10:46,315 Speaker 1: saying he's writing to the White House Council and the 138 00:10:46,435 --> 00:10:51,875 Speaker 1: National Archives asking for information, when both were already quoted 139 00:10:51,955 --> 00:10:56,595 Speaker 1: elsewhere before he asked, and Nobles and NBC and Comber 140 00:10:56,955 --> 00:11:01,435 Speaker 1: all left that out. Oh, and Nobles finished his trifecta 141 00:11:01,515 --> 00:11:05,315 Speaker 1: of negligence by neglecting as everybody else had as be 142 00:11:05,515 --> 00:11:08,875 Speaker 1: never resolved on the record charges from two thousand fifteen 143 00:11:08,915 --> 00:11:12,475 Speaker 1: by Chairman Comber's college girlfriend Marilyn Thomas that he hit 144 00:11:12,595 --> 00:11:15,835 Speaker 1: her repeatedly and that he threatened her life to her 145 00:11:15,875 --> 00:11:19,715 Speaker 1: own mother. Those accusations have been sitting there against Comer 146 00:11:19,835 --> 00:11:22,915 Speaker 1: since two thousand fifteen, and it's not only appropriate to 147 00:11:23,035 --> 00:11:25,955 Speaker 1: ask a sitting congressman about them, but since Comber is 148 00:11:25,995 --> 00:11:32,035 Speaker 1: now the Republicans inquisitor in chief, it's Torqueuamada. It is 149 00:11:32,155 --> 00:11:35,755 Speaker 1: essential to ask him where the inquisition of him is, 150 00:11:36,275 --> 00:11:40,875 Speaker 1: you know, for the sake of both sides, is um 151 00:11:41,035 --> 00:11:47,675 Speaker 1: NBC News. I was going to talk with what little 152 00:11:47,715 --> 00:11:51,715 Speaker 1: breath I have about how every mainstream reporter fell for 153 00:11:51,795 --> 00:11:56,275 Speaker 1: the weaponizing the government subcommittee that was in the rules 154 00:11:56,275 --> 00:11:59,235 Speaker 1: package last night, that none asked about or even referenced. 155 00:11:59,235 --> 00:12:02,955 Speaker 1: The lender letter that, as I mentioned in Monday's episode, 156 00:12:02,995 --> 00:12:06,155 Speaker 1: precludes that Kevin McCarthy Jim Jordan's vow to investigate and 157 00:12:06,235 --> 00:12:10,875 Speaker 1: impede ongoing criminal investigations. Ongoing criminal investigations, Oh like like 158 00:12:10,915 --> 00:12:14,115 Speaker 1: Giuliani getting subpoenaed by the Trump Special Council. Remember that story? 159 00:12:14,275 --> 00:12:18,915 Speaker 1: What was that months ago? No? Eight pm last night. 160 00:12:20,795 --> 00:12:25,515 Speaker 1: But instead of doing that, our little Hillary's email alumni 161 00:12:25,675 --> 00:12:33,475 Speaker 1: reunion meeting took disgusting precedence. We're really going to do 162 00:12:33,555 --> 00:12:39,675 Speaker 1: this again, Peter Baker, We're really going to do this again. 163 00:12:40,755 --> 00:12:49,315 Speaker 1: Norah O'Donnell, We're really going to do this again. Anderson Cooper. 164 00:12:52,035 --> 00:12:55,715 Speaker 1: But I would be nearly as bad as any of 165 00:12:55,755 --> 00:12:59,155 Speaker 1: them if I did not point out at one guy 166 00:12:59,355 --> 00:13:06,115 Speaker 1: and one organization and applaud Zeke Miller, Chief White House 167 00:13:06,195 --> 00:13:12,595 Speaker 1: correspondent Associated Press his lead on his wire news service. 168 00:13:13,555 --> 00:13:18,715 Speaker 1: The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified 169 00:13:18,795 --> 00:13:24,315 Speaker 1: documents found in the Washington office space of President Joe 170 00:13:24,355 --> 00:13:31,235 Speaker 1: Biden's former institute, the White House said Monday. The AP 171 00:13:31,355 --> 00:13:37,195 Speaker 1: headline reflects those similar modifications of the versions with which 172 00:13:37,715 --> 00:13:40,795 Speaker 1: CNN and CBS and NBC in the Washington Post in 173 00:13:40,795 --> 00:13:46,435 Speaker 1: the New York Times goosed the story changed, the facts 174 00:13:47,115 --> 00:13:52,475 Speaker 1: changed the facts. The Associated Press, under the guise of 175 00:13:52,555 --> 00:13:55,355 Speaker 1: Mr Miller's great reporting rights in the next few graphs, 176 00:13:55,915 --> 00:14:01,235 Speaker 1: small number of documents with classified markings discovered ADS found 177 00:14:01,315 --> 00:14:04,675 Speaker 1: in a locked closet, adds Attorneys immediately alerted the White 178 00:14:04,675 --> 00:14:07,595 Speaker 1: House Council's Office, ADS National Archives took custody the next 179 00:14:07,675 --> 00:14:11,475 Speaker 1: day reporting. The implications and the timing are still mentioned 180 00:14:11,475 --> 00:14:15,035 Speaker 1: deeper in this story. They should be mentioned deeper in 181 00:14:15,075 --> 00:14:19,235 Speaker 1: the story, not in the headline, not when Anderson Cooper 182 00:14:19,275 --> 00:14:22,275 Speaker 1: and CNN bury their own scoop about Rudy Giuliani being 183 00:14:22,315 --> 00:14:26,635 Speaker 1: subpoenaed to try to gain an extra three thousand viewers, 184 00:14:27,875 --> 00:14:29,835 Speaker 1: which would be the high water mark for CNN for 185 00:14:29,835 --> 00:14:34,115 Speaker 1: the last six months. The AP also mentions Trump and 186 00:14:34,275 --> 00:14:40,395 Speaker 1: Comber later, the ap used proportion and truth, not just facts, 187 00:14:40,795 --> 00:14:46,035 Speaker 1: not supposition, not assumptions, not hype. So now we will 188 00:14:46,075 --> 00:14:49,715 Speaker 1: see how long until Kevin McCarthy or James Comer complains 189 00:14:49,955 --> 00:14:54,595 Speaker 1: about Zeke Miller and the Associated Press or NBC or 190 00:14:54,675 --> 00:15:17,715 Speaker 1: CNN do where Anderson Cooper does. Jackasses still ahead. If 191 00:15:17,715 --> 00:15:19,475 Speaker 1: you were with me yesterday, you know I have what 192 00:15:19,515 --> 00:15:23,915 Speaker 1: I called in Monday's episode a bronchial thing. Maybe you 193 00:15:24,035 --> 00:15:28,795 Speaker 1: hear it, Lord knows I feel it, especially now turns 194 00:15:28,835 --> 00:15:32,675 Speaker 1: out it's a sinus infection. It is not COVID, thankfully. 195 00:15:32,715 --> 00:15:35,475 Speaker 1: My negotiation with my doctor when his follows and don't 196 00:15:35,475 --> 00:15:38,435 Speaker 1: do the podcast tonight and I said half of it. 197 00:15:38,995 --> 00:15:41,515 Speaker 1: My doctor said a quarter of it, and I said 198 00:15:41,915 --> 00:15:46,715 Speaker 1: a third and she said deal. So when we continue 199 00:15:46,755 --> 00:15:49,915 Speaker 1: a story from the earliest days of the podcast, early September, 200 00:15:49,995 --> 00:15:54,555 Speaker 1: that seems completely apropos If it was not the day 201 00:15:54,595 --> 00:15:57,795 Speaker 1: that American political media, especially but not exclusively, American political 202 00:15:57,835 --> 00:16:01,275 Speaker 1: TV media lost its stole soul and started doing stuff 203 00:16:01,315 --> 00:16:04,915 Speaker 1: like we saw last night with the Biden story, was 204 00:16:04,955 --> 00:16:10,035 Speaker 1: not that day. It was that exact year it aired 205 00:16:10,075 --> 00:16:13,035 Speaker 1: originally after Ken's Starr died, and if you heard it. 206 00:16:13,075 --> 00:16:15,115 Speaker 1: I did not want to mislead you. It is a rerun, 207 00:16:15,675 --> 00:16:18,875 Speaker 1: but it really fits hand in glove with what CNN 208 00:16:18,875 --> 00:16:21,315 Speaker 1: and NBC and CBS and The Times and posted last 209 00:16:21,395 --> 00:16:26,515 Speaker 1: night about Hill Joe's do q me emails. It was 210 00:16:26,555 --> 00:16:29,155 Speaker 1: the day that I told the president of NBC News enough, 211 00:16:29,275 --> 00:16:31,115 Speaker 1: I want out of the machine you have used to 212 00:16:31,155 --> 00:16:33,915 Speaker 1: make money while the president is impeached as part of 213 00:16:33,915 --> 00:16:37,355 Speaker 1: a long shot coup attempt by Nuke Gingrich and Ken Starr. 214 00:16:37,955 --> 00:16:40,275 Speaker 1: And so the president of NBC News responded to my 215 00:16:40,395 --> 00:16:44,235 Speaker 1: moral stance by sending his leg breaker to blackmail me 216 00:16:44,755 --> 00:16:48,875 Speaker 1: to my face and threaten to put my parents out 217 00:16:48,915 --> 00:16:52,155 Speaker 1: on the street and let them starve there. If you 218 00:16:52,195 --> 00:16:54,995 Speaker 1: have not heard this story, it is worth your time. 219 00:16:55,995 --> 00:16:58,915 Speaker 1: But I did want to offer that little disclaimer. It 220 00:16:59,075 --> 00:17:18,195 Speaker 1: is rerun. That's next. This is countdown. So today's number 221 00:17:18,235 --> 00:17:20,795 Speaker 1: one story in the countdown is a little longer than usual, 222 00:17:20,915 --> 00:17:22,835 Speaker 1: and you're not hearing things. I am starting it a 223 00:17:22,875 --> 00:17:26,795 Speaker 1: little earlier than usual. It is still about my favorite topic, 224 00:17:28,275 --> 00:17:32,235 Speaker 1: and it is still about yesterday's story, Kenneth Star and 225 00:17:32,315 --> 00:17:35,595 Speaker 1: the damage this one man did to American society when 226 00:17:35,635 --> 00:17:38,355 Speaker 1: he passed away Tuesday, afternoon. I did not choose to 227 00:17:38,435 --> 00:17:41,115 Speaker 1: speak ill of the dead lightly, but I did do 228 00:17:41,515 --> 00:17:44,675 Speaker 1: so immediately and resolutely. And I was somewhat reinforced by 229 00:17:44,675 --> 00:17:48,355 Speaker 1: the fact that since hundreds of others made the same choice, 230 00:17:48,435 --> 00:17:52,715 Speaker 1: some of them very very proudly. Between what Star did 231 00:17:52,755 --> 00:17:55,995 Speaker 1: in and what he spawned in this country, and the 232 00:17:56,035 --> 00:17:59,755 Speaker 1: institutionalized rape scandal he covered up while president of a 233 00:17:59,835 --> 00:18:05,595 Speaker 1: major university, This was a bad man, you know the 234 00:18:05,635 --> 00:18:08,795 Speaker 1: public effect of that. Obviously, he enabled the entire Republican 235 00:18:08,915 --> 00:18:12,315 Speaker 1: theocratic Holier than Now baseline which animates the far right 236 00:18:12,395 --> 00:18:15,875 Speaker 1: their genuine belief that a liberals and Democrats are corrupt, 237 00:18:16,515 --> 00:18:19,275 Speaker 1: and so even if they haven't done corrupt things, they 238 00:18:19,275 --> 00:18:22,275 Speaker 1: are capable of doing corrupt things. Therefore, liberals must be 239 00:18:22,315 --> 00:18:27,115 Speaker 1: suppressed and purged, and their votes discounted, and be that 240 00:18:27,315 --> 00:18:30,075 Speaker 1: suppression and purging is a sacred cause, so those who 241 00:18:30,115 --> 00:18:32,955 Speaker 1: carry it out, conservatives and Republicans are entitled to break 242 00:18:32,995 --> 00:18:36,395 Speaker 1: any law or ignore any ethical standards. It is a 243 00:18:36,435 --> 00:18:41,355 Speaker 1: self fulfilling prophecy in which fascists can behave subhumanly yet 244 00:18:41,435 --> 00:18:46,635 Speaker 1: be confident to their bones of their moral superiority. They 245 00:18:46,675 --> 00:18:53,955 Speaker 1: haven't cheated, they have overcome. That is ken Stars public legacy. 246 00:18:54,155 --> 00:18:57,195 Speaker 1: His private legacy is the mess that American news media 247 00:18:57,235 --> 00:19:00,675 Speaker 1: remains in, particularly the curse that will, if not corrected, 248 00:19:00,995 --> 00:19:06,155 Speaker 1: kill us all both sides is um Chuck Todd disease, 249 00:19:06,795 --> 00:19:11,635 Speaker 1: Chris Licked disease New York Times at this Ohio diner, 250 00:19:11,875 --> 00:19:15,795 Speaker 1: disease that was put into effect by the scumbag Roger 251 00:19:15,835 --> 00:19:19,475 Speaker 1: Ales at Fox News. But it was Ken's Star who 252 00:19:19,555 --> 00:19:23,955 Speaker 1: gave it a veneer of respectability of we can't dismiss 253 00:19:23,995 --> 00:19:26,835 Speaker 1: these sleeves balls because even if they are sleeves balls, 254 00:19:27,315 --> 00:19:30,355 Speaker 1: they have public support and and and boy Bill Clinton 255 00:19:30,395 --> 00:19:33,675 Speaker 1: doesn't look good, does he. Instead of saying what American 256 00:19:33,755 --> 00:19:36,715 Speaker 1: News used to say to sleeves balls of any party 257 00:19:36,995 --> 00:19:40,075 Speaker 1: like Roger Ales, screw you. We are going to write 258 00:19:40,155 --> 00:19:42,995 Speaker 1: or broadcast about your perfidy every day until you die. 259 00:19:43,475 --> 00:19:46,835 Speaker 1: Do not challenge us. They looked at Ken's Stars read 260 00:19:46,995 --> 00:19:51,155 Speaker 1: thin persecution of Bill Clinton and said, well, no, they 261 00:19:51,195 --> 00:19:55,035 Speaker 1: found nothing in two months or six months or two years. 262 00:19:55,075 --> 00:19:58,075 Speaker 1: But what if they find something like tomorrow and and 263 00:19:58,115 --> 00:20:00,595 Speaker 1: it turns out we oppose them, we will get killed 264 00:20:00,635 --> 00:20:03,755 Speaker 1: by the right wing media. Screw the right wing media. 265 00:20:05,035 --> 00:20:09,115 Speaker 1: And worst yet, Star played American news media, especially TV, 266 00:20:09,595 --> 00:20:13,715 Speaker 1: especially especially cable TV, like the proverbial two dollar banjo 267 00:20:13,915 --> 00:20:17,915 Speaker 1: from the West Wing. No news in the Clinton Lewinsky scandal, 268 00:20:18,075 --> 00:20:21,755 Speaker 1: no problem. A quick phone call by Star or somebody 269 00:20:21,835 --> 00:20:24,075 Speaker 1: in his office or somebody connected to somebody in his 270 00:20:24,195 --> 00:20:27,435 Speaker 1: office to Lisa Myers at NBC or any of several 271 00:20:27,435 --> 00:20:31,355 Speaker 1: correspondents at CNN or ABC or CBS, or anybody literally 272 00:20:31,395 --> 00:20:35,035 Speaker 1: anybody at Fox. Tell the switchboard operator, and suddenly there 273 00:20:35,195 --> 00:20:38,795 Speaker 1: was breaking news about the Clinton Lewinsky scandal, and another 274 00:20:38,835 --> 00:20:41,835 Speaker 1: alleged victim was ready to do a tier on camera 275 00:20:41,875 --> 00:20:46,435 Speaker 1: interview which had already aired a dozen times on that network, 276 00:20:46,755 --> 00:20:49,675 Speaker 1: with hundreds of clips from it on every other network 277 00:20:49,675 --> 00:20:54,355 Speaker 1: before anybody realized that the alleged victim hadn't actually alleged anything. 278 00:20:54,995 --> 00:21:01,315 Speaker 1: It was putred and worse, it was profitably putrid. And 279 00:21:01,395 --> 00:21:05,395 Speaker 1: if you questioned it, if you said, excuse me, uh 280 00:21:05,715 --> 00:21:09,915 Speaker 1: keith in the back, that this isn't journalism, the other networks, 281 00:21:09,955 --> 00:21:13,275 Speaker 1: the other newspapers, invested in the story a real time 282 00:21:13,915 --> 00:21:17,715 Speaker 1: seven soap opera basically for free. Those other newspapers and 283 00:21:17,755 --> 00:21:20,755 Speaker 1: networks went to any lengths to attack you for daring 284 00:21:20,795 --> 00:21:25,395 Speaker 1: to question it and your own network. Well, that's why 285 00:21:25,395 --> 00:21:27,995 Speaker 1: I wanted to tell this story in full. I never 286 00:21:28,035 --> 00:21:31,755 Speaker 1: have told it before. Almost by accident, I had become 287 00:21:31,835 --> 00:21:35,755 Speaker 1: the face of the star Clinton Lewinsky story on actual 288 00:21:35,875 --> 00:21:40,155 Speaker 1: cable news, the stuff that wasn't Fox. And one day 289 00:21:40,195 --> 00:21:43,955 Speaker 1: I decided to get out. And the reaction at MSNBC 290 00:21:44,075 --> 00:21:48,515 Speaker 1: and NBC News and the NBC company was to prevent 291 00:21:48,675 --> 00:21:52,835 Speaker 1: me from getting out, to literally threaten my career, threatened 292 00:21:52,835 --> 00:21:56,355 Speaker 1: my income, threatened my future, threatened my family to try 293 00:21:56,355 --> 00:21:59,475 Speaker 1: to force me to keep pushing what Ken Starr was 294 00:21:59,555 --> 00:22:03,195 Speaker 1: cooking back in his meth lab. And until you were 295 00:22:03,235 --> 00:22:05,155 Speaker 1: in the middle of something like this, you can never 296 00:22:05,275 --> 00:22:10,355 Speaker 1: really imagine what television news executives will do for ratings 297 00:22:10,755 --> 00:22:14,515 Speaker 1: or money. I had already been in television for sixteen years. 298 00:22:14,515 --> 00:22:17,035 Speaker 1: I was already thirty nine years old. I had already 299 00:22:17,035 --> 00:22:19,915 Speaker 1: been through the grinding machinery of local news in Boston 300 00:22:20,275 --> 00:22:22,835 Speaker 1: and Los Angeles. I had already made my mark at 301 00:22:22,875 --> 00:22:25,035 Speaker 1: Sports Center, and I thought I had seen it all. 302 00:22:27,475 --> 00:22:32,275 Speaker 1: I had, not, however, seen Andy Lack, the president of 303 00:22:32,515 --> 00:22:36,435 Speaker 1: NBC News, nor had I imagined that he would actually 304 00:22:36,435 --> 00:22:41,395 Speaker 1: have an employee tried to blackmail me, to literally threaten 305 00:22:41,515 --> 00:22:44,915 Speaker 1: to bankrupt me and to bankrupt my parents and put 306 00:22:44,955 --> 00:22:49,035 Speaker 1: them as Lacks employee phrased it quote out on the street. 307 00:22:50,715 --> 00:22:53,475 Speaker 1: This was in the late spring of I had decided 308 00:22:53,555 --> 00:22:55,795 Speaker 1: I did not want to do the Nightly show anymore. 309 00:22:55,835 --> 00:22:58,715 Speaker 1: That was devoted to covering the Bill Clinton Monica Lewinsky story, 310 00:22:58,715 --> 00:23:00,795 Speaker 1: whether or not there was any story about it or not, 311 00:23:01,395 --> 00:23:05,955 Speaker 1: and especially since the network was devoted to portraying Lewinsky 312 00:23:06,035 --> 00:23:08,555 Speaker 1: as the worst thing that had happened in America since 313 00:23:08,595 --> 00:23:12,955 Speaker 1: the Civil War. The problem was the show. As I 314 00:23:12,995 --> 00:23:16,755 Speaker 1: did for Andy Lacks MSNBC in ninete, We're making millions 315 00:23:16,835 --> 00:23:20,275 Speaker 1: of dollars a week in profit and the rest of 316 00:23:20,395 --> 00:23:25,875 Speaker 1: MSNBC was losing money. Hand over fist. I wanted to 317 00:23:25,915 --> 00:23:32,115 Speaker 1: do something else, anything else inside NBC. Fine, outside NBC, 318 00:23:32,515 --> 00:23:35,595 Speaker 1: I get it. Stay in News Sure, back to Sports, Sure, 319 00:23:35,635 --> 00:23:40,515 Speaker 1: in New Yorkshire, in Los Angeles, whatever, anything except that show. So, 320 00:23:40,675 --> 00:23:43,995 Speaker 1: through his personnel, Vice president Elaina Nakhmanoff, came a message 321 00:23:44,035 --> 00:23:46,595 Speaker 1: from Andy Lack in May of nine. If you go 322 00:23:46,755 --> 00:23:52,155 Speaker 1: see our personnel consultant, Deborah Burne, and you talked to her, frankly, 323 00:23:52,955 --> 00:23:59,675 Speaker 1: we will consider letting you leave NBC, so I went 324 00:24:00,635 --> 00:24:04,475 Speaker 1: first off, Nakhmanoff told me on Friday afternoon in June, 325 00:24:05,075 --> 00:24:07,795 Speaker 1: some of us understand where you're coming from about the 326 00:24:07,835 --> 00:24:11,515 Speaker 1: madness of covering this scandal every night like this. I'll 327 00:24:11,555 --> 00:24:13,795 Speaker 1: skip the rest of my impression. That's what she sounded like. 328 00:24:14,315 --> 00:24:17,395 Speaker 1: So you're the good Sport Award winner for doing this today, Keith. 329 00:24:17,755 --> 00:24:20,995 Speaker 1: You'll like Deborah Burn. She's a certified social worker, and 330 00:24:21,035 --> 00:24:23,235 Speaker 1: she's done great things for us, saved a lot of 331 00:24:23,275 --> 00:24:25,995 Speaker 1: people who were in trouble. I don't mean ethical crises 332 00:24:26,035 --> 00:24:28,675 Speaker 1: like yours, Keith, I mean people passed out drunk at 333 00:24:28,715 --> 00:24:33,435 Speaker 1: their desks. Somehow, this did not reassure me. Elaine and 334 00:24:33,515 --> 00:24:36,355 Speaker 1: Akmanof then walked me through a labyrinth of hallways at 335 00:24:36,435 --> 00:24:38,555 Speaker 1: thirty Rock in New York to the office of this 336 00:24:38,675 --> 00:24:43,075 Speaker 1: Deborah Burn. She was a bespectacled, bent looking woman of 337 00:24:43,915 --> 00:24:50,275 Speaker 1: fifty sixty with badly dyed hair and a fiercely aggressive handshake. 338 00:24:50,355 --> 00:24:53,835 Speaker 1: She was not big, but frankly, I was not convinced 339 00:24:53,875 --> 00:24:56,555 Speaker 1: I could take her in a fight, and from the 340 00:24:56,595 --> 00:24:59,675 Speaker 1: get go her manner suggested it might just come to 341 00:24:59,755 --> 00:25:03,315 Speaker 1: that I am not an employee of NBC or MSNBC, 342 00:25:03,955 --> 00:25:06,515 Speaker 1: and I am not holding to them. Deborah Burn began, 343 00:25:06,755 --> 00:25:09,995 Speaker 1: I'll drop this impression too. I work on a contractual basis, 344 00:25:09,995 --> 00:25:12,155 Speaker 1: meaning I don't get ten percent of anything, and I 345 00:25:12,155 --> 00:25:15,835 Speaker 1: don't get money for attracting more business. It was clear 346 00:25:15,875 --> 00:25:18,275 Speaker 1: that whatever money they did give Deborah Burn, it did 347 00:25:18,275 --> 00:25:21,195 Speaker 1: not go to her office decorp. There were a dozen 348 00:25:21,235 --> 00:25:25,395 Speaker 1: filing cabinets, no windows, two lamps, her high back chair, 349 00:25:25,675 --> 00:25:28,555 Speaker 1: a metal desk, and the plane wooden chair at its 350 00:25:28,595 --> 00:25:31,995 Speaker 1: side on which I now sat. I'm not here to 351 00:25:32,035 --> 00:25:34,475 Speaker 1: be critical of NBC or MSNBC or Andy, like I'm 352 00:25:34,515 --> 00:25:36,635 Speaker 1: not here to be critical of you. I'm an impartial 353 00:25:36,635 --> 00:25:40,155 Speaker 1: observer and I'm simply here to help Elne enactment off. 354 00:25:40,155 --> 00:25:42,555 Speaker 1: The talent vice president was still with us in the room, 355 00:25:42,795 --> 00:25:45,595 Speaker 1: and Burn turned to her for the record. Elena, I 356 00:25:45,635 --> 00:25:48,395 Speaker 1: need you to describe the company's position about Keith's employment. 357 00:25:50,035 --> 00:25:53,275 Speaker 1: Keith understand, I'm sorry. Keith understands that if he chooses 358 00:25:53,315 --> 00:25:56,035 Speaker 1: not to work for NBC as NBC wants him to work, 359 00:25:56,355 --> 00:26:01,475 Speaker 1: he will have to face consequences. This was a completely 360 00:26:01,555 --> 00:26:04,155 Speaker 1: different Elene enactment off than the one I had just 361 00:26:04,235 --> 00:26:07,835 Speaker 1: talked to in her own office. Gone was the you're 362 00:26:07,875 --> 00:26:11,955 Speaker 1: the winner of the good Sport award crap. Obviously, we're 363 00:26:11,955 --> 00:26:14,035 Speaker 1: not going to release you from your contract, Keith. If 364 00:26:14,035 --> 00:26:15,835 Speaker 1: you want to be on the beach for two years 365 00:26:16,115 --> 00:26:19,555 Speaker 1: plus that remained on the contract, so be it. That's 366 00:26:19,595 --> 00:26:24,675 Speaker 1: his contract status, Deborah, with a crisp thanks. Debora Burne 367 00:26:24,715 --> 00:26:28,515 Speaker 1: now dismissed the vice president of NBC News. Burn produced 368 00:26:28,555 --> 00:26:32,355 Speaker 1: and opened and a probably large folder with my name 369 00:26:32,435 --> 00:26:36,115 Speaker 1: on it in in probably large letters, obviously written that 370 00:26:36,155 --> 00:26:39,835 Speaker 1: way so I could read it ostentatiously, shuffled quickly through 371 00:26:39,835 --> 00:26:42,755 Speaker 1: a hundred dissorted documents, got to a blank form of 372 00:26:42,795 --> 00:26:45,595 Speaker 1: some kind, and asked me to describe the circumstances that 373 00:26:45,635 --> 00:26:49,755 Speaker 1: had brought me into her office. I explained my conviction 374 00:26:49,795 --> 00:26:52,395 Speaker 1: that I had made a complete mistake into going into news, 375 00:26:52,435 --> 00:26:55,195 Speaker 1: at least the news we were doing on MSNBC, that 376 00:26:55,315 --> 00:26:58,115 Speaker 1: I missed sports actually, and that on top of that, 377 00:26:58,355 --> 00:27:00,955 Speaker 1: there now had emerged this new kind of news, which 378 00:27:00,955 --> 00:27:03,755 Speaker 1: I felt was against my ethics and my beliefs about 379 00:27:03,795 --> 00:27:06,155 Speaker 1: what I should be doing or what the media should 380 00:27:06,155 --> 00:27:09,195 Speaker 1: be doing. I threw in the word pollution a couple 381 00:27:09,195 --> 00:27:11,795 Speaker 1: of times. Deborah Burne did not look up at me 382 00:27:11,875 --> 00:27:14,835 Speaker 1: once all of media is becoming polluted in the way 383 00:27:14,875 --> 00:27:18,875 Speaker 1: you've described. She yanked off her glasses and stared at me, 384 00:27:18,915 --> 00:27:21,435 Speaker 1: not with anger, but with annoyance. You should learn how 385 00:27:21,475 --> 00:27:22,755 Speaker 1: to live with it. It It will be a lot easier 386 00:27:22,755 --> 00:27:25,115 Speaker 1: for everybody if you just do that. You're not a child. 387 00:27:25,195 --> 00:27:27,075 Speaker 1: Grow up. Maybe next time you'll learn to read the 388 00:27:27,075 --> 00:27:30,955 Speaker 1: contract before you sign it. I had to fight a smile, 389 00:27:31,155 --> 00:27:33,635 Speaker 1: and in fact I had to fight a laugh. This 390 00:27:33,755 --> 00:27:38,155 Speaker 1: was not some sort of counselor. This woman sitting across 391 00:27:38,155 --> 00:27:43,155 Speaker 1: from me was Andy Lax, enforcer. She would be breaking 392 00:27:43,195 --> 00:27:46,355 Speaker 1: my legs before we were done. I did read the 393 00:27:46,355 --> 00:27:49,755 Speaker 1: contract thoroughly, Miss Burne. This is not about the contract, 394 00:27:50,435 --> 00:27:55,075 Speaker 1: I calmed down. This is about my you know, morals. 395 00:27:55,155 --> 00:27:58,595 Speaker 1: Nobody else is not NBC's not Andy Lax, just mine. 396 00:27:58,715 --> 00:28:00,635 Speaker 1: I don't like the way the news industry is handling 397 00:28:00,675 --> 00:28:03,475 Speaker 1: this story. I have no delusion about being able to 398 00:28:03,595 --> 00:28:06,195 Speaker 1: change it. I don't even feel it's my responsibility to 399 00:28:06,235 --> 00:28:08,995 Speaker 1: try to change it. This is about about me and 400 00:28:09,075 --> 00:28:13,195 Speaker 1: my ethics and my incorrect choices relating to doing the 401 00:28:13,275 --> 00:28:17,475 Speaker 1: news or doing the sports. She put her glasses back on, 402 00:28:17,515 --> 00:28:19,915 Speaker 1: wrote a few notes chuckled as she did. So you 403 00:28:19,995 --> 00:28:22,275 Speaker 1: may indeed miss sports as you put it, and you 404 00:28:22,315 --> 00:28:25,875 Speaker 1: may feel that sincerely, but it's nonetheless an adolescent fantasy. 405 00:28:26,115 --> 00:28:28,635 Speaker 1: And as to the pollution of the media, that's also 406 00:28:28,675 --> 00:28:31,075 Speaker 1: part of this fantasy world you live in. You're grown 407 00:28:31,155 --> 00:28:32,955 Speaker 1: up now and you have to live with the consequences 408 00:28:32,955 --> 00:28:34,995 Speaker 1: of your action. You heard what Elena said. If you 409 00:28:35,035 --> 00:28:39,755 Speaker 1: try to break this contract, NBC will punish you severely. 410 00:28:40,355 --> 00:28:44,195 Speaker 1: This is David and Goliath here, Keith, and you're just 411 00:28:44,555 --> 00:28:50,715 Speaker 1: not seeing it. Well, this was something new. She was right, 412 00:28:51,435 --> 00:28:55,035 Speaker 1: I was not seeing it. But within minutes she would 413 00:28:55,115 --> 00:28:59,155 Speaker 1: define her vision of David and Goliath. She Andy Lack 414 00:28:59,555 --> 00:29:02,955 Speaker 1: Lana knockman Off and NBC News they were David and 415 00:29:03,035 --> 00:29:08,155 Speaker 1: Goliath would be my mom and dad. How she and 416 00:29:08,355 --> 00:29:11,075 Speaker 1: NBC threatened to literally put my folks on the street 417 00:29:11,955 --> 00:29:21,075 Speaker 1: when countdown continues. After this to the second half of 418 00:29:21,115 --> 00:29:23,235 Speaker 1: the top story, and in the wake of the death 419 00:29:23,275 --> 00:29:26,435 Speaker 1: of Kenneth Starr, how NBC News tried to threaten me 420 00:29:26,475 --> 00:29:29,875 Speaker 1: into continuing the nightly Ken Star, Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky 421 00:29:29,955 --> 00:29:33,355 Speaker 1: show that was making them millions and making me crazy. 422 00:29:33,555 --> 00:29:36,715 Speaker 1: In the year I take you back to June five 423 00:29:36,795 --> 00:29:38,995 Speaker 1: of that year, we are still in the office of 424 00:29:39,115 --> 00:29:44,915 Speaker 1: Deborah Burne, certified social worker, employee of NBC News or not, 425 00:29:45,235 --> 00:29:49,035 Speaker 1: depending on which way she told it. Somebody NBC News 426 00:29:49,035 --> 00:29:51,795 Speaker 1: president Andy lack and Vice president Lana and Ackmanoff had 427 00:29:51,795 --> 00:29:53,955 Speaker 1: asked me to see in hopes that it would help 428 00:29:53,955 --> 00:29:56,195 Speaker 1: me with the stress of doing the Clinton Show, and 429 00:29:56,315 --> 00:29:58,995 Speaker 1: if I did so, perhaps open away for me to 430 00:29:59,115 --> 00:30:03,315 Speaker 1: leave the program or even the network. This woman, Burne 431 00:30:03,395 --> 00:30:05,715 Speaker 1: had just said, if you try to break this contract, 432 00:30:05,835 --> 00:30:08,835 Speaker 1: NBC will punish you severely. This is David and Goliath here, Keith, 433 00:30:08,875 --> 00:30:12,195 Speaker 1: and you're just not seeing it. I started to reply 434 00:30:12,395 --> 00:30:15,035 Speaker 1: something about how I had come there in a gesture 435 00:30:15,075 --> 00:30:17,595 Speaker 1: of compromise, when she shouted me down. You'll have to 436 00:30:17,675 --> 00:30:21,595 Speaker 1: learn to compromise. She emphasized the word as if I 437 00:30:21,715 --> 00:30:23,795 Speaker 1: not only had not just said it, but as if 438 00:30:23,835 --> 00:30:26,795 Speaker 1: she had just invented it. This is what the company wants, 439 00:30:27,035 --> 00:30:30,035 Speaker 1: this is what the audience wants. And you signed this contract. 440 00:30:30,355 --> 00:30:34,475 Speaker 1: That's your responsibility. I've been an NBC employee for twenty years, 441 00:30:34,715 --> 00:30:37,715 Speaker 1: and they're very big, and they're very successful, and they 442 00:30:37,755 --> 00:30:40,995 Speaker 1: just won't sit idly by. This will be David Goliath, 443 00:30:41,275 --> 00:30:43,115 Speaker 1: and I'm very sorry to have to break it to you, 444 00:30:43,315 --> 00:30:47,155 Speaker 1: but you're not Goliath. I asked her why she had 445 00:30:47,315 --> 00:30:50,115 Speaker 1: just said she'd been an NBC employee for twenty years. 446 00:30:50,195 --> 00:30:52,835 Speaker 1: Two minutes after telling me she was not an NBC employee. 447 00:30:53,315 --> 00:30:57,475 Speaker 1: She wrote that down Otherwise, she just kept talking. Television 448 00:30:57,515 --> 00:30:59,555 Speaker 1: viewers are fickle, and if you're off the air for 449 00:30:59,595 --> 00:31:01,715 Speaker 1: two years, it'll be real difficult to get back on. 450 00:31:01,795 --> 00:31:05,715 Speaker 1: People will forget you. That's the real world now. Deborah 451 00:31:05,755 --> 00:31:10,955 Speaker 1: Burn paused and looked over away from me and at nothing, 452 00:31:11,755 --> 00:31:16,515 Speaker 1: and her tone changed. I have a daughter who isn't realistic. 453 00:31:17,395 --> 00:31:20,395 Speaker 1: She suddenly began to whisper, just like you. She lives 454 00:31:20,395 --> 00:31:22,835 Speaker 1: in a world of her own. She judges others and 455 00:31:22,915 --> 00:31:26,355 Speaker 1: moralizes to them too. She's tall, like you are too. 456 00:31:26,595 --> 00:31:28,835 Speaker 1: It's difficult for parents to have to look up at 457 00:31:28,835 --> 00:31:32,475 Speaker 1: their children and discipline them your height. Your height has 458 00:31:32,475 --> 00:31:34,875 Speaker 1: always made it difficult for your parents to discipline you. 459 00:31:35,115 --> 00:31:39,875 Speaker 1: Thus you remain a headstrong child. As disturbing as this 460 00:31:39,995 --> 00:31:42,395 Speaker 1: was getting, on one level, I really did think somebody 461 00:31:42,435 --> 00:31:44,915 Speaker 1: was going to pop out from between the file cabinets 462 00:31:44,955 --> 00:31:47,835 Speaker 1: and tell me I'd been punked, or that this was 463 00:31:47,955 --> 00:31:52,595 Speaker 1: candid camera or something. I patiently explained to this Deborah 464 00:31:52,635 --> 00:31:55,315 Speaker 1: Burn that I had not been born at my current height, 465 00:31:55,395 --> 00:31:57,635 Speaker 1: and that, in fact, my father was still taller than 466 00:31:57,675 --> 00:32:00,235 Speaker 1: I was until I got to college. But your mother 467 00:32:00,355 --> 00:32:04,395 Speaker 1: is short, she blurted, with great satisfaction. I need descriptions 468 00:32:04,395 --> 00:32:06,955 Speaker 1: of your parents, of their personalities, from my diagnosis, and 469 00:32:06,995 --> 00:32:11,355 Speaker 1: please stop giving me your obviously prepared answers. I started 470 00:32:11,395 --> 00:32:15,715 Speaker 1: to describe my parents. This ordinarily would take several days, 471 00:32:15,755 --> 00:32:18,595 Speaker 1: but I gave them the short version. She cut me off. 472 00:32:18,755 --> 00:32:22,635 Speaker 1: Father passive, of course, I said, no, no, that that 473 00:32:22,715 --> 00:32:24,675 Speaker 1: wasn't him at all, that he usually did what he 474 00:32:24,755 --> 00:32:28,595 Speaker 1: damned well pleased. This annoyed Deborah Burn. No, he's passive. 475 00:32:28,635 --> 00:32:30,835 Speaker 1: I can tell I'm a professional Keith. He didn't stand 476 00:32:30,875 --> 00:32:32,595 Speaker 1: up to your mother, did he. He never told her 477 00:32:32,595 --> 00:32:34,755 Speaker 1: to grow up her actor age, did he? That means 478 00:32:34,755 --> 00:32:39,035 Speaker 1: he was passive. And I could see her writing. She 479 00:32:39,115 --> 00:32:42,275 Speaker 1: was writing the word passive in big block letters on 480 00:32:42,275 --> 00:32:44,075 Speaker 1: one of the forms on which she had been putting 481 00:32:44,075 --> 00:32:47,635 Speaker 1: her notes. She detached it theatrically and stuck it onto 482 00:32:47,635 --> 00:32:50,955 Speaker 1: the large pile of documents and grabbed a fresh page 483 00:32:50,955 --> 00:32:54,075 Speaker 1: from a stack to her right, What about your parents finances? 484 00:32:54,755 --> 00:32:57,555 Speaker 1: I explained, they were both retired, so you take care 485 00:32:57,595 --> 00:33:00,515 Speaker 1: of them. I began to answer that they were both 486 00:33:00,755 --> 00:33:03,395 Speaker 1: extremely independent. She cut me off again. I said, so 487 00:33:03,475 --> 00:33:07,795 Speaker 1: you're responsible to them financially, don't evade me. My amusement 488 00:33:07,875 --> 00:33:10,955 Speaker 1: at what was obviously a deranged person began to be 489 00:33:11,075 --> 00:33:14,475 Speaker 1: overcome by anger. I swallowed both of these emotions and 490 00:33:14,515 --> 00:33:18,115 Speaker 1: explained that, yeah, I handled their finances, so you're their 491 00:33:18,195 --> 00:33:22,515 Speaker 1: sole financial support, just as a lane Enachminof's report to 492 00:33:22,595 --> 00:33:27,355 Speaker 1: me indicates. I thought, so, so you're the superstar in 493 00:33:27,395 --> 00:33:31,235 Speaker 1: the family, are you. I began to try to explain, 494 00:33:31,315 --> 00:33:34,115 Speaker 1: when Deborah Burne rose in her chair and leaned in 495 00:33:34,195 --> 00:33:37,675 Speaker 1: towards me and tell me, Keith, what exactly will your 496 00:33:37,715 --> 00:33:40,715 Speaker 1: parents do for money? What will keep them from being 497 00:33:41,155 --> 00:33:46,235 Speaker 1: out on the street when their precious superstar is blacklisted 498 00:33:46,355 --> 00:33:53,075 Speaker 1: from all of television. This purported social worker who worked 499 00:33:53,075 --> 00:33:56,475 Speaker 1: for NBC or did not work for NBC, or maybe both, 500 00:33:56,555 --> 00:33:59,435 Speaker 1: I could no longer keep it clear, went into detail 501 00:33:59,595 --> 00:34:02,075 Speaker 1: about the threat she was now making on behalf of 502 00:34:02,795 --> 00:34:06,995 Speaker 1: the General Electric Corporation BC, NBC News MSNBC, Andi Lack 503 00:34:07,035 --> 00:34:09,995 Speaker 1: and Eline enactment off and for all I knew, Matt 504 00:34:10,075 --> 00:34:13,515 Speaker 1: Lower and Tom broke off. Even if I just quit 505 00:34:13,715 --> 00:34:17,675 Speaker 1: the Clinton Lewinsky Show, indeed quit television, she said, NBC 506 00:34:17,795 --> 00:34:22,595 Speaker 1: would continue to enforce my contract and suspend me, so 507 00:34:23,075 --> 00:34:25,995 Speaker 1: not pay me on my contract, and then sue me 508 00:34:26,395 --> 00:34:29,795 Speaker 1: for the salary they had already paid me, then sue 509 00:34:29,835 --> 00:34:32,315 Speaker 1: me for the money they had spent on promoting the show, 510 00:34:32,755 --> 00:34:37,235 Speaker 1: then get a court order extending my contract indefinitely, and 511 00:34:37,275 --> 00:34:42,715 Speaker 1: then suspend me indefinitely. Let that sink in, she said, 512 00:34:42,755 --> 00:34:44,795 Speaker 1: then did not pause for even a second to let 513 00:34:44,835 --> 00:34:47,195 Speaker 1: me let that sink in. Instead, she burst out with this, 514 00:34:47,795 --> 00:34:49,995 Speaker 1: you have what I would classify as a Howard Stern 515 00:34:50,075 --> 00:34:54,035 Speaker 1: kind of personality. Remembering that I had met Howard on 516 00:34:54,075 --> 00:34:57,395 Speaker 1: a tour of Boston University in nineteen seventy four, I 517 00:34:57,435 --> 00:34:59,875 Speaker 1: actually had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing 518 00:34:59,955 --> 00:35:02,315 Speaker 1: at the image of a bunch of therapists at a 519 00:35:02,355 --> 00:35:06,915 Speaker 1: conference somewhere dryly discussing the parameters of the Howard Stern 520 00:35:07,195 --> 00:35:12,195 Speaker 1: kind of personality, dogmatic, unbending, presenting absolutely forceful opinions on 521 00:35:12,195 --> 00:35:13,995 Speaker 1: the air that no one has permitted to disagree with. 522 00:35:14,195 --> 00:35:16,955 Speaker 1: Imagine going on a date with Howard Stern. Oh, he 523 00:35:16,955 --> 00:35:18,795 Speaker 1: would be doing We'll be talking about himself. It would 524 00:35:18,795 --> 00:35:20,835 Speaker 1: be unbearable. You're like him on the air, and I 525 00:35:20,875 --> 00:35:22,755 Speaker 1: can see that who you are on the air is 526 00:35:22,755 --> 00:35:24,715 Speaker 1: who you are in life. Of course, I've never seen 527 00:35:24,715 --> 00:35:29,635 Speaker 1: your show. I don't have cable. Ever been married. I 528 00:35:29,755 --> 00:35:32,715 Speaker 1: had a slight case of whiplash, I recovered from the 529 00:35:32,715 --> 00:35:35,155 Speaker 1: non secutors, though, enough to explain that I had not 530 00:35:35,275 --> 00:35:37,955 Speaker 1: been married engaged again. No, I ever had a long 531 00:35:38,035 --> 00:35:40,835 Speaker 1: term relationship of any kind, I told her. I had. 532 00:35:41,195 --> 00:35:46,595 Speaker 1: Oh really, how long term? He said? Eleven years? And 533 00:35:46,715 --> 00:35:50,355 Speaker 1: when did that end? I calculated it had ended four 534 00:35:50,435 --> 00:35:54,275 Speaker 1: years previously to the month exactly. And you haven't had 535 00:35:54,315 --> 00:35:58,035 Speaker 1: an eleven year relationship since. I explained to her then, 536 00:35:58,035 --> 00:35:59,955 Speaker 1: as pleasantly as possible that I did not know of 537 00:35:59,995 --> 00:36:03,475 Speaker 1: any way of squeezing an eleven year long relationship into 538 00:36:03,555 --> 00:36:05,915 Speaker 1: four years, that the answer would have to be no. 539 00:36:06,395 --> 00:36:10,595 Speaker 1: I told you to stop giving your prepared answers right 540 00:36:10,595 --> 00:36:15,955 Speaker 1: then again, she switched tones and topics. How much do 541 00:36:16,075 --> 00:36:19,875 Speaker 1: you drink, she demanded, I said, I almost never drank. 542 00:36:20,155 --> 00:36:22,275 Speaker 1: She dropped her pen and stared at me again, Well 543 00:36:22,275 --> 00:36:25,155 Speaker 1: what does that mean? And I said, I believed I'd 544 00:36:25,155 --> 00:36:29,395 Speaker 1: had four glasses of wine during the current calendar year, 545 00:36:29,995 --> 00:36:33,315 Speaker 1: and it was June. She took the glasses off and 546 00:36:33,395 --> 00:36:36,355 Speaker 1: leaned in as far as she could without again rising 547 00:36:36,395 --> 00:36:40,595 Speaker 1: from her chair or falling off it. Well, then, how 548 00:36:40,675 --> 00:36:44,395 Speaker 1: much drug do you do? I told her, I'd never 549 00:36:44,515 --> 00:36:48,995 Speaker 1: used drug or drugs stronger than alcohol. And before I 550 00:36:48,995 --> 00:36:51,675 Speaker 1: could criticize her grammar, she got red and angry. Then 551 00:36:51,715 --> 00:36:54,155 Speaker 1: what's that smell on your breath? Look? You, you just 552 00:36:54,195 --> 00:36:56,435 Speaker 1: don't get this. Do you look at my telephone keys? 553 00:36:58,195 --> 00:37:01,675 Speaker 1: And I did as instructed, and I looked at an 554 00:37:01,835 --> 00:37:06,275 Speaker 1: ordinary black telephone, although given her manifest insanity, for all 555 00:37:06,315 --> 00:37:08,275 Speaker 1: I knew she would shortly reveal it was a direct 556 00:37:08,315 --> 00:37:11,355 Speaker 1: blind Elvis Presley. If I didn't want a black telephone 557 00:37:11,355 --> 00:37:13,435 Speaker 1: and I have a black telephone, I'll just have to 558 00:37:13,475 --> 00:37:16,075 Speaker 1: make the best of it, won't I, I said. I 559 00:37:16,115 --> 00:37:18,155 Speaker 1: thought she was holding up very well under the strain 560 00:37:18,195 --> 00:37:22,155 Speaker 1: of that disappointment. I instantly regretted the snydness of that remark, 561 00:37:22,155 --> 00:37:24,155 Speaker 1: because it was just going to make things worse. And then, 562 00:37:24,195 --> 00:37:27,195 Speaker 1: to my astonishment, she sat back in her chair, ran 563 00:37:27,315 --> 00:37:30,915 Speaker 1: her hand through her hair, and almost whispered thank you 564 00:37:30,995 --> 00:37:36,315 Speaker 1: for saying that. I appreciate it. The pause in the 565 00:37:36,395 --> 00:37:39,875 Speaker 1: storm did not last long. You're seeing a therapist, it 566 00:37:39,955 --> 00:37:44,555 Speaker 1: says here you've been discussing these so called ethical issues. 567 00:37:45,195 --> 00:37:47,635 Speaker 1: I said, we've made a lot of progress. Well, you 568 00:37:47,675 --> 00:37:50,115 Speaker 1: can't resolve the work matters without getting at the core problems, 569 00:37:50,115 --> 00:37:52,715 Speaker 1: which are obviously personal and family related, not to mention 570 00:37:52,795 --> 00:37:55,515 Speaker 1: the alcohol and the drug. So talking about work with 571 00:37:55,555 --> 00:37:57,595 Speaker 1: your therapist is probably not going to solve this to 572 00:37:57,675 --> 00:38:00,355 Speaker 1: the satisfaction of NBC. So I will need to talk 573 00:38:00,395 --> 00:38:02,115 Speaker 1: to your therapist. And I wanted you to sign a 574 00:38:02,155 --> 00:38:06,035 Speaker 1: release here and now permitting me to do so, unless 575 00:38:06,075 --> 00:38:08,075 Speaker 1: that is this therapist of yours is working towards making 576 00:38:08,075 --> 00:38:10,595 Speaker 1: you adjust to the facts that you signed this contract 577 00:38:10,715 --> 00:38:12,755 Speaker 1: and this is your job, and this is the real world, 578 00:38:12,835 --> 00:38:14,835 Speaker 1: and this is David and Goliath, and that's all there 579 00:38:14,875 --> 00:38:16,235 Speaker 1: is to it. And you're on the air tonight at 580 00:38:16,275 --> 00:38:20,355 Speaker 1: eight o'clock, and that's it now. She paused and stared 581 00:38:20,395 --> 00:38:23,635 Speaker 1: off into space again, like when she mentioned her daughter. 582 00:38:25,275 --> 00:38:27,915 Speaker 1: When I was in my early twenties, I was traveling 583 00:38:27,955 --> 00:38:32,595 Speaker 1: from Smith College to Montreal by train. She suddenly announced 584 00:38:34,515 --> 00:38:37,155 Speaker 1: my meeting with her went on for two hours. It 585 00:38:37,235 --> 00:38:40,995 Speaker 1: featured threats against my parents. It had her yelling at me, 586 00:38:41,355 --> 00:38:43,875 Speaker 1: it had her accusing me of using alcohol and drug 587 00:38:44,675 --> 00:38:48,675 Speaker 1: And yet this, this was the only point where I 588 00:38:48,795 --> 00:38:51,195 Speaker 1: really considered trying to make a break for the door. 589 00:38:52,115 --> 00:38:55,315 Speaker 1: The Montreal Canadians hockey team. We're on that train, very drunk, 590 00:38:55,635 --> 00:38:59,315 Speaker 1: very happy, very boastful of their conquests during their trips 591 00:38:59,315 --> 00:39:02,435 Speaker 1: to the various cities of their hockey league. And one 592 00:39:02,435 --> 00:39:05,315 Speaker 1: of them, I suspect, given your fantasy world interest in sports, 593 00:39:05,355 --> 00:39:07,955 Speaker 1: you may have heard of him, Boom boom jeoffrey On. 594 00:39:08,555 --> 00:39:11,475 Speaker 1: He came over and tried to pick me up. I 595 00:39:11,595 --> 00:39:14,715 Speaker 1: nodded robotically and began to wonder, if I suddenly leaped 596 00:39:14,795 --> 00:39:17,395 Speaker 1: from the wooden chair and did run out of her office, 597 00:39:18,195 --> 00:39:21,515 Speaker 1: would she continue to tell this story anyway? After I left. 598 00:39:22,155 --> 00:39:23,795 Speaker 1: We didn't talk of such things then, not in the 599 00:39:23,835 --> 00:39:28,195 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, A married man, an athlete at all. Athlete. Now, 600 00:39:28,235 --> 00:39:29,955 Speaker 1: of course, if I was a reporter and this happened, 601 00:39:29,995 --> 00:39:31,875 Speaker 1: I'd have to report it. I'd put it on the news. 602 00:39:32,035 --> 00:39:34,035 Speaker 1: That's just the way the world has changed, the real world, 603 00:39:34,035 --> 00:39:37,635 Speaker 1: that is Keith. I suggested that at every news organization 604 00:39:37,675 --> 00:39:39,875 Speaker 1: for which I had worked. The code had been the 605 00:39:39,915 --> 00:39:43,035 Speaker 1: same that unless an incident involved the law or it 606 00:39:43,155 --> 00:39:47,315 Speaker 1: diminished a player's ability or availability in a game, we 607 00:39:47,395 --> 00:39:51,555 Speaker 1: in fact didn't report it. Like ESPN, I related a 608 00:39:51,555 --> 00:39:54,155 Speaker 1: story similar to her own that had occurred in Miami 609 00:39:54,275 --> 00:39:58,635 Speaker 1: at the past World Series. Well, she resumed indignantly, you 610 00:39:58,715 --> 00:40:01,075 Speaker 1: might have gotten away with that under an old contractor 611 00:40:01,075 --> 00:40:03,315 Speaker 1: in the sixties, where a hippie like you might have 612 00:40:03,355 --> 00:40:05,995 Speaker 1: fit in. But this isn't the sixties. This is the 613 00:40:06,075 --> 00:40:08,235 Speaker 1: real world of today, and you won't get away with 614 00:40:08,235 --> 00:40:10,875 Speaker 1: that kind of attitude under this contract or any other 615 00:40:10,875 --> 00:40:13,235 Speaker 1: contract in the future. You can even go back to 616 00:40:13,235 --> 00:40:16,435 Speaker 1: your precious sports and you'd soon find out about the 617 00:40:16,435 --> 00:40:19,595 Speaker 1: real world. Don't kid yourself, it'll be David and Goliath. 618 00:40:20,835 --> 00:40:23,315 Speaker 1: I said that the decision not to report the story 619 00:40:23,355 --> 00:40:27,715 Speaker 1: in Miami was made under this contract by executives from 620 00:40:27,795 --> 00:40:30,795 Speaker 1: NBC Sports. And now she sat bolt upright and slammed 621 00:40:30,795 --> 00:40:33,195 Speaker 1: her glasses back on her face. I can't get this 622 00:40:33,235 --> 00:40:38,715 Speaker 1: done in just one session, you know, definitely afraid that 623 00:40:38,795 --> 00:40:41,355 Speaker 1: she was about to recite another memory from the glorious 624 00:40:41,475 --> 00:40:45,475 Speaker 1: days of rail travel, I agreed to return the following Thursday, 625 00:40:45,515 --> 00:40:47,915 Speaker 1: knowing full well, as I said, so that I would 626 00:40:47,995 --> 00:40:51,315 Speaker 1: never come back to her office, even as a hostage 627 00:40:51,435 --> 00:40:55,755 Speaker 1: or in a body bag. Well, I don't know about you, 628 00:40:56,235 --> 00:40:59,275 Speaker 1: she said, as she opened her door. But I'm exhausted, 629 00:40:59,915 --> 00:41:01,915 Speaker 1: I told her. Indeed so was I, which was rather 630 00:41:01,995 --> 00:41:04,435 Speaker 1: unfortunate because now I had to go do to live 631 00:41:04,475 --> 00:41:07,635 Speaker 1: our ors of television. Yes, I guess you do. She 632 00:41:07,715 --> 00:41:11,595 Speaker 1: suddenly stared at my feet, then quickly up at my head, 633 00:41:11,955 --> 00:41:15,035 Speaker 1: as if she were estimating what size I took in caskets. 634 00:41:15,715 --> 00:41:17,755 Speaker 1: But you're so much taller than I am, so you'll 635 00:41:17,795 --> 00:41:25,595 Speaker 1: recover more quickly. MSNBC had arranged a car service to 636 00:41:25,635 --> 00:41:27,835 Speaker 1: take me out to the studios in New Jersey from 637 00:41:27,875 --> 00:41:31,595 Speaker 1: thirty Rock, and I spent the entire trip writing all 638 00:41:31,795 --> 00:41:37,715 Speaker 1: this down, pages and pages of notes and quotes and 639 00:41:37,835 --> 00:41:41,155 Speaker 1: boom boom Jeoffrey on and my own height at birth. 640 00:41:41,595 --> 00:41:44,315 Speaker 1: And I called my therapist on my phone, and I 641 00:41:44,355 --> 00:41:46,835 Speaker 1: asked her if there was a New York state number 642 00:41:46,835 --> 00:41:50,235 Speaker 1: that I could call to complain about a certified social 643 00:41:50,275 --> 00:41:53,835 Speaker 1: worker who seemed to be certifiable and who had just 644 00:41:54,035 --> 00:41:57,235 Speaker 1: threatened me. She gave me a number I called while 645 00:41:57,235 --> 00:42:00,075 Speaker 1: still in the car, and they said they had no 646 00:42:00,195 --> 00:42:04,395 Speaker 1: record of any social worker named Deborah burn When I 647 00:42:04,435 --> 00:42:07,715 Speaker 1: got to the MSNBC studios Insicaugous, New Jersey, now the 648 00:42:07,715 --> 00:42:10,075 Speaker 1: home of MLB Network of all things, I went to 649 00:42:10,195 --> 00:42:12,995 Speaker 1: my little office. I picked up a small microcassette tape 650 00:42:13,075 --> 00:42:15,435 Speaker 1: recorder that I kept in the desk there, and I 651 00:42:15,475 --> 00:42:18,715 Speaker 1: went in to see my executive producer, Phil Griffin. I 652 00:42:18,795 --> 00:42:22,555 Speaker 1: explained how this woman burn had threatened me, and I 653 00:42:22,595 --> 00:42:25,395 Speaker 1: mentioned that I had called the state social worker hotline 654 00:42:25,435 --> 00:42:30,195 Speaker 1: and appeared that Deborah Burne was operating without a license. 655 00:42:30,475 --> 00:42:32,755 Speaker 1: And as I did this, I kept flipping that mini 656 00:42:32,835 --> 00:42:35,955 Speaker 1: cassette machine from hand to hand until I was sure 657 00:42:36,315 --> 00:42:40,315 Speaker 1: Phil Griffin had gotten the implication. Completely phony on my part, 658 00:42:40,355 --> 00:42:43,155 Speaker 1: But like James Jones says in Field of Dreams, there 659 00:42:43,155 --> 00:42:46,875 Speaker 1: are rules here. No, there are no rules here. My 660 00:42:46,955 --> 00:42:53,235 Speaker 1: executive producer buried his head in his hands. Needless to say, 661 00:42:53,275 --> 00:42:55,755 Speaker 1: that Deborah burn thing had blown up in NBC space. 662 00:42:55,995 --> 00:42:58,235 Speaker 1: They went into a full fledged panic at the news 663 00:42:58,235 --> 00:43:00,795 Speaker 1: that she was not registered as a certified social worker, 664 00:43:00,795 --> 00:43:03,315 Speaker 1: and it turned out that was a clerical mistake. It 665 00:43:03,395 --> 00:43:06,275 Speaker 1: was her own clerical miss ache. She was registered, but 666 00:43:06,315 --> 00:43:09,915 Speaker 1: she was registered only under her maiden name, but for 667 00:43:09,955 --> 00:43:13,315 Speaker 1: the next few weeks NBC was completely on the defensive 668 00:43:13,315 --> 00:43:16,075 Speaker 1: about me. Soon they were promising to make me Tom 669 00:43:16,115 --> 00:43:20,555 Speaker 1: Broke cause air Apparent if I would only stay. I said, yeah, 670 00:43:20,595 --> 00:43:22,995 Speaker 1: but it says in Brian Williams contract that he's Tom 671 00:43:22,995 --> 00:43:26,875 Speaker 1: Broke as air Apparent. The executive in question laughed and said, no, 672 00:43:27,795 --> 00:43:30,715 Speaker 1: Brian only thinks it says in Brian Williams contract that 673 00:43:30,755 --> 00:43:33,355 Speaker 1: he's Tom Broke as air Apparent. It can be you 674 00:43:33,955 --> 00:43:37,715 Speaker 1: stick with the Lewinsky story. Oh, and layoff Ken's star. 675 00:43:39,995 --> 00:43:41,995 Speaker 1: I don't have to think that one through too long. 676 00:43:42,675 --> 00:43:44,715 Speaker 1: If they could make poor Brian think that he was 677 00:43:44,755 --> 00:43:47,675 Speaker 1: the heir Apparent when he wasn't, they could make me 678 00:43:47,715 --> 00:43:50,195 Speaker 1: think I was the air Apparent when I wasn't as well, 679 00:43:50,675 --> 00:43:53,395 Speaker 1: and that price laying off Ken Star. That was a 680 00:43:53,475 --> 00:43:57,195 Speaker 1: non starter. The stalemate continued for a few weeks until, 681 00:43:57,235 --> 00:43:59,275 Speaker 1: as I have related here previously, a friend in the 682 00:43:59,275 --> 00:44:02,275 Speaker 1: Sports division revealed that NBC had lied to me to 683 00:44:02,315 --> 00:44:04,355 Speaker 1: get me to sign my contract with them, that I 684 00:44:04,395 --> 00:44:07,395 Speaker 1: was not being paid as they had told me, primarily 685 00:44:07,435 --> 00:44:10,435 Speaker 1: by the News division, but by the Sports division. I 686 00:44:10,555 --> 00:44:14,195 Speaker 1: then met with Monica Lewinsky's first lawyer, Bill Ginsburg, discussed 687 00:44:14,235 --> 00:44:18,795 Speaker 1: suing NBC over such illegal negotiation tactics. Ginsburg thought just 688 00:44:18,915 --> 00:44:21,675 Speaker 1: leaking the fact that we had met would spring me. 689 00:44:22,315 --> 00:44:25,595 Speaker 1: Sure enough, about six weeks later, Lanna Enachmanoff suddenly called 690 00:44:25,635 --> 00:44:27,595 Speaker 1: my agent told her they were willing to sell my 691 00:44:27,715 --> 00:44:31,995 Speaker 1: contract to Fox Sports in Los Angeles. You be so, 692 00:44:32,195 --> 00:44:35,595 Speaker 1: do not doubt what television executives are willing to do 693 00:44:35,795 --> 00:44:39,795 Speaker 1: to protect their ratings and their profits, even in the 694 00:44:39,875 --> 00:44:43,355 Speaker 1: event of full fledged fascism. And do not doubt what 695 00:44:43,435 --> 00:44:46,875 Speaker 1: a zealot with even minimal skills at medium manipulation like 696 00:44:46,995 --> 00:44:49,915 Speaker 1: Ken Starr can do to the news you watch or 697 00:44:50,035 --> 00:44:55,715 Speaker 1: hear or read, even after he's dead. Also, most relevantly now, 698 00:44:55,795 --> 00:44:58,995 Speaker 1: as CNN's talent face the prospect of conforming to the 699 00:44:59,075 --> 00:45:01,795 Speaker 1: right wing party line, or suddenly finding themselves with a 700 00:45:01,835 --> 00:45:06,395 Speaker 1: conservative co host, or finding themselves unemployed, there's one more 701 00:45:06,595 --> 00:45:09,875 Speaker 1: MSNBC story to tell that is relevant. I went back 702 00:45:09,955 --> 00:45:12,835 Speaker 1: there in two thousand three and we did pretty well. 703 00:45:13,475 --> 00:45:15,475 Speaker 1: And then in two thousand and ten they began to 704 00:45:15,475 --> 00:45:18,995 Speaker 1: pressure me to change my tone and to add in 705 00:45:19,115 --> 00:45:23,395 Speaker 1: more diverse voices, and they did not mean women were 706 00:45:23,515 --> 00:45:26,315 Speaker 1: members of minority groups, or people like I had hired, 707 00:45:26,355 --> 00:45:31,955 Speaker 1: like Rachel Maddow. They meant conservative, diverse voices. That's when 708 00:45:31,955 --> 00:45:34,315 Speaker 1: I began to pack my bags to leave, and a 709 00:45:34,315 --> 00:45:37,595 Speaker 1: few months later I left, and then four years later 710 00:45:37,595 --> 00:45:39,275 Speaker 1: they asked me to come back as long as I 711 00:45:39,315 --> 00:45:45,275 Speaker 1: agreed to have a conservative co host. I passed. But 712 00:45:45,355 --> 00:45:48,915 Speaker 1: here's the problem. I don't know anybody else pressured in 713 00:45:48,955 --> 00:45:53,715 Speaker 1: those ways who has also passed. Not at CNN, not 714 00:45:53,915 --> 00:45:59,395 Speaker 1: at MSNBC, not anywhere else. Do not doubt what some 715 00:45:59,515 --> 00:46:04,675 Speaker 1: television talents are willing to do just to remain television 716 00:46:04,675 --> 00:46:17,035 Speaker 1: and talents. Countdown has come to you from the studios 717 00:46:17,035 --> 00:46:21,155 Speaker 1: will All Run Broadcasting Empire World Headquarters in the Sports 718 00:46:21,155 --> 00:46:24,035 Speaker 1: Capsule Building in New York. Thank you for listening. Here 719 00:46:24,075 --> 00:46:26,155 Speaker 1: the credits. Most of the music, including our theme from 720 00:46:26,155 --> 00:46:28,995 Speaker 1: Beethoven's Ninth, was arranged, produced and performed by Brian Ray 721 00:46:28,995 --> 00:46:31,995 Speaker 1: and John Philip Chanelle, who are the Countdown musical directors. 722 00:46:32,315 --> 00:46:35,795 Speaker 1: All orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Shodel. Guitars based 723 00:46:35,795 --> 00:46:38,955 Speaker 1: on drums by Brian Ray, produced by t k O Brothers. 724 00:46:39,555 --> 00:46:43,235 Speaker 1: Oxygen came in a can. Other Beethoven selections have been 725 00:46:43,275 --> 00:46:46,755 Speaker 1: arranged and performed by no horns allowed. The sports music 726 00:46:46,795 --> 00:46:49,155 Speaker 1: which was not played today is the Ulderman theme from 727 00:46:49,355 --> 00:46:51,715 Speaker 1: ESPN two, and it was written by Mitch Warren Davis 728 00:46:51,715 --> 00:46:55,355 Speaker 1: courtesy of ESPN Inc. Musical comments were by Nancy Faust, 729 00:46:55,355 --> 00:46:57,675 Speaker 1: except there weren't any today. She is, of course the 730 00:46:57,675 --> 00:47:01,235 Speaker 1: best baseball stadi of organist ever, and our announcer today 731 00:47:01,275 --> 00:47:03,995 Speaker 1: was nobody because we didn't play an announcement. But everything 732 00:47:03,995 --> 00:47:06,875 Speaker 1: else is pretty mu my fault. So that is countdown 733 00:47:06,915 --> 00:47:09,555 Speaker 1: for this the seven thirty eight day since Donald Trump's 734 00:47:09,555 --> 00:47:12,635 Speaker 1: first attempted coup against the democratically elected government of the 735 00:47:12,675 --> 00:47:16,075 Speaker 1: United States. Arrest him now while we still can. I'll 736 00:47:16,075 --> 00:47:18,475 Speaker 1: try to be back with a full new episode tomorrow. 737 00:47:19,235 --> 00:47:22,395 Speaker 1: The sinus infection, of course, has the final decision on 738 00:47:22,475 --> 00:47:26,275 Speaker 1: that until whenever. I'm Keith Olverman, good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, 739 00:47:27,475 --> 00:47:44,835 Speaker 1: and wish me good luck. Countdown with Keith old Reman 740 00:47:44,995 --> 00:47:48,475 Speaker 1: is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts 741 00:47:48,475 --> 00:47:51,155 Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 742 00:47:51,195 --> 00:47:54,595 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.