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Palin's Past Becomes Public; Tracy Morgan Goes on Anti-Gay Rant; Julian Assange in Depth; Texas Court Allows Prayer at Graduation; A Baby Costs Nearly $227,000; Tracy Morgan Goes on Anti- Gay Rant

Aired June 10, 2011 - 14:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Well, it's been an hour or so since the state of Alaska put out a mountain of Sarah Palin's e-mails from her abbreviated stint as governor, 24,000 pages' worth requested by CNN and others way back when John McCain picked a running mate no one in the lower 48 had ever heard of. It took this long for the state to sort out what it had to produce and what it could legally hold back.

And our Drew Griffin, in Juneau, has been poring through six boxes of paperwork. He'll join us in a second.

But first, Palin tells Fox News she's not worried about what the world might read.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of those e-mails obviously weren't meant for public consumption. They're between staff members. They're probably between family members.

So I'm sure people are going to capitalize on this opportunity to go through 25,000 e-mails, and perhaps take things out of context. They will never truly know what the context of each one of the e-mails was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And Drew is with us now from Juneau.

Drew, is this trivial stuff, or monumental, or something in between?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's hard to tell. There's a lot and a lot of mundane work of the Alaska state governor's office that we're poring through. I'll just show you.

We are literally trying to go through these boxes right now. There's six boxes. We've got four of them on the table.

We do have somewhat of an index. They're not all chronological, so it's very difficult to actually scan these for important dates or important events that happened in her two year or three years as governor. But Randi, it shows you all the things that Governor Palin had to deal with. For instance, in this e-mail that I'm holding right here, somebody is complaining to Walt Monegan, the public safety director that she eventually fired, a retiring legislator, saying that she was spotted with Trig in a car not wearing an approved car seat. And the governor writes back that this complaint is obviously ridiculous, "I have never driven anywhere without a car seat."

And she wants to know, who is it? Who is that legislator complaining?

Also this one, where she's discussing whether or not she is going to participate in a fitness magazine. She says, "I'll do the fitness segment if they'll shoot somewhere and cool and distracting, like a glacier, or out fishing or hiking with Trig in a jogger or a backpack."

We've seen other e-mails where -- this is a somewhat funny from her lieutenant governor, who is now the governor, Sean Parnell, writing that, "Senator Stevens was stuck in Juneau, calling me this morning in an effort to see if he could pay to charter the governor's plane." And Sarah Palin writes back, "Doesn't he know I don't have a plane?"

She sold the plane, as you can remember.

A lot of mundane issues. And as Sarah Palin said in that sound bite at Fox News, a lot of things that I don't think anybody thought would be released to the public, they are being released in her office memos, et cetera. But so far, we haven't seen anything that we don't already know -- Randi.

KAYE: And are these from Palin's office computer only, Drew, or are personal e-mails included in these six boxes as well?

GRIFFIN: Some are personal, coming from her personal account, her Yahoo! account, going back and forth between staffers and other legislators and other executives within the Alaska state government. Anything that the state deemed could be part of her official duties is what they included.

What they excluded was attorney/client privilege documents, obviously extremely personal things that have nothing to do with state business, and what they are calling this process stuff, where they want to allow the free flow of information between legislators to discuss policy issues without having to worry about anybody reading them in the future so there can be open deliberations. But again, they've released 24,000 of these documents, and it's just -- we are just going through them.

KAYE: And any indication of the impact that this document dump, as we call it, might have on her decision about a presidential run?

GRIFFIN: On her decision on a presidential run, if she decides to do that, I don't think so at this moment. Certainly, her camp is not preparing for any smoking guns to be found in here, although I'm sure there will be some who will try to make hay out of whatever they do find.

What is going to be, I see, as harmful is a lot of relationships here in the state of Alaska may be harmed when certain political enemies and certain political allies realize behind the scenes what has been said about them. So there is going to be a lot of airing of emotions in some of these e-mails, and I think that could hurt friendships here in Alaska.

KAYE: All right.

Drew Griffin for us in Juneau with the documents.

Drew, thank you.

And we should just apologize to you at home. Just so you know, there was a little bit of difficulty with Drew's shot there because we were coming to you live with a broadband connection. We wanted to make sure we could get you those documents, so our apologies for that.

Meanwhile, today, our "Sound Effect" is the Casey Anthony murder trial through the eyes of Nancy Grace. Nancy joined me last hour after several hours of wrenching testimony from crime scene technicians who recovered the remains of Casey's 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

I asked her about the defendant's purported illness which forced the trial to recess early yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST, "NANCY GRACE": I'm not so sure that she was sick as much as sick of the testimony, because, you know, one thing I noticed, Randi -- and I have been watching her carefully -- when her mother, Cindy Anthony, grandmother to little Caylee, took the stand, she was so broken up, that she put her head down and couldn't even raise her head. She went through a box of Kleenex.

"Tot Mom" has been through one Kleenex. One. Randi, one Kleenex, but she has been crying for two days. She used one Kleenex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The defense claims Caylee Anthony drowned in her grandparents' pool, and her grandfather, Casey's father, helped cover it up. He denies that.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Casey Anthony could face the death penalty.

The U.S. attorney overseeing the John Edwards case is resigning, but that's not a surprise. George E. B. Holding of the eastern district of North Carolina is a holdover from the Bush administration. A successor picked by President Obama is awaiting Senate confirmation.

Edwards, a former U.S. senator and presidential candidate, is charged with violating finance law with payments to his mistress. Robert Gates is wrapping up his last overseas trip as defense secretary by telling America's closest military allies what he really thinks of them. Gates and his predecessors have struggled to get NATO member states to pony up for missions they have agreed to take on, but never, ever has a U.S. defense chief stood up in public and warned the North Atlantic Alliance that it faced "a dim, if not dismal, future." That is a direct quote.

Listen to this from a speech to a think tank in Brussels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the United States Congress and in the American body politic writ large to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense, nations apparently willing and eager for American taxpayers to assume the growing security burden left by reductions in European defense budgets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: NATO, as you know, was formed to counter the Soviet Union and its allies, and it's not only survived the end of the Cold War, it's grown from 16 nations to 28. As for Gates, he can speak his mind because he is retiring at the end of this month.

Tracy Morgan is now apologizing for going off on gays. The popular comedian and "30 Rock" start reportedly went on a tirade bashing gays.

Morgan was performing in front of a packed house at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Well, one person in the audience posted some of the things Morgan said, including this: if his son was gay, he better come and home to talk to him like a man and not -- and then he mimicked, apparently a gay language in a high-pitched voice -- or he would pull out a knife and stabbed that little N-word to death. But that is not all.

Morgan issued this statement: "I want to apologize to my fans and the gay and lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent standup act in Nashville. I'm not a hateful person and don't condone any kind of violence against others. While I'm an equal opportunity, jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context."

More details of his shocking rant in just a couple of minutes.

And, of course, we want to know what you think about this. Join the conversation on our blog, CNN.com/Ali. And you can also post on either Ali's or my Facebook and Twitter pages as well. Keep those comments coming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) KAYE: Popular actor and comedian Tracy Morgan's latest stand-up is blowing up into a major controversy and turning out to be no laughing matter at all. And now Morgan is apologizing.

The comedian reportedly went on a vicious homophobic rant. Morgan, who is known to push the envelope for laughs, was performing in front of a packed house at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. In the middle of the show, he launched into a scathing tirade about homosexuals.

I spoke with a photographer, Kevin Rogers, who was in the audience and posted on Facebook some of the things Morgan reportedly said.

Kevin says at one point Morgan says, "There is no way a woman could love and have sexual desire for another woman. That's just a woman pretending because she hates an f-ing man."

He went on to say, "If his son was gay, he better come home and talk to him like a man and not" -- here he reportedly mimicked a gay high-pitched voice -- "or he would pull out and stab that little N- word to death."

Morgan goes on, saying, he didn't "f-ing care" if he "pissed off some gays."

As many of you know, Morgan is on the cast of the popular NBC show "30 Rock." The irony is "30 Rock" received an award from GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation."

Well, GLAAD is calling for Morgan's management to investigate these reports and issued this statement this morning. GLAAD's president says, "Should they prove true, we call on him to remove these violently anti-gay remarks from his show and send a strong message that anti-gay violence is not something to joke about."

The Human Rights Campaign also issued a statement. "If these allegations are true, Tracy Morgan must immediately accept responsibility and apologize. His employer, NBC Universal, also must come forward and condemn these atrocious comments."

Kevin Rogers was sitting in that packed auditorium in Nashville to see one of his favorite comedians. We with him earlier about his reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN ROGERS, ATTENDED TRACY MORGAN'S STAND-UP: I was absolutely shocked and amazed at what I was hearing. I knew that I was going to be see a comedian that does push the envelope, and was expecting to hear all sorts of different probably inappropriate humor, but I didn't expect to hear an attack on the gay community.

KAYE: As I mentioned, Tracy Morgan has apologized, Kevin, so I want to read you his statement. He says, "I want to apologize to my fans and the gay and lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville. I am not a hateful person and don't condone any kind of violence against others. While I'm an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context."

What is your response to that? Is that apology enough?

ROGERS: I greatly appreciate his apology. I only hope that it actually is genuine and that's how he feels. And if that's the case, and he shows my community and his fans that he truly is sorry for those remarks, and takes content like that from his show, then, yes, I greatly accept his apology.

KAYE: As you have said, you certainly didn't expect Morgan's act to be clean, but when he said what he said about stabbing his son if he came home and told him that he was gay, how did that specific remark sit with you?

ROGERS: It had gotten to the point within the rant that I was actually a little numb to everything that was being said. I was still trying to process everything and decide if there was going to be a punch line somewhere, or exactly what was I hearing?

So, to me, it really was just the entire thing really did hurt me. You know, of course the violent aspect of that comment, I actually even thought that at a point, well, maybe he is at least joking about that. Not that that's something to joke about, but, you know, that is pretty serious.

KAYE: And what was the audience response? Were you able to notice? Were people laughing, were they booing? What was the response?

ROGERS: As ashamed as I am for the Nashville audience, there was actually a lot of applause during that, and seemed to -- there were some people that weren't laughing or clapping, and seemed to be sitting there in shock. But there were also a lot of people that just really, for lack of a better way of putting it, kind of hooted and hollered.

KAYE: Did anyone leave?

ROGERS: Throughout his entire performance there were times that we had noticed that people were leaving. You know, his performance includes a lot of comments about women and his belief in their place in the world. And so --

KAYE: And what was his demeanor as he started this part of the act? Did his demeanor change, or was it the way it was throughout the whole show?

ROGERS: I could tell that it seemed to go from a joking demeanor to, this is a point in my show to where I'm very serious about what I'm saying. It was very forthright. There wasn't -- it didn't seem to be any joking involved at that point, it was just, here is my platform. KAYE: You posted your feelings, as I said, on Facebook. You also tweeted about it, writing, "Saw Tracy Morgan in Nashville last night. Nothing but hate for the gays." That was what your tweet said, and then you also added, "I was very saddened by this."

What kind of response have you received online?

ROGERS: It's been kind of crazy. I've received all sorts of support from people across the United States.

I have actually also received a little bit of hate, but far, far outweighed by the number of people that are supporting me and wanting to be my friend on Facebook, and just patting me on the back and saying thanks and that they really appreciated it. So, it has been overall positive, but I never expected on Friday that I was going to be on CNN today.

KAYE: I'm sure.

And I know that before you came on CNN, you actually -- according to my producer, you had to actually come out to your mom.

ROGERS: Yes. It's something that I've -- we have never really discussed, and I have always had a feeling that my family knew, but I just wasn't comfortable having that discussion.

And then I knew how things happened, and Nashville is a large city, but it's also a very small community in a way. So I knew that at some point tonight I would be receiving a phone call from my mother, saying, "Somebody called me and saw you on CNN. What's the deal?"

So I thought that this is a time that I'm really going to have to just step up and make that phone call and say, here, look, this is what's going to happen, and whatever you hear, here is the truth. And she was very supportive and was great. And I love her and my dad very much for the way they have raised me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And we do want to mention that we're going to have much more on this story coming up in our "Stream Team" discussion, where we will be joined by GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios. That will come up live here on CNN in just about 30 minutes or so, so you can stick around for that one.

And remember, of course, that we want to know what you think about Tracy Morgan's remarks. Join the conversation on our blog, CNN.com/Ali. You can also post on either Ali's or my Facebook and Twitter pages as well.

Some are calling it a war. It's the United States versus a virtual army of whistleblowers who leak freely and frequently online. The leader, Julian Assange.

Coming up, a side of him you probably haven't seen before as we preview "WikiWars," a CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Julian Assange is known for his Web site revealing leaked government information, but the WikiLeaks founder himself became the victim of a leak when a British reporter received details of the rape Assange allegedly committed in Sweden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJ LARSEN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: What was Julian's reaction?

NICK DAVIES, JOURNALIST, "THE GUARDIAN": He went berserk. His attitude, expressed through his lawyer while we were writing this piece, was that we should suppress this information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: That's an excerpt from a CNN special investigation, "WikiWars: The Mission of Julian Assange," which premiers in just two days.

And joining me now from CNN's Special Investigations Unit is Kaj Larsen.

So what -- I guess, what's the latest on Assange's legal situation for those of us who don't keep up with it as well as you do?

LARSEN: Sure.

Well, we have been looking into it and following it for a while, but there is this sort of well-known legal predicament that he's in which is in Sweden with the allegations of sexual misconduct, and he is fighting an extradition request there. But lesser known and perhaps more threatening to Julian Assange himself is that the U.S. Justice Department has launched an inquiry, and there's been some grand jury subpoenas of WikiLeaks' supporters as of late, and that is certainly more daunting for Assange.

KAYE: I know that you and I have talked before about Assange and about Bradley Manning, who may have or may not have given him this information. What do we know about Private Bradley Manning and the relationship with Assange?

LARSEN: Well, what we know comes from some transcripts of chat conversations between Bradley Manning and another former hacker. And so all of our information comes from those chats. But you have kind of gotten to the critical point here.

Bradley Manning really is the linchpin of the case against Assange. If the U.S. government can prove that Assange solicited this classified information from Private Bradley Manning, then he is in a much deeper end of the pool when it comes to his legal jeopardy.

KAYE: Oh, yes. Because if Bradley Manning had been the one to offer it up, that would change the whole picture completely.

LARSEN: Exactly, because then Assange can use the defense that he was acting as "The New York Times" does or any other media publishing organization when it gets classified information.

KAYE: So I guess whatever they figure out there, that would help determine the future of WikiLeaks. Do we know what the future is?

LARSEN: We don't, of course, know the future of WikiLeaks, but I will say that I think it's inextricable from the fate of Julian Assange. Assange is almost synonymous with the organization. So as sails Assange, there goes WikiLeaks as well.

KAYE: I know you've been working on this for quite some time. Did you find anything out about Julian Assange that maybe we haven't known before?

LARSEN: I think it's just really interesting to watch his sort of candid reactions when he is not really aware that he is being filmed, or just sort of behind-the-scenes Assange. He's actually quite funny, he's wicked smart. But at the same time, he has this sense of hubris. There's this arrogance that I think has made it difficult for him to get along with a lot of his supporters.

KAYE: All right. Kaj Larsen, we will keep an eye out for your special investigation.

A reminder -- thanks for coming on the show.

And a reminder to all of you at home, CNN's special investigation, "WikiWars: The Mission of Julian Assange," airs Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

Well, every day millions of children around the world spend their entire lives scavenging city garbage dumps with the hopes of finding scraps to sell so they can buy food for their families. And unless they can manage to get an education, their future can remain very difficult.

And that's where this week's CNN Hero comes in.

Meet Elena Duron Miranda.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENA DURON MIRANDA, COMMUNITY CRUSADER (through translator): Currently in Argentina, there are a lot of children working. In Bariloche, most children work recovering waste from the garbage dump to sell for a small profit. They can be very small children, 3, 4, 5 years old.

All parents want a better life for their children than what they had, but there are times when the whole family tries to work and try to make ends meet.

My name is Elena Duron Miranda, I founded a organization to help the boys and girls of the Bariloche trash dump to get out so they no longer have to work there to survive.

When I arrived in Argentina, it hit hard to see so many small children picking through garbage. Many of these boys and girls have dropped out of school. I decided that I had to do something for them.

We tried to be as fully integrated as possible. There's a school tracking group, a psychologist and a social worker. We work with the family on the value of putting them in school.

Any time we get a child close to school, it's a seed we are planting. You hope not to put the child on the street again. If he returns, we go after him. Education is how we start to break vicious cycles, to give children a better future.

I learn something from the children every day -- to be happy even under very complex circumstances.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Elena's organization provides customized educational programs to about 200 children and their families free of charge.

Remember, every CNN Hero is chosen from people that you tell us about. So, to nominate someone that you think is changing the world, go to CNNHeroes.com.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It is definitely hot out, but now, there is trouble with snow. So, let's head over to Chad Myers and help us make sense of this, please.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: When it warms up too fast, snow melts. And there are flood warnings and flood watches all through the west as now the sun beating on the snow pack of 70-feet deep in some spots is now melting it. And so, you have to watch out. Even watch out where it has been dry, because the rivers won't be dry, all that snow coming down the hill.

Look at Atlanta City, New Jersey, yesterday -- it has never been over 100 degrees this early in a season ever. It was 102 yesterday. Newark, 102.

Washington, D.C., the District of Columbia, was 102, and the heat index was higher than that. Baltimore was 100; and Chattanooga all of the way up to 97.

One big story we've been watching for the last few days: the wind -- the wind in Arizona. What's it been doing? And hasn't been slowing a little bit for the firefighters?

Yes, it has. There's the highest gust I've seen so far today, three, two, seven. That's going up. I haven't seen anything in the double-digits. That's great news for the firefighters there. Let's go off of the radar here. I don't know if you saw this launch earlier today, but a Delta rocket went straight up in the air, just like it's supposed to, carrying NASA's new satellite. Kind of a joint venture, Argentina, USA, they're going to be able to look down at the surface of the earth and at the oceans in particular, and find out where the salinity is high, where the salinity is low.

I just love watching things take off like that, as a little rocket model kid when I was kid. But that thing is going all the way up. They're going to launch this thing in a three-year little experiment, try to figure out where the water is going, what's melting, what fresh water is melting, what salt water is getting saltier because of evaporation.

It's going to have to do and a lot more information where it usually just boats and ships could take these observations. Now, we'll have those observations over the globe now -- Randi.

KAYE: That's pretty cool, Chad. Thank you.

Which European country is facing fines over the care of hamsters? Yes, hamsters. Find out in just 80 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It's about half past the hour, here's a look at some of the stories you may have missed.

The state of Alaska has released some 24,000 pages of e-mails from Sarah Palin's years as governor. The material includes the e- mails dealing with state business, both from Palin's official and from her private accounts. The move is a response to the Freedom of Information Act request from CNN and other news agencies.

Actor/comedian Tracy Morgan apologizing today after a performance in Nashville last week that included several angry anti-gay remarks. In Morgan's apology, he stated quote, "I'm not a hateful person, even in a comedy club, this clearly went too far, and was not funny in any context.

New York Congressman Anthony Weiner insists he will not resign despite the outrage over his sexting scandal. He initially denied a lewd tweeting to a woman in Washington state. But this week, he confessed to sending similar messages to a number of women. Weiner is married to Hillary Clinton aide, Huma Abedin.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that the French government is not doing enough to protect these little guys, the hamsters. The court ruled that measures implemented by France in 2008 were insufficient to prevent deterioration or destruction of breeding sites. The small 10-inch rodents are considered pets by most French farmers and were routinely trapped or poisoned until they got official protection in the early 1990. They got to protect those guys.

Should prayer be an official part of a high school graduation? In just one minute, we'll have an exclusive interview with a family who fought their school and state to have prayer banned at the graduation. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Should prayer be a part of a high school graduation? A lawsuit filed last month by an agnostic family in Texas says it has no place there. The Schultz family argued their son would suffer, quote, "irreparable" harm if anyone prayed at their graduation ceremony in Castroville, Texas.

But in a statement last Friday, State Attorney General Greg Abbott said it should not be illegal for students to say a prayer at a graduation ceremony. Now, the federal court of appeals agrees.

The graduation went off as planned by the school without Corwyn Schultz and his family in attendance.

Corwyn and his mother, Christa, join me now for an exclusive interview.

Thank you both for joining us.

Corwin, tell us why it was that you didn't want prayer at your graduation.

CORWYN SCHULZ, GRADUATE, MEDINA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL: Because it says clearly in the Constitution that it's separation of church and state, and the school is a state-run program. It has our tax money poured into it.

KAYE: And, Christa, your original lawsuit was filed last month. I mean, how long has this been going on?

CHRISTA SCHULTZ, FILED LAWSUIT TO STOP PRAYER AT GRADUATION: This has been going on -- we have been working with the school district for at least three years now, trying to craft an inclusive ceremony that would respect religions of everyone. We had asked for a moment of silence instead of an announced prayer where everyone was asked to stand and bow their heads as had happened at previous ceremonies.

We didn't have an issue with student speakers. Student speakers have broad rights to express their religious beliefs or to credit which ever deity they follow with their success. Student speakers kind of turned into a side issue. Our problem, our issue was with the school district sponsoring prayer not only at graduation, but throughout the high school. It's a Christian high school masquerading as a public school, and it's publicly funded.

KAYE: Well, when I hear that --

CHRISTA SCHULTZ: And --

KAYE: And when I hear you say it's a Christian high school masquerading as a public school, some might say, Corwyn, why didn't you switch schools? CORWYN SCHULTZ: Because it's in my district, and it's a public school. I'm not going to move houses just because public school is saying prayers. That's not how America is run. I'm sorry.

CHRISTA SCHULTZ: Corwyn and every other student at the school have a right to a religion-neutral environment. And Medina Valley High School is anything but. The principal and other school officials regularly appeal for God's blessing on sporting events or other school events.

CORWYN SCHULTZ: Over the announcements.

CHRISTA SCHULTZ: Over the intercom. It's not appropriate and certainly isn't religion-neutral. It's promoting not only religion over non-religion, but specifically Christianity over any other religion. And the clear message there is that if you are not a Christian, you are not welcome.

KAYE: And, Corwyn, just very quickly, how has the reaction been to this and your involvement in this?

CORWYN SCHULTZ: From close friends, I have gotten support. From the community, itself, they don't like me. There's a lot of signs in town, "bless the atheist." We're not atheist. We're agnostic. And if you are going to bless us, get it right.

But it's just that they don't like is, and it's very apparent. There are signs on the fast food, like, on the Bush's chicken in town, it says "Congratulations seniors, may God bless," and that was put up the day that I went in there.

KAYE: Do you feel safe there in town?

CORWYN SCHULTZ: More or less as long as I'm with somebody.

KAYE: All right. Corwyn and Christa, appreciate your time. Appreciate your coming on to talk about this. Thank you.

Your house car, that luxurious vacation you've always dreamed about -- all of those combined probably cost less than your child. You don't want to miss this, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Well, get ready to thank your parents because their sacrifice is huge, and I mean big as in big bucks. The U.S. Department of Agriculture came out with a report today on just how much it costs to raise a child last year.

In our "Taking the Lead" series, we're going to break down the numbers for you, OK? Are you ready? Here we go.

There you have it. It cost the average family a whopping $226,920. But that's actually based on the dollar's value last year. So, there's the real one, if you account for inflation over the next 17 years, we are talking about $287,000. That's up about 2 percent from 2009.

And guess what. That's to raise one child from the time that they are born until 17, and no, it does not include college. We are just talking about the bare essentials here and things like babysitter, school, doctor visits, and the cost to drive your kids around, all that gasoline, nothing extravagant actually.

But clearly how much you spend on your child depends upon how much you make, right? Two parents who bring home higher incomes can spend an average of $477,000 on one child, as you see there.

And folks, location, location, location, that's what it is all about. If you are pinching pennies, you might want to rethink your living situation. It is most expensive to raise kids in the large, urban cities in the Northeast, followed by the West and the Midwest. And if you want your dollars to go further, you're going to have to move to the cities in the South or maybe even live in rural communities.

So whatever, though, the expense, parents say their kids are worth every penny. So, of course, you can thank your mom and your dad.

Well Tracy Morgan, as we've been telling you, went on this anti- gay rant during a comedy routine. Comedy is considered free expression, but can comedy go too far? Today's "Stream Team" will tackle this subject right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Popular actor and comedian Tracy Morgan's latest stand-up is blowing up in a controversy and turning out to be no laughing matter, and now Morgan is apologizing.

Morgan, who is known to push the envelope for laughs, was performing in front of a packed house at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Well, in the middle of the show, he launched into a scathing tirade about homosexuals.

A photographer, Kevin Rogers, was in the audience and posted on Facebook some of the things that Morgan reportedly said. Now to be clear, we don't have an exact transcript of Morgan's remarks, but Kevin posted at one point Morgan says, quote, "There is no way a woman could love and have sexual desire for another woman, that's just a woman pretending she hates an F-ing man."

He went on to say, "If his son was gay, he better come home and talk to him like a man and not (mimicked a gay, high-pitched voice) or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N-word to death."

Morgan goes on, saying, quote, "He didn't F-ing care if he pissed off some gays."

As many of you know, Morgan is on the cast of the popular NBC show "30 Rock." Now the irony is "30 Rock" received an award from GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The Human Rights Campaign issued this statement today, "If these allegations are true, Tracy Morgan must immediately accept responsibility and apologize. His employer, NBC Universal, also must come forward and condemn these atrocious comments."

So the question for today's "Stream Team" is this: Can comedy go too far?

Marvet Britto is president and CEO of the Britto Agency, Jarrett Barrios is the president of GLAAD, and Dean Obeidallah is a comedian.

Thank you, all of you, for coming on to talk about this.

Dean, you worked with Tracy Morgan at "Saturday Night Live." What do you think of his comments? Did he go too far?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, COMEDIAN: I think he went too far, and even Tracy knows he went too far. He apologized today.

You know, Tracy's -- his sense of humor has always been politically incorrect, a little bit crude, but it's never been hateful, and this is clearly over the boundaries of what is acceptable for comedy and I am glad Tracy apologized. You can't demonize a group, and almost suggest that violence against a group is good or bigotry is good.

So I'm glad he apologized and I'm going to keep him at his word. I hope it will -- he will do that, he'll keep that out of his act.

KAYE: And, Marvet, I want to read you -- all of you, really -- Morgan's apology.

"I want to apologize," he says, "to my fans and the gay and lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville. I'm not a hateful person and don't condone any kind of violence against others. While I am an equal opportunity jokester, my friends know what is in my heart. Even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context."

Marvet, do you think this apology is enough, or does he need to change his act?

MARVET BRITTO, PRESIDENT & CEO, BRITTO AGENCY: I think his act was certainly hateful, but I do think that the apology was strong. He expressed what was in his heart. He made it clear he was not a hateful person.

You know, Tracy, like most comedians, like to operate in a free moral zone, only this was actually really offensive. And I don't think he's hateful, having met him and really being privy to his work, but I do think he crossed the line in being discriminating against a group of people who are certainly very important and certainly fans of his art.

KAYE: Jarrett, your organization, GLAAD, released a statement today in response to Morgan's rant, I want to share it with our viewers. "We call on him to remove these violently anti-gay remarks from his show and send a strong message that anti-gay violence is not something to joke about."

Jarrett, your organization is all for freedom of speech, but do you feel Morgan went too far? I mean, do you believe that a homophobic rant like this can cause some damage?

JARRETT BARRIOS, PRESIDENT, GLAAD: You know, this isn't about -- let's be very clear, this isn't about discrimination and him advocating discrimination. He made fun of gay kids who are getting bullied in schools. He said that people are gay because of the media. Parental rejection, violence against kids -- nine out of ten gay kids in high school et bullied every year, this is the sort of the thing that's serious, and this green light for that sort of discrimination.

And yes, apology is nice, but that is just a start. We have already spoken with his publicist today. We want Tracy Morgan to meet with the parents of kids who have killed themselves or who have lost their lives at the hands of violence. We also want him to meet homeless gay kids and talk to them because they have been kicked out because of their parents' homophobia.

These are the kinds of things that Tracy Morgan needs to understand. An apology is nice, but that's just the beginning. There's a lot of work this man needs to do.

And you know what? NBC needs to make a statement too. The entertainment industry needs to make a statement condemning this sort of treatment of any group, but in particular, given all the violence that gay community experiences and the green light that these sort of statements are, everybody should be condemning this violence.

KAYE: So, Marvet, what can NBC do? I mean, do they have any control? I mean, you know how this works, do they have any control over his stand-up act if he works for "30 Rock"?

BRITTO: Well, absolutely. I mean, they still hire him and he's their -- you know, they employ him, so he should use this platform for a greater cause and to really bring about an awareness of an issue that is really a very detrimental one.

So I agree, he really should use his platform for good rather than ridiculing a community. So they can really support him in doing that, and I think that Tracy should use this platform, because bullying in any circumstance is not right. And I think if he is really made privy to the issues, he will use his platform for a greater good.

KAYE: And, Dean, in creating a routine, I'm curious, how you know when you have gotten too close to crossing the line? Do you know?

DEAN: You really -- you know how you know? The reaction from the audience.

If you -- you can say anything as a comedian and that is the beauty of it, but there are consequences for what you say. If you go too far, your audience is going to tell you. In this case, the media and the mainstream community saying, Tracy, you went too far, and Tracy knows it.

As comedians, some have pushed the envelope and effectuated social change. I mean, great comedians like Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce. But this is going the opposite way. This is actually hurting comedy because it is making people not trust us and instead of pushing the envelope the right way, he is pushing it the wrong way and demonizing a group that has suffered.

BARRIOS: You know, it's worth noting for everybody here that this took place in Nashville. IN Nashville, just two weeks ago, the governor repealed the local nondiscrimination ordinance. It is legal to fire somebody in the city of Nashville just because they are gay.

The governor signed another bill that said, you know what? You can't say gay in public schools. The word "gay" is illegal in schools in Tennessee.

This is an environment that's filled not just with discrimination, but the kind bigotry, this kind of sort of hatred that he was speaking to when he spoke to that crowd. It is more than an embarrassment, it's more than just an apology.

He needs to do more to justify the words that he said in apology. He needs to engage with the community, not just the gay community, but all of us, to change the hearts and minds and really make gay folks more welcome in Tennessee and across this country.

KAYE: Marvet, if you were advising Tracy Morgan today, what would you tell him to do? Should he be meeting with the parents of children who have been bullied or and may have committed suicide as result? What can he do? I mean, because now even though he's apologized, whatever he said is already out there.

BRITTO: Well, absolutely. I think a lot of the statements made by folks who discriminate, regardless of the group or sector, is -- it's rooted in ignorance. And so I think educating Tracy on how hurtful and deep his comments could go and how it really could ignite a gravity in communities and amongst people, and I think it really could end up doing really the opposite of what he thought. I think that Tracy thought he was entertaining, but he really caused more harm.

So it starts with education, and then it can grow from there. He is certainly should use, again, his platform for change and to educate so that people are aware that these kind of practices and discrimination and bullying is actually active and taking place and is really harmful and hurtful. And I think once he is aware of that, he can ignite a change.

Entertainment and celebrities are very powerful. They are revered and celebrated, and he is the coveted, celebrated comedian who could use this platform for change once he is aware of the issue. And I think the walking out of the show and the abandoning -- the folks who left his show, now he's aware of the problem and he can fix t.

KAYE: Yes.

All right, Marvet, Dean, Jarrett, appreciate it. Very important conversation to have and really appreciate you coming on and your time today. Thank you all.

And remember, we want to know what you think about Tracy Morgan's remarks. Join the conversation on our blogs, CNN.com/Ali. And of course, you can also post on either Ali's or my Facebook and Twitter pages.

CNN NEWSROOM continues with T.J. Holmes right after this quick break.

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