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03 Oct 2011 21:44

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Culture: Anderson Cooper on hot seat after teen guest’s skateboarding injury

  • Sometimes, standing in a foot of floodwater is easier than hosting a daytime talk show. This is a lesson “Anderson” learned the hard way, after a teenage guest on the CNN über-anchor’s daytime talk show put himself in a coma — by attempting to do some crazy skateboarding ahead of an appearance on the “Oprah” heir apparent. (They asked him to do so, because the show was about studying the teenage brain.) For what it’s worth, Anderson is somber about how things went: “I was very saddened to hear the news of this accident, and want to express my deepest concerns for the teenager who was injured,” he said. “I take this situation seriously, and my thoughts and prayers for his health, well-being and recovery are with him and his family.” But the real problem, of course, is that Anderson the journalist would never do something like put a kid in danger for ratings. How do you justify such a thing? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Sep 2011 00:50

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Culture: Anderson Cooper goes full-Oprah with talk show debut

  • Daytime’s new icon? Anderson Cooper brought his silvery hair and serious demeanor to daytime television today, just in time for a TV landscape lacking a new Oprah. Why the change? Well, according to Business Insider, Anderson Cooper’s primetime ratings on CNN have severely fallen over the last two years; they say that his new daytime talk show could help save his career. A few clips from his first show are already online; some of his first guests were members of Amy Winehouse’s family (not a bad get, by the way, Anderson!). In this clip, they say that her death was not caused by illegal drugs. source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jun 2011 14:26

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Politics: Anderson Cooper questions Obama’s sincerity on gay issues

  • Hard to see how the president’s position has changed so much, The only thing that has changed is his need for a wider audience to vote for him. … Democrats attack conservatives for being hypocritical on issues that they’re hypocritical about. But I don’t hear a lot of Democrats attacking their own president for hypocrisy.
  • CNN anchor Anderson Cooper • Giving voice to dissatisfaction with President Obama’s tact on gay rights issues. We happen to agree strongly with his premise, if not entirely his closing (Democrats on the left end of the spectrum were fairly vocal about Obama’s listlessness during the push for DADT repeal). There’s an extent to which candidate Obama’s stance against gay marriage never seemed terribly genuine. When you consider that he supported the idea in 1996, the reality starts to look pretty stark — a flip-flop for political expedience. But, Mr. President — gay marriage has since polled with majority support! And considering you have tepid enthusiasm from the liberal Democratic base ahead of the election, would there ever be a better time to give up the game? The LGBT movement deserves better than this, frankly. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2011 20:14

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Politics: Rachel Maddow clarifies comments on “coming out”

  • In that interview, I wasn’t asked about Anderson Cooper, I didn’t say anything about him, he literally was never discussed during the interview at all — even implicitly.
  • Rachel Maddow • Clarifying the comments we posted about earlier to emphasize that it wasn’t about Anderson Cooper, despite what it seemed from the phrasing. (Good.) In her blog post, Maddow lays out the three ethical rules she stands by, the key one being this: “Gay people — generally speaking — have a responsibility to our own community and to future generations of gay people to come out, if and when we feel that we can.” She notes, however, if you’re using your status as a gay person to harm others, you should “reasonably expect” others in the community to out you. We’re glad for the clarification, and want to make clear that we love Anderson just the way he is, no matter what he does when he’s not covering the news. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Apr 2011 16:07

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Politics: Rachel Maddow talks about responsibility, coming out

  • I’m sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they’re doing what they’re doing, but I do think that if you’re gay you have a responsibility to come out.
  • Rachel Maddow • Talking about closeted people working in the TV news business, in a profile and interview with British newspaper The Guardian. The paper asked Maddow whether she felt frustration towards an “equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out,” which prompted the above response. (Are they referring to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, a common is-he-or-isn’t-he target of celebrity gossip sites?) While the right to not divulge one’s sexual identity is (we would argue) an absolute one, Maddow’s argument is a classic advocate’s stance — that the importance (solidarity, mainstream appeal, and inspiration) of an uber-successful media professional coming out of the closet ought to trump that person’s reluctance to admit it. What do you all think? (EDIT: Maddow clarified her comments; she didn’t mean Anderson Cooper.) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Feb 2011 10:30

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Politics: Anderson Cooper on getting bashed for calling Mubarak a “liar”

  • I’m not big on calling people names, or I try not to take political stands, but based on facts the guy’s lying.
  • Anderson Cooper • Talking on last night’s Daily Show about the bizarre controversy that followed him when he claimed, on-air, that Hosni Mubarak was “lying” about what was happening in Egypt. This was actually a thing for a little while, and other journalists went out of their way to criticize him. Cooper wondered aloud why journalists are “afraid to say that something that is demonstrably not true is not true…I’m not quite sure why so many people kind of shy away from that.” Our best reasoning? They went to the David Gregory school of journalism. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 02:26

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Politics: Max Headroom: Reporters talk about their Egypt battle scars

  • Somehow, these guys made it out. Perhaps one of the most harrowing reporter stories to come out of Egypt this week comes from Fox News reporter Greg Palkot and cameraman Olaf Wiig, who were smoked out of the building they were staying in, only to get caught in a crowd of pro-Mubarak supporters. Palkot has some pretty severe injuries. Yikes. A lot of reporters probably were put in situations similar to this, and it’s good to note that their hard work kept the cameras on the country as things started to waver. source
  • Anderson Cooper gets scared, tooIn one of the more harrowing clips from the past week, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he of getting punched in the face by some pro-Mubarak supporters, is in some random room trying to report the news. He left the country not long after this episode, a victim of having a well-known face in an area not kind to journalists.
  • Are things really getting better?On tonight’s show, Rachel Maddow brought up the plight of Ayman Mohyeldin, the Al Jazeera reporter who was detained by authorities for a few hours before finally getting released. Mohyeldin’s words, Maddow argues, show that the narrative doesn’t support what’s actually happening in Egypt. It’s way worse.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

02 Feb 2011 09:01

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World: Among the attacked in Egypt: CNN’s own Anderson Cooper

The CNN megastar and his crew were attacked by a crew of pro-Mubarak supporters while they tried to cover the demonstration. Anderson himself was punched in the head. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Oct 2010 10:32

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Culture: Ron Howard: The “electric cars are gay” line stays in “The Dilemma”

  • It is a slight moment in ‘The Dilemma’ meant to demonstrate an aspect of our lead character’s personality, and we never expected it to represent our intentions or the point of view of the movie or those of us who made it.
  • Director Ron Howard • Explaining why the gay joke made in “The Dilemma” stays in, despite the uproar against gay jokes in general at the moment. Howard feels the joke is important to understanding Vince Vaughn’s character, and that his film is getting lots of negative attention at the moment because of the timing of it, in which Anderson Cooper seems to be taking on gay bullying as a personal crusade of his. (Cooper called out the movie’s trailer for the use of the phrase.) While it’s controversial, we kind of agree with Howard. Comedy is a slippery slope and not one that should be so strongly affected by PC concerns. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Oct 2010 03:20

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Politics: Andrew Shirvell headed towards disciplinary action

  • Anderson Cooper saved the day, in our opinion. The weirdest story we posted all week looks like it’s going to have a happy ending, if Chris Armstrong’s 11,000-plus Facebook supporters have anything to say about it. Michigan assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell’s blatant stalking of University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong has gone from creepy to meme, rendering all of Shirvell’s mean words ineffective. The blog is closed, too. And Shirvell himself, who has taken a leave of absence from his job, is looking at some disciplinary action once he returns. We’re happy that this creepbag is getting what he deserves. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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