After her recently finalized divorce from Kelsey Grammer, ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ star Camille Donatacci Grammer is moving on, and ready to talk — about Hollywood style, anyway.
Grammer, 42, has been hired as a fashion commentator to help cover the Academy Awards’ red carpet for CNN‘s live Oscar arrivals special, ‘Showbiz Tonight: Road Gold.’
“We can’t wait to get Camille’s unabashed take on Hollywood’s biggest night,” said a CNN exec producer of the network’s broadcast.
While dealing on the home front with the quickie divorce her ex requested, the mother of two has been staying busy on camera in recent weeks. Grammer’s season of ‘Housewives’ ended in drama in January, and just last week, she popped up in a guest role on William Shatner’s CBS sitcom ‘$#*! My Dad Says.’ Still, she denies that she’s pursuing any full-time acting work.
At the Oscars next weekend, Grammer will reportedly man a microphone alongside regular ‘Showbiz Tonight’ hosts AJ Hammer and Brooke Anderson, as they candidly discuss the pre-ceremony parade of fashions gracing the Kodak Theater entrance. The trio will also receive input from actress Sheryl Lee Ralph and radio personality Carlos Diaz, according to CNN.
Anderson Cooper and his crew were attacked by supporters of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo early Wednesday, according to the Huffington Post.
CNN Coverage Manager Steve Brusktweeted that Cooper was “was punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounded him and his crew trying to cover demonstration.”
Cooper was covering dueling demonstrations between pro-Mubarak supporters and those calling for the president to be removed from office when he and his crew came under attack.
No major injuries were reported, and the anchor spoke to CNN’s ‘American Morning’ early Wednesday about the attack. “My team were set upon by the crowd,” Cooper said via telephone from a Cairo hotel.
“There was no rhyme or reason to it — it was just people looking for a fight, looking to make a point and punching us.”
“They at first started going for the cameras; they didn’t want any pictures taken,” Cooper said. “The crowd kept growing, kept throwing punches, kicks … suddenly a young man would look at you and punch you in the face.”
CNN issued an update this morning indicating there were no serious injuries sustained during the attack.
Cooper and his crew had been trying to steer clear of the protesters by remaining in a neutral zone between the two groups. But as the size of the crowd increased, the situation became less stable, resulting in violence between the two factions in the increasingly unstable country.
Alec Baldwin has long been known for his political activism, but now he might finally be ready to run for office himself.
In an interview scheduled to air on tonight’s episode of ‘Parker Spitzer,’ the ’30 Rock’ star said running for office is “something that I’m very, very interested in.”
While Baldwin stressed that he didn’t want to be viewed as anti-elitist, he said, “People want to believe that someone who deeply cares about the middle class … would like to seek public office. … We need people who … really have not lost sight of what the middle class in this country needs.”
Although he’s been a world-famous actor for many years, Baldwin said he’s still in touch with his roots. “Whatever I’ve accrued in my career, it hasn’t changed me as a person.”
And don’t think giving up acting is a decision he’s taking lightly. “To leave what I’m doing now would be extremely painful,” he told former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. “I’ve grown to really love where I am now in my business and to quit now, when it really feels good and doing it feels good, would be an enormously difficult thing to do.”
Imagine being a CNN producer. You’ve got an upcoming medical segment on an unusual treatment for a man’s digestive disease. An illness, that CNN anchor Ali Velshiwill tell you in the story’s intro, involves “ten to fifteen bloody bowel movements a day.”
Already, we’re clearly in comedic territory, right? After all, what’s funnier than ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease? Just you wait!
Well, in this case, since it involves the schoolyard comedy gold mine that is digestion, somebody at CNN figured it’d be a downright hoot to start the segment with a clip from the film Dumb and Dumber, showing Jeff Daniels graphically suffering from a sudden bout of diarrhea. And naturally, we’ll make sure you can hear the hilarious sounds of bowl-filling.
Diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, nothing helped except high doses of steroids, which because of severe side effects, he could take only for limited periods of time. Soon, the patient became so sick he had to quit his job.
His gastroenterologist wanted to admit him to the hospital for an intravenous round of cyclosporine, a potentially helpful yet dangerous medicine that depresses the body’s immune system and can increase the risk for getting cancer later in life.
It is from this jumping off point that he absolutely unleashed on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and at times his own network, on Pete Dominick’s satellite radio show yesterday.
The big takeaway – Sanchez calls Stewart “a bigot,” then walks it back a bit, and he implies CNN is run by Jews.
Dominick was not just a radio show host – he is a CNN contributor who has a regular gig on John King, USA, and he formerly was the warm up comic at The Daily Show. Which is why when Sanchez says “I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot” early in the interview, Dominick pushed back:
Dominick: How is he a bigot?
Sanchez: I think he looks at the world through, his mom, who was a school teacher, and his dad, who was a physicist or something like that. Great, I’m so happy that he grew up in a suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything you could ever imagine.
Dominick: What group is he bigoted towards?
Sanchez: Everybody else who’s not like him. Look at his show, I mean, what does he surround himself with?
Earlier this evening, TV broadcasting legend Larry King dropped a bombshell: after 25 years of hosting the ‘Larry King Live‘ show on CNN, his nightly show will end this fall.
King made the surprising announcement via his Twitter account right before he taped this evening’s show. “Announcing tonight: I’m ending my nightly show this fall but continuing at CNN,” King wrote.
In a full statement on CNN.com, the TV icon said, “Before I start the show tonight, I want to share some personal news with you. 25 years ago, I sat across this table from New York Governor Mario Cuomo for the first broadcast of Larry King Live. Now, decades later, I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids’ little league games.
“I’m incredibly proud that we recently made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot. With this chapter closing I’m looking forward to the future and what my next chapter will bring, but for now it’s time to hang up my nightly suspenders.”
The journalist will still appear on CNN frequently, hosting topic-related specials. “I’ll still be a part of the CNN family, hosting several Larry King specials on major national and international subjects,” King confirmed in the statement.
The decision to leave the show comes after months of declining ratings and media speculation about the future of King’s career. The NY Times reported in March that the program was down about 50 percent in viewers and had seen its worst quarter ever at the start of the year.
King’s announcement also comes just a few weeks after his own personal life made headline news. In April, King and his wife, Shawn Southwick, filed for divorce after both accused the other of infidelity. A month later, the reconciled couple called off the divorce and moved back in together. Earlier this month, Southwick suffered a prescription pill overdose and has been recovering since.
CNN apologized today for airing derogatory rap lyrics during a segment on an elderly black woman.
The N-word blared from an unedited version of Coolio’s “Fantastic Voyage” at the conclusion of the segment about Gladys Flamer, age 103, who still drives her own Cadillac.
“We aired some music just a few minutes ago, and, obviously for those of you that heard it, it was the wrong music that aired,” anchor Kyra Phillips said following the segment. “We apologize for that. It was a terrible mistake. And we’re working very hard to make up for it.”
Phillips did not explain how such an error could occur.
The lyrics in question:
“Ain’t no bloodin’, Ain’t no crippin’ / Ain’t no punk-a** n***a’s set trippin’ / everybody’s got a stack and it ain’t no crack / and it really don’t matter…â€
Couldn’t explain how it happened? How about a disgruntled employee working in the edit bay; and a news director who didn’t check the tape before air.
source: CNN apologizes for airing N-word during segment on elderly Black woman [black redding news]
This afternoon CNN aired a live report about FOX and ABCbeing accused of discriminating against “curvy” models and not playing Lane Bryant‘s new sexy ad until later timeslots. Normally, there would be nothing wrong with that, except I’m guessing they found their copy of the commercial from YouTube.
The original ad showed a plus sized model bopping around in her underwear until she received a calendar reminder about a “lunch date with Dan”, so she throws a coat on over her undies and heads out the door. The version that CNN showed on live TV at 2:20PM Eastern time today replaced the calendar reminder with this gem:
I don’t know who I dislike more, James Cameron or Glenn Beck, but it seems they have a ton of hate towards each other.
James was doing some sort of press the other day when he was asked his opinions on Glen, I thought this was kind of random but apparently Glen called James the anti-Christ over his 2007 documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus. As soon as Glen’s name was brought up James went on a rant saying…
“Glenn Beck is a fucking asshole. I’ve met him. He called me the anti-Christ and not about ‘Avatar.’ He hadn’t even seen ‘Avatar’ yet. I don’t know if he has seen it.”
He then backpedaled for a little bit before continuing on, “I think, you know what, he may or may not be an asshole, but he certainly is dangerous, and I’d love to have a dialogue with him. He’s dangerous because his ideas are poisonous, I couldn’t believe when he was on CNN. I thought, what happened to CNN? Who is this guy? Who is this madman? And then of course he wound up on Fox News, which is where he belongs, I guess.”
Maybe we can throw them both in a ring and let them fight to the death?
Pamela Anderson‘s sexy PETA ad won’t fly in New York airports.
The New York Post reports that CNN Airport Network banned PETA’s new anti-fur, anti-leather commercial in which the former “Baywatch” star plays a sexy airport security guard who strips passengers of animal products.
The spot was set to debut Thursday at all three New York area airports but CNN pulled the plug, saying it wasn’t suitable for children, according to the Post report.
PETA may still try to make the ad part of in-flight entertainment.
Also featured in the “Cruelty Doesn’t Fly” commercial: Steve-O, Andy Dick, Carol Leifer and Nina Hagen.
Michael Jackson‘s fans maybe killing themselves but they should at least wait until Friday because they can still see the King Of Pop.
Yes you read that correctly, if you have always dreamed of seeing Michael Jackson you still can – kind of.
His body is being moved to his infamous Neverland Ranch on Thursday morning so the public can see it during a public viewing on Friday, officials are allegedly meeting right now to discuss how to move his body and how much security they need.
After that it is rumored there will be either a memorial or funeral on Sunday, the location of which is still unknown.
Would you like to see Michael Jackson‘s dead body?
During an amazing “open mike” moment during CNN’s New Years coverage, Comedian Kathy Griffin says [while going to commercial] to a heckler in Times Square…Umm, Just watch.
While I fully understand the importance of keeping our planes and airports safe, I’m just not sure the TSA is up to the job. The agency is also plagued by bad PR, mainly because of incompetent staff members and insane decisions that impact us as travelers.
The latest in a long lineup of bad press for the agency involves TSA screener Pythias Brown. This 48 year old resident of Maplewood, NJ was supposed to keep bad stuff off the plane, but instead, he was helping himself to valuable items from the bags of people entrusting him with their belongings.
Pythias started small, stealing cameras, laptop computers, gaming consoles and eventually moved on to the good stuff including a video camera belonging to CNN, and a $47,900 camera stored inside the bag of an HBO employee.
The items were sold on Ebay, and as you can see from his feedback listing, these were not cheap items.
His greed eventually came back to haunt him, when CNN found one of their cameras listed on Ebay. With a little help from the local police department and the USPS, Brown was apprehended.
When agents entered his house, they found 66 cameras, 31 laptop computers, jewelry, lenses, GPS devices and more.
The total value of the stolen items is well over $200,000, and if you have ever lost an expensive item when flying from Newark Liberty Airport, you’ll be thrilled to hear that the TSA is taking the matter “seriously”. News like this just reinforces the need to keep anything of value out of your checked bags.
Of course, this also makes me wonder just how on earth a TSA agent is able to leave the sterile area of his or her local airport with a $47,900 camera hidden in their bag. We passengers get screened, so perhaps it is time to start screening TSA staff when they enter and leave the airport?
source: TSA agent helped himself to a $47,900 camera (and more!) [gadling]
