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American Morning
90 Second Pop
Aired November 20, 2003 - 09:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And it's time now for "90 Second Pop" with our very own panel of pop stars. B.J. Sigesmund is staff editor for "US Weekly." He joins us this morning. Nice to see you, B.J.
"New York Times Reporter" Lola Ogunnaike is with us, as well, first time. Nice to have you, Lola.
And Toure is a contributing editor for "Rolling Stone." Good morning, Toure.
Let's get going. Lola, because you're new we're going to start with you. Let's talk about Michael Jackson because we've been talking about him all morning. Regardless of how this case goes in his favor, we have to say, he's not arrested yet, whether he is, the charges are filed, whether he is found innocent or guilty, is his career over?
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, "NEW YORK TIMES": I don't know if he's going to be able to recover from this one, Soledad. And in the court of public opinion I think he's already been convicted. It's not the first time allegations like this have been brought against him.
And it's not as if he hasn't been an eccentric character in the past ten years. Last year at this time he was dangling a baby from a balcony. This month, it's something new. Charges like this. And I don't know if he's going to be able to recover.
B.J. SIGESMUND, "US WEEKLY": The fact is he hasn't had a hit in over a decade.
O'BRIEN: So you say his career was kind of spiralling downward anyway.
(CROSSTALK)
SIGESMUND: ... were the turning point for him. His album released in '91, "Dangerous" sold 4 million and then in 1995's "HIStory" sold 2 million. "Invincible," which came out last year everyone knows sold only 2 million. This guy is not a star anymore. He's sort of a circus act.
O'BRIEN: When you talk about allegations that involve children and sexual molestation, again regardless of which direction the case goes, people seem to be able to recover from drug addiction arrests and things like that. This one might be...
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Multiple times being charged with this. I mean ten years ago he dealt with this. And again and the rumors, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) looks even worse now.
SIGESMUND: And we haven't talked about the other stuff, the two marriages that seem so strange. The wife, the mother of his kids allegedly doesn't even see those kids anymore. The masks. He's so strange and eccentric. That is what's really done him in.
OGUNNAIKE: The disintegrating nose.
(CROSSTALK)
TOURE: ... Michael Jackson lose, Kobe Bryant lose, R. Kelly lose, Jayson Williams lose. It would be like a rough year for black heroes all over.
OGUNNAIKE: But, Toure, I think R. Kelly's already won. Because he's managed to recover. His album's doing well. Everybody's still listening to "Chocolate Factory" and he's a star again.
O'BRIEN: Let's move on, and Eminem. Keeping on the subject of black people we're going to talk about Eminem.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: He says about his comments that he wrote about black women that he was young and stupid. Here's basically what he said. And I got to tell, I'm not going to rap it for you, because (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
"Black girls and white girls just don't mix because black girls are dumb and white girls are good chicks. White girls are good, I like white girls. I like," blah, blah, blah, "because black girls I really don't like."
I mean it sounds really bad, not, you know, rapped.
TOURE: It's so terrible that at first I didn't even believe that it was Eminem, because I thought at the beginning he could couldn't have even been this bad.
But the thing that surprises me is not to hear him say he dislikes black women in a song but to say he actually likes white women. He never likes anybody. He doesn't even like himself.
OGUNNAIKE: It's clear that Eminem has a problem with women. And this is not a new thing.
O'BRIEN: People have said misogynist.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, he is a misogynist. And I don't think that Eminem...
TOURE: It's kind of like he's misogynist, he dissed Christopher Reeve, he's dissed everybody.
OGUNNAIKE: But he was never thought to be a racist. Now this is a new allegation. TOURE: This solidifies everything. Like finally...
SIGESMUND: Can I talk a little bit about the source?
O'BRIEN: No, you may not. Because we're out of time. "The Source" being the rap magazine. We'll hold that over for next week.
I want to talk, and I don't want to run out of time and not talk about Paris Hilton.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: So we're going to move off of Eminem and talk about Paris Hilton. She truly is devastated by this. This is a woman who has sought her entire young life to be famous, and not this way.
SIGESMUND: Now she got it. At "US Weekly," where I work, put her on our cover because we got an interview with Paris Hilton. We interviewed a lot of people around her, also.
She says she is devastated. She's worried that when people look at her now they're only going to see this video. She doesn't know how this happened to her. She feels terrible. Yes, it was a mistake that she made. But you'll see in the article that she comes off as very sweet and kind of sympathetic.
O'BRIEN: I was surprised to read how many people said how sweet she was. At the same time her parents running to her defense. And it's like, Hi, she's been dancing on tables in bars since she was a teenager.
(CROSSTALK)
OGUNNAIKE: And if you're going to make the tape, don't be stupid enough to leave it at your ex-boyfriend's house.
TOURE: This is the girl in school who wanted to be a fool and everybody talk about her rather than have her dignity. She's always been that way.
O'BRIEN: Do you feel sorry for her?
TOURE: No.
(CROSSTALK)
SIGESMUND: She made a mistake at 19-years-old, you know, we should all not be judged by what happens to us at 19-years-old. She let the tape get out of her hand.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: There's a second tape, too.
OGUNNAIKE: I'm convinced this is a publicity stunt. She does have that new show coming out. (CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Lola is a cynic the first day on "90 Second Pop." I'm glad to see we've affected you that way. You guys as always, thanks so much. Lola, thanks for joining us for your first time. "90 Second Pop" this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 20, 2003 - 09:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And it's time now for "90 Second Pop" with our very own panel of pop stars. B.J. Sigesmund is staff editor for "US Weekly." He joins us this morning. Nice to see you, B.J.
"New York Times Reporter" Lola Ogunnaike is with us, as well, first time. Nice to have you, Lola.
And Toure is a contributing editor for "Rolling Stone." Good morning, Toure.
Let's get going. Lola, because you're new we're going to start with you. Let's talk about Michael Jackson because we've been talking about him all morning. Regardless of how this case goes in his favor, we have to say, he's not arrested yet, whether he is, the charges are filed, whether he is found innocent or guilty, is his career over?
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, "NEW YORK TIMES": I don't know if he's going to be able to recover from this one, Soledad. And in the court of public opinion I think he's already been convicted. It's not the first time allegations like this have been brought against him.
And it's not as if he hasn't been an eccentric character in the past ten years. Last year at this time he was dangling a baby from a balcony. This month, it's something new. Charges like this. And I don't know if he's going to be able to recover.
B.J. SIGESMUND, "US WEEKLY": The fact is he hasn't had a hit in over a decade.
O'BRIEN: So you say his career was kind of spiralling downward anyway.
(CROSSTALK)
SIGESMUND: ... were the turning point for him. His album released in '91, "Dangerous" sold 4 million and then in 1995's "HIStory" sold 2 million. "Invincible," which came out last year everyone knows sold only 2 million. This guy is not a star anymore. He's sort of a circus act.
O'BRIEN: When you talk about allegations that involve children and sexual molestation, again regardless of which direction the case goes, people seem to be able to recover from drug addiction arrests and things like that. This one might be...
TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Multiple times being charged with this. I mean ten years ago he dealt with this. And again and the rumors, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) looks even worse now.
SIGESMUND: And we haven't talked about the other stuff, the two marriages that seem so strange. The wife, the mother of his kids allegedly doesn't even see those kids anymore. The masks. He's so strange and eccentric. That is what's really done him in.
OGUNNAIKE: The disintegrating nose.
(CROSSTALK)
TOURE: ... Michael Jackson lose, Kobe Bryant lose, R. Kelly lose, Jayson Williams lose. It would be like a rough year for black heroes all over.
OGUNNAIKE: But, Toure, I think R. Kelly's already won. Because he's managed to recover. His album's doing well. Everybody's still listening to "Chocolate Factory" and he's a star again.
O'BRIEN: Let's move on, and Eminem. Keeping on the subject of black people we're going to talk about Eminem.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: He says about his comments that he wrote about black women that he was young and stupid. Here's basically what he said. And I got to tell, I'm not going to rap it for you, because (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
"Black girls and white girls just don't mix because black girls are dumb and white girls are good chicks. White girls are good, I like white girls. I like," blah, blah, blah, "because black girls I really don't like."
I mean it sounds really bad, not, you know, rapped.
TOURE: It's so terrible that at first I didn't even believe that it was Eminem, because I thought at the beginning he could couldn't have even been this bad.
But the thing that surprises me is not to hear him say he dislikes black women in a song but to say he actually likes white women. He never likes anybody. He doesn't even like himself.
OGUNNAIKE: It's clear that Eminem has a problem with women. And this is not a new thing.
O'BRIEN: People have said misogynist.
OGUNNAIKE: Yes, he is a misogynist. And I don't think that Eminem...
TOURE: It's kind of like he's misogynist, he dissed Christopher Reeve, he's dissed everybody.
OGUNNAIKE: But he was never thought to be a racist. Now this is a new allegation. TOURE: This solidifies everything. Like finally...
SIGESMUND: Can I talk a little bit about the source?
O'BRIEN: No, you may not. Because we're out of time. "The Source" being the rap magazine. We'll hold that over for next week.
I want to talk, and I don't want to run out of time and not talk about Paris Hilton.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: So we're going to move off of Eminem and talk about Paris Hilton. She truly is devastated by this. This is a woman who has sought her entire young life to be famous, and not this way.
SIGESMUND: Now she got it. At "US Weekly," where I work, put her on our cover because we got an interview with Paris Hilton. We interviewed a lot of people around her, also.
She says she is devastated. She's worried that when people look at her now they're only going to see this video. She doesn't know how this happened to her. She feels terrible. Yes, it was a mistake that she made. But you'll see in the article that she comes off as very sweet and kind of sympathetic.
O'BRIEN: I was surprised to read how many people said how sweet she was. At the same time her parents running to her defense. And it's like, Hi, she's been dancing on tables in bars since she was a teenager.
(CROSSTALK)
OGUNNAIKE: And if you're going to make the tape, don't be stupid enough to leave it at your ex-boyfriend's house.
TOURE: This is the girl in school who wanted to be a fool and everybody talk about her rather than have her dignity. She's always been that way.
O'BRIEN: Do you feel sorry for her?
TOURE: No.
(CROSSTALK)
SIGESMUND: She made a mistake at 19-years-old, you know, we should all not be judged by what happens to us at 19-years-old. She let the tape get out of her hand.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: There's a second tape, too.
OGUNNAIKE: I'm convinced this is a publicity stunt. She does have that new show coming out. (CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Lola is a cynic the first day on "90 Second Pop." I'm glad to see we've affected you that way. You guys as always, thanks so much. Lola, thanks for joining us for your first time. "90 Second Pop" this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
