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Showbiz Tonight
Celebs Race to Help Hurricane Victims; Rapper Sparks Debate Over Race and Hurricane Relief
Aired September 06, 2005 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
A.J. HAMMER, CO-HOST: I`m A.J. Hammer.
KARYN BRYANT, CO-HOST: And I`m Karyn Bryant. TV`s only live entertainment news show starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYANT (voice-over): On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, Hollywood helps. Tonight, Oprah, Harry Connick Jr., John Travolta, Sean Penn, Macy Gray, some of America`s biggest stars, rush to the scene to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. And SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is there.
HAMMER (voice-over): Race and the disaster. The aftershocks of rapper Kanye West`s explosive racial comments during the telethon for hurricane relief. A firestorm of controversy raging tonight. Was Kanye on the mark, or out of line?
BRYANT: The littlest victims: the pets. Tonight, some of the most heartbreaking images from the Gulf Coast. As pets and their owners are separated by disaster, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT asks, can anything be done?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer.
BRYANT: And I`m Karyn Bryant.
HAMMER: Tonight complete live coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
BRYANT: Oprah Winfrey today led a cavalry of some of the biggest stars in the world into the heart of the worst natural disaster our country has ever seen.
HAMMER: And tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT brings you the truly surreal, the remarkable scenes, the incredible stories, as Hollywood rolls up its sleeves and literally jumps into the hell-on-earth left behind by Hurricane Katrina.
SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Brooke Anderson, live in Hollywood now with that story.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Karyn and A.J., the outpouring of support to the survivors of Katrina has been overwhelming, especially from Hollywood. Stars have flocked to the disaster area to lend a helping hand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON (voice-over): They were moved by the images of Katrina`s devastation and came to help. Sean Penn and Harry Connick, Jr. rescuing the stranded in Orleans.
HARRY CONNICK JR. SINGER: Just all these people being trapped in here.
ANDERSON: Macy Gray, Chris Rock, Faith Hill, John Travolta and Jamie Foxx handing out food in shelters.
JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: This is a day I won`t forget soon.
ANDERSON: And then there`s Oprah.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Nothing I saw on television prepared me for what I experienced on the ground.
ANDERSON: For the last six days Oprah and her Angel Network team have been on the ground, listening to the stories of survivors, stories she`s broadcasting from the hardest hit areas.
WINFREY: On my way into the city I was stopped by the chief of police.
ANDERSON: She toured Orleans with Police Chief Eddie Compass. He and his force have witnessed the unimaginable in the wake of Katrina.
EDDIE COMPASS, ORLEANS POLICE CHIEF: There are babies in there. There were babies being raped.
ANDERSON: Trying to keep order in chaos. Eighty percent of his own force is homeless, and one of his men recently committed suicide.
COMPASS: I said we got this. Take the day off. And I might have kept him with me.
ANDERSON: It was the same raw emotion when Oprah met up with Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, ORLEANS: They were trying to give us babies that were dying.
WINFREY: It`s making me so mad!
ANDERSON: She wanted to see the Superdome, but the mayor refused.
NAGIN: That Superdome, you wait until you see it, if you go in there. I don`t advise you to go in there.
WINFREY: Why?
NAGIN: If they open the door.
WINFREY: Why?
NAGIN: Because there`s dogs running loose in there. There`s dead bodes in there.
ANDERSON: She finally convinced them to let her in.
WINFREY: This is what I`m now just getting, standing in urine and water and feces and stuff. This is what I`m just getting. It is dark in here. And it was dark the whole time.
ANDERSON: Oprah said it was here in the Superdome where the natural disaster ended and the human disaster began.
FOXX: The minute I heard what was going to I came right to this city.
ANDERSON: A part of her Angel Network, actor Jamie Foxx went to Dallas to deliver much-needed food to survivors.
FOXX: The one that really got me was the 66-year-old man that said what he couldn`t take was the blatant disregard for someone like your grandmother, 80 years old sitting there and nobody coming to help them. It should never happen.
ANDERSON: Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr. has been on the ground for the last five days.
CONNICK: I don`t even know how to respond to this.
ANDERSON: Today he visited the neighborhood where he grew up.
CONNICK: This is my dad`s house. It looks like Pop`s house made it through.
ANDERSON: While he was checking his father`s house, a neighbor told him about an elderly man stranded in his home.
CONNICK: We`ll get you out of here, get you some clothes and get you something to eat, OK?
ANDERSON: In a stunning act of heroism, Harry Connick gave the man his shirt and carried him to his boat and ultimately to safety.
CONNICK: Good luck to you, baby. Good luck.
Arthur Burns, I think his name was. God bless him. He`s an old man, a lot tougher than I`ll ever be.
ANDERSON: Actor Sean Penn went to the heart of the crisis in Orleans with historian Douglas Brinkley.
SEAN PENN, ACTOR: Just the few square miles that we continued to cover yesterday there are a lot of people.
ANDERSON: With just a boat the two trekked out into the city to rescue the stranded. They said after all this time help is still few and far between.
PENN: We can say that we`ve seen, you know, some great work by local authorities and by the -- and those National Guardsmen that are here. But there`s -- we`re -- I think that it`s at about one-sixth of what it needs in terms of the federal support, minimally that, just on the ground in Orleans.
ANDERSON: In Mississippi, native Faith Hill organized friends and family to bring much-needed supplies to Gulfport.
FAITH HILL, SINGER: I wanted them to know that we as a country have not forgotten them.
ANDERSON: She offered survivors comfort through song.
FAITH HILL (singing): Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
ANDERSON: John Travolta, an experienced pilot, flew to Baton Rouge with his wife Kelly Preston with food supplies and 400 doses of tetanus vaccines.
JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR: As an ambassador to the Oprah Angel Network, we`ve got four 18-wheelers, food that you`ve donated.
ANDERSON: His story will be on "Oprah" tomorrow along with Chris Rock.
CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: All I can think about right now is my daughters and, you know, I see this little girl right here. She`s confident. She`s got the love of her family, you know? From her daddy and, you know, I just think about my own daughters.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Macy Gray also rolled up her sleeves and got into the trenches. She`s volunteering with the Red Cross at the Astrodome in Houston, giving Katrina survivors the essential staples they need to get through the next few weeks. She says her presence there has lifted spirits and encourages more celebrities to pitch in where they can -- Karyn.
BRYANT: Thank you very much. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Brooke Anderson live in Hollywood.
Well, tonight, Michael Jackson is getting involved, as well, by writing a song for hurricane victims. Today, Jackson issued a statement from Bahrain, where he`s primarily been since his acquittal on child molestation charges.
Jackson is inviting singers to join him in recording a song for hurricane relief, as he did with "We Are the World." The working title is "From the Bottom of my Heart." Jackson tried to do a relief song after 9/11, though that song was never released.
HAMMER: And of course, more stars are pitching in and joining the relief effort. George Clooney has donated $1 million to the United Way. And today Clooney released a statement, urging people to visit One.org. It`s a charity that he`s involved with.
Now, we reported that singer Celine Dion donated $1 million last week. Well, on Saturday`s "LARRY KING LIVE: HOW CAN YOU HELP?" special, Dion broke down in tears, saying money wasn`t the issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CELINE DION, SINGER: Yes, we gave a million dollar, but what we expect -- what I want to look -- like the rest of the world, I opened the television, there`s people still there, waiting to be rescued, and for me it`s not acceptable.
I know there`s reasons for it. I`m sorry to say I`m being rude, but I don`t want to hear those reasons. You know, some people are stealing, and they`re making a big deal out of it. They`re stealing 20 pair of jeans or they`re stealing television sets.
Who cares? They`re not going to go too far with it. Maybe those people are so poor, some of the people who do that, they`re so poor they`ve never touched anything in their lives. Let them touch those things for once.
The main thing right now is not the people who are stealing. It`s the people who are left there, and they`re watching helicopters flying over their heads, and they`re praying.
How come it`s so easy to send planes in another country to kill everyone in a second, to destroy lives? We need to serve our country. And for me to serve our country is to be there right now to rescue the rest of the people.
We need the cash. We need the blood. We need the support. Right now we need the prayers. It is -- you know, when I was hearing a couple of days ago that these things are not reachable. It`s too full of water. Maybe I`m too much like -- I`m not thinking with my head. I`m talking with my heart.
Nobody can open any roofs, the helicopters flying in, take two people at a time, take a kayak. Go into those walls.
There`s kids being raped at night. We hear gunshots, big guns. What`s that? Those people are praying; they`re working. They`re like this, "Hello? Do you see us? We`re still alive, but we`re dying."
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Celine...
DION: It`s terrible. I don`t want to talk to you about money.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: It`s amazing and she nailed it there. Dion had to take the stage in Las Vegas just 20 minutes after that interview. She said it has been very difficult to keep performing, but she is dedicated to people who come to hear her sing.
BRYANT: The debate is raging, and a rapper and a former president have weighed in. Is race playing a part in the rescue and how it`s being covered? That story is next.
HAMMER: Plus another tough question. It has been difficult for some reporters on the scene to stay detached in the face of such devastating suffering, but is objectivity taking a hit? That`s also ahead.
BRYANT: And every pet owner can empathize. For some of the victims the hardest parts was leaving their dogs and cats behind. What happens to those animals now? That is coming up on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m A.J. Hammer.
Our coverage of the fallout from Hurricane Katrina continues now with a very touchy and very explosive issue that has really come to the surface recently: the issue of race.
Tonight, the aftershock from the bombshell dropped by Kanye West during NBC`s live hurricane benefit. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s David Haffenreffer here now live with the latest.
DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, some controversy here, A.J. On live TV Friday night, Kanye West shocked the nation with an off- the-cuff slam on President Bush.
He also had blunt words about an even hotter topic: the black victims of Hurricane Katrina. He suggested race had something to do with why so many people went without help in the days after the hurricane. His comment revealed the divisive undercurrent to the media coverage of the Katrina catastrophe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KANYE WEST, RAPPER: George Bush doesn`t care about black people.
HAFFENREFFER (voice-over): Days after rapper Kanye West rapped President Bush on live TV with those seven strong words, a fiery debate is now engulfing the platinum-selling rapper, the president of the United States, a former president of the United States and a major TV network.
It`s all about one of the most divisive questions to come from the Katrina aftermath: did race play a role in the rescue efforts and media coverage?
During NBC`s live telecast of its Concert for Hurricane Relief Friday night, West and actor Mike Myers were paired up to read prewritten remarks on the Katrina disaster. Myers stayed with what was on the teleprompter. West did not.
WEST: I hate the way they portray us in the media. We see a black family, it says they`re looting. You see a white family; it says they`re looking for food.
With the setup the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well off as slow as possible.
HAFFENREFFER: A few seconds later, West launched his broadside.
WEST: George Bush doesn`t care about black people.
HAFFENREFFER: And NBC then pulled the plug on West, and while West`s Bush bash aired live on the East Coast, NBC cut it out of the West Coast replay three hours later.
The network quickly defended its decision saying, quote, "It would be most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person`s opinion."
ROBERT HILBURN, "L.A. TIMES": I think that was the one true and honest and meaningful moment in the whole telecast.
HAFFENREFFER: Robert Hilburn of "The Los Angeles Times" is criticizing NBC`s decision.
HILBURN: We shouldn`t disenfranchise people because the network thinks it`s not polite.
HAFFENREFFER: but even though viewers on the West Coast may have not seen West`s comments, plenty of people did, and it led some to defend the president, like his father did on "LARRY KING LIVE" this weekend.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There was one particularly vicious comment that was insensitive on ethnicity...
KING: Yes.
BUSH: ... insensitive about race. And that one hurt, because I know this president and I know he does care.
HAFFENREFFER: West is the latest person to address the racial component of the Katrina disaster, a debate that has been slowly building on the airwaves.
REV. AL SHARPTON, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK: I`ve said unequivocally that I feel race was a factor.
NAGIN: I think it`s more a class issue than race.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN COMMENTATOR: Despite the many angles of this tragedy, and lord knows there have been a lot on Orleans, there is a great big elephant in the living room that the media seems content to ignore.
HAFFENREFFER: But now that it`s been taken up by West, a very popular rapper with a new CD that`s just released last week, it appears certain that the great, big elephant in the room, Katrina and race, is not being ignored any longer.
HILBURN: I think Kanye West is a great artist, and I think he said something that millions of people are debating in their mind. Is -- was the federal government -- would this have been done differently if this had been the heart of Los Angeles or Beverly Hills? Would there have been FEMA and all these people in there faster or not?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAFFENREFFER: That debate continues. Kanye West`s controversial comments won`t keep him off the airways. ABC says West will perform as scheduled Thursday during the network`s NFL season opener pre-game show. But don`t expect much from him other than music. He said today he doesn`t want anything to take away from the show -- Karyn.
BRYANT: David Haffenreffer, thank you very much.
And Kanye`s comments have sparked fierce debate, begging the question, has race played a factor in the rescue efforts and also the media coverage?
Joining us live to talk about that, from Washington, D.C., president and CEO of the Black Entertainment Network, Deborah Lee.
Hi, Deborah. Thanks for joining us.
DEBORAH LEE, PRESIDENT/CEO, BET: Hi, Karyn.
BRYANT: I want to know your thoughts on the fact that NBC edited what Kanye said. He said that President Bush does not care about black people. If you were on the West Coast, you didn`t hear that. What are your thoughts on NBC taking those words out?
LEE: Well, I think Kanye had a right to say what he did. Unfortunately, he said it in a show that was heavily scripted and not something that NBC was prepared for, but I regret that NBC edited it out on the West Coast.
Last I heard, this was a nation that believed in First Amendment rights and freedom of speech. And Kanye is a well-known artist, and he had the right to express his opinion.
BRYANT: And BET will have a telethon this Friday. Had this happened on your show, what would you have done?
LEE: Had this happened on our show we would have let Kanye continue, and Kanye is going to appear on our telethon on Friday. We look forward to hearing his opinions.
You know, as someone earlier said race it is an issue no one wants to address, but if you look at all of the images that have been shown this week, most of them have been of African-Americans. And there`s no question that African-Americans were affected more than others in this tragedy.
BRYANT: Well, here`s the thing. Orleans is a city that is almost 70 percent black; 30 percent of the people live below the poverty line. So some have argued that by simply showing the folks that live there, you are going to be showing more black faces.
I do want to know your thoughts on the idea, though, that the coverage has been, you know -- that, for example, the comments on the A.P. photos, calling black people looters, calling white people finders of food. I just kind of want to know your thoughts on the media`s tone of racism in this and whether you think it`s there.
LEE: Well, I think it was unfortunate this so early on that everyone was classified as a looter. We didn`t know the stories behind those people.
Now we know that everyone was in desperate straits down there. They didn`t have food. They didn`t have water. I think if we re-look those stories right now, we`d have a very different approach.
So I think the media has to be careful in terms of applying labels to people when they don`t know the situation and when there`s a natural, national tragedy going on.
BRYANT: And so on BET in your coverage have you simply been calling them Americans? Because there`s been a little bit of tension over the use of the word "refugees," for example.
LEE: Well, "refugees" is another word that people are reacting to negatively. And you know, I don`t know if the right word is "evacuees," but "refugees" has a negative connotation.
And I think people are just surprised to hear that used in this country, that we would have a situation this grave, where you would have this many people without homes and without food and water for so long.
So I think it`s just the overall emotional reaction to what we see on the airways and what is happening in Orleans and Louisiana and Alabama.
BRYANT: And I do want to know your thoughts, as well. The former President Bush office "LARRY KING LIVE" and defended his son, as a dad would do, but he said he was offended by the comments against his son. He says his son does not dislike black people. And he thought that basically it was an attempt to play the blame game and lay it on his son. Any thoughts on that?
LEE: Well, I can understand the former president being offended. He took it personally. I`m sure President Bush took it personally.
But I think the question is we need an investigation. We need to know, as a country, why this took so long to get these victims help, and that`s the question.
And then the second question how do we help them now? And that`s why we`re having a telethon on Friday so we can raise as much money as possible to help the victims that are going to need help for a very long time to come.
BRYANT: All right. Well, thank you very much for joining us. Deborah Lee of BET, live from Washington. And once again, the BET telethon benefiting victims from the hurricane will air this Friday.
HAMMER: Well, one aspect of this tragedy that`s striking a chord with me and many others is the plight of all of the pets who had to be left behind. Coming up, we`re going to take a look at attempts to rescue the animals and give you an emotional story of reunion.
BRYANT: Plus more from Oprah Winfrey`s account of the devastation. She goes to New Orleans to experience the destruction firsthand. That is also ahead.
HAMMER: And rapper Master P`s personal connection to Orleans. His home`s destroyed, family members still missing. Master P will join us live, coming up SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRYANT: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. We will continue our coverage of the hurricane aftermath in just a moment. First, some other news tonight.
We learned today Bob Denver, who played one of TV comedy`s most beloved characters, has died. Denver rose to fame in the 1960s, playing Gilligan on "Gilligan`s Island." He also played Maynard Krebs in "The Many Loves of Doby Gillis."
His agent says Denver died Friday at a hospital in North Carolina, due to complications from cancer treatments. He also had quadruple heart bypass surgery earlier this year.
Bob Denver was 70 years old.
HAMMER: The devastation from Hurricane Katrina has taken an emotional toll on everyone, including journalists on the scene, as evidenced by this clip from CNN`s Anderson Cooper in an interview with Democratic Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": Excuse me, Senator, I`m sorry for interrupting. I haven`t heard that, because for the last four days I`ve been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi.
And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I`ve got to tell you there are a lot of people here who are very upset and very angry and very frustrated.
And when they hear politicians slap -- you know, thanking one another, it just -- you know, it kind of cuts them the wrong way right now. Because literally there was a body on the streets of this town yesterday being eaten by rats, because this woman had been laying in the street for 48 hours, and there`s not enough facilities to take her up. Do you get the anger that is out here?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Of course, reporters like everyone, are reacting to the horrible situation faced by the victims of Katrina. That leads to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. Covering Katrina: should reporters stay objective? The address to vote at: CNN.com/ShowbizTonight. You can also e-mail us at ShowbizTonight@CNN.com.
And we`re going to take a closer look at that question. Whether it`s anger or sadness that`s coming to the surface, this story is testing reporters` stamina as dispassionate journalists. So we`re going to talk to some reporters live coming up.
BRYANT: Plus, Oprah Winfrey goes inside the Superdome to see firsthand the conditions that appalled so many people. That is also ahead.
HAMMER: And the stories of the pets left behind, also on the way on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT continues in one minute. Hi, everybody. I`m Thomas Robert with your "Headline Prime Newsbreak."
The effort to save lives continues more than a week after Hurricane Katrina. As many as a quarter-million people are now in shelters, but it`s not known how many people remain in the hardest-hit areas. Some 5,000 more paratroopers are now joining the door-to-door rescue efforts.
Well, in New Orleans, engineers are finally beginning to pump the water out. About 60 percent of the city is still underwater. And as the water recedes, officials are seeing teams of looters going house-to-house.
Some residents refusing to leave their homes, despite the dangers. Officials say those floodwaters are now contaminated with E. Coli. The New Orleans mayor says, when the waters do recede, quote, "it`s going to be awful."
Now to eastern Florida, where a tropical storm warning has been issued for 120 miles of coastline. That`s just one of several systems the National Weather Service is tracking right now. It`s also watching Tropical Storm Nate, which could reach hurricane-strength by tomorrow and hit Bermuda later this week.
That`s the news for now. I`m Thomas Roberts. Back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
BRYANT: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. It is 31 minutes past the hour. I`m Karyn Bryant.
HAMMER: And I`m A.J. Hammer. You`re watching TV`s only live entertainment news show.
Still to come in this half-hour, it`s been hard to keep emotions in check during the reporting of Hurricane Katrina. You and I have experienced that. Our reporters on the field have experienced that. Is it good for television news? We`re going to talk about that coming up with a reporter, and some people have something to say about that.
BRYANT: And speaking of television news, a news woman in Houston was the only one who got to interview Oprah Winfrey who went down into the Astrodome. And we`re going to talk to this woman, Deborah, about Oprah`s visit down there. And you know, when the queen of daytime TV comes down, you know some good stuff`s going to happen. So we`ll get to that in just a few moments.
Well, the images we have seen on television of people trying to survive after Katrina have been heartbreaking.
HAMMER: Well, tonight, the pictures and stories being told about helpless pets are images that can be equally hard to watch. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Brooke Anderson joins us live in Hollywood with this story. I may turn away during some of it.
BRYANT: Both of us.
ANDERSON: I know. Some of it is hard to watch, A.J., Karyn, but out of the stories of destruction and misery there comes some glimmer of hope from those that can`t even speak out, the pets left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. But the media and viewers are doing the speaking out for our furry friends with some amazing tales of survival.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Thousands of pets stranded in trees, clinging to rooftops, wading through water, some still tied to the porches of their homes, waiting for their masters.
CNN`s Anderson Cooper on the scene in New Orleans described the hopelessness.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I`ve seen dogs in trees. I`ve seen dogs floating on debris, swimming, following our boat. I mean, we had a dog following our boat for a little while today, you know, trying to stay up with us.
ANDERSON: Anderson spotted a dog lying amid the devastation. He wondered if it were alive.
COOPER: All of a sudden, it opened its eyes. You know, I got so excited. I got out of the boat trying to give it some water. Of course, all of this toxic water basically went right into my waders, which was, you know, stupid on my part.
But you want to do something. You want to try to help. You know, there are so many people in need. There are animals in need. I mean, it is just -- it`s one of those things. You just can`t -- you know, every time you think you`ve seen the worst, then you turn the corner and there is something even more surreal and horrific.
ANDERSON: The pets, stranded and helpless, have struck a chord with many members of the media. Oprah Winfrey`s show, which aired just today and was shot on site in New Orleans, featured the heart-breaking story of a man and his best friend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can`t get on the bus with your dog, sir.
ANDERSON: Many victims of Hurricane Katrina saved their animals, putting them on rafts and keeping them close, but now they are not allowed on the many buses out of the city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve been waiting here for days for everybody to go with everybody else, so we can get on with the dog. And then they just told us at the last minute we can`t take the guy. Well, this guy and his dog rescued me off my roof.
ANDERSON: And how long has this dog...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s had the dog for 14 years. He`s only 24, so he`s had the dog for 14 years. Well, we`re not leaving without the dog. We don`t know what we`re going to do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, guys, we have -- you know what? I`m not doing this for the camera. We don`t give a (bleep) about that.
ANDERSON: Nate Burkus (ph), part of Oprah`s crew, offered to help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to take the dog on -- what`s his name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rafiki.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rafiki? We`re going to take him and two other dogs that we met here, and we`re going to send him to a house in Baton Rouge. It`s a private house where we`re sleeping, and when you get back...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s going to Baton Rouge. He`s going to keep him in Baton Rouge. I told you he`s going to be OK. I told you. I told you (INAUDIBLE)
ANDERSON: It was a moment that also brought Oprah to tears.
OPRAH WINFREY, TELEVISION HOST: I`ve been crying for two days here, but I have to tell you, I`m a dog person, and that`s pretty moving.
ANDERSON: True to his word, dog and owner were reunited the next day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And more help is on the way for many of these displaced pets. The national pet charity Delta Rescue is shipping truckloads of dog and cat food to areas hit by Katrina. Go to deltarescue.org to donate food. And to report a lost pet, you can go to a number of websites, including aspca.org -- A.J.?
HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Brooke Anderson live in Hollywood. A lot of good things underway for the pets.
This is a collar that we just got from the humane society. It`s called a Be Kind Cause collar, on sale today at hsus.org. Proceeds are going to benefit animal rescue efforts. Much needed, as we just saw.
And as we`ve been reporting, celebrities have been rallying to help relief efforts. Many of them have very personal connections to the affected area. One of those stars, rapper Master P, who comes from one of the now-totally devastated New Orleans neighborhoods. His homes were destroyed. Some of his family members still missing.
Master P is back in Los Angeles after a weekend trip to the Gulf Coast. Joining us live now.
Master P, we appreciate you being with us tonight.
MASTER P, RAPPER: Oh, man. I`m glad to be here.
HAMMER: I know that you credit New Orleans with so much of who you are and the ability for you to have had the success that you`ve had. It must have been devastating going through the area. Tell me about some of what you saw when you took your tour over the weekend.
MASTER P: Man, just going back to New Orleans and seeing that -- you know, this is a place that I grew up at, that this is a place where my family, you know, we spent so many years. We spent so many years building a foundation and saying that, "You know what, this is something that probably could never get put back together."
It was devastating to see the bodies floating around and see the loved ones still missing, knowing that, you know what, you might not find some people. And you don`t even want to get the phone call saying, "Hey," you know, you`d be so scared.
Like the other day, I found my dad. And it was, like, I didn`t want to get the other phone call where he`s dead. You know, my wife`s father`s dead or whatever, and we found him yesterday.
So, man, it`s a incredible thing for anybody to see. I mean, anybody that`s taking this. You know, and I`ve been watching a lot of the stories, man. This is not about promotion. I mean, this stuff is real.
And I`ve seen the comments that was made by Kanye West. I just hope that those comments is sincere, because, you know, this is not about trying to sell a record and, you know, to me, I think we`re going to need George Bush. You know, from what`s going on, I can`t say somebody`s prejudiced.
I can`t -- my thing is, if I`ve never met the person, I got to be real. But I know we`ve lost a lot of families. We need a lot of help. We`re going to need people like George Bush. We`re going to need the whole economy. We`re going to need the whole government, because we can`t do this on our own.
It`s billions of dollars. I mean, people that made it already, that`s doctors, lawyers, like myself, entertainer, there`s a lot of people that lost stuff. But to me, material stuff don`t mean nothing to me.
But the sincere, the people that want to get out there and help, man, you got to see this, this is devastating to me. I hope they show the real. I mean, see the people that`s looting? You`re going to have some negative people out there. But I want to tell all of the people out there, some of the people that are doing the wrong thing, you can`t look at the whole city of New Orleans about what those people are doing, because they really have some great people out there.
Some people are addicted to drugs. Some people feel it`s the end of the world. To walk out of New Orleans and see that, man, there`s water everywhere. You don`t have nowhere to go, no food. Some people think it`s the end of the world. They have nothing to come back to.
They don`t know that they have FEMA. They have a lot of other different programs for them to rebuild for tomorrow. We started a program called Teamrescueone.com. So you could go online and check that out.
But I`m saying there`s a lot of facilities to help these people. But our people are panicking, like I said. I can`t speak for the people that are doing the wrong thing, but the people that are doing the right thing, I think they deserve a chance. I think they deserve a chance to rebuild.
And I don`t think nobody should get publicity thing out of it. This should be from the heart. This should be sincere. People that want to help, go to Red Cross, go to whoever that could help these people.
People like us, we`re on the front line. We`re out there. And I`ve been out there with my people. They know I`m there. I`m going to do the best I could do. I`m going to send trucks out there.
I mean, I want to be a part of this. This is my city. And I want people, celebrities, even individuals that want to volunteer, do this out of the sincerity and the kindness of their heart, because this could happen to anybody, man. I`m still looking for family members. And this has devastated the world.
HAMMER: Master P., we`re out of time, but we do appreciate you sounding off. And we appreciate the fact that you are rallying people together for all of the right reasons. We`re happy to hear you found your dad and some of your other family members, and we wish you great luck with finding everybody else.
MASTER P: Man, I appreciate anybody that`s definitely down for this cause.
HAMMER: OK.
And if you would like to make a donation, or if you would like more information, just check out Master P`s, Teamrescueone.com.
BRYANT: Coming up, Oprah sees the destruction from Hurricane Katrina firsthand. We`ll speak with the only reporter who spoke with Oprah. That`s next.
And has Hurricane Katrina totally changed the way stories are covered by the media? Journalists expressing emotion, some even on the verge of tears. But what happens when reporters become part of the story they`re telling? And should they keep their opinions to themselves? That`s coming up.
HAMMER: And how Jay Leno is asking celebrities to lend a helping hand to the Katrina efforts. It`s something that was a success before, so he`s trying it again. It`s on the way in "Laughter Dark."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I`m A.J. Hammer.
Tonight, is the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina rewriting the rules of journalism? In the past week, we have seen reporters overwhelmed by the death, the destruction, and the delay in helping the victims, ripping into the government. We`ve seen them breaking down in tears, like this very reporter here interviewing a man who had lost his wife.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Katrina is proving to be a...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell people about (INAUDIBLE) where I stayed at, laying right there in the mud.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You take care of your boys, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Katrina`s proving to be a deadly storm. For now, reporting in Biloxi, Jennifer Mirellie (ph), News 5.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Something we`re certainly not used to seeing, but is there anything wrong with that, with reporters expressing their emotions on camera while delivering the story?
Joining us live tonight from Baltimore, Maryland, Brian Stelter of TVNewser.com. It`s one of the most widely watched blogs about the media.
CNN correspondent Rick Sanchez, who has been covering Katrina, joining us live from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And live from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jeff Alan, who is the author of "Anchoring America." Jeff is also news director there for WPGH Television.
So, Jeff, we are seeing, in an almost unprecedented way, emotion and outrage by the reporters covering the story. Is there anything wrong with that?
JEFF ALAN, NEWS DIRECTOR, WPGH-PITTSBURGH: Well, I`ve got to tell you, A.J., in this case, no, because reporters are human beings, too. You saw it even in Peter Jennings, believe it or not, right after 9/11. You saw it in Dan Rather. You saw it in Tom Brokaw. And, of course, they`re not around anymore.
But in this particular case, no, it`s OK to show emotion. But I will say one thing: At the beginning of these hurricanes, reporters tend to try to put some drama into it. And I can`t tell you how many times you see that shot of the reporters leaning into the wind in a hurricane and what have you.
Well, that`s pretty much grandstanding. But after day two of what happened in this catastrophe, it`s very different. You saw the real human emotion come out. And reporters are human, so what`s coming out of them was the outrage of no food and water, the government didn`t arrive, people pulling at them.
What you didn`t see is what`s going on off-camera. It seemed like the reporters had electricity. They had generators in their trucks. They had people to talk to. They had cell phones, or satellite phones. They were able to communicate with the outside world. And a lot of these people in the Superdome and all over New Orleans had nothing.
So when they weren`t on camera, they were being pulled at tremendously, "Can I use your phone? Can I have a drink of water?" And that really had to weigh on them after a time. It really did.
HAMMER: Rick Sanchez, we`ve been seeing some emotion from you, certainly. And you and I spoke on Friday. You told me you can`t help but be pulled into the story, particularly, you know, as a family man yourself, you have so many levels on which to relate with the story.
Do you sometimes struggle with how much emotion you let out while you`re delivering the news?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is no question. One of the most difficult things to do in our business is remain completely detached from that which it is you`re covering. And if it`s something that pulls at your heartstrings -- I had a little 6-year-old boy yesterday who couldn`t find his mom and dad. And he was crying, with tears coming out of eyes, telling me, "I want my mommy. I want my daddy."
And I, you know, what do you do? I mean, the instinct was to hug him, and adopt him, and take him home, and take care of him, and feed him, and let him sleep in my house. That`s the instinct. That`s the human instinct, I should say.
The thing to do as a correspondent is to catalog his story and share it with the rest of the world, so that they can understand what`s going on in this town.
So, yes, those things sometimes are at odds. And it`s very difficult to deal with. And this goes back. I mean, think back to the famous video of the Hindenburg exploding and that reporter giving a play-by-play of what was going on, and that famous line when he says, "Oh, the humanity. Oh, the humanity."
He was crying, and he was telling the story. I mean, this is something that`s a part of what we do, and it`s difficult to do. And the best are able to temper it and still tell the story, but not lose their own humanity.
HAMMER: It`s certainly coming from the gut.
And, Brian, you`ve been seen that sharing going on. It`s your job with your blog to watch all of the coverage on all of the networks. So seeing it all, and seeing the big picture, do you think it`s helping or hurting coverage of the story of Katrina?
BRIAN STELTER, EDITOR, TVNEWSER.COM: I think it`s helping definitely, because it`s happening only in selected moments. What we`re seeing is reporters becoming voices for the voiceless, and that`s their job, is to be out there telling the stories.
What they`ve really become in the last week is an intermediary between the government and the people, because the government didn`t know what was going on. They were relying on the media.
And even today and yesterday, we`re seeing reporters telling the government what`s going on, pointing them to places that are still flooded, pointing them to people who still need rescuing. They`re doing exactly what they should be doing.
HAMMER: And through that, they`re somewhat becoming part of the story. And the reporter we showed a moment ago, breaking into tears. She actually became a story that we covered.
Jeff, is there a danger when the reporter becomes part of the story?
ALAN: You know, I`ve always taught my reporters through the years, "Never become part of a story," but sometimes you have to. You have to, to get a message across, to convey to the viewers, the people who are watching you and in radio listening to you, what the emotion is, what the emotion is on the other side of the camera.
And that`s hard to do sometimes. Of course, we never want to put lives at danger for the sake of ratings. I mean, whether it be the journalists in a touchy situation or the viewers.
The one thing here that happened, of course, is a lot of the reporters I saw said, "Oh, New Orleans has been spared. Katrina missed New Orleans." It gave the viewers a false sense of security, but it became very evident, especially once the levees broke, that this was an absolute catastrophe.
And when it did, with all of the people stranded in the houses, stranded in the Superdome, no help from the government at that point, it became real that the reporters had to carry the story on their own. And that`s something that most of them did very well. I mean, I have to put my hat off to many, many of the reporters working in real adverse situation.
HAMMER: Jump in there, Rick, if you something -- I have less than 30 seconds.
SANCHEZ: You know, what I think reporters need to be very careful with on this story -- and oftentimes it`s because we come from an socio background that`s very different from many of the people we`re covering. And this is what I`ve seen, if we`re going to go into an area where we might be somewhat critical of what we`ve done, is trying to understand what these people in New Orleans are trying to say, many of whom don`t make more than $100 a week, many of whom don`t live in houses, unlike the rest of us.
HAMMER: Right.
SANCHEZ: So, sometimes, when we come out with these declarations of, "The city`s out of control," or, you know, "These people are all dying," or, "They don`t want to leave their homes, and they`re being stubborn," we don`t understand that many of us have a second home, or have two cars, or - - you know, not all of us, but we come from a different condition than these people.
We have to understand what their socioeconomic condition is before we try and insert ourselves into what decision-making process they`re going through. And if there`s a fault there, I`ve seen that.
HAMMER: OK, I got to wrap it up there, guys. I appreciate you helping us out. Rick Sanchez, of course, always good see you. Jeff Alan and Brian Stelter, thanks for joining us on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Appreciate it.
BRYANT: Oprah Winfrey is calling Hurricane Katrina a travesty that is still unfolding. As we told you earlier in the show, Oprah broadcast her talk show live today from the Astrodome, a former indoor baseball stadium in Houston, Texas, where thousands of evacuees are being housed.
Local TV news anchor and radio talk show host Deborah Duncan got the one and only interview with Oprah about her efforts there. And Deborah joins us now live from Houston.
Deborah, if you can, please paint us a picture of Oprah`s visit to the Astrodome.
DEBORAH DUNCAN, KHOU-TV/KTRH-AM RADIO: Yes, well, when she first arrived to the Astrodome, she was really unassuming. She had no makeup on. She had just regular street clothes on. Her hair was pulled back.
And some people actually didn`t recognize when she had walked by. But when word got out that she was there, people flocked to her. And they did it in a way that it was not like, "Oh, there`s Oprah, a celebrity," but they flocked to her because of what they saw in her was hope. They were truly hoping that she could do something about the situation.
BRYANT: It was a really intense show that I watched today, the Oprah show. Tell me though, what was she most affected by? Because I certainly remember her arguing to try to get into the Superdome. And I know that that really had to hit her hard.
DUNCAN: Yes, it did. Because, you know, when she walked up to the Astrodome, she knew there were 16,000 people inside. And, you know, what does that mean, 16,000? A number is an inanimate object in a sense.
But when she got in there and she actually saw the people, she saw the faces, she looked at people one-by-one, and they walked up to her, and, you know, eye-to-eye started telling her what happened to them and how they got through it.
So that, I think, is a point that really, really got to her, because she got to put a face to those numbers, like 16,000, and got to hear their stories. And also she realized just how much people were depending on her to tell their stories.
BRYANT: And last quick question. Have you been able to maintain journalistic objectivity in the face of all of this?
DUNCAN: You know, somebody said it earlier the best, is that we`re human. And, you know, the good thing about us here in Houston is that we`ve been on, I think, the positive side -- if you can say that -- the positive side of all of this, because, you know, none of us would have doubted in Houston that we would have responded this way.
But it`s one thing to say that. It`s another thing to see it. There was a guy who was blind, who, you know, gathered up some Braille books and said, "I know somebody could use these." A woman who made $579 a month who said, "I know I can help. I can give my time." So to see the outpouring has just been incredible.
BRYANT: It`s certainly going to be a story for you for some time to come. Deborah Duncan, we thank you for joining us on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
DUNCAN: All right. Thank you.
HAMMER: Well, Americans celebrated Labor Day yesterday, which is traditionally considered the unofficial end of summer. But the late-night hosts were hard at work with Hurricane Katrina on their minds. Here`s David Letterman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW": Well, it`s Labor Day. Happy Labor Day to everybody. It`s the day that everybody`s relaxing, taking it easy, but enough about the Bush administration. Oh!
(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)
LETTERMAN: Who knew the country would be better off with Bush on vacation? But, actually, President Bush was actually quite busy now. He`s filling two vacancies, two at the Supreme Court and the upcoming one at FEMA. So he`s very, very busy.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: ... response to our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT "Question of the Day." Unfortunately, we`re out of time. We will have the results and your e- mails tomorrow.
BRYANT: That does do it for SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. I am Karyn Bryant.
HAMMER: I`m A.J. Hammer. Stay tuned for the latest from CNN Headline News.
END
