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Gadhafi Clings to Power; Voodoo Sex Ignites Fatal Fire; Sheen's Radio Rant Kills Sitcom; The Congressman And the Crossdresser

Aired February 26, 2011 - 19:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is your Saturday night and we've got the stories to help you enjoy your night off.

First off, a fatal fire in Brooklyn -- proof of what happens when wind gusts, voodoo, sex and candles comes together. A full report on this very bizarre story coming up.

As Hollywood gets ready for the Oscars, the freebies that are doled out are piling up. But there's a pecking order from what the A- listers get compared to all the rest.

And I want you to watch and listen to this:

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: Front-row seats at a rodeo really pay off if you like a bull in your lap. We'll talk to the lady who shot this chaotic scene in North Carolina.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM.

There's a lot of news happening right now, so let's get you caught up quickly.

And we start with this story: Libya under the global microscope right now. A vote by the U.N. Security Council could come at any moment on new sanctions, including an arms embargo, freezing assets and a travel ban as well. Moammar Gadhafi could even face international criminal charges because of his bloody crackdown on protesters. The U.N. estimates more than 1,000 people have died in the uprising. President Obama now says Gadhafi no longer has the legitimacy to lead Libya and should step down. A live report from Tripoli just ahead.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: Many people in Tripoli are hunkering down in their homes. And here's a perfect reason -- shootings have been reported with alarming frequency. We don't know exactly where this happened. The person shooting this video on Friday apparently was hit by gunfire, causing him to drop the camera. We don't know if that person survived or not.

Thousands of foreign nationals are fleeing Libya as quickly as they can. The U.S. government has warned Americans to depart immediately. Those who can't book flights are leaving by ship. France, Britain and Turkey were among those who had hundreds of citizens getting out today. China has a very large population in Libya. So far, it has evacuated 12,000 Chinese nationals from Libya.

The unrest in Libya is helping to cause unhappiness for many at the pump. Gas is up an average of 17 cents a gallon just in the past week.

Now, analysts say the turmoil throughout the Middle East is causing crude oil and fuel prices to rise and rise quickly. And they worry increasing energy prices will hinder the U.S. economic recovery as well as the world economic recovery.

A Canadian judge's ruling and comments in a rape case are sparking protests, calls for him to be removed from the bench and an investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like a throwback from old law, right? There is no such thing as implied consent. You know, this man is convicted and then gets off on a two-year conditional sentence. What is the message that says to this person about her victimization?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. So, here's the back story. The judge spared the convicted rapist any jail time and said ordering him to serve a two- year conditional sentence at home. He questioned the rape victim's attire saying the woman and a friend, quote, "made it publicly known that they wanted to party." And he said the woman's attacker had the mistaken belief that, quote, "sex," was in the air.

Congress could soon have a deal to avoid a government shutdown, at least for another two weeks. Lawmakers may pass a fifth short-term funding bill to keep Washington running. The last short-term bill they passed expires on Friday. And Congress keeps pushing these extensions through because it never passed a budget for the current fiscal year.

A different budget battle is raging in Wisconsin this weekend. It is snowy. It is cold. But that's not stopping thousands of protesters from rallying at the capitol. Yesterday, the statehouse passed Governor Scott Walker's bill which would strip public workers of most of their collective bargaining rights.

The bill still has to clear the state Senate but Democrats have fled to Illinois to prevent a vote. Governor Scott Walker isn't budging. He says the state has to make tough choices because it's so far into the red. The protests are drawing in people from outside the state as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN ROSS, NURSE FROM MINNESOTA: What they're doing here is trying to kill unions, period. There's no reason for what's going on to be going on. They've created a fiscal crisis and then blame the victims. Well, we're all victims here. LAURIE BAHR, NURSE FROM MINNESOTA: We have to stick together. We all work hard every single day for what we do, for the people that we care for, and the jobs that we do. And what Walker is doing is very unjust and wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Wisconsin is inspiring pro-union protests all over the country, including this one today in the nation's capital.

The mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, has officially fired all public school teachers in his city. Not because of bad performance, he says, but because of the budget. Nearly 2,000 teachers and other staff will get the termination notices. Many will be rehired for the fall. But officials say the city can remove the staff if it needs to in order to stay within the budget. The school board approved the mayor's move in a 4-3 vote on Thursday.

The teacher's union said it wasn't given proper notice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS BRADY, PROVIDENCE SCHOOL SUPERITENDENT: In the sense of providing flexibility for programs and future budget decisions for our children, it provides the most flexibility. And that's why it was done.

DEBBIE KROUS, TEACHER: I am heartbroken. I can't tell you how much this hurts.

MARY BUSH, TEACHER: I feel numb. I almost feel like I need to mourn, like, the death of innocent. This -- it's just surreal. There's just no justifying this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: To California now where it's looking a lot like winter. Snow and slush coated San Francisco and made driving treacherous in Nevada County. The city by the bay hadn't seen snow flurries since 1976. Temps hit a record low of 37 degrees. Even southern California got a dusting of snow along the Golden State freeway north of Los Angeles.

A Georgia toddler has been reunited with her very relieved parents after getting locked inside a bank vault for three hours. Authorities say the 14-month-old girl wandered into the vault at the Wells Fargo branch in Conyers. A time-lock trapped her inside. Firefighters called in a locksmith to get the child out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON SNIVLEY, LOCKSMITH: She was crying before I got to her. She was scared because of the drilling noise and all that. But, you know, once I heard her crying and I knew everything was OK, it was just a matter of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: You'll be happy to know the little girl is fine and the bank says she was safe the entire time.

It's the miracle landing that made the pilot a national hero -- really a worldwide hero. Now we have an inside view of the plane at the center of the miracle on the Hudson. Captain Sully Sullenberger saved the lives of 155 onboard as he landed on the Hudson River in 2009.

Today, the U.S. Air jet sits in a New Jersey warehouse. The soda cans are still in the beverage cart and the pillows remain on the seats. Our affiliate, News 12 New Jersey, reports the plane will soon be part of the Carolinas Aviation Museum.

After more than 40 years after absolute power in Libya, Moammar Gadhafi's days may be numbered. Bloody and deadly clashes with Gadhafi's armed mercenaries have claimed more than 1,000 lives. That's according to the United Nations.

Opposition forces now control large parts of the country, but in Tripoli, Gadhafi's son says life is normal. The embattled leader shows no signs of weakening or of giving up.

And CNN's international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Tripoli. He joins us now.

So, Nic, is there a sense of time running out for Gadhafi?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there certainly is a sense in this city that it's far from normal. We've just been listening in the last few seconds here to gunshots ringing out.

The streets are deserted. There's no one walking around. There's very little traffic.

There are police at every intersection, far more than we normally see in this city. There are gangs of men with heavy wooden sticks at other intersections throughout the city.

So, this does feel far from normal.

I talked with the foreign minister here a little while ago and he was adamant that the United Nations in moving towards putting sanctions on the country was wrong. He said that they're jumping to conclusions, jumping and making speedy judgments. They should come here and look at the situation for themselves. He denied that the government is involved in killing innocent civilians.

I asked him about the deaths of at least nine people here in Tripoli yesterday -- he -- who were shot dead. And he said, well, guns have been stolen from police stations by civilians. And that was his way of explaining how civilians have been killed in those clashes.

But we don't know why these gunshots are being fired. We don't know who's shooting them at whom. But certainly, the indications are that this is a city that in some parts of it are very, very tense, and life just edging by in those other parts, Don. LEMON: And our Nic Robertson is live in Tripoli. Much more reporting from Nic Robertson throughout the evening here on CNN. Make sure you join us at 10:00 p.m. Eastern for a special report -- an hour-long special report on the situation in Libya -- in Libya.

A woman is dead and 20 firefighters injured in a five alarm fire in Brooklyn. Coming up: Find out how voodoo and sex are linked to all of this.

Plus, James Franco and Anne Hathaway host the Oscars tomorrow night. We'll have a behind-the-scenes look at the movie with the most nominations of any film, "The King's Speech."

We want to remind you that you have a voice on this. Just send your comments to our blog at CNN.com/Don and you can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. This story certainly got our attention and it's certainly going to get yours. So pay close attention. We're learning really some stunning details about that deadly five alarm fire that raised through a Brooklyn, New York apartment building last weekend. Police say candles and a voodoo sex ceremony sparked the fatal fire.

CNN's national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins me now from New York with the very latest.

So, Susan, exactly how did this fire start?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, what a tragedy this one and a strange one. It turns out that it started during a voodoo ceremony.

Fire investigators say a woman paid a voodoo priest $300 for a cleansing ritual to bring her luck. The ceremony turned to sex. And as things heated up in bed, flaming candles set the sheets on fire, Don.

LEMON: OK. So, you would think that they might have some control over it. So, then, how did it turn into a five alarm blaze that killed someone, Susan?

CANDIOTTI: Well, in another apartment, a retired elderly schoolteacher, Mary Fagan (ph), was unable to escape all these flames racing through the apartment building and she died.

Now, there were several people in the apartment where the voodoo ceremony was taking place. The fire marshal says when they smelled smoke, instead of calling 911 right away, they threw water on the blaze and opened the windows and the front door to the apartment. And that made things even worse.

It was really windy that night and 40-mile-per-hour gusts blew in. Investigators call it a blow torch effect -- blasting flames into the hallway and then the entire building turned into an inferno. LEMON: Oh, my gosh! And those wind gusts, I guess, just fueled it, Susan. So, you have one woman dead, 25 firefighters and about a dozen residents injured and 47 families now homeless. The question is: will anyone face any charges for this?

CANDIOTTI: Well, Don, it doesn't look like it. Officials say while the investigation isn't over, it appears the fire was accidental and they don't expect to criminally charge the voodoo participants.

LEMON: It is very tragic, as you said, Susan, and also very strange. Susan Candiotti, our national correspondent, covering this bizarre story for us -- Susan, thank you.

I want to tell you about some terrifying moments at a rodeo in North Carolina. Take a close look at this.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

LEMON: All right. Stay with us because we're going to show you what happens next. And you're also going to hear from the woman behind the camera. She was in the crowd.

Plus, it is Oscar weekend in Hollywood. The speculation is hot and heavy who's going home with an Academy Award. Coming up: a closer look at the Cinderella story behind "The King's Speech."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Oscars are tomorrow night. And "The King's Speech" has 12 nominations, the most nominations of any films.

(VIDEO CLIP, "THE KING'S SPEECH")

LEMON: The movie is about how a speech expert helps the king of England overcome his stutter so he can speak to a nation at war. Well, behind this story is another great story of a seriously late bloomer. At the age of 73, screenwriter David Seidler has earned his first Oscar nomination for crafting "The King's Speech."

And CNN's Alan Duke had the opportunity to sit down with him.

Alan, thanks for joining us. A very interesting story. So, listen, David's idea for a script for more than -- he had this idea for more than 20 years. What took him so long to write it?

ALAN DUKE, CNN PRODUCER: Well, really he came up with the idea in college more than 50 years ago because he was a stutterer as a teenager and King George VI was a model for him of how to overcome that. If you've seen the movie or haven't seen the movie, it's a dramatic story of how the king did that with a speech therapist. And, of course, it was very instrumental in helping Britain in World War II -- very important part of our story, and he wanted to write about this history.

Well, the story's been told about how he delayed writing it because the queen mother asked him, "Please don't write it until after my death." She lived to be 101 years old. So, he did have to wait more than two decades to write it.

But what we don't know or you may not have heard is something he told me at lunch the other day. He said that if he had written it when he started out to write it really seriously in his 40s, he very possibly would never have written a script good enough to be nominated for an Oscar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SEIDLER, SCREENWRITER, "THE KING'S SPEECH": I don't think it would have been the same. This required going back into the pain and the loneliness and the isolation and frustration of being a stutterer. And being a stutterer is rather like having a very bath toothache. When you've got the toothache, all you're thinking about is, wow, my tooth really hurts. All I can think about is that pain.

As soon as you get to the dentist, the dentist fixes it, the last thing you want to remember is how that tooth aches. You just blank it out, the mind forgets it.

And the same thing with stuttering -- once you get control over it, it's such an awful experience to be a stutterer that once you've got a handle on it, the last thing you want to do is remember what it was like.

But as a more mature writer -- let me put it that way -- when you start looking back on your life, it is easier, I think, to go back into the past. And therefore, I was able to really put my head back into being a stutterer, which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUKE: By the way, I might mention that I shot that with my flip cam in the polo lounge in Beverly Hills. You know that room, Don Lemon, always all kinds of celebrities there. And I didn't plan to even do an interview with him. We were just having lunch, and he started talking in an amazing way and I asked permission and he allowed me to record it.

LEMON: Yes, it's very interesting. I'm not sure if you got a chance to talk to him about -- there's this -- you know, this -- a bit of an uproar because people are saying, hey, this is the favorite. And really while it's a good movie, you know, "The Social Network" has more of an impact on the world and it should be the favorite movie. I don't know if you guys got to talk about that, but I'm sure you've heard people say that.

DUKE: Yes, I have. And, of course, with what's been going on in the Middle East, in Egypt with Facebook and everything being an influence there, that may have an impact on that.

But what we also know is that "The King's Speech" story had an impact on the world during World War II. And if the king had not been able to rise to the challenge of that king's speech in September 1939, would he have inspired the world, actually inspired America to join the effort later? And so, it was very important that he overcome this stuttering.

LEMON: That's a very good point. Things may have been much different.

So, Alan, we're not finished yet. Stick around. Right after the break, we want the lowdown on all the high-end freebies that celebs get as they, you know, take part in the Academy Awards and they walk down the red carpet.

All those freebies, Alan Duke will update us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Back now with Alan Duke live in La-La Land, Los Angeles.

So, forget about the gowns and the glamour. So, Alan, tell me about the Oscar goodies, all these goody bags. The swags surrounding tomorrow night, it's very glamorous as well. But some would-be celebs have to be very persuasive to get it. If you're on the A-list, then you automatically get it. But if you're maybe on the B, C, D list, you have some persuading to do.

DUKE: Yes, there are a lot of those what we called the swag suits, the swag events. And everybody from A to Z, all the list, try to get into them. Some of them are must-haves and some of them -- well, you'll see are not necessarily the iPods or the iPads that a lot of people like to get.

I went to one yesterday in Beverly Hills at a hotel there and you see the fair. You have chocolates, you have makeup. You have some jewelry there. But not even any recognizable celebrities, really, hardly there. Yes, even dental floss was given away. So, truly swag, even flip-flops.

But there are things of a lot of -- I mean, really -- iPads given away and some expensive jewelry given away to some of the A-listers. But not everybody gets them. So, I talked with Tracy Pendleton and Kari Feinstein who operate this about how you qualify for the good stuff at the swag event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUKE: Does everybody get everything? Everybody's not equal here, are they?

TRACY PENDLETON, OSCAR EVENT SWAG ORGANIZER: No. I mean, there's always sponsors that are gifting different products to different people. It sort of just depends on how valuable (INAUDIBLE) specific brand.

DUKE: What do they do? Go and search the IMDb to see where their ranking is? What do you figure this out?

PENDLETON: Well, I think they'll see someone, you know, like Jennifer Love Hewitt to come through, and, of course, the jewelry girls are going to want to give her -- you know, great (INAUDIBLE). They'll give her, you know, some of their better pieces because Jennifer is always out on the carpet. She's always going to event. They know she'll wear it and their jewelry will get great exposure versus they give to someone who's not out doing quite as much as Jennifer.

DUKE: And they end with the bottled water and the flip-flops?

PENDLETON: They'll get a little more than that.

DUKE: All right. Well, dental floss?

What kind of thing would an A-lister take home from this event from you?

KELSEY PERRY, SILPADA BRAND MERCHANDISING MGR.: Let's see, our (INAUDIBLE) necklace has been a huge hit because it's an update on pearls and girls love pearls.

DUKE: If Lindsay Lohan came down here, would you give her a necklace?

PERRY: It depends on if she loved it.

DUKE: Loved it enough, yes.

PERRY: And she didn't walk away with it.

DUKE: Right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUKE: And I can tell you Lindsay's been to a lot of those.

LEMON: -- that you asked.

DUKE: Yes. And they are just down the street from there, over at the Four Seasons Hotel, there was a much more exclusive one where pretty much only A-listers were showing up. And they were in private dressing rooms and you really don't see pictures of that. But you see the reality stars and others at these things. And it's really a grab bag for them. And they love getting it, a few hundred dollars worth of stuff, and take it home and they feel like celebrities.

LEMON: All right. Pick one up for me, will you? Thank you, Alan Duke.

DUKE: Oh, sure.

LEMON: All right. Appreciate it. Enjoy tomorrow night.

And you're going to find plenty of Oscar coverage tomorrow night here on CNN. A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson report from the red carpet. That coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern again here on CNN. And then at 11:00 p.m. Eastern on "Showbiz Tonight: Road to Gold," coverage continues on our sister network HLN with all the Oscar wins, loses and any late-breaking scoops.

(MUSIC) LEMON: Going to check some viral videos. What do you think? Should we?

All right. Let's check some viral videos right now.

In Miami-Dade County, a bold smash and grab led to a really scary encounter. Look at that, a woman foolishly tries to stop two men who snatched her purse out of her car. She had come out of the gas station to find her car window broken and her purse gone. She says she felt no fear as she stepped in front of the car.

She's lucky she wasn't killed because these guys were more than willing to run her over, as you can see.

Let's go now to suburban Boston. This is not how to get a cup of coffee to go. Store employees say they saw the minivan pull up to the curb but they never expected it would go -- it would just keep coming. It's amazing there was no one in the way. That's according to police.

The driver said the Toyota suddenly sped up without warning as she pulled into the parking space. And at this point, we don't know if the accident is connected to any -- in any way with the recent recall of Toyota vehicles due to unexpected acceleration.

And our favorite viral video of the day is next. And it's right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. If you ever see the words viral video and fail linked together, then you know it's going to be something that's really, really good or really bad. So we want you to see for yourself.

(VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Oh! That seemed like such a great idea when they were talking about it. But they probably should have practiced solo just a little bit more and they definitely should have to figure out an escape plan if someone didn't make it all the way around. It probably hurt too. Ouch.

All right. A quick check of your top stories here on CNN.

Defiant demonstrators in Libya, marching through Tripoli after Friday prayers. Moammar Gadhafi vows he'll stay in power by force if necessary. President Obama says that this is proof that Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to lead Libya and it's time for him to step down. The United Nations estimates more than 1,000 people have died in the unrest. The U.N. Security Council considering fresh sanctions against Gadhafi and whether to refer Gadhafi to the International Court for alleged crimes against humanity. A vote could come at any time now. We'll bring that to you live just as soon as it happens.

Police now think they know what caused last weekend's deadly five- alarm fire that roared through a Brooklyn apartment building. They say it ignited during a voodoo sex ceremony. A woman had given $300 to a voodoo priest for the ceremony which was meant to bring good luck. Police say candles around the bed tipped over, wind gusts then spread the flames. A woman in another apartment died and 20 firefighters were injured in that.

I want you to take a look at this. This is just released surveillance video of last October's escalator collapse at the La Font Plaza Metro station in Washington, D.C.. Look at this video. Just in to CNN and it is just released. The escalator was packed following the Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the national mall. It malfunctioned sending people tumbling to the ground. Four people were injured. One critically.

Here's what Metro officials are saying right now. They're saying the braking system failed when an over speed safety switch activated. They now put in new safety procedures and increased braking tests and inspections. Again, new video just released, just in to CNN. Look at the people falling off of that escalator. Unbelievable.

And in Rockford, Illinois, two of the original Tuskegee airmen helped celebrate black history month. They urged young people to learn how to fly. The two World War II pilots reminded the audience that African-Americans played a big part in the war, something they say young people don't know much about.

And remember a few weeks ago when New York congressman Christopher Lee resigned suddenly after a Craigslist scandal, it took hours, just hours for the married Republican to step down after the web site gawker.com published a shirtless photo of him. He was allegedly looking for women on Craigslist. But now it seems there's more to the story and a lot more. Gawker kept digging. And now it's reporting that Lee was also after cross-dressers and transsexuals.

Maureen O'Connor is the reporter who broke the original story for Gawker. She also did some reporting on this follow-up story. So before we get into it, CNN has asked for a comment from the former congressman. But we haven't heard back. So, Maureen, tell us about these new allegations.

MAUREEN O'CONNOR, STAFF WRITER, GAWKER.COM: Like you said, Christopher Lee has gone completely off the grid since his resignation. But, of course, as many people sort of speculated, more women started coming out of the woodwork after this. Two of the people who approached us were women who had been looking on this - the trans section of Craigslist, which is for transgender women and transvestites, cross dressers.

One of them was a woman who said she had exchanged e-mails and exchanged photographs with Lee and because she had responded to an ad that he had put up. She provided us with the ad. We were able to confirm that an ad for a sexy classy man seeking a possible TS/CD, transsexual or cross-dresser had indeed existed and it was placed the same day as that first e-mail exchange that we had published initially, the one that caused him to resign. So that person had contacted us and shared that story.

LEMON: OK. So there were -

O'CONNOR: A second trans woman came out -

LEMON: So Maureen -

O'CONNOR: That's the first -

LEMON: We deal with this every week. There's a delay here. So let me jump in because I want to -

So two people came forward and they said, OK, this guy contacted me and you spoke to them and got their story. Now I want to put this in. Because one of these sources sent you a picture that was partially blacked out. So we want to pop that one up.

O'CONNOR: Yes.

LEMON: It's a side-by-side with the famous one that everyone has seen. And you can see - again, we don't know if it's the same person - and again, this is your reporting. It looks the same pose, the body looks the same. The phone looks the same -

O'CONNOR: It's the same phone, right. So that is the second woman who approached us. She was a transvestite and actually a prostitute. The reason it's blacked out is because she initially sent it and she printed her e-mail address on it and said we had to pay her if we wanted to get the complete image and of course, you know, my editor, went through the negotiations and it didn't work out. So that's why we have this blacked-out version of it.

So that person said that she had an ad that was trans for men and that he had responded to it. That they had gone back and forth and that they had also not actually met each other in real life. So what's interesting about this is we have these two trans women who corresponded with him but didn't actually meet the congressman which is sort of the same story we had the first time around with the woman that had exchanged e-mails but never actually met him.

LEMON: OK.

O'CONNOR: However, he is a socially conservative man and so you can see why he might be worried about this kind of story coming out.

LEMON: And that's - people are speculating maybe that's why so quickly, he said, OK, I'm stepping down. So I want to show this e- mail that Lee sent to his staff on January 21st. He claims his e-mail account was hacked. So that's possible, isn't it, right?

O'CONNOR: Yes.

LEMON: But Gawker is finding that the timing of that is very suspicious.

O'CONNOR: Sure and what's interesting is that we had - these e-mails began that we have with all three people starting January 14th and that they had all ended around the 20th. This e-mail was supposedly sent to his staff on January 21st. It's possible that, for instance, it's now - the congressman - we asked further questions about this e- mail he supposedly sent to his staff. And they didn't answer any more questions about it.

It's possible that he had been looking around Craigslist, exchanging e-mails with people, realized that, oh, no, this could get me in trouble and then said, oh, no, I've been hacked. It's also totally possible that you know, maybe he was hacked and then all this happened. But if somebody hacked him, it was somebody capable of getting to multiple shirtless photos of him, who was able to use - to blend real details from his personal life with fake details while wooing people who had also, you know, gotten hold of many personal pictures of him shirtless and not, and used his personal Gmail account for about a week. So that would be a pretty significant hack if that were the case. Lee is really the only person who can clear up these questions and of course, he isn't talking to anyone anymore.

LEMON: OK. Cross dressers and transsexuals and it is possible, though, that these people could have made it up and it's possible that it could have been hacked but as you said, they'd have to have pictures of him and all of that.

O'CONNOR: It's suspicious timing and it is very peculiar that he would resign so promptly if there wasn't something he wanted to get away from.

LEMON: All right. Maureen O'Connor from Gawker.com, Gawker's reporting again.

O'CONNOR: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: So we reached out to the congressman and he's not gotten back to us. Thanks again, Maureen. Have a great Saturday night. OK.

O'CONNOR: Sure. Thanks. Thanks, Don.

LEMON: All right. Has Charlie Sheen finally become more trouble than he is worth? CBS and Warner Brothers TV shut down Sheen's hugely popular sitcom "Two and A Half Men" for the rest of the season. This after Sheen went on a radio and just really let loose, slamming Alcoholics Anonymous and making some unflattering remarks about his executive producer, Chuck Lorre.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: It is nothing this side of deplorable that a certain Chaim Levine, yes, that's Chuck's real name, mistook this rock star for own selfish exit strategy, bro. I embarrassed him in a front of his children and the world by healing at a pace his unevolved mind cannot process. OK. Last time I checked, Chaim, I've spent closet to the last decade, I don't know, effortlessly and magically converting your tin can into pure gold.

This bootleg cult, arrogantly referred to as Alcoholics Anonymous, reports a five percent success rate. My success rate is 100 percent. Do the math... Another one their stupid mottoes, Alex, is 'Don't be special, be one of us.' News flash, I am special and I will never be one of you! I have disease, I cured it with my brain, with my mind. I'm cured. I'm done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: A lot of people aren't buying that, including addiction expert, Dr. Drew Pinsky on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. DREW PINSKY, CNN HOST: He's in clearly psychiatrically unstable state. That's just the fact. I mean, there's simply no denying look at the data there. The question is, is that really the underlying disorder or is this addiction causing hypomania? At this point, it really doesn't matter. Because hypomanics kill themselves, hurt other people, became gravely disabled. And he's just inches off -

PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Are you worried about Charlie Sheen?

PINSKY: Oh, my goodness. He's inches off needing a 72-hour hold, a 51-50 where people are held against their will.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Soon you can get expert advice like that every day. Make sure you catch Dr. Drew Pinsky on his own show. It premieres April 4th, on HLN.

A family outing turns into a nightmare for a North Carolina mom and her two daughters. I want you to take a look at what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa! Oh, my!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Up next, we're going to talk with the woman behind the camera and we'll show you what else she saw.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: All right. A North Carolina family learned the hard way just how little separates the audience from the animals at a rodeo. This video explains it all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my!

(INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEMON: Whoa! It happened at a rodeo in Williamson, North Carolina, last Saturday. The bull had just bucked a rider and the crew was rounding it up when it headed for the stands. Look at it. It jumped about five feet into the crowd. A couple did get hurt and they're going to be OK, I should tell you. The person who took this video now joins us by telephone. Her name is Ann Conner. She's calling us from Greenville, North Carolina. Ann, first of all, are you OK?

ANN CONNER, SURVIVOR (on the phone): Yes, we're fine. The girls were a little scared and we left the rodeo early. But we're physically OK.

LEMON: OK. So it was your husband and your daughters who are five and nine years old. That's a picture of you guys sitting there. So everybody is fine?

CONNER: We're fine, yes.

LEMON: So tell us what you saw. Did you see how the couple were hurt?

CONNER: Well, as I was videotaping, I just had my eye on the bull and I thought, he's going to get close to the railing and we'll get a really good shot of him kicking and then he went airborne. And no, I didn't see the couple get hurt because we were fleeing. But as I turned around, that's when I saw that the bull has jumped back in miraculously to the arena and they were both on the floor injured.

LEMON: So you didn't see it because we heard the man, according to other people, tried to knock his wife out of the way. But you didn't see that?

CONNER: No, when the bull went airborne, my back was turned and I was running.

LEMON: What were you thinking?

CONNER: Well, my daughter had jokingly said, "mom, front-row seats, the bull might come into the stands like you see on TV sometimes." And I went "oh, no, honey, that won't happen." And as I was running, I was thinking, my gracious, she had intuition! I should have listened.

LEMON: You wanted that up close seat, right?

CONNER: That's right. We got those front-row seats. So I guess now - we're planning to go back next year and sit a little higher up.

LEMON: So you're going to go back?

CONNER: Oh, yes. The girls had such a great time. It was a great family day. We just think, we'll sit a little higher.

LEMON: OK. So listen, we're joking about it. We hope the couple, we hope the people are OK.

CONNER: Yes. LEMON: What about the people around you? What were people saying and doing after that? Were they like, whoa, what just happened?

CONNER: Well, the families around us were all - we were just kind of talking to each other and thinking, good gracious. And then one of them said, were you videotaping that. And I said, sure. But the EMC and the emergency people at (INAUDIBLE) went straight to the couple's aid. So their attention were on the injured, not the ones that were surprised.

LEMON: Yes. You know, it's funny because as we were looking at the video and we kind of slowed it down in the newsroom, we're checking out. Some people jumped up and they were still holding their food and their beer and their drinks and they didn't drop it.

CONNER: Right. And the next bull kind of charged at the other side very similarly. And you could see the crowd disperse. But he didn't jump into the stands.

LEMON: You know, is this part of the excitement of going to a rodeo, really, Ann?

CONNER: Well, I had no intention of thinking this much excitement would occur, that's for sure. It's a six to seven-foot jump. He really went airborne.

LEMON: Where's your daughter?

CONNER: My daughters were - right at this moment?

LEMON: Yes. Are they there?

CONNER: Yes, they are.

LEMON: Do you have one of them there? Can I speak to them?

CONNER: Sure.

LEMON: Let's talk to one of them.

CONNER: OK. Emily. Come here just a moment.

EMILY CONNER: Hello.

LEMON: Emily, hey, you're live on CNN. My name is Don. What did you think when that bull came charging at you?

EMILY CONNER: I was scared.

LEMON: Yes.

EMILY CONNER: I was scared. Yes.

LEMON: Now, are you the one who told your mom that the bull might come charging at you if you sit too close?

EMILY CONNER: Yes.

LEMON: She didn't listen to you, did she?

EMILY CONNER: No.

LEMON: Do you want to go back?

EMILY CONNER: Maybe a little bit longer until we kind of like get used to it.

LEMON: Yes, were you scared?

EMILY CONNER: Yes, I was really scared that it could hurt us.

LEMON: All right. Go ahead. What were you saying?

EMILY CONNER: I was saying that I was scared that it might hurt us or somebody else and it hurt the couple.

LEMON: Yes. Well, Emily, we're glad that you're OK and we're hearing the couple is going to be OK. So put your mom back on the phone, will you?

EMILY CONNER: Can I ask you one more question?

LEMON: OK, yes.

EMILY CONNER: Where is this going to go?

LEMON: You're on TV live all over the country.

EMILY CONNER: OK. Here's my mom.

LEMON: OK. Emily.

CONNER: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: Ann, she's a cutey. Glad you guys are OK and thanks for calling in. OK.

CONNER: Thank you. Bye-bye.

LEMON: All righty.

Cute family, right?

All right. Let's move on now. For a lot of people, life without glasses would be one big blur. Up next, we check in with our tech whiz for a look at how a non-profit organization is trying to put the world in focus for people around the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Maybe you're watching the show right now through a pair of eyeglasses. And for a lot of people the world is just one big blur without them. But an estimated 40 percent of the global population needs glasses and either can't get them or can't afford them. One British non-profit is trying to change that one nation at a time and our favorite tech whiz Katie Linendoll joins us now. And Katie, we all know that you've got really great taste or I should say interesting taste in glasses. I think it's good. So how is this group solving this problem in the third world right now?

KATIE LINENDOLL, CNN TECH WHIZ: Yes, just to add that statistics, too, the World Health Organization estimates one billion people are in need of but lack eye care. So this is a pretty global problem. So as you mentioned one U.K. non-profit company is trying to change this one nation at a time and they're starting in a perfect area of Rwanda. 10.7 million people are in the nation of Rwanda and there's only 12 optometrists.

In the U.S. there's typically about one to 4,500. So how do you top down, get them the proper care. What they have done is they've actually created - and this is going to be hard to see, but they've created these adjustable eyewear lenses. And I'll just show you. On the side here is there's these dials. There's two lenses in each frame and you put these on and by changing the dials, you can actually negotiate it to your proper prescription. So what's cool is even if one person in the family has one since they can constantly be adjusted, you can find different prescriptions, you can actually share them throughout the family.

So to be able to distribute them top down and again in a place, Rwanda, 12 optometrists the entire country is remarkable in terms of progress and impact.

LEMON: That's really cool. That's really cool.

LINENDOLL: Yes.

LEMON: It's got to be tough to put actually an entire country and it has to be costly, as well.

LINENDOLL: Yes, so, in Rwanda, only 12 optometrist and there's only five hospitals in total. And they estimate that 1.2 billion people need glasses. So how do you top down distribute? Well, what the company is doing and again, they're a nonprofit is they've actually partnered with the government which was essential so there's 60,000 community workers. That's about two per village. And in the village they know everybody by name.

So by working with these community workers they can actually distribute the glasses and get them to the right hands of the right people. So pairing with the government was really key in terms of organization.

LEMON: So how can people at home, if people are watching, and if they read you blog, what is it? Talknerdytome.net, how can they get involved, Katie.

LINENDOLL: Yes, so it's really interesting. They can go to visionforanation.org. They take funds there and these glasses typically only cost around a dollar only because the Rwandan government does not believe in giving goods or services for free. That dollar goes right back to training nurses and community workers.

So really they're not profiting from this at all. I think it's a powerful thing to be able to give somebody the gift of sight. Right now, they're funded completely through one philanthropist out of Hong Kong but of course, they're always looking for donations in making an impact.

LEMON: What a great, great story. And you have good taste in glasses but I do like those. And you know, people obviously very poor in Africa. Can you put them on again? And you said they're adjustable and adjust them on the side to their prescription.

LINENDOLL: Yes, there's two knobs on the side here. So it's really cool to be able to distribute these. There's great stories, human stories, about how there are sewers and they couldn't see the needle and now they can just find their prescription and really be able to see again. I think that's incredibly powerful.

LEMON: OK. Good stuff. OK. I have to ask you this, what do you think, people comment on my glasses all the time? Like or not. You can tell me the truth.

LINENDOLL: No, I like them.

LEMON: All right. No, I like them.

LINENDOLL: It's cool.

LEMON: I thought you were going to say not so much.

Katie Linendoll with a great story. How people are helping people in need. We appreciate them again. Go to Katie's blog, it's talknerdytome.net.

Thanks, Katie.

There it is. All right. Don't underestimate the influence of Twitter. It has the power to bring families together. You'll see what I mean, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: One tweet, that's all it took to get this man and his daughter reunited after 11 years. Daniel Morales joined Twitter three weeks ago when he was given a phone as part of a project aimed at giving a voice to the homeless. He and his daughter reunited on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL MORALES, FOUND DAUGHTER VIA TWITTER: A great moment for myself. I feel rejoice.

SARAH RIVERA, FOUND BY DAD VIA TWITTER: To get to find my dad after 11 years, I don't even know how to feel right now. It's just - I'm very, very happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Since getting started on Twitter, Morales has more than 3,000 followers from around the world.

And a programming note to tell you about. Coming up at 10 p.m. Eastern here on CNN, we're dedicating an entire hour to complete coverage of the unrest in Libya. We'll break it all down for you, everything from Moammar Gadhafi and how all this affects the U.S. and the world and the economy, of course.

And we'll also take you back live to Tripoli. That's coming up 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here.