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Samuel L. Jackson to Obama: "Be Presidential"; Pasta Maker: "No Same Sex Couples in Ads"; Two Men Charged in Listeria Outbreak; Blackberry Loses Nearly $1 Billion; "My Son Died in Thrill Hanging"; Mall Terrorists Had Rented a Store; Pilot Suffers Fatal Heart Attack

Aired September 27, 2013 - 14:30   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: To news now about the first big American city to file for bankruptcy. It's getting a little help. The Obama administration just announced that Detroit is getting $300 million in aid. The money will help alleviate some of the problems that are crushing that city. Tens of thousands of blighted or abandoned buildings, almost half the street lights don't work. And if you call police, the average response time is almost an hour. And two thirds of the city's parks are closed. Half the money will be used to clear some of the city's 78,000 -- that's right, 78,000 abandoned buildings. Another big chunk will go toward making the city's buses safer and help pay for new transit systems. Detroit will also get 150 firefighters, more police patrols. The White House emphasizes this is not a bailout. In reality, it's a drop in the bucket compared to Detroit's needs. The city is $18 billion -- with a "b" -- in the hole according to its July bankruptcy filing.

OK, time to get you talking about what everybody is talking about on social media when it comes to dealing with critical issues in the nation. Does the president need to toughen up or get scary? Well, actor Samuel L. Jackson seems to think he needs to do the latter. You may have heard about his recent comments in "Playboy" magazine saying President Obama needs to stop dropping the gs on his words. Stop trying to relate and just conjugate, Mr. President. Be more presidential.

Well, during that interview, Jackson also reaffirmed what he said in a previous interview, saying he wants to see a scary Obama. Jackson told "Playboy," quote, "he got a little heated about the kids getting killed in Newtown and about the gun law. He's still a safe dude. If Hillary Clinton decides to run, she's going to kick their" - they being Republicans - "f-ing a's."

Glad I didn't say that. I almost did.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: -- kids getting killed in Newtown and about the gun law. He's still a safe dude. If Hillary Clinton decides to run, she's going to kick their -- they being Republicans, f'ing as. Glad I didn't say that. I almost did. I was like -- scared me there for a second. Joining me now, CNN political editor, Ben Ferguson, Marc Lamont Hill, "Huffington Post Live." So this is a scary subject to you and you know, you can't be an angry black white man on television. You can't be an angry white man on television.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Can't make any promises.

LEMON: All right so Marc, I'll start with you. Why is this such a touchy subject?

MARC LAMONT HILL, HOST, "HUFFINGTON POST": Well, because I think there's this thing called the politics of respectability, right. There's a certain sentiment among black middle class folk that they want to appear in the general public to look a certain way, to be a certain way too, be respectable, dignified folk.

President Obama represents like the ultimate dream and aspiration of the middle class and so if he's up there dropping his Gs and he's out there not speaking English properly, it makes some people anxious. I disagree entirely. I think it's elitist. It's nothing but ridiculousness.

And quite frankly, Samuel L. Jackson of all people is going to give a lesson on language? This is the guy who curses in every movie. Even the voiceover --

LEMON: Mark, it's Samuel L. Jackson. Everybody is so up in arms. My gosh, can everybody take a chill pill. It's Samuel L. Jackson. He's the guy with the nursery rhyme, go the, you know what, to sleep.

HILL: Exactly.

LEMON: Politics, which is a term many laugh at, respectable to each other or respectable to white people?

HILL: White people.

LEMON: That's a bunch of crap. I don't think Samuel L. Jackson cares how he looks to white people or anybody else. When people say that, people get confused with saying you should be doing certain things for yourself. It has nothing to do with what white people think of you.

HILL: If President Obama starts pronouncing the word g, his life is going to get better he's already president. What personal benefit does he have from speaking English differently when he's trying to connect to crowds?

LEMON: Maybe it's his affect on young people who look up to him. Maybe it's because in order to get a job, in order to have a viable career, you need to be able to pronounce certain words and speak English.

HILL: In certain settings. At the state of the union, he's not saying, y'all, we're invading Iraq or we're fitting to invade Syria. He's doing this when he is on the road, talking to people, trying to connect to crowds. Hillary Clinton does the same thing. She goes into Selma and speaks like a black person, tries to clap on beat. You see George Bush go to Texas and speak with a drawl. Everybody does it, let's let President Obama do what everybody else does.

LEMON: All right, y'all, I'm going to go to the white guy. What do you think, Ben?

FERGUSON: That was the most fun I have ever had not talking on CNN ever. Wow. I'm going to sit back and relax and enjoy the show here. Look, I think the president, one of the things that is great about him that's got him elected not once, but twice is he's been able to go around and be a chameleon. He's been able to speak at the million dollar dinners, go to Hollywood and speak with the Hollywood types, get down in the south and drop the Gs if he wants to with the crowd.

I think Samuel's point is at some point, you are the president, and the president should act like the president and not try to change for a group when you're the president of the United States of America. His other point is what example does it set for young kids who are trying to get out and are trying to get a job, and are trying to make something of themselves.

They should look up to the president and say he's incredibly well spoken, incredibly well educated and I'm going to work hard and stay out of trouble and make good grades and want to aspire to be that instead of him coming down to a different level because he thinks it's somehow more acceptable to the audience, which I actually think helps push stereotypes instead of break them down. I kind of find a little of what Samuel L. Jackson said refreshing minus all the curse words in there.

HILL: Come on, Ben, you can't be serious.

FERGUSON: He kind of made a point. I am serious.

LEMON: Why can't he be serious?

HILL: You're kind of being ridiculous right now.

LEMON: Go ahead.

HILL: First, the president is not coming down a notch because he drops a G when he's talking to an informal audience. We all do it. The president is well spoken, the president is well educated. He doesn't compromise --

FERGUSON: I agree.

HILL: Because when he's at a craft fair, he says, everybody, I was riding my bike yesterday. That's OK to do that. Part of the example is you don't have to be on all the time. Normal time, successful people speak informally to crowds. I do it all the time, you do, don does, and we all turned out OK.

FERGUSON: Do you want that from the president of the United States of America?

HILL: Yes.

FERGUSON: To walk into the room and change the way he speaks just because he thinks it may somehow make him a little more hip or cool in that room?

HILL: Yes, I do. I want him to relate.

LEMON: Hang on. I understand what both of you are saying and they all do it. We notice, remember during 2008, Hillary Clinton would do it, especially if she went to a black church or black crowd. She would do the same thing. People do it. Isn't this just human nature, though? As I said, are we putting too much really into this, nobody?

HILL: It's your show, bro.

LEMON: Nobody, anybody? Listen, Mark --

FERGUSON: Here's the thing.

LEMON: Mark --

FERGUSON: Let me say this. I think being the president of the United States of America is something people should want to aspire to. There's a certain level of kind of you're awesome and you're proper, and you are sophisticated. And there's nothing wrong with that. Embrace it so people see it.

HILL: He's already that. Come on. Ben, I am going to remind you of this and we're going to play this back the next time you talk about the liberal elites who think they're better than everybody. You attacked John Kerry for speaking French in 2004.

LEMON: Don't forget limousine liberal.

HILL: Exactly.

LEMON: Mark, why is this -- I want to know, why is this so controversial? Because it's been -- I talked about this in 2008, 2009, 2010, 20 2011, 2012, and it's always controversial. And quite honestly, Mark, why do black folks get so upset when you talk about this?

HILL: Well, I think --

LEMON: It's mostly black folks.

HILL: Many bourgeois elite black folk are embarrassed when something resembles something of the black poor. Many feel differently and feel like this is ridiculous talk that reflects the shame of the middle class of the poor. It's OK to speak like us, to hang with us. You can say our name and nothing bad is going to happen, Samuel Jackson, the president, anybody. Can why can't there be more outrage? Of all the things going on in the world, Syria, health care, the economy, this is what ticks off Samuel Jackson?

LEMON: The article was saying he should get stronger and tougher, and there is a danger in there where he doesn't want to come off as being the angry black man, which is a subject we have tackled a lot of. That's why we tackled that. Do you think that's legitimate, first to you, Ben, and then to Mark.

FERGUSON: Do I think, say that one more time?

LEMON: About being -- he has to weigh, as coming off as someone who is passionate or being the angry black president?

FERGUSON: I don't. I think people look at him and they look at him as the president of the United States of America who is allowed to get angry and be inspired even if I disagree with him. I respect that when any president does it because it shows they care and have a heart. Sometimes you're not always supposed to be politically correct or perfect.

HILL: Wait a minute!

FERGUSON: -- being powerful is something people want you to have. There's a difference between that and dropping the G. There's a big difference between those two things.

HILL: You just said -- I know where you're going to go with this. Because you know I'm right. You said you don't have to beef perfect all the time. You don't have to be like this, but then you say he should never drop the G. That's a complete contradiction. You caught yourself as you were saying it.

LEMON: Cut, print, and drag you off in the next reel. Thank you, we're done. Appreciate both of you, Marc Lamont Hill and Ben Ferguson.

Coming up, the makers of Barilla pasta could be facing a boycott. Find out what the company's president said that have them in hot water.

Plus, they thought they were goners when a robber pulls a trigger on a gun over and over and over again. Wait until you find out the twist of fate that saved lives in McDonald's.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Some of the hottest stories in a flash. Rapid fire, roll it.

First up, a doctor celebrated passing his board examines with a few cocktails, but the celebration was cut short when he fell off a Boston subway platform and onto the tracks. The man simply walked over the edge. Luckily, several good Samaritans jumped to his aid and risked their own safety to rescue him. Police say the man suffered a minor head injury. The good doctor says he doesn't remember a thing.

The world's biggest pasta maker facing a boycott this after Barilla's president said same-sex couples will not be featured in his company's commercials and he preferred traditional families. Listen to what he told Radio 24 in Italy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator) (via telephone): I would never do a commercial with them. Not for lack of respect for homosexual families, but because we don't think like them. We think ours is a classic family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Twitter exploded after his comments. The hash tag #boycott barilla started spreading. Barilla has apologized, issued three apologies so far.

Two cantaloupe farmers in Colorado could go to prison for a listeria outbreak that killed 33 people. Eric and Ryan Jenson pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor charges yesterday. The now bankrupt Jenson Farms has been linked to what authorities say was the deadliest outbreak of food-borne illness in 89 years. The brothers call the outbreak a terrible accident. Their trial is set for December.

Blackberry lost nearly a billion dollars last quarter. The struggling smartphone maker may be nearing the end of the end. Its losses stem from unsold phones, Blackberries, new Z-10 phone totally tanked. Blackberry CEO says he is very disappointed in the financial resolve.

Up next on CNN, a story you don't want to miss. A 13-year-old found hanging in his closet in a sex game gone terribly wrong. This game, it's not just teens doing this. It's also killed celebrities. But this 13-year-old's dad has a message for every parent. He joins me live with this heartbreaking story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: If you're a parent of a teenager or young person you should listen to this. It's a secret sex game that kills hundreds each year. I'm talking about autoerotic asphyxiation. It is said to have taken the lives of some big stars. David Carradine died in 2009, found hanging in the closet of a hotel room, and the lead singer of Inxs, Michael Hutchins in a similar incident in a Sydney hotel room in 1997.

For those who don't know and this is not for the faint of heart, it is the act of choking yourself, usually by hanging, slowly slowing the oxygen to the brain while masturbating and supposedly, increasing sexual pleasure. Death by autoerotic asphyxiation is often covered up by the family of those killed, some even preferring to say it was suicide.

Not our next guest though. Ed Dejusus' 13-year-old son died while performing the sexual act on himself and he wants other people to know about it. Ed, thank you so much for being here.

ED DEJESUS, SON DIED FROM "THRILL HANGING": You're welcome.

LEMON: You're doing OK?

DEJESUS: You know, we're having quite a bit of trouble. We still don't want to accept that, you know, he's gone. But I have a strong urge to get the word out and at least be able to tell kids, teachers, parents, whoever I can, so that, you know, if this saves one person, I would be more than happy. It's just a terrible situation that we're going through.

LEMON: We'll talk more about knowledge in just a little bit, about informing people about this. But I want to go back and find out what happened on that day last week. Your wife found your son's body. Can you tell me about that?

DEJESUS: Yes. You know, we're divorced and every Wednesday, Thursday, I pick them up after school. I was at the grocery store, and almost done grocery shopping and I get a call, and it was my ex- wife on the phone. And she was hysterical. And you know, yelling on the phone, I couldn't understand what she said. My heart just about stopped.

I knew something was wrong. I ran out of the store. She had told me that my son tried to kill himself. And from that point forward, you know, as a parent, you start to beat yourself up, wondering, what did you do wrong? That wasn't the case. You know, for about, I don't even know, about a 36-hour period, I had been doing research, going online, looking for this, looking for that.

But basically, what had happened was he had been doing his homework once she left. She dropped our girls off to cheerleading practice. She gets home, calls his name. He didn't answer and went to his door. His door was locked. She unlocked it. She went into his room and found him in the closet.

And from there, she actually started to perform CPR and if it wasn't for what she had done, we wouldn't have had the time that we had to say goodbye. So I'm forever grateful for that. As far as from there forward, it was, you know, a week in the hospital that I can tell you I don't even feel like I was there.

LEMON: Yes.

DEJESUS: It was just unbearably, you know, heartbreaking and my whole family, friends, just everybody. When I did find out -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

LEMON: No, I can't even imagine what you're going through and listen, this isn't anything new. It happened to a high school teacher, her son, the same thing, 20 years ago. So there's -- there is, you're right, a lack of information out there. As you mentioned in the beginning of this interview, this is a taboo conversation to be having because of the sexual component. When is the right time, you think, for parents to talk about this with their kids?

DEJESUS: Well, you know, I have to tell you, too, it's not just, you know, kids doing this, you know, for masturbation. It's also kids doing it just to feel the, I guess, the way they feel when they get their oxygen back. You know, this is a situation that's been going on, and with the research I found, it was happening in Canada in the bathrooms in the school. And they changed a bunch of things in the school, and they added it to what they're teaching and pulled everything out that they could use, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. But it's a horrible situation and I'm just -- you know, we're all heartbroken.

LEMON: listen, I know that you -- it's your mission now to get schools to talk about this, to add this in part to their curriculum. I wish you luck. I think you're right on. Information is powerful and it does help. If it saves one life, as they say, it's all worth it. Ed Dejesus, thank you very much. We appreciate it, OK?

DEJESUS: You're welcome.

LEMON: We'll be right back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Now, a shocking revelation about the deadly Kenya mall terrorist siege. We have learned that the attackers or at least someone working with them had rented and operated a small store in the mall for a year before the attack. A Kenyan intelligence official tells CNN they now believe planning for the attack began more than a year ago. This official has also told CNN that three more people have been arrested. At least 67 people were killed in the four-day hostage crisis.

Coming up on CNN, a college student accused of hacking Miss Teen USA's webcam, taking nude pictures and blackmailing her. That story is straight ahead.

Plus, a pilot suffers a heart attack midflight. Find out what happened on board.

And breaking today, a quote, "bone chilling bust," two former U.S. soldiers conspiring to kill a federal agent in a huge operation involving cocaine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: A United Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing after its pilot suffered a heart attack and collapsed behind the controls. Airline officials say the captain was flying a 737 last night from Houston to Seattle and then midway through the flight, the plane was diverted to Boise, Idaho, after crew members contacted the control tower.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): We got a man down, chest compressions going on right now. I'm not sure too much right now the status, but we're going to need probably meds. If we could taxi clear -- actually, I'll stop on the runway and get on the other side of the aircraft, taxi off the runway and then an ambulance and maybe some air care needed on the runway.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll get that going. (END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Once the jet safely landed, paramedics rushed the pilot to a hospital where he later died.