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Hurricane Takes Aim at Florida; Kaepernick Protests Flag at Chargers' Military Event; Obama Visits Midway Atoll Highlights Climate Record; Actor Michael Chiklis Has Another Passion: Music. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 02, 2016 - 00:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

A crucial hour in Florida as Hurricane Hermine roars ashore right now.

Refusing to stand. The quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers protests the U.S. national anthem again.

And closing the gap, Donald Trump trims Hillary Clinton's lead in the race for the White House.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

Hurricane Hermine is taking aim at the southeastern U.S. with millions of people in its path. The Category 1 storm is expected to make landfall along Florida's Gulf Coast any time now. It is already drenching the state with heavy rain. Flooding is a major concern.

Florida's governor calls the storm quote, "life-threatening" with an expected storm surge of about three meters.

CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray joins us now from Florida with the very latest. Jennifer -- how bad are conditions right now?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we are getting one of those really, really heavy rain bands. The winds are definitely strong and this seems like it is one of those bands just on the center of the storm. So this is going to be where you are going to find the heaviest rain, the strongest wind but we are on the west side of where the center of the storm is, which is basically the weaker side; most of the energy is on the east side of that storm.

And like you were saying, the biggest concern is going to be that storm surge with all of that energy and all of that wind pushing that water into what we call the Big Bend of Florida. It's basically like a backwards C shape and it has a lot of bays, lagoons, inner coastal waterways. And so we could see that storm surge running two to three meters in those locations and so we could see incredible amounts of flooding.

Now, this is a category 1 storm basically winds about 125 kilometers per hour and that storm is going to be making landfall at any moment. This is going to be the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since 2005. The last hurricane was Wilma. And so it's been more than a decade -- a lot of new people in the state and that was the biggest concern because Florida is a very transient state. A lot of people move in here.

And so government officials were very nervous that people wouldn't really know what to do. They wouldn't be prepared. But they tried to evacuate a lot of those coastal areas to get people to higher ground and people have been making preparations.

Now, this storm is going to go all the way up the East Coast. This is a holiday weekend and so a lot of people do flock to the beaches during this particular weekend throughout the year. And so it is going to mean a very wet and a very windy weekend for a lot of people all up and down the East Coast.

But throughout the overnights there will still be a very high wind threat, tornado threat as well as that flooding threat that's going to extend not only from the Florida panhandle but up through Georgia throughout the overnight hours as well -- Isha.

SESAY: Jennifer Gray there in Florida in the thick of things. Jennifer -- stay safe. Thank you. We'll check back with you later.

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the storm from our International Weather Center. Derek you are looking at the models. You're looking at the radar. Where exactly is Hermine right now. How fast is it moving? Tell us what you're seeing.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right -- Isha.

Well, it is moving to the north and east and we have about 45 minutes before a direct landfall right along that Big Bend area of Florida as Jen was just taking about a moment ago. The impasse, coastal storm surge we have already seen readings about two and a half meters above normal high tide and we've had wind gusts of near 100 kilometers per hour.

I want to show you the radar so we can get into some of details of what the storm is doing right now just moments before it makes landfall. There is the eye. You can see the center of the circulation rotating just outside of that backwards C that Jen mentioned a moment.

She is in the Apalachicola. She mentions she's on the western edge of the eye wall. That puts the right facing quadrant the strongest part of the storm just about making landfall -- that's near the Taylor County region.

And that is where we are seeing that buildup of water. That's called storm surge. Remember high tide doesn't occur until about 3:30 in the morning across this area. And we have already had some tidal gauges reading about two and a half meters above the high-tide stage.

And you can see the hurricane warnings that are in place across the Big Bend area of Florida. But look at this -- we have tropical storm warnings extending across the coast of the Carolinas and into the Delmarva Peninsula. That's New Jersey, Delaware and into Maryland.

[00:05:03] We have tropical storm watches -- that is for the end of the weekend and into the public holiday which, of course, is Monday. Look at our five-day path bringing that storm system by Saturday morning out into the open waters of the Atlantic and guess what, it is warm enough. Perhaps we see this storm redevelop -- something we need to monitor very closely for the East Coast of the United States -- Isha.

SESAY: All right. Derek -- thank you. I know you're going to monitor this very closely for us. We'll check in with you in a little while. Thank you.

VAN DAM: Absolutely. You're welcome.

SESAY: New Zealanders are hoping they felt the last of the aftershocks from Friday's powerful earthquake. The magnitude 7.1 tremor struck off the East Coast of the north island early in the morning. It was strong enough to wake up people in Auckland. Thousands were temporarily evacuated and a very small tsunami hit the northern coast. So far, there are no reports of injuries or major damage.

Let's talk politics, shall we?

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is facing some fallout from his Wednesday night immigration speech. He has started losing some key Latino supporters.

Meanwhile a new CNN poll of polls shows the race between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton is tightening. Clinton has a five-point lead over Trump; 42 percent to 37 percent -- that is only half the lead she enjoyed right after the Democratic convention.

Let's dig deeper into all of this. CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein is here now with more on the state of the race. Ron -- you are the man to have when there are polls.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Yes.

SESAY: So let's talk about that -- a five-point lead in this poll of polls in that four-way match-up including Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. What do these numbers say to you?

BROWNSTEIN: A couple of things. First, Hillary Clinton has had a bad couple of weeks, you know. The questions about the Clinton Foundation reinforcing the endless questions that arise constantly about her e- mail. She is facing very high unfavorable ratings, a very high percentage of Americans who say that she is not honest and trustworthy. Those are extraordinary headwinds that she is facing.

But what is very revealing and probably the most revealing about this poll is Donald Trump's number. He is still at 37. There has been, I believe, one credible national poll of a four-way race including the two third-party candidates that has had Trump even at 40 since August 1st.

So the movement in the race seems to be Hillary Clinton goes up or down -- some of them are most undecided or the third parties. But Donald Trump is having a very hard time getting past around 40 percent of the vote. And it kind of adds up because as we've said before about 60 percent of Americans consistently say in polls they don't believe he is qualified; about 60 percent say they believe he is racially-biased and he is having trouble getting past that which is why many people were expecting a very different immigration speech than we got this week.

SESAY: Than what we've got this week. Staying with the polls for a second --

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SESAY: -- give us some historical context and political context. Has Hillary Clinton's bump post convention evaporated faster than you would have expected?

BROWNSTEIN: No. I mean I think -- look, I think what she did at the convention I think was more cement the impressions of Trump and the questions that many voters have about whether he is a plausible president. She really didn't make that much progress even at her own convention at changing attitudes toward her which are still very equivocal.

And you know, kind of the North Star of this race -- and it's a phrase I've used for it -- is the 60 percent that consistently says they do not believe he is qualified. Roughly that number says that they question whether he has the temperament and again roughly that number considers him racially-biased. That is what, you know, that is the barrier between where he is and where he needs to be.

SESAY: And you know, as we talk about the immigration speech and what he said in Arizona this has been a campaign that has seen the electorate very engaged.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

SESAY: In other words, how many people are left as undecided that could sway over to the Trump campaign? Isn't it all baked-in? I mean how much room is there --

BROWNSTEIN: There is a lot baked in at this point.

There is a lot of stability in this race. I mean attitudes toward these candidates have been very constant. The groups, the division that we see where Trump is strongest among blue-collar whites, the most religiously devout evangelical Christians and non urban whites. And Clinton is relying on this, you know, alternative coalition of millennials, minorities and college educated whites especially women where Trump is under performing (inaudible).

That's pretty baked-in. I think in many ways it is a battle of who shows up to vote, who turns out, who has the ability to turn out their vote in some of these close states. there is some movement. You are seeing some of these college-educated white men who usually vote Republican who had been leaning toward Clinton in larger numbers, moving back toward Trump as he reminds them he's a Republican. That he wants to cut their taxes and cut the regulations and all the things they want Republicans to do.

But these three core groups that are at the center of the modern Democratic coalition -- minorities, millennials, college-educated white women -- Trump is facing overwhelming negatives with them and it's very difficult right now to see how he moves them away.

SESAY: After the speech in Arizona, are we to presume the outreach to the Hispanic Latino community is over?

BROWNSTEIN: I think that, you know, look -- this is very much like the convention speech, right, where people kind of talk.

[00:10:02] Donald Trump has two big problems in this election. One is that he is underperforming as we said with college educated whites especially women. The other is he is facing potentially the largest deficit ever for Republicans among minority voters, voters of color -- Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian-Americans.

And so at the convention there was a lot of talk -- the speech was kind of a reach out. Instead he kind of doubled down on his core constituency of whites who feel most culturally and economically marginalized. That's what he did again last night.

And one thing that was very important about the Arizona speech is that it made clear that Donald Trump's objection is not only to undocumented or illegal immigration, it's also to legal immigration. He talked about holding the foreign-born share of the population within quote, "historical norms".

Well today, foreign-born share of the population is over 14 percent. Some time in the next several years, it's going to reach the all time high which was reached in 1890 as a share of the population around 15 percent. If Donald Trump is going to hold that -- reverse that to kind of historical levels, averages over time, he's talking about significant, significant reductions in legal immigration which would mostly hit the Asian American community. So he could have problems there comparable to what he's seeing among Hispanics.

SESAY: And ultimately keeping that base really only as what it is and not expanding it in any way.

BROWNSTEIN: You know, he is dancing with the one who brung him -- as we saw in the U.S. He is kind of betting on those culturally alienated whites much more than he is on reaching out.

SESAY: Dancing with the one who brung him -- I like that.

Ron Brownstein -- we'll see you next hour. Thank you.

All right. Away from politics for a moment in a manner of speaking. American football player Colin Kaepernick is not backing down from his protest against racism. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback again refused to stand during the U.S. national anthem on Thursday night, instead kneeling.

He was booed as he took the field in San Diego which is a big military town. It was also the night that Sand Diego chargers scheduled an annual salute to the military event. Kaepernick, who's biracial, says he's protesting because he won't quote, "show pride in the flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color".

With more on the game and reaction for Kaepernick's protest, our Paul Vercammen joins us from Sand Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. So Colin Kaepernick kept his protest going. Tell us more about the reaction inside the stadium.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it all started when Colin Kaepernick first ran on to the field, Isha. He was loping and the fans immediately began booing. There were some 49er fans here, just a smattering of them, who cheered but for the most part anything Colin Kaepernick did was booed.

And as you alluded to the anthem, it was struck up and there stood a Navy in his full dress whites -- a Navy petty officer -- he began singing the anthem. And Colin Kaepernick who was standing then dropped to one knee. The fans, of course, did not boo during the anthem -- a very reverent military town this is -- but after it finished up, they were cheering the anthem and they really cheered during "the land of the free" and then they began a booing Kaepernick and they booed him thereafter.

Every time he went behind the center to receive the snap, they booed him. And to open the game, much of these fans' consternation, Colin Kaepernick led a long drive for a touchdown for the San Diego Chargers. He had a very successful first half for the most part. And that was what the tenor was like in here.

But I have to tell you, there are many fans I talked to who were ex- military or current military and they said, look, Colin Kaepernick has a right to stand or not stand. I mean we defended freedom and that flag means something to us.

So it was a real mixed view here but there certainly wasn't anything that bordered on being the outrageous or the violent in reaction to Kaepernick.

SESAY: All right. Paul Vercammen, giving us some sense of what it was like inside San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium on this Thursday night.

Thank you, we appreciate it. Thank you. We'll check in with you a little bit later.

Well, for more on Kaepernick's protest and the effect it could have on NFL business I'm joined now via Skype by Rick Horrow. He is a visiting expert on sports business at Harvard Law School. Rick -- good to have you with us.

You know, looking at the situation with Colin Kaepernick once again, you know, this time he kneeled down. He didn't sit. But he kept the protest going during the national anthem. As well you know, the criticism among a section of NFL fans has been fierce and unrelenting. Will he be able to stay in the league?

RICK HORROW, SPORTS BUSINESS EXPERT: Well, if he stays in the league or not it's not because he knelt down or stood. It's because he has not been playing very well, by the way. And at the end of the day that's going to be the indication of his performance.

First amendment issues are one thing and performance on the field is quite another. And frankly those things are separate. And to some people this is a distraction; to others it is a fundamental statement of rights as an American.

[00:15:01] But let's not forget that this is a football player who has to play by NFL standards or he can be cut. It is ironic and important for everybody to understand, American football -- we are finishing our fourth exhibition game here and the season starts next weekend.

And between now and then, Saturday is the deadline where each team has to cut or terminate a number of players, about a sixth of the roster that currently stands. And he may be one of them and if he is, it's because he is not playing well right now. So that's a very important thing for people to understand.

SESAY: Yes. Do his actions have any implications for the NFL brand, if you will?

HORROW: Well look, the NFL brand is one of the most prolific sports brands in the history of the world. I know that's an exaggeration but not so much. $25 billion in revenue people, the average franchise in America is worth about $1.5 billion. It's almost the EPL except the brand is pretty consistent.

So I'm not sure this is going to taint or affect the brand one way or another. If there is any punishment or any implications to it then we start getting into that. But I don't really expect any punishment at all for someone exercising their first amendment rights. The punishment maybe, he may be cut and he maybe unemployed but again let's remember it's because of his performance on the field.

So the brand is prolific. It has been growing. There have been other controversies in the NFL but not in this kind.

SESAY: Yes. And just give us some perspective between the sports if you will compared to NFL's handling of this Kaepernick protest to how the NBA responded when Carmelo Anthony spoke out on the issue of shooting by and against police.

HORROW: Well, let's remember that that was a social statement that frankly, in my perspective was handled maybe a little bit more tastefully. I don't think any league is in a position in American sports or, frankly, elsewhere to comment on the quality or how articulate a particular statement is and therefore suspend somebody or don't suspend somebody. And frankly most constitutional scholars would say leagues or employers basically don't have any right to say you said the wrong thing or said the right thing so we're going to terminate you especially with the First Amendment in the United States. So I think all of the leagues would handle this the same way. The court of public opinion, by the way, is quite another matter.

SESAY: Indeed it is.

Rick Horrow, a pleasure speaking to you. Thank you so much for joining us.

HORROW: Have a good weekend.

SESAY: You as well.

Time for a quick break now.

The Catholic Church will soon have a new saint. A look at the life of Mother Teresa who is set to be canonized on Sunday nearly two decades after her death.

Plus American actor Michael Chiklis is intense when he is playing a character but wait until you hear him talk about his music. It's his other passion and he shares it with us coming up on NEWSROOM L.A.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: On Sunday Pope Francis will declare the late Mother Teresa a saint of the Catholic Church. She died in 1997 at the age of 87, easily the world's most recognized nun. Mother Teresa spent decades helping the poor in India. Many people considered her a living saint and saw her canonization as a formality.

Pope John Paul II launched the process for her to become a saint a year after her death.

Our own Mallika Kapur grew up in Calcutta and has a personal connection to Mother Teresa. She joins us now from Hong Kong.

Mallika -- always nice to see you. Thank you for joining us.

Mother Teresa's canonization is a momentous moment. And for you it must bring back many memories.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does -- Isha. It really, really does. You know, growing up in Calcutta in the 70s and 80s, it was really quite common for me or for anybody who lived there to have their lives quite influenced by or intertwined with that of Mother Teresa's. And the main reason for that is simply because she was so accessible. Believe it or not, she really was.

She lived in this big gray house right in the heart of the city and it had a simple wooden sign outside which said Mother Teresa MC for Missionaries of Charity and the doors were almost always open and, Isha, anybody could walk in there. Anybody from all walks of life, from different religions. You didn't have to be Catholic to go in there. I certainly wasn't but I was always welcome there.

Anybody could go in there to volunteer, to help out, to pray with the nuns, to request the nuns to pray for them or simply to say hello. People were always welcome there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAPUR: When Mother Teresa came to India, a young nun following her calling she came to this bustling city in the east and never left. Calcutta became her home.

It's where my home is, too. I enjoyed a simple, happy childhood here. It revolved around family, friends, school, and Mother Teresa figured prominently in each of those fields of my life.

Initially Mother Teresa was part of the Loreto Order of Nuns, the same order that set up this school, Loreto House, my school. And I remember sitting in these very classrooms listening to nuns tell us stories about Mother Teresa.

Locals call her simply "Mother" and I often saw Mother and her Sisters going about their work helping, caring, feeding the poorest of the poor. Back then, I had no idea I was watching history unfold.

She lived in the heart of the city in this simple room where she later died. Visitors from all faiths and all walks of life were always welcome at Mother's house. It's where I first met her.

[00:25:10] She gave me this prayer and then she took my hands in her hands. She had a really firm grip and then she said to me over and over again "God bless you, my child. God bless you."

Mother adored children and many local families including mine often helped out at her home for abandoned children.

When I was a little girl I wrote a poem on Mother Teresa and the next time I came here I just tagged along with my mother who was volunteering here at the children's home and Mother Teresa met me and she said come here, come here. I want to show you something. She had taken my poem and (inaudible) I mean put in a sheet of plastic and she stuck it right here.

Some residents complained she put Calcutta on the global map for the wrong reasons, poverty and desperation. But most locals are protective of here. They say they're proud our city produced a saint.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAPUR: My own mother continues to volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity and people who were close to Mother Teresa say, you know, this is what she always wanted that the work should continue even after she was no more. And it is wonderful to see how actually very little has changed. If you go the Mother House, if you go to any of the homes that were set up by her in Calcutta to see how the work is still carrying on by the nuns, by the sisters and by the never-ending stream of volunteers who continue do the work that Mother Teresa started -- Isha.

SESAY: Mallika -- thank you so much for sharing your personal memories. Very much appreciate it. Mallika Kapur there -- there in Hong Kong.

Time for a quick break now.

U.S. President Barack Obama is on a tiny Pacific island where only about 50 people live. We'll discuss how the visit is a big step to solidify Obama's environmental legacy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:30:35] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

The headlines this hour.

Florida's governor says Hurricane Hermine is a life threatening storm. It's dumping heavy rain on the sunshine state right now and dangerous flooding is a major concern. Hermine is expected to be the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida since 2005.

In New Zealand, thousands were temporarily evacuated after Friday's powerful earthquake. The magnitude 7.1 tremors struck off the east coast of the North Ireland early in the morning. It generated a very small tsunami. So far there are no reports of injuries or major damage.

A fiery explosion destroyed a space X rocket on its launch pad in Florida, Thursday. The rocket was meant to carry a satellite into orbit to Facebook. It was supposed to boost Internet access in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The cause of the explosion is not known.

Thousands of Venezuelans flooded the street of Caracas on Thursday. Many want President Nicolas Maduro kicked out of office. Protesters blame the collapsing economy on his government and are demanding a recall vote. Towards the end of the march, National Guard officers fired tear gas at some of the protesters.

Now the U.S. president is again urging Americans and world leaders to take climate change seriously. Barack Obama landed on Thursday, on Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, west of Hawaii. It's part of a wildlife reserve that Mr. Obama quadrupled in size last week. It is now the world's largest protected marine monument.

Mr. Obama says he hopes this will ensure the survival of the biodiversity and the endangered species that live there. Mr. Obama was in Hawaii before heading to Midway Atoll.

Our own Stephanie Elam joins us now from Honolulu.

Stephanie, good to see you, my friend. Tell us a little bit more about the president's trip to Midway. STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. This is a trip that he set off on early today here in Hawaii, Isha. To just take a look at what is still there.

The ecosystems that have not been tampered with inside of this area that he has expanded. Now it's worth mentioning, too, that the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Reserve that he has expanded was first created ten years ago by George W. Bush when he was president.

This is expanding it, making it much larger. And part of the reason why he made this trip to the Midway Atoll was to focus people's attention to what is out there and what they can learn from these ecosystems if they are not touched and disturbed as they have been in other parts of the Pacific Ocean. Obviously, the largest body of water on the continent -- I mean, on the plant.

But listen to what he had to say about why he wanted to do this.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I look forward to knowing that 20 years from now, 40 years from now, 100 years from now, this is a place where people can still come to and see what a place like this looks like when it's not overcrowded or destroyed by human populations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: And as if on cue, there were also some very large turtles that were there, sun bathing on Turtle Beach as it's called. And he did remark, the president did, that he remember seeing those kind of turtles in Hawaii when he was a kid, but that you just don't see them any more. And that's part of his point on making this journey to the Midway Atoll.

Isha?

SESAY: Yes. Part of his point in going there. Also part of his point in trying to firm up his environmental legacy, correct?

ELAM: Oh, definitely. And he is saying that, you know, a lot of this has been done by other presidents, but the most land and maybe not just land, but water that has been protected he has said has been done under his administration to protect these areas for future generations to come and that something is really important.

He also took time to mention the fact that they were at Midway, which was part of a big battle, the Battle of Midway in World War II. So he did stopped to visit that monument and honor the airmen who really fought to keep that island, that Atoll in U.S. hands and that was a part of his visit, too. But for the most part, he took a look at the water and the land here, snorkelling as well, to take a look at what's there under the water a little bit closer we are told.

Isha?

SESAY: Well, I hope you get some snorkeling in, Stephanie Elam, while you're there in Hawaii.

(LAUGHTER)

ELAM: Maybe. I won't say anything on TV. No.

SESAY: OK, my friend. Have a good time. See you soon.

Time for a quick break now.

[00:35:06] He's known for his acting, but Michael Chiklis has another passion, music. He is about to drop his first full-length album and he wants you to listen up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHIKLIS, ACTOR: Listen to the music. If you don't like it, OK. It's subjective. But don't dismiss it out of hand. You need to listen to it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: You know him as a great actor. Michael Chiklis is on the TV show "Gotham" right now. And, of course, he stars on the incredibly popular show "The Shield." But he is also a singer. And he's got an album coming out later this month. He sat down with my colleague, John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, you know, for a lot of people, they would know you as, you know, the nice cop out of "The Commish," the violent cop out of "The Shield," the new cop on "Gotham" or maybe the thing from "Fantastic 4." But yes, you are a musician. You have been a musician all your life. And now you've got this debut album coming out.

So when we look at this album, what does this mean to you? Is this the end of the acting? The start of a music career?

CHIKLIS: Oh no, it's just another layer. I've always felt that music was just the opposite side of the same coin as acting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIKLIS: Stop the car. I'm a police officer. Hey!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIKLIS: I think that what happens, though, is when a number of actors, let's face it, will put out records that aren't very good. So that's the bottom line. So at the end of the day -- this one -- VAUSE: Yes. Right there.

CHIKLIS: OK. Come on. Listen to the music. If you don't like it, OK. It's subjective. But don't dismiss it out of hand. You need to listen to it.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: The album is (INAUDIBLE). It's rock 'n roll from the '70s.

CHIKLIS: Well, it's back to my root.

VAUSE: Yes.

CHIKLIS: It's back to my influence. And, you know, it inspired by all those bands from the '70s that I grew up loving and listening to.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHIKLIS: You know, rock 'n roll isn't dead by any means. Yet when you listen to rock stations, they're still playing those songs from 35, 40 years ago. VAUSE: Yes.

CHIKLIS: And there are precious few current bands doing stuff that's influenced by those, you know, great bands. Those seminal bands

VAUSE: Like Led Zeppelin.

CHIKLIS: Yes, like Zeppelin and Queen.

VAUSE: Queen.

CHIKLIS: Yes, you know. So I thought, you know, I'm going to go back to root and I'm going to bring it into this decade. I'm going to bring in all those things that will make you feel familiarity, but they will be new.

And, you know, like the song "The Show." You'll hear shades of this and that. But what I'm proudest about it is it doesn't sound like anybody per se, like any of these influences. It sounds like me. It sounds like my stuff.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

VAUSE: You know, one of the songs on this new album, it's called "My Gun." It deals with gun violence in the west.

CHIKLIS: Yes.

VAUSE: You know the lyrics, but I want to read them out here.

"Voices in my head, tell me to shoot dead. Don't try and take away my gun tonight."

You are dealing with mental health issues. CHIKLIS: That's right.

VAUSE: And gun crime in this. But why that issue in particular?

CHIKLIS: The frustration at the (INAUDIBLE) -- of the country that we see this epidemic of both mental illness and gun violence, and they are definitely heavily correlated.

What I do as an artist is I entertain people, but I make them think and feel. And if I can do something that makes people have conversations so that we can move toward positive solutions rather than just picking a side on a too important an issue and just being intransigent, I want the adults to come into the room and start to talk about this.

VAUSE: This song, though, is from the perspective of someone who has --

(CROSSTALK)

CHIKLIS: A deranged person who is -- this is a deranged person who is on the verge of going on a shooting spree.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHIKLIS: It's not a commercial song. It's that particular song that's even written in Mike Seven (ph). You know, I wrote it in an off signature to make you feel off.

It's meant to evoke that feeling of uneasiness. My job is, again, to encourage to support. Very much in the same way that "The Shield" asked the thematic question, what are we willing to accept from law enforcement to keep us safe in post 9/11 America, which couldn't be more resonant and relevant still today.

CHIKLIS: You know, what are we willing to do to change the equation with mental illness and gun violence in America.

VAUSE: There are people out there who say portrait of violence in television, some video games --

CHIKLIS: That's right.

VAUSE: And a lot of that is actually responsible for the violence that we see on the streets right now.

(CROSSTALK)

CHIKLIS: Yes, that's right. And I have tremendous trepidation about it. I think sometimes, have I contributed to the problem? I'm very aware of this. And what I had always hoped is that a lot of what I did particularly in a show like "The Shield" was to not aggrandize or, you know, glamorize that, but to make people -- to make it as repellent as it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your turn to play bad cop?

CHIKLIS: No. Good cop and bad cop left for the day. I'm a different kind of cop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIKLIS: Unfortunately, I think that guns in a lot of ways are like cigarettes. They look cool and they have an allure. People want to post with them. They make you feel powerful. But it's a weapon.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CHIKLIS: Don't get the wrong idea. This is a very positive, fun album. There's a lot of fun, up beat stuff, but that's, you know, that's a thought provoking song.

And, again, I'm not political. I don't think we need another actor to be political right now.

VAUSE: Do you think there's enough of those right now.

CHIKLIS: There's enough of those. Right. So I'm fine and I feel very, very confident about the music. I think that when people hear it, anybody who is a lover of rock 'n roll will dig this album, you know. Because they will hear those influences and they will feel the familiarity but it will be new.

VAUSE: Great to talk to you. Thanks for coming in.

CHIKLIS: Great to talk to you. Thanks for having me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: A great conversation there.

Well, thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay. "World Sport" is up next.

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