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Sports Radio Hosts Fired for ALS Jokes; Talking Shock Comedy; Latest on a Modern Slavery Case from Ohio; NBA Finals Reviewed

Aired June 18, 2013 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, no matter how raunchy tasteless humor has become, listen, on both television and the radio, some areas are still off-limits, especially jokes about the disabled.

So, these three very high-profile radio hosts in Atlanta have been fired after making former New Orleans Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed in a wheelchair with ALS, really the butt of a truly horrible on-air comedy bit yesterday morning. What were they thinking?

We're about to find out. Steak Shapiro is in the studio with me, one of those fired radio hosts. He will join me live in mere moments.

But, first, Sara Ganim explains what exactly happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You listening in New Orleans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am.

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their radio show was called "Mayhem in the A.M." Well, mayhem has backfired. Three Atlanta sports radio deejays were fired Monday for making fun of a former football player with Lou Gehrig's disease.

"GLEASON": Knock knock,

D.J.: Who's there?

"GLEASON": Smother.

D.J: Smother who?

"GLEASON": Smother me. Do me a favor.

GANIM: They're mocking Steve Gleason, a former New Orleans Saints defensive back, who speaks with the aid of a voice synthesizer.

STEVE GLEASON, FORMER NEW ORLEANS SAINT DEFENSIVE BACK: I was diagnosed with ALS two years ago.

GANIM: Because of his condition he can't talk.

The D.J.s apologized. One of them, Chris Dimino, said it was sheer stupidity. Another, Nick Cellini, called it an ill attempt at humor and vows to start working with the ALS cause.

Steve Shapiro said, "I am truly sorry."

790 The Zone said the station in no way supports that kind of content.

They're called "shock jocks" because they're paid to shock you. It's what gets the ratings, but they're not the first to be fired for taking it too far.

DON IMUS, FORMER RADIO HOST: So I watched the basketball game last night between a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final. That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm going to tell you that now.

GANIM: In 2007 Don Imus was fired for a racist and sexist slur about Rutgers women's basketball players.

Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was infamously fired for saying blacks are bred to be better athletes.

JIMMY "THE GREEK" SNYDER, FORMER SPORTS COMMENTATOR: If they take over coaching like everybody wants them to, there's not going to be anything left for the white people.

GANIM: On social media, some came to their defense.

"You can't be funny unless sometimes you push and, yes, cross the edge. Family Guy, South Park, Howard Stern and even Robin Williams know this."

And, "My guess is that many of the folks condemning Chris have done worse."

Now this morning, some of these guy's competitors in Atlanta were sympathetic to what happened. They said, look, these guys their bosses push, push, push. Live up to your name of being a "shock jock."

And then when something goes wrong, when they push a little too far, they're the ones who get fired.

Brooke?

BROOKE BALDWIN, ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Sara Ganim, thank you, and we're going to switch seats out with you, really quickly, as we have one of those fired hosts from Atlanta, Steak Shapiro now joining me in studio, pulling up the chair.

I am sure this has been an interesting 24 hours for you. I just have to ask the question on everyone's mind, what were you thinking?

STEAK SHAPIRO, FIRED RADIO HOST: Well, obviously, we weren't thinking clearly or doing anything that made sense.

A lot of things you're doing on the fly. It was something that -- an ill attempt at humor, offensive. If I was driving in my car, I would have thought, who came up with that? That's not funny. I would have been offended.

And, you know, obviously you walk a fine line between trying to be somewhat on the edge and making sure that you're tasteful enough and we blew it. We blew it in a huge way.

And, you know, I just want to apologize to Steve Gleason, to his foundation, to all the folks that were hurt by this.

I mean, it was an ill-attempt at humor that absolutely fell short and the repercussion, you know, are something that happens, you know, when you're playing on that kind of edge.

BALDWIN: You have been on the air for 18 years, with this station for 15. You know on air, and I'm just looking at you and you're shaking a little bit.

SHAPIRO: Yeah.

BALDWIN: Has this shaken you to the core?

SHAPIRO: Well, look, you know, I'm used to coming to CNN to be commenting on folks.

BALDWIN: Right.

SHAPIRO: I'm not used to being part of a story. So, of course it shakes you.

I mean, look, it's not about feeling bad for what happened to us. I mean, the fact is if you're going to ...

BALDWIN: I'm not saying I am. I'm just visibly noticing that's how you are.

SHAPIRO: Well, it's a nerve racking thing to be a part of. I'm not saying feel bad for it.

Point is, it's not a good 24 hours. It's a horrible 24 hours and I feel awful about it and, you know, it just is something that you just deeply regret and wish it never happened.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you this because you mentioned sometimes you come up with things on the fly. You're doing radio.

What's the back story of this particular joke? How orchestrated was it?

SHAPIRO: Well, I mean, not to get into details too much. I mean, obviously, you know, we didn't think this thing through. And it was commercial break. And we had known that Steve Gleason had done an article for Peter King that appeared, which was a great piece, by the way.

And, you know, anybody who knows my background knows the connection to New Orleans and knowing a lot about that foundation, so we were kind of talking about the Peter King article and said ... BALDWIN: This was in commercial break before you guys came on?

SHAPIRO: In commercial break, within a few minutes, and then we decided to do a takeoff on that, which was stupid, which wasn't well thought out and which we're truly sorry for.

And -- but, no, you know, I hate to think that we had thought about this a long time and still came up with what we did because that would really show a lot of ignorance.

BALDWIN: I have to ask, though, was it the kind of thing where you delivered the joke and in that moment you immediately realized you had crossed the line or was it only after the tweet, the phone calls, the firing did you think, that was wrong?

SHAPIRO: You know, that's a good question. I mean, I don't think anybody that's ever been in that situation knows right away, and a lot of it is, you know, slowly, it's a -- slowly starts to build.

But I knew it wasn't funny. I knew it wasn't coming off as it was coming off.

BALDWIN: So then why continue the joke?

SHAPIRO: Well, I mean, once -- I think the whole thing was two minutes long. So, I mean, you're doing a radio bit.

We've done, you know, hundreds and hundreds of them over the years and hopefully we've been -- haven't had many that fall flat like this.

And it's just something you shouldn't even go down that road. There's certain areas you've got to be smarter about.

And I understand the outrage. And I'm not going to sit here and justify any bit about the fact that, hey, that's part of what we do every day.

BALDWIN: Listen, I know people tune in to you and other shows for your personalities and for what you say and for surely pushing the envelope.

I'm curious, did you ever feel pressured from those above you to continue to push that envelope a little bit more?

SHAPIRO: Yeah, no, I don't think so. We're a sports talk radio station. Our first goal is to talk about sports. Our first goal is to entertain people driving to work. Our first goal is to be entertaining, informative and engaging.

And I didn't ever feel -- you know, A, if we're funny, if we come up with creative stuff, which we have in the past, that's great.

But, no, I didn't feel that pressure. The pressure is to try to do a good radio show. And that wasn't a good moment. It was a horrible moment.

But I don't feel like that we have been pressed and pressed. I know what I do for a living.

BALDWIN: It was your own volition?

SHAPIRO: Yeah. Absolutely. Nobody ... Hey, nobody's saying you have to get more controversial, you have got to be Tweeting -- you've got to be registering more on Twitter.

I think at this stage of the game, I've been doing it long enough. You should have enough judgment.

The only good thing I can say maybe positive that comes out of it is it is putting a lot of attention on a horrible disease.

BALDWIN: ALS?

SHAPIRO: ALS is obviously horrific. Any family that's ever dealt with it, I can't imagine a worse, you know, diagnosis than having to deal with that. And the last thing anybody needs is to have three guys kind of driving home something that's not funny.

So, you know, maybe there is on some level some positive that comes from it and that's the only thing you can hope for at this point.

I mean, what else can you really say other than, I'm sorry, ...

BALDWIN: Right.

SHAPIRO: ... ill-advised, and not funny. And I'll make every effort to make up for it.

BALDWIN: Final question to you is just have you reached out to Steve yet?

SHAPIRO: Yeah, I've reached out. I spoke to some folks at the foundation today and it's a private conversation. Obviously, they were well aware of it. Thought it was a good conversation.

And, you know, I think he's -- he is vacationing, I guess, with his wife as they do every summer and -- but, I mean, there's a lot more to do there. It's not just one phone call, doesn't all of a sudden make things right.

BALDWIN: Of course. I'm just wondering if you had talked with him or not?

SHAPIRO: Yeah, we reached out earlier. About three hours ago. I had a nice conversation, relatively speaking. and offered a sincere apology. I feel terrible about it. It's ironic because I have family in Louisiana, got married in New Orleans. My daughter is named Noah.

You know, they're so much I love about that city, and they're the most outraged, rightfully so. So you want to talk about irony?

You know, it's a place I understand their passions and their heroes and to make fun of one of those is -- it's an awful thing. I feel awful about it. BALDWIN: Steal Shapiro, I thank you for coming on national television with all of that. Thank you so much.

SHAPIRO: OK.

BALDWIN: We've got to get a quick break in.

When we come back we're going to talk to a radio host who comes on with us pretty often. Jay Thomas. We'll get his take on this whole thing.

And, really, what is fair game and what is not? At what point do hosts really cross the line? That conversation is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. We just spoke exclusively to Steak Shapiro who very much so publicly mea culpaed after doing what he and his two other colleagues did on Atlanta sports radio show, basically in very poor taste making fun of a former player suffering with ALS disease.

I want to broaden the conversation and talk really about the shock jock culture on the radio. I want to bring in actor and Sirius radio personality, Jay Thomas, who is in New Orleans.

Jay, you're a funny guy. You're a veteran of radio. Did these guys cross -- they crossed the line.

JAY THOMAS, SIRIUS XM RADIO SHOW HOST: They did a stupid bit. Who sits in a room and says, well, we're going to do a joke about a guy with Lou Gehrig's disease? So they got fired for a bad joke.

I'm going to tell you something. I checked their ratings this morning and they didn't look good. I have a funny feeling that they should have been suspended.

This guy sounded very contrite. Sounds like he's a nice guy. They made a big mistake.

Look, it wasn't a funny bit. I don't know their normal show. But I think you have to look at, are their ratings good? You live in Atlanta. Are they the number one or top three?

BALDWIN: I think they're one of the top. One of the top, you know. They don't take the "Mike and Mike."

THOMAS: Well, I'm very surprised because e was contrite. I'm in New Orleans and people go, that was a dumb thing to say, but no one's yelling for them to get fired.

So it's like, you know, the management reacts. It's a terrible thing, a stupid thing but, yeah, you make mistakes.

So they should have been off the air for a few days. They would have done benefits for ALS. They would have been better for it. The radio station would have been better for it. BALDWIN: So do you think that they've gone too far?

THOMAS: I'm in New Orleans. I'm a huge Saints fan.

BALDWIN: No, of course. Of course.

THOMAS: For that moment, they went too far, but what about for the 18 years he's been there, the 15 or whatever? Come on.

That's some management person overreacting to -- I mean, it's one of the reasons why a lot of us left terrestrial radio. It's one of the reasons.

You might have gotten in trouble like that at Sirius XM. They would have called you out. You might have been off the air for a day or -- the only person that's ever lost their job at Sirius was somebody from either CNN or Fox that came over there and said something, and they got fired by the time they got back to their television station.

So, I mean, they don't deserve to be fired, but it's a terrible bit. Just a bad bit. Wasn't funny. Apologize to the guy. Raise money. You feel sorry for him.

Who even thinks that that's funny is -- probably shouldn't be on the radio because they're no good. Now that's one reason. But I don't know.

Listen, you know how many bits have been done about Stephen Hawking on "Family Guy" and ...

BALDWIN: I thought about "Family Guy" earlier. We were talking "Family Guy." I mean ...

THOMAS: Exactly.

BALDWIN: Exactly. No, I know. But at a point ...

THOMAS: Sure.

BALDWIN: ... at a point this crossed the line. And I hear you. You're saying obviously it was a bad bit.

THOMAS: It didn't cross the line. It crossed the line, but what happens is there was some focus on it and some general manager or vice president -- look, you're in television, you know.

BALDWIN: Yeah. Yeah.

THOMAS: Listen, 10 percent of what happens in life is what happens. It's 90 percent of how you react to it. They've decided to react in this big, huge way.

Now they're out a morning team. They have to hire some new guys. These guys back on the air, apologetically, have Steve Gleason come on. They'll never do it again. They become a better morning team.

BALDWIN: We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens.

THOMAS: I'm Jesuit educated and I went to the seminary. So you know, it's like, forgive.

Steve Gleason is an icon around here.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

THOMAS: And I'm a huge Saints fan. We don't like Atlanta at all. I don't even go to the Atlanta airport.

BALDWIN: Hey, listen, I understand why ...

THOMAS: No, during the football season, I don't go through the Atlanta airport.

BALDWIN: Well, I'm an Atlanta native, Jay Thomas, and I take offense to that, but I understand your frustration.

THOMAS: Well, I'm from New Orleans.

BALDWIN: And I understand the frustration among your folks there.

THOMAS: You know what? I mean, the thing is, of course, and this guy is apologizing and we're all sitting here and Steve Gleason said, OK, I'm on vacation and it's sad. He shouldn't have said it, and the foundation.

But you're telling me they were doing well in the ratings, well ....

BALDWIN: Listen, I don't know how well their ratings are. But we'll see. We'll see what ends up happening in their morning slot and what happens to these three guys ...

THOMAS: Right.

BALDWIN: ... and whatever happens beyond that. Jay Thomas, got to go. Thank you so much. Always great to get your perspective.

THOMAS: OK, thank you very much. Bye.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much.

Next, we have more on our breaking news out of Ohio. A woman and her daughter are free after being held captive for two years.

We now know that the FBI held a news conference this afternoon. We are talking to a reporter in Ohio who was there with those new details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: More on the breaking story out of Ashland, Ohio, a woman and her child are free after being held captive for two years.

Here's what we know now. Again, happening in Ashland, Ohio, two hours south of Cleveland. Three people at least under arrest for what the attorney general here is calling modern day slavery.

Investigators say the suspects forced the mother to hit the child while they were being videotaped. We're told the suspects threatened to show police the video if she ever tried to talk.

New details coming out this afternoon. I want to go straight to Scott Taylor from our CNN affiliate WOIO live in Cleveland. Scott, I understand a news conference happened this afternoon. What did you learn?

SCOTT TAYLOR, WOIO REPORTER: Well, Brooke, the three suspects, there's actually four, but they have three in custody now.

They were just arraigned here in federal court and they did, according to investigators, hold this woman, a 30-year-old mom and her six-year- old son and a large python, and even, believe it or not, a poisonous snake they kept as a pet.

They made her clean for them, do laundry, yard work. She has a mental disability. She's now 30-years-old, and they just would not let her leave, and, unfortunately, that went on for almost two years in Ashland, Ohio, which is about an hour and 15 minutes away from here, from downtown Cleveland.

BALDWIN: Scott, let me ask you this. I was talking to the Ashland police chief last hour and he was telling me it sounded like this woman -- I don't know if she knew the suspects, but that she went almost on her own volition to this home and then they sort of kept her then.

TAYLOR: Yes. I think you're right.

I did talk to the chief earlier this morning. He obviously gave you more information.

They did, according to investigators, did make that videotape, forced her to make a videotape that showed her beating her child, and when police went to the suspect's house and asked them about this, they actually popped that video up and let police look at it, but it was pretty good police work here, Brooke.

They quickly realized this videotape was forged. It was taped. So they started asking a lot more questions. And then she finally in October shoplifted to get in front of police, and police then realized what was going on in that house.

BALDWIN: Awful all the way around.

Scott Taylor, thank you so much, for affiliate WOIO out of Cleveland.

Now to this. He is one of the main characters of the hit movie, "Goodfellas," Jimmy Conway. Now police are searching the home of the real mobster who inspired that character.

We'll tell you what they're looking for next. We're back in 90 seconds. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The Jimmy Hoffa search going on in Michigan isn't the only high-profile case going on related to the Mob. A law enforcement source says investigators in New York are at the former home of the late Jimmy "The Gent" Burke.

You may not recognize his name, but he was the real life inspiration for Robert De Niro's unforgettable character in "Goodfellas."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody gets pinched. But you did it right. You told them nothing and they got nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought you'd be mad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mad? I'm not mad. I'm proud of you. You took your first pinch like a man and you learned the two greatest things in life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN's Jason Carroll is following the story for us today. And, Jason, what's happening?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we all remember that scene, that infamous scene.

BALDWIN: Great movie.

CARROLL: Yeah, great movie. Robert De Niro playing Jimmy Burke. The real Jimmy the Burke died of cancer in prison 17 years ago, but even to this day, Brooke, investigators continue their effort to try and track down the illegal activities that he may have had a hand in.

So, once again, I want to show you the picture of the real Jimmy the Burke. That is him there.

FBI agents began searching his former home in Queens on Monday. It's now owned by his daughter.

A law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation tells me they are searching for possible unidentified human remains. The source also says investigators are looking into a case that occurred before 1976. And while it's widely suspected that Burke was involved in the Lufthansa heist and that Burke may have buried a portion of the loot, remember whoever carried out that crime back in 1978 made off with, what, $6 million in cash and jewels from the JFK cargo building.

The source says it should be noted that Burke was also allegedly involved in a number of other illegal activities so the search may not have anything to do with that heist.

In the movie, "Goodfellas," Burke is depicted killing many of those who actually helped him carry out that heist in the movie. The reality is some of those people are still considered missing.

Burke was suspected of killing many, but he was convicted of murdering just one, a street hustler, and back in 1985 , Burke was eventually sentenced to life in prison. And, once again, he died in prison.

It's one of those stories, Brooke, that just keeps on giving long after Burke's death.

BALDWIN: It does, doesn't it? Jason Carroll, thank you so much.

And now to basketball, folks, it is do-or-die for the Miami Heat tonight. The team with the best record in the league could lose the championship to the Spurs.

Rachel Nichols is in Miami, lucky girl. She's live with a preview, next.

We're back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Game six of the Miami Heat. A loss and the Spurs take home the NBA championship.

LeBron James is trying to submit his legacy as one of the best players of all time. CNN Sports Rachel Nichols is live for us in Miami.

So, Rachel, if the Spurs win, will the headlines be more their accomplishment or LeBron losing?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: A little bit of both, but trust me, most people will be interested in LeBron losing.

And before Spurs fans argue with that and say, oh, the media doesn't like us because they're boring.

They're not boring. The Spurs are dropping three-pointers all over. They're an exciting team.

But the fact is LeBron James is considered the best athlete in the country right now. He's the best basketball player on the planet.

And if he now becomes a four-time NBA finalist, but only a one-time champion, people are going to have questions about that. They want to know why. Is it his head? Is it his heart?

They know that it's not his talent, so there's going to be a lot going forward. And remember, LeBron is only 28-years-old. If they lose this game tonight, there's no question he will go back to the lab, as he likes to say, and see what he can do going forward. The story will not be over.

Tim Duncan, who has the chance to win his fifth NBA title tonight, which is really remarkable, well, two of those that he's already won, he won after the age of 28, which LeBron is now in his third after the age of 29 is come tonight.

Still a lot of room to go for LeBron James, but a lot of eyes seeing what he's going to happen tonight and if he can pull this through, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll be looking for the game, game six. Rachel Nichols for us in Miami. Thank you so much, Rachel.

And before I let you go, let me tell you. I sit here and I read these tweets constantly. I appreciate you sending them to me. I read them all through commercial break. And my Twitter feed has absolutely blown up over that Steak Shapiro interview.

I want to promise you that we'll post that on the Brooke blog at CNN.com/Brooke. Let me know your opinion.

Here he was, that guy fired over a horrible -- absolutely horrible joke that he made. Let me know your thoughts. Should he have his job back or not, at BrookeB, CNN.

Thanks for watching. Jake Tapper is up next with "THE LEAD."