Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Malala Yousufzai Speaks Publicly; Sizing Up Super Bowl Ads; NY Says Farewell to Ed Koch; Child Hostage Standoff Goes into 7th Day; The Halftime Super Bowl Highlights; Students Caught Cheating at Harvard.
Aired February 04, 2013 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Richard III will be reburied at Lester Cathedral, not far from here. Officials say that they are planning to hold a memorial service in his honor so he can have one final resting place, they say, that's dignifying and fit for a king.
Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Lester, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: If you are a history buff like so many other people I work with in this room, there is a lot more on Richard III. I nerd out on this stuff. We have his history, how he died, how the discovery was made. All you need to do is head to CNN.com and you can history yourself right into the next commercial break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Pakistani teenager who won the world's admiration for demanding an education as a girl has now spoken publicly for the first time since Taliban militants tried to execute her. Malala's foundation released this video, recorded just before she underwent two surgeries this weekend in England. In the video, Malala credits the supporters and prayers she got from around the world for what she is calling her, quote, "second life." And she talks about her medical condition and her commitment to her cause.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MALALA YOUSUFZAI, ACTIVIST: Today you can see that I am alive. I can speak. I can see you. I can see everyone and today I can speak and I'm getting better day by day. It is just because of the prayers of people, because all of the people, mainly women, children, all of them, all of them have prayed for me. And because of these prayers and because of the prayers, God has given me this new life. And this is a second life. This is a new life. I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated. For that reason, we have organized Malala fund.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Praise the lord. That girl can speak beautifully. The doctors are saying she has no lasting brain damage. We have even more good news. Doctors also say that Malala probably won't need to have any more surgeries either. That's just great news to bring you this morning.
Making news the Boy Scouts could vote on removing their ban on gay members this week when the National Executive Council meets in Texas. The president weighing in on this last night in a CBS interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity, the same way everybody else does. In every institution and walk of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: A statement from the Scouts says that if they remove their national policy on sexual orientation, organizations that oversee the individual troops could still base their membership guidelines on their own principles or religious beliefs.
You know who won the Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLVII. But who won the battle for the best Super Bowl ad? That's important. Every year a pew commercials kick up a lot of talk, lot of fuss. Lot of controversy. This year is absolutely no exception.
Jason Carroll now with this look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to Super Bowl ads the field is wide open. Very little is off-limits. Not even the controversial subject of gun control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: The NRA once supported background checks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Many may not have caught the ad called "It's Time." It only aired in the Washington, D.C., market. The ad bought by the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns features children and the NRA's executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, in a video from 1999, testifying he supports background checks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAYNE LAPIERRE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NRA: We think it is reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale and every gun show.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Last week during a CNN town hall on gun control, a drastically different position. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are not supporting more back ground checks of law abiding people.
CARROLL: The ad created to put pressure on lawmakers to fall in step with the overwhelming majority of Americans, polling shows, support background checks on all gun purchases.
Politics aside the most sentimental spot goes to Budweiser.
(SINGING)
CARROLL: The spot featuring the horse. It's called "The Brotherhood." Asymetrix (ph), the company that rates ads by polling consumers, said it's one of the highest rated ever. So well liked, even the man behind a competing ad for Century 21 said the horse won hands down.
STEVE RED, RED TATTEMER: I thought it was a good call. There were definitely some standouts, as there always were. I had my favorites.
CARROLL (on camera): What's your favorite?
RED: I had -- between three. I loved the Clydesdale spot for Budweiser. Classic story, well told. It gets to you.
CARROLL (voice-over): When it comes to the Bowl ads featuring food, it was all about humor, whether it be an Oreo cookie, Doritos or in the case of these wild seniors, Taco Bell.
(SINGING)
CARROLL: Those are some of the winners. With any Super Bowl there are those that didn't win. The go dad write spot featuring a model kissing a nerd was an epic fail. Volkswagen had an ad with a white man and a Jamaican accent. And sex doesn't always sell. A model gyrating. Overall, most we talked to said they were little underwhelmed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was a weak crop this year. I guess overall. But, you know, pretty much the same.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some were real bad. Some why were good. Not as good as the previous years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BANFIELD: Jason Carroll joins me now live. The minute he got up the set with me, I said I am angry. I'm not --
(CROSSTALK)
CARROLL: You were really upset I am so angry.
BANFIELD: I'm so angry. My 5 year old and 7-year-old boys were watching with me. 6:45 last night.
CARROLL: You were talking about the --
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Not even going to say the name.
CARROLL: The kiss.
BANFIELD: The kissing. Up-close French kissing that -- that -- the Super Bowl and CBS and that company forced my children to watch. I couldn't get to the remote fast enough.
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: I'm angry at this because this is supposed to be a general audience. And my kids were absolutely flabbergasted and didn't know what was going on.
CARROLL: Not surprising. The ad did not end up rating well. It did not rate well. Maybe that's one of the reasons why. Lot of people were offended by it.
BANFIELD: I'm not the only one. Half of my colleagues with little kids said the same thing. The kids went silent and said what are they doing?
CARROLL: Even those without kids were taken aback by it. We should give an honorable mention to the Oprah ad, which I thought was interesting. We shouldn't call it an OWN ad. Oprah narrated the ad. Very moving.
(CROSSTALK)
CARROLL: When I think about that ad, you know, which is obviously paying tribute to our troops, I think about, you know, I spent two summers in Afghanistan. Whenever I spoke to the soldiers over there, what do you want me to tell the people back at home? They would say repeatedly, don't let people forget us. I think this ad really speaks to that.
BANFIELD: Whenever I see this stuff I get teared up. Can't even see a reunion all the local news channels do without getting teared up. It is something that never goes away.
CARROLL: Another ad that was sentimental was the --
(CROSSTALK)
BANFIELD: Farmers.
CARROLL: Farmers.com.
BANFIELD: I loved it. Paul Harvey. Voiceover for the farmers.
CARROLL: It wasn't the original ad. There was an original ad on YouTube released before this. This was sort of a copy of that particular ad. BANFIELD: You are kidding me?
CARROLL: Yes.
BANFIELD: It was very effective. I loved it. I'm never going to say that company's name again that did that French kissing in front of my little boys at 6:45 at night.
CARROLL: We won't see it again.
BANFIELD: CBS, come on. Help us out. We are supposed to be able to trust that we can watch the Super Bowl with our little ones.
We have to go. Take a quick break.
CARROLL: We will be back.
BANFIELD: Thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: I want to take you back live now to the funeral that's going on right now for the former New York mayor and man who was larger than life. You know the host of "People's Court," Ed Koch. This going on in New York City, in Manhattan. Moments ago, you are watching live pictures. Moments ago, Bill Clinton, who was a long- standing friend of the former mayor, offered a really poignant farewell. Standing room only service on the Upper East Side. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We miss you so much because we all know we are doing a lot better because you lived and served.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Ed Koch was a larger than life mayor at the time when New York really needed one. He passed away on provide at the age of 88.
We are now entering day seven of a hostage stand-off in Alabama. When police start getting requests for what they call comfort items during a crisis like this, there is a world of difference between what a 65- year-old man might want and what a 5-year-old boy would like. That 65-year-old Vietnam vet is holding a child he allegedly snatched off a school bus last week after the driver was shot and killed.
CNN's Victor Blackwell joins me now live from Midland City, Alabama.
If you could, for me, go into that list of items for me. I think it is very poignant and really gets to the heart of just what kind of a situation we are dealing with here. What did those would people want and what did they get? VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Let's talk about those. For people who don't have young children, it is hard sometimes to really conceptualize the needs and wants of a 5-year-old child. We are told by negotiators, the people on the scene the latest things that were taken to the bunker are a red Hot Wheels car and Cheez-It crackers. That's what 5-year-olds prioritize. More for things. Medication because we have been told by an Alabama state representative that this 5-year-old boy, Ethan, has ADHD and Asperger's syndrome. Food has been taken, coloring books. Toys for this child.
What we don't know is what Jimmy Lee Dykes wants, what his motivations are. The authorities called news conferences several times a day every day for the last seven days. They have canceled them more than they held them. They are not giving out more information day to day. They are telling us little things like red Hot Wheels car or Cheez-It crackers. We know that the negotiations continue and tell us that they are ready to speak with Jimmy Lee Dykes whenever he's ready to speak with them.
BANFIELD: We were looking at this animation as you have been doing your live report that shows -- sort of this setup of what we know to be this bunker on this property behind the trailer and then the shipping container and then this underground square that represents the bunker. PVC pipe that is front and center, middle of the wall, is the critical aspect of all communication. Do we know how much communication is going through that pipe?
BLACKWELL: We don't know. We know that all -- all they will say is the communication line is open. You mentioned the PVC pipe. Through that they are communicating. Second question is how will you deliver these items to the bunker? You are not sliding Cheez-It through a 60- foot pipe. You are not rolling a hot wheels car through the pipe. Are you going up to the bunker and approaching to speak with Jimmy Lee? If not how are you doing had a? Those are the questions being asked and those are not being answered. They are not giving a lot of information here. We are asking all those questions to try to find out what's happening. Now they tell us that they are not giving so many answers because they don't want to agitate Jimmy Lee Dykes. Does he have access to a sell vision or radio? There are things that would lead -- answer to yes on that but they have not confirmed that straightforward.
BANFIELD: You make a very good point. We should be leaving this extraordinarily for work up to the people who know it best. That's certainly not you and me. That's a tender topic that you are working on, Victor.
Thank you for being delicate in your work out there.
We also know that the Alabama hostage suspect is a survivalist in that bunker. Anderson Cooper is going to take an inside look at the survivalist movement. That will come your way tonight live at 8:00 eastern time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BANFIELD: Earlier we talked about the Super Bowl, the power outage and, jokingly, some said Beyonce's half-time show knocked out the lights. Others joked that the NFL just didn't think the game could live up to Beyonce's performance. They tripped a wire. None of that is true.
Let me bring in Alina Cho and Nischelle Turner, who is live in Los Angeles.
Ladies, what a performance first before I talk to either of you live let's just look at a little moment of this, shall we and drink it in?
Is it OK to say I have a girl crush.
Nischelle, I'll start with you. Did she live up to all of the hype?
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You see me shaking my shoulders, so I think a little bit. Beyonce was back biannual girl band for this performance, Ashleigh. You are backed by your band today, Alina Cho on bass guitar and me on drums. I think by reading the reviews, by reading the reviews this morning, by all indications she slated, I haven't read a bad review last night the first lady tweeted her approval. Oprah tweeted one word, Beyonce, and that's all she needed to say.
The one thing I have heard, though, Ashleigh, in all of the hype and love for Beyonce in this half-time show is that folks wished her husband, Jay-Z, came out and performed with her in crazy in love. He didn't. That was a little bit of a disappointment for folks.
BANFIELD: We saw that before. That's all right.
I swear looking at her dressed in that little outfit I am all good with what went on.
I want to bring in Alina Cho about that little outfit.
It may have been small. But it took a lot of man hours to build.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 250 hours. And this designer Reuben Singer's entire studio of 14 people was working on it at one point. Ashleigh, it was made of five different skins including python, iguana, two types of lamb skin. There was lace. Of course, you saw that. Originally, it came with that cropped motorcycle jacket and the skirt, which she head halfway through the first song.
You know, it was such an incredible moment for this little known designer, 34-year-old New York based Reuben Singer. It's really put him on the map. And when I spoke to him this morning he said this outfit was fabulous, and it had to be functional, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REUBEN SINGER, DESIGNER: Her range of motion is so huge. I mean, the way that she moves her arms and legs, and everything, it's so intense, that doing something that doesn't move with her is not possible. And the approach to developing a stage piece for her is so complex in that respect, because she needs to move, and you can't constrict her range of motion because that would be number one, a tragedy. Number two, she wouldn't feel comfortable. And my job as a designer, no matter what it is I'm doing is to make a woman feel amazing, comfortable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Well, she probably felt really comfortable, because she looked great, and she moved great. Quickly, speaking of women, and I'm going to say this, women of color, if you didn't notice, we had Alicia Keys with "The Star Spangled Banner," we had Jennifer Hudson singing with the Sandy Hook choir. And then we had of course, Beyonce, and Destiny's Child, all women of color rocking the Super Bowl. And I got to be honest with you, some people may have noticed it. Other people may have just said these were just A-listers.
Nischelle, how were people weighing in on this aspect of were they women of color rocking this world? Or was this just a bunch of big A- listers and color didn't -- you didn't notice?
TURNER: You know, I agree with you on the fact not a lot of people paid attention to that. Beyonce did, though. She recognized that fact. She actually put up a post on Instagram after her performance and said what a great day for African-American women. She gave a shout out to Alicia, Jennifer Hudson, Kelly and Michelle. She said all of you are beautiful, talented, showed so much class. She thought it was an honor to perform with them at the Super Bowl. She called them phenomenal ladies. She definitely recognized that fact that it was kind of women of color on center stage.
BANFIELD: It was indeed. I have to be honest, I love the fact I didn't even notice it. I just noticed awesome and awesome.
That's all the time I have. Nischelle, Alina, thank you for your reporting.
Now that the Super Bowl is out of the way, Beyonce has other plans this morning her team announced a brand new world tour. This is her first tour in three years. I love the title, the Mrs. Carter Tour. It's going to kick off in Europe in April. And it comes to the United States of America in late June. Plan for it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Plenty of crimson faces at Harvard these days. Where the dean of arts and science has suspended dozens of students caught cheating. And get this, they were cheating on a take home open book final.
Our Poppy Harlow is live. She's on the case in Massachusetts.
Wow. I didn't know they gave take home open book finals, but flush this out for me, tell me what's going on.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They do, this is the front of the Harvard Crimson today. This broke in August, but what came late Friday was those suspensions, the dean here of undergraduate education calling this unprecedented in any one's memory, the issue here is was there student collaborate or was there out-right cheating. A lawyer I spoke with representatives some of the students said there are two waves, there was cheating and collaboration, because this course, reportedly Introduction to Congress, was known as an easy course, where a lot of as were given out, where collaboration was encouraged. Then they got a difficult exam. And so they collaborated. Some of them too much so. There was even plagiarism according to the university. I had a chance to speak to a student here about this, who knew people that have taken this course before, and has been following this, here's what she told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARION DIERICKX, HARVARD STUDENT: Now in the first week, as to explicitly explain their collaboration policies, so that a teacher will spend ten minutes explaining what is allowed and what is not allowed which didn't used to be the case before. Now before every exam every assignment the teachers try to be more explicit what is allowed and what is not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: So, Ashleigh, she's explaining the changes that have happened at Harvard since this all went down, that now teachers are being very clear on what's collaboration, what's allowed and what's not allowed. Harvard saying look, it took five months to review this to make sure it was fair to all the students. But there's been a lot of criticism --
