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Glenn Beck Talks about Mistakes at Fox; The Business of Being Bruno Mars; NFL's Snow Plan: Change Day of Super Bowl
Aired January 23, 2014 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Target is making some cutbacks. The retailer says it will be slashing the jobs of nearly 500 employees in its global work force and cutting back on health insurance for part time employees. A Target spokeswoman says the cutbacks are unrelated to the hack attack last year.
NSA leaker Edward Snowden will take questions today at a live town hall tell chat on the FreeSnowden website today. The chat starts at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. And you can submit questions using the hashtag AskSnowden. Snowden is expected to comment on the president's latest remarks about the NSA.
Glenn Beck known for his extreme and sometimes incendiary rhetoric, and conspiracy theories is now changing his tune. Beck talked to Fox News about the show he used to host on that network and his regrets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I remember it as an awful lot of fun and that I made an awful lot of mistakes. And I wish I could go back and be more uniting in my language because I, I, I think I played a role unfortunately in helping tear the country apart.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: This is the same guy who on Fox News said President Barack Obama was a racist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: This President I think has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep seated hatred for white people or the white culture. I don't know what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about -- about this change in tone from Glenn Beck. Amy Holmes is anchor of "The Hot List" at TheBlaze.com. John Avlon, is editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast" and a CNN political analyst and CNN senior media correspondent is here too Brian Stelter. Welcome to all of you.
BRIAN STLETER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.
AMY HOLMES, ANCHOR, THE HOT LIST, THEBLAZE.COM: Good morning. JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So Amy I want to start with you because you work at the network Glenn founded. And people are listening to him now and saying what, say what?
HOLMES: Indeed I do. It's great to be joining you from the Blaze Newsroom -- Glenn Beck's growing media empire. And you know actually in point of fact for Glenn Beck's viewers and listeners, this isn't a new message. It's something that he's been discussing quite often and quite openly.
If you remember he reached out to Melissa Harris Perry just earlier this month to lend his support as a fellow broadcaster. And I can tell you as an employee of Glenn Beck, happily so, that he's always innovating and he's always moving forward in trying to grow both as a broadcaster, as a philanthropist and a media entrepreneur. And I admire his willingness to you know be self-critical and self- reflective in public when you know a lot of his critics are going to try to use it as ammunition.
COSTELLO: So that sounds really great, Amy, but John do you buy it?
AVLON: No.
COSTELLO: John?
AVLON: No I mean you know Amy works for Mr. Beck now. And I'm sure that's the message he's trying to send. But this apology is too little too late. He presented himself as king of the wing nuts, he wrote to fame and fortune by consciously dividing the country. And he knew he was doing it because he's a very talented broadcaster. So he knew exactly what he was doing when he did it, he got rich and famous doing it. And he duped a whole lot of people and divided the nation.
So too little too late.
COSTELLO: Too little too late but he -- but you could -- you could argue John, he is trying. Because here's another example of Glenn Beck changing his tone, this time on gay people. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK: Look, anybody -- anybody within the sound of my voice that hates a gay person because they're gay, you have no place calling yourself a fan of mine. And you have no place in this (inaudible). You are not -- you are not a fan of mine. You have -- you have no friendship here if you hate people because they're gay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, I'm guessing Brian that we wouldn't have heard that from Glenn Beck, you know, back in the day, just about three or four years ago. Why is he doing this?
STELTER: Well I do appreciate anybody who's self-reflective. Yesterday on Piers Morgan, Ann Coulter was asked about this and she was not as self-reflective. And I think we should praise people in the media who look back and think about they have said and evolve over time. Evolution is a good, good thing.
But I do think there might be a business motive to this. Call me cynical but Glenn Beck is now in the business of trying to get a cable channel nationally distributed. He needs as many people to like him as possible, he needs as many cable operators to like him as possible and he's had a lot of success already getting channel carried across the country. But he has a lot more operators to convince and I wonder if he's trying to put on a friendlier face now that he's trying to get his channel more broadly carried.
COSTELLO: OK, I want Amy to stand up for Glenn Beck because she knows him personally. So please respond.
HOLMES: Absolutely. I mean you're calling him a conspiracy theorist. I'm hearing my fellow panelists full of conspiracies about Glenn Beck.
As I say Glenn Beck is a broadcaster of long time standing. And he has tremendous fans. And I'm one of them. And when Glenn Beck hired me, he knew that I didn't share a lot of his politics. But he's very happy and comfortable for me to discuss them here on CNN. And last night Piers Morgan himself of your own cable network said that he admired and he applauded Glenn Beck.
And as far as you know he didn't change his tune when it comes to gay men and women. In fact he stands in solidarity with GLAAD when it comes to Russia's discrimination against gay men and woman and as many gay male and female employees right here at The Blaze.
So I think I would add sort of put a wave of knives here. And I would -- I'd like to see more of the main stream media actually engaged in the self-reflection in terms story choice and tone. I think Glenn Beck is actually leading the way.
COSTELLO: OK, so John, you've written articles about this. It sounds like Glenn Beck has read your book and he's doing what you wanted him to. So isn't that a good thing?
AVLON: I wouldn't go that far. But I mean, look, Glenn Beck is a talented broadcaster. He's a good businessman and in politics and media you want to find the truth follow the money. I think Brian makes a great point about his new -- trying to expand his appeal.
And look if Glenn Beck can help turn people's mind and hearts who he's helped poisoned in the past, with hyper-partisanship and polarization great. If he can actually convince people that those folks who believed him were mistaken by buying his snake oil, his bile that he did but you're culpable for what you do when you have you're time at microphone --
HOLMES: Clearly John, you're not a fan.
COSTELLO: OK so Brian -- AVLON: No, no I'm not. And it's just -- he's -- he's got to be responsible for what he did when he had his moment of maximum influence.
COSTELLO: OK so Brian --
STELTER: Meanwhile I'm one of the guys who wishes I could get his cable channel here in New York. I hope he gets broad distribution. I'd like to hear what he says now. And I wish we had better access to what he said now.
COSTELLO: Well and Brian just to --
HOLMES: You can go to TheBlaze.com and listen as much as you like.
COSTELLO: There you go. Brian, I just want you button this up. Is this the beginning of a trend? Will we hear softer language from not only Glenn Beck but other such pundits?
STELTER: I would be surprised if we did. I think there's a -- there's a big market still for very polarizing language, very divisive behavior by commentators. You know we see that all the time in talk radio. But the more people who are broadly appealing and more people who are self-reflective the better.
COSTELLO: All right Amy Holmes, John Avlon, Brian Stelter thank you all for the interesting discussion. I appreciate it.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Bruno Mars taking his act all the way to the half-time show at the Super Bowl. And he's taking all that fame straight to the bank. Christine Romans has that story. Hi Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Twenty-eight-years old, this is a guy who sort of gave up on being a super star, wrote for other people. And then he found super stardom. And now he's going straight to the Super Bowl. The business of being Bruno Mars right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Who listens to the radio anymore? It seems like you can't turn on -- oh no like there is Web radio. Or walk into a store without hearing a Bruno Mars song. And next month he's taking his act all the way to center stage at the Super Bowl half-time show. And all that talent adds up to a whole lot of cash.
Christine Romans has the story. Good morning.
ROMANS: Good morning Carol.
You know gosh this guy is so talented right, on top of those Grammy nominations he's had. Only 28 years old. He's heading to music's biggest stage, the Super Bowl. Carol --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS (voice over): Bruno Mars is going from super star to the Super Bowl. Born Peter Hernandez to a musical family in Hawaii he started out as the world's youngest Elvis impersonator.
BRUNO MARS, SINGER: Take my hand --
ROMANS: He struggled as a performer. He was dropped from Motown Records then changed his business plan and began writing and producing songs for other artists.
His big break came in 2010 doing vocals for two songs he helped write "Nothing on You" and "Billionaire". His debut album, a success and landed Mars two number one hits.
MARS: I'd catch a grenade for you --
ROMANS: Album number two reached number one. And the accompanying tour brought him more than $46 million so far.
MARS: I should have bought you flowers and held your hand --
ROMANS: All together Mars have sold 115 million singles worldwide and landed five number one singles faster than any singer since Elvis. The 28-year-old was Billboard's artist of the year last year.
MARS: Expect to have some fun with us.
ROMANS: He has 14 past Grammy nominations but only one trophy so far. He could soon add to his collection with four more nominations this year.
Outside the studio, he has invested in chromatic, a startup that makes digital sheet music and electronic cigarette maker NJoy which he uses to kick the habit. Up next the biggest stage in music: Mars will play the Super Bowl half-time show for more than 100 million viewers. He joins legendary peers, the first artist under 30 to headline in a decade. The business of being Bruno Mars is far from over.
MARS: I feel like I haven't even started yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Carol just to give you a sense of his popularity, his record label Atlantic gave us these sales numbers for the U.S., I mean they're unbelievable. He's got two albums so far for "Do Ups" and "Hooligans" more than 2.1 million were sold; for "Unorthodox Jukebox" more than 1.9 million were sold.
COSTELLO: Wow.
ROMANS: And this is a guy who was originally dropped by his record label. You know focused on his strengths and now wow, a really talented guy, really hitting the top.
COSTELLO: And he's talented in other ways too, I saw, he hosted SNL I don't know a couple of years ago and he was excellent, he's a great comedian too. He has it all Christine.
ROMANS: Yes and making some good investments along the way. You know me I was like you know take that talent and make good investments.
COSTELLO: Yes indeed. Thank you Christine Romans.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Super Bowl Friday, Super Bowl Monday? Really Andy?
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: It could happen Carol and it all depends on the snow in New Jersey. We'll break down the scenarios after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 47 minute past the hour.
After being caught on camera again clearly intoxicated and mumbling in a restaurant earlier this week, Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford says this is not a sign of a bigger problem, only a minor setback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO: Monday was unfortunate. I had a minor setback. We all experience these difficult bumps in life. I am telling the Toronto residents that I'm still working hard everyday to improve my health and my well being.
But again, this is completely a private matter. There are some counselors (ph) who claim that my personal life is somehow impacting their work. Folks, that is absolute nonsense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ford went on to say this has no effect on his performance as mayor and like everyone else, he's entitled to have a personal life.
Texas has executed a Mexican national despite diplomatic pressure from the Mexican government and the Obama administration. 46-year-old Edgar Tamayo was convicted of murdering a Houston police officer in 1994. Mexican officials say he was denied consulate access when he was arrested. U.S. Officials warned executing him could impact how Americans are treated a broad. The Supreme Court rejected Tamayo's final appeal on Wednesday.
New developments in the investigation into Governor Chris Christie, according to the "New York Times", aides to Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer have been questioned by the FBI. Zimmer has accused Christie's administration of holding back Sandy relief funding if she didn't greenlight a development project Christie wanted.
In the meantime, the governor resumes his public schedule today following the snowstorm with an announcement on education.
After last year's PR nightmare of Team USA's uniforms being made in China, Ralph Lauren has sourced this year's thread from all American companies. More than 40 American companies had a hand in this U.S. outfit which will be worn at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Now the clothes feature plenty of American symbols with oversized stars and stripes. You can actually buy them online if you want but they're pretty pricey. You could pay $50 for one of those knit caps if you want but it says U.S. Olympics on it.
Will Super Bowl Sunday become Super Bowl Friday? Shocking but it could happen. The NFL has contingency plans just in case the weather gets nasty at MetLife Stadium. Crews had a sort of digging out dress rehearsal yesterday after more than a foot of snow fell in the New York City area. They did a super job but what happens if snow is forecast to hit on game day? Andy Scholes is here to tell us.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: That's right Carol. Right now forecasts are calling for just a 30 percent chance of snow over at MetLife Stadium. But when the forecast comes out earlier next week for Sunday, the NFL does have contingency plans to move the game to Friday, Saturday, or even Monday.
Can you imagine Monday? That's going to be a national holiday right? Who's going to want to go to work when you get the watch the Super Bowl later that night?
Now Eric Grubman, he's the VP of business operations for the NFL. He says it's going to take a much bigger storm than hit Tuesday in New Jersey for them to actually move the Super Bowl. Now there's 13 inches on the field at MetLife. That was a pretty big storm.
COSTELLO: Yes.
SCHOLES: He said it all depends on public safety. Can people get to the game and are they going to be safe at the game? So if there is that 13-inch storm like they had on Tuesday the game will still go on. Of course all the 80,000 people on the stands are not going to be very happy about it because they're going to be very cold.
COSTELLO: Freezing. I know they're going to be freezing. So there's going to be some sort of goody bags --
SCHOLES: That's right. The NFL they're ready for this -- They're giving out a seat cushion and in the cushion comes a zipper pocket. In the zipper pocket, you're going to get a wool cap, hand warmers, gloves, lip balm, tissues, a scarf. My favorite though Carol -- they're going to get one of those hand warmer the quarterbacks wear, they put on their belt and put their hands in the whole game.
I think it might be funny. You're going to 80,000 people walking around looking exactly the same with their hands in their hand warmers.
COSTELLO: I'd like one of those things. That would be cool. I don't care if everyone else has one. I want one too.
SCHOLES: Yes, I'm going to go to New York just to try to get my little goody bag.
COSTELLO: You go Andy. Thank you so much.
SCHOLES: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM and touchdown and sudden death. They sure have a different meaning when this is how you make your entrance to the big game. Jeanne Moos will have a bird's eye view on stadium sky divers.
First though if you've ever wondered about taking a trip to Denver, there are three reasons you should. Beer, burritos and ice skating.
Chris Grundy, the host of "Cool Tools" is our travel insider in the Mile High City.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS GRUNDY, HOST OF "COOL TOOLS": Hey, Chris Grundy with ACTV in DIY Network in snowy Denver, Colorado. Follow me as I give you some travel tips in my town, Mile-High City.
On a cold day, there's nothing like a hot brunch -- (inaudible). One of my favorite dishes, smothered breakfast burrito. Very Denver. What makes Steuben's unique, man?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's regional American so it hits all the favorite foods all over the country.
GRUNDY: I'm looking around, very retro.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It definitely has that late 60s, early 70s feel.
GRUNDY: Digging into the burrito. This is what I'm talking about.
Time to work off that grub here at the Evergreen Ice Skating Rink.
This place is eight and a half acres, it's 12 hockey rinks and a giant (inaudible) skating. Now that my legs and quads are on fire and I'm chopping Monday of at the Renegade (inaudible).
Denver has about 50 (inaudible) in the Metro Area. You can't come to Denver without sampling a little bit of brew.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have four beers we're trying today. We have the redacted (inaudible), Imperial Stout, (inaudible) Triple IPA and black gold, imperial peanut butter cup stout.
GRUNDY: I heard that you have this. And that's good.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every keg has a pound of peanut butter cups.
GRUNDY: There you have it. A perfect day in Denver. For Travel Insider, I'm Chris Grundy. Cheers.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Quentin Tarantino is reportedly pulling the plug on an upcoming film after a leak. Deadline.com reports that Tarantino gave his script "The Hateful Eight" to six people and someone spilled the beans. That sparked calls from actors' agents to Tarantino's rep. Tarantino was so upset he says he'll publish the script as a book and maybe think about doing a movie later.
The countdown is underway for the Super Bowl. And while many of us would be thrilled with nose bleed seats, few of us could enjoy the view you're about to see. It's from 5,000 feet up. Thanks to the sky divers who turn any event into an aerial thrill.
Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He's across the 50, the 40, the 30, clear sailing at the 20. But that's no running back. That's a skydiver. And if you've ever wondered what it's like to drop into a stadium, come along for the jump.
But how do you aim for that itty bitty oval down there?
Grab the steering handles.
DAVID BILLINGS, DENVER BRONCOS THUNDERSTORM: You pull down on the left, you go left. You pull down on the right, you go right.
MOOS: David Billings is a member of the Denver Broncos Thunderstorm, six skydivers who routinely jump into Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium. After they jumped as part of the AFC championship pre- game show, they released the helmet cam video.
(on camera): You've never landed on a spectator?
BILLINGS: No, no. Absolutely not.
MOOS (voice-over): There were some 77,000 directly beneath them.
BILLINGS: We're coming in at speeds probably about 50 to 60 miles per hour.
MOOS: They use high performance smaller swooping canopies -- the biggest hazards are the crisscrossing cables the TV cameras run on.
BILLINGS: Every blue line is a wire we have to avoid. Enter the field about here, do our spiral, come in under these wires. Now, we're under all the wires until we hit touch down right over here.
MOOS: Touchdown at the 20. Who needs the end zone? The skydivers were greeted like heroes. But 20 years ago, an unexpected and unwelcome paraglider --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a parachute has just landed on the edge of the ring --
MOOS: Intentionally crashed a heavyweight title bout at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There he is entering at the left side.
MOOS: That guy got beaten up by fans and arrested.
But the Broncos skydivers get high-fives though a Patriots fan did give two-handed middle finger salute.
(on camera): The Broncos skydivers have never had a problem. They make it look easy. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
(voice-over): Well, there was the time more than a flag was flying in the outfield at a Texas Rangers game after an army skydiver got hung up on the pole.
(on camera): When's the last time you actually paid for a ticket to get into the stadium?
BILLINGS: You know, I've never actually paid for a ticket. I've never had a ticket for the actual game although I've stayed for quite a few.
MOOS (voice-over): They pay him to enter at this gate. Talk about long yardage.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: That looks awesome doesn't it?
I leave you with these incredible pictures. Check out the lava spewing from Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii. This video was captured from the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory earlier this week. As it turns out, January is volcano awareness month in Hawaii. And what better way to announce that than with these incredible pictures.
Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Justin Bieber busted, hauled off to jail, arrested, DUI, resisting arrest and drag-racing. All this barely a week after the big raid at his L.A. estate.
