Don't Call it a Comeback
Not Cool: Sarah Palin takes green push to mean recycling interviews
Sarah PalinPhoto by Ron Edmonds
LL Cool J
It looks like April Fool's Day is a fitting debut date for Sarah Palin's Fox News pseudo-series, Real American Stories with Sarah Palin.
The first episode is promoted as featuring inspiring individuals, including rapper/actor LL Cool J, country singer Toby Keith and former GE chairman Jack Welch "profiled" by host Sarah Palin.
But on Tuesday, LL Cool J denied taking part in the show, tweeting "Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show. WOW."
Fox shot back that they had every right to use the interview as they saw fit because Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith III, did not place any restrictions when the interview was conducted. They then announced that his segment would be dropped from the show, but not without a snarky insult:
"Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith's interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career."
Fledgling acting career, eh? Oh, snap!
Yes, Fox News is apparently unaware of this new LL Cool J character. No one at Fox watches NCIS: Los Angeles? It's the No. 1 rated new show of the television season. And how did Palin miss LL's guest spot on her BFF Tina Fey's 30 Rock?
On Wednesday, guest Toby Keith announced that he also had not had any prior knowledge that he would be featured on Palin's show, with his rep telling an online news outfit that Keith (who, shockingly, says he is a registered Democrat) had not been contacted by Fox and was not aware of even what interview the piece was taken from. "They're promoting this like it's a brand new interview," Keith's rep said. "He never sat down with Sarah Palin."
Fox now says none of the interviews were conducted by Palin, though the Keith and Welch interviews will remain in the program.
Just another example of the commitment to journalistic integrity in the Fox News edit room, I guess.
