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Whitewashing Hollywood; Cease Fire In Syria; Attacks Underway in Syrian Cities; From Hustler To Businessman; Edwards's Daughter to Testify; New French President Sworn In; 10 Reasons Not to Buy Stock in Facebook; Millions of Seniors Going Hungry
Aired May 15, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Here is what is crossing now in the CNN NEWSROOM. Compelling testimony up ahead in John Edwards' corruption trim. We're expecting his daughter to take the stand in his defense. The former presidential candidate is charged with lying, conspiracy and campaign finance violations. Prosecutors say he illegally used almost a million dollars from donors to hide his pregnant mistress. We'll be outside the courthouse with a live update in about 10 minutes.
It's called white washing, the casting of white actors in non- white roles. We see it in films "The Dictator," but it is nothing new. Remember Mickey Rooney playing an Asian in Paramount's "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Actor and daily show correspondent Steve Mondy, he is joining us at 12:45 Eastern to explain a controversial practice that is as old as Hollywood itself.
Here's how this so called cease-fire looks in parts of Syria. Government forces continue to launch attacks against their own people in many cities. An opposition group says 22 people were killed today alone. But there are areas where rebels are not in complete control. Ivan Watson has a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The journey to Syria starts with a brisk walk through olive groves.
(on camera): That's how you get into Syria, through a hole in the fence.
(voice-over): This is a country of rich rolling farmland that's in open revolt. In many towns, the rebels are now in complete control. In one village, a rebel occupies the desk where the police chief used to sit.
(on camera): The rebels claim they forced out the security officers from this police station nearly two months ago, and since then, they have been using it as a mini barracks for sleeping quarters. They've also storing aid, bags of clothing that have been donated from across the border in Turkey, some of which are being stored here in the prison cell.
(voice-over): It's here that we meet Fatima (ph), a homeless mother in mourning. She says three of her sons were killed in recent months while defending their village from the Syrian army. A surviving son, Bosim (ph), was shot through the leg. The family is now homeless. Soldiers torched our house, Fatima says, and shot our livestock. But the Syrian government's vicious crackdown has done little to crush the local spirit of defiance. At school children burst into songs denouncing their president, even though his government still pays for their school books.
(on camera): Classes are still in session here at schools in opposition-controlled Syria. And in a bizarre twist, the teachers here were afraid to appear on camera for their own safety. They tell us that despite the uprising and all the fighting, they still get their salaries every month from the Syrian government.
(voice-over): On a country road, we find a band of Syrian rebels making a show of force. Many of these fighters from the so-called free Syrian army are defectors from the Syrian security forces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want freedom. Our blood most expensive, for this sky, for this (INAUDIBLE), for this mountain, for these trees, for our freedom. Our blood is cheap.
(voice-over): The fighters have a prisoner. A 19-year-old boy they say they intercepted as he was on his way to perform his mandatory military service. And the commander shows the documents to prove it. The prisoner gets an ultimatum. If you want your freedom, defect. The boy renounces the government and agrees to join the rebels. The newest not so voluntary rebel recruit in a conflict that has no end in sight. Ivan Watson, CNN, in northern Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: I want to bring in Mohammed Jamjoom, he joins us from neighboring Lebanon. And Mohammed, first of all, Ivan was in these places that the rebels hold. What is it like in those Syrian cities where the government is actually clamping down?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, we keep getting more and more reports, just horrific stories, mortars constantly raining down on these towns, storming by army personnel of these villages, mass arrests. Now just today, the Syrian observatory for human rights tells us at least 46 people killed across Syria as the army continues to raid more and more of the towns and villages where there is resistance.
Now, let's just talk about one specific town, Han Shun, and that is in Idlib province. Take a look at this video that we found on YouTube. This is amateur video. We can't confirm its authenticity. Very disturbing though. It purports to show protesters very close to army personnel, then the army, you see there, very close to the protesters, start firing on the protesters. Now, we've heard there were multiple deaths in the city.
This is a city, in fact, that today U.N. monitors were in. There is video that we have that shows U.N. monitors in that town. We've gotten reports from the U.N. mission in Syria, but, in fact, the convoy that was in that town was struck by an explosive device -- improvised explosive device, that none of the personnel were injured, but there is an amateur video that purports to show when that happened. And this just goes to show how dangerous it is --
MALVEAUX: Right.
JAMJOOM: -- even in towns where members of this U.N. mission are right now -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Yes. I mean, Mohammed, we're looking at these pictures here and we actually see the U.N. on those white vans, I mean, they're in the middle of all of this. I imagine that the people there are -- they're trying to take comfort in the fact that they've got somebody looking out after them but they look ineffective. And now, you've got the E.U. imposing more sanctions. Does anybody on the ground really believe that it is the outside folks -- the outside forces that can protect them?
JAMJOOM: More and more of the activists and the opposition groups in Syria continue to say that they don't believe that anybody could really protect them from the Syrian regime. They want a more of an intervention. They want a military intervention, if that will help. But what's been going on so far hasn't been able to seize the violence. Now, you talked about the E.U., just yesterday the E.U. froze the assets of some firms and also froze the assets and put a travel ban on people they say were funding the Al Assad regime.
That's the 15th time that the E.U. has taken such steps since this uprising, this revolution began in Syria, trying to ratchet up international pressure on the Syrian regime to cease this brutal crackdown on the people of Syria. And yet, it doesn't seem to be helping. You've got U.N. monitors there, you've got sanctions being imposed by the E.U., whether it's the Arab league that's there or the U.N., the crackdown continues unabated as it were -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Mohammed, finally here, I've got to ask you, who is actually responsible for what is taking place on the ground? Because on the one hand, you've got the Syrian government saying it's terrorists, you've got the opposition saying it's the government, and then you've got a third jihadist group that is taking credit for all of this and then denying it.
JAMJOOM: The finger pointing that's been going on is very interesting. Since the beginning of the uprising in Syria, Suzanne, you've had the Al Assad regime blaming armed terrorist groups --
MALVEAUX: OK.
JAMJOOM: -- for the turmoil in the country. The opposition groups, in fact, they say, no, there are no armed terrorist groups. This is an excuse by the Al Assad regime to crack down on the people there that want freedom, that want democracy, that want a change in the leadership there. But what's happened thought, there have been more and more reports that possibly jihadist groups are infiltrating certain cities and certain towns in trying to support the uprising there. Now, there's one in particular group called the, Al-Nusra front, that's a jihadist group.
Earlier in the week, there had been twin suicide bombings in Damascus. It seemed that they taking responsibility, claiming responsibility for those two attacks. But in fact, in the past couple of days, you've had the Al-Nusra group actually say, no, we did not take responsibility for those attacks, this wasn't us. So, it just goes to show the finger pointing that's going on, the fact that the Al Assad regime continues to say that there are terrorists there, but the opposition says, no, that's not the case -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right. Very confusing situation on the ground there. Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you very much.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): He went from having the White House within arm's reach to becoming the poster boy of the trail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN EDWARDS: I will regret for the rest of my life the pain and the harm that I caused my daughters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (voice-over): Now, John Edwards' daughter is telling her side of the story on the stand. Then, he's the so- called brown reporter from "The Daily Show."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This color doesn't run from a story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (voice-over): Who thinks Hollywood is guilty of white washing history. Then he pulled himself out poverty (INAUDIBLE) a hip hop dynasty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a test of our character.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hear how Jay Zee (ph) thinks American can lift itself back up again.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Now, to the John Edwards corruption trial. We don't know whether or not the former presidential candidate is going to take the stand in his own defense, but we are expecting his daughter to testify. Joe Johns who's joining us from outside the courthouse in North Carolina. So Joe, good to see you here. Do we know if his daughter is going to be called to the stand today? JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: We don't, quite frankly. There is, right now on the stand, a former FBI agent, Suzanne, who offered some fascinating testimony that I didn't know before today. And that was that in a period well after John Edwards got out of the campaign in 2008, Rielle Hunter, his mistress, received a bunch of payments upwards of $70,000 from one of Edwards' benefactors, Fred Baron. She got that sort of irrespective of any middlemen and it went straight to Rielle Hunter which would suggest that maybe all of the money that went back and forth didn't have anything to do with campaign financing which, of course, is the issue in the trial. So, after this FBI agent, the former agent finishes testifying, that's when we expect we might hear from Kate Edwards. So, we've got a way to go. Maybe the very end of the day, we're predicting, if not some time tomorrow.
MALVEAUX: Joe, do you have any sense what if that could mean for John Edwards to actually have his daughter there on the stand?
JOHNS: Well you know, Suzanne, it's probably important on a couple different levels. It's important on the emotional level for sure. Here is this daughter of Elizabeth and John Edwards who is just a very sympathetic figure sitting in the courtroom. She looks like her, by the way, and she's pretty much been there every day behind John Edwards, despite the fact she lost her mother, her father is just in terrible trouble right now. She actually lost a brother some time ago, too. So, that makes her a sympathetic figure. A lot of people would really like to hear from her, just her perspective on the story. But the substantive part is equally important.
Now, she was there, presumably close to her mother, during some very difficult times. And the question is what does she know? What does she know about this question that's come across the court about whether Elizabeth Edwards wanted to try to keep information about John Edwards' affair from jumping from the tabloids, in other words, the "National Enquirer," over to the main stream media? Or was, you know, Elizabeth Edwards just too frail and not able to actually have the story of Rielle Hunter's baby make the public rounds?. You know, which was it? Was Elizabeth Edwards involved, or was she just too frail to be involved? That's something we could hear from Cate Edwards and maybe she could answer, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And, Joe, paint a picture, if you will. What have you seen inside the courthouse today? How does John Edwards look in terms of his mood? Is he seem still confident in moving forward in his defense?
JOHNS: Well, it's really interesting. And he hasn't been sending any signals. Of course the big question is whether John Edwards himself might actually get on the stand. And that's something we don't know. He came in on Monday morning really with his shoulders lifted pretty high. A little bit more of the John Edwards swagger we're accustomed to during the campaigns and on Capitol Hill. He had lost some of that, I think, over the years, and especially when we got into this indictment and all.
But he's sitting with his shoulders a little straighter and he's been engaged whenever his defense attorneys make a good point. He's indicated he was pleased with that. I've also seen, in some very difficult times, more than once he leans back on the table and griped the table as tight as he could, as if he was letting some of the tension out in his left hand. But, you know, there are ups and downs in trials like these and certainly John Edwards has seen both sides of that.
MALVEAUX: Oh, absolutely. And still a long way to go there.
All right, Joe, good to see you. Thank you.
Well, it's au revoir to Sarkozy, bonjour to Francois Hollande. And just hours after France's new president is sworn in, he gets a scare.
Don't forget, you can watch CNN live on your computer, while you're at work. Head to cnn.com/tv.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: All right, first day on the job. Lightning strikes his plane? We're talking about the new French president, Francois Hollande. He was sworn into office today shortly after his inauguration. He took off for Germany to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel. His plane had to be turned around after being hit by lightning. Richard Quest, he's joining us live from Paris.
OK, Richard, I don't know, is this a sign or something? I mean, really?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Suzanne, I tell you, all day we've had signs. And I don't know of signs of what. Every time -- every time Francois Hollande put his head out the door, the heavens opened. He went up to the Arc de Triomphe to light the eternal flame and to -- the heavens opened. The poor man got drenched as he went up and down the Champs-Elysees. He went to pay respects at some various tombs and cemeteries around Paris. He got drenched on. He got to the airport, he got drenched on. And now, look, I'm not suggesting that it's a message from above, you know, that he got -- but I am saying that it's been a difficult day.
He's now -- his plane has landed in Berlin. He will be having a meeting now in the next hour or so with Chancellor Angela Merkel. And it's fascinating because the issue is clear cut. He wants more growth policies. Very similar to those of the United States.
MALVEAUX: Right.
QUEST: Angela Merkel wants to maintain austerity, very similar to the rest of the Europe that seems to be in trouble.
MALVEAUX: So, Richard, I mean it's pretty telling there. Some people say perhaps he's even there, you know, to kiss the ring of Angela Merkel there. But the fact that on his first day that he is making that stop, it says a lot about the importance of that relationship, yes?
QUEST: Oh, absolutely. I mean could you imagine the next president of the United States, within hours after having walked up Pennsylvania Avenue, nipping on a plane and going up to Ottawa or nipping across, you know, to Mexico. I mean it's just -- you know, or even just going to California. No, I mean, this is extraordinary. And it is a huge indication that if he is going to get his policies through in France --
MALVEAUX: Right.
QUEST: He has to take Berlin along with him. And Merkel has to go along and agree to it. And not only that, at the weekend, both of them will be in Washington and Camp David for the G-8. And Hollande will again then have to try and convince President Obama that he knows what he -- that Hollande knows what he's doing here in France.
MALVEAUX: And, Richard, talk a little bit about that because we know that President Obama and Sarkozy, they got along well. They -- you know, they were pretty friendly. Do we think -- what do we know about Hollande? Do we think that he's going to get along well with President Obama when he comes here to Chicago?
QUEST: Yes, I do think they will. And for this reason. You know, we can argue about how left President Obama is from the center. But there's no doubt that Francois Hollande is on the left of his party. He's a left winger socialist. Now, I say that. I can already hear some of your viewers sort of -- the heckles going up. Left wing socialist from Europe obviously coming to rack and ruin. But it -- the sort of policies that he is putting forward are very similar to the sort of policies that have been the hallmark of the U.S. recovery.
MALVEAUX: Right. Right.
QUEST: Stimulus package. Tax cuts in certain areas. The sort of measures needed to get things moving. And that's what Hollande is suggesting. Think of Hollande less of socialism, more of social Democrat. And once you think about that, you start to understand that he and Obama probably have much more in common than divide them.
MALVEAUX: Yes, it will be (SPEAKING FRENCH), yes, you think?
QUEST: I wouldn't -- perhaps (SPEAKING FRENCH) and then maybe a bit of (SPEAKING FRENCH). And let's see just how the president's French is, because I have to tell you, the president from here's English is no (ph).
MALVEAUX: Well, I can hardly wait until he lands here. I want to see how they get along.
Richard, merci beaucoup. Appreciate it, as always.
QUEST: Au revoir.
MALVEAUX: Well, you probably heard Facebook expected to begin selling its stock to the public starting on Friday. Early demand for it has been so high that the company has raised the price range for the shares. So if Facebook gets the price it wants, it would value the company at about $81 billion. That is worth more than the entire economy of Kenya. So, why wouldn't you scramble to get a piece of the action? Maggie Lake, she has 10 reasons why you don't want to buy Facebook shares.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the countdown continues to the Facebook IPO, here are 10 reasons you might want to think twice. Number 10, your family on Facebook. With the extended family on, people might start logging off. As "Saturday Night Live" warned years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Well, it finally happened. Your mom is on Facebook.
LAKE: Number nine, he wore what? Should the CEO of a multi-billion- dollar public company wear a hoodie all the time? At his company's IPO road show?
MICHAEL PACHTER, ANALYST, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: Who wears hoodies? When Mark Zuckerberg is asking people to invest in his company, he's asking them for their money. He should show them some respect.
LAKE: Number eight, see you in court. Arch enemies (INAUDIBLE) aren't giving up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our dispute is with Mark Zuckerberg the person --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not with the product.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not with the product.
LAKE: And Facebook itself warns about new lawsuits in its prospectus.
Number seven, he bought what?
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK: Looking back.
LAKE: Zuckerberg bought Instagram, a photo sharing company with zero revenue, for $1 billion without consulting anyone.
Number six, show me the mobile money.
LAKE (on camera): No ads around here and that's a problem. More and more people are logging on to Facebook using their phones, but their mobile advertising massively lags the desk top version.
LAKE (voice-over): Number five, they know what about me?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you like the fact that if you don't touch your profile, anyone can search your name on Google and see everything you're up to? I definitely don't like that.
LAKE: To grow profits, Facebook has to make money off our information. And that could turn users off.
Number four, so 20th century. New platforms could come along making Facebook obsolete.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry for being such a square.
LAKE: Number three, can you say hello in Mandarin?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN MANDARIN).
LAKE: Zuckerberg tried to learn the language in a year. Cracking the crucial Chinese market may take a lot longer.
Number two, he said what?
LAKE (on camera): Facebook's own IPO filing says, simply put, we don't build services to make money, we make money to build better services. Are Zuckerberg's interests really aligned with shareholders?
LAKE (voice-over): And the number one reason not to buy Facebook, does anyone really need hundreds of friends?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Share life with the people you love.
LAKE: Users in search of a more intimate targeted experience may start looking elsewhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm getting bored with Facebook. So don't invite me or (INAUDIBLE).
LAKE: Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. That's all I can say. What, where was the breakdown?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Authorities say he had a fake ID that gave him security access to one of the country's busiest airports. Took them 20 years to catch him. What is his story? And what that means for your security.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: It's not your everyday case of identity theft. An illegal immigrant allegedly stole a man's identity and ended up working as a security supervisor at Newark International Airport.
Marsha Cramer, with affiliate, WCBS, has the amazing story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARSHA CRAMER, REPORTER, WCBS: At Newark Airport, this man is known as Jerry Thomas, and for nearly 20 years, he has guarded some of the most secure areas of one of the nation's busiest airports. He was arrested today after authorities discovered he is really an illegal Nigerian immigrant with four other alias who is entered the country in 1989.
(on camera): What was it like living with a dead man's I.D.?
(voice-over): In this case, the defendant utilized an elaborate and complex scheme of identity theft to defraud his employer, the state of New Jersey, the federal government, and the port authority, said port authority inspector general, Robert Van Etten.
(on camera): Somehow the Nigerian managed to get the social security number of a man murdered in Queens in 1992. He used them to get a New Jersey driver's license, a New Jersey security guard license, airport I.D., even credit cards.
(voice-over): Amazingly, he worked security at Newark, including access to the tarmac and passenger planes without ever being detected. At the time of his arrest, he supervised 30 other guards.
Passengers were stunned.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my god. That's all I can say. What -- where was the breakdown?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not what is supposed to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Terrible, terrible. Shouldn't be like that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm stunned. You hear things. You can't believe this kind of thing happens, particularly at a major metropolitan airport.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a very scary thing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't trust anybody any more.
CRAMER (on camera): Authorities want to know how the man got the I.D. and whether he was involved in the man's death. The NYPD is comparing his fingerprints to those found at the scene of the still unsolved murder. (voice-over): Authorities are also investigating if the Nigerian, one of the aliases, Bimbo, was involved in criminal activity at the airports.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: That was Marsha Cramer from affiliate, WCBS.
By the way, WCBS, a tip helped investigators build their case. We don't know when he's going to have his first court appearance.
A mile or two from Capitol Hill, some seniors are now struggling to eat. That is right. We're looking at why millions of seniors, most of them women, are going hungry.
He started out hustling to survive in the projects while he became a hip-hop revolutionary. We'll hear from Jay-Z on everything from the economy to same-sex marriage.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: What do you think of Americans going hungry you might not think of seniors living in the suburbs. A new report finds that millions of seniors, the majority of them women, are going hungry every day.
Barbara Starr has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just a few miles from the power centers of Washington, down the streets of this modest suburb, 87-year-old Georgia Jacobs and her daughter, Janette --
GEORGIA JACOBS, MEALS ON WHEELERS VOLUNTEER: Good morning.
STARR: -- have been waiting for Georgia's daily delivery from Meals on Wheels.
JACOBS: Are you ready for lunch?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes.
JACOBS: I'll go in and heat it up for you, OK
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
JACOBS: It's good today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
JACOBS: You're going to enjoy it. A nice salad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
JACOBS: And some fruit.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.
JACOBS: And I think it have some chicken and string beans.
STARR: Janette says it's a life saver for her mom who lives alone.
JEANETTE JACOBS-MILLER, DAUGHTER OF GEORGIA: Because we know that she's going to have a well-balanced meal every day. In case we can't get here.
STARR: For volunteer, Tom Irvin, he says isn't just a healthy meal.
TOM IRVIN, MEALS ON WHEELS VOLUNTEER: We are the only people they see sometimes in the whole day, so I think it's good that we have a chance to meet with them.
STARR: Hunger is a growing reality for millions of senior citizens across the country, many who are isolated behind closed doors.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of older people don't speak up.
STARR: Enid Borden oversees the Meals on Wheels' 5000 delivery programs across the nation, serving more than one million meals each day.
But for seniors, it's just one hot meal a day. A new study by the group shows how much more needs to be done.
ENID BORDEN, CEO, MEALS ON WHEELS: What we have found is we have 8.3 million people in America, seniors in America, who are in fact facing the threat of hunger. It's an incredible amount of people. And of that, 60 percent of them are women.
STARR: So Borden has enlisted the help of celebrity seniors to bring this message to Capitol Hill.
LINDA GRAY, ACTRESS: We are trying to spread the word. People don't know, I didn't know.
LINDA EVANS, ACTRESS: These women and these men may be stuck in their homes and not be able to go out but we'll be their voice and we will speak loud and clear for them.
BORDEN: When you look at the face of senior hunger in America, "she" is an African-American woman usually living in the south. She is raising her grand children. It's becoming an epidemic in America today.
STARR: 78-year-old Mary Tarry (ph) lives alone and has no immediate family.
MARY TARRY (ph), RECEIVES MEALS ON WHEELS: See, I fell and I couldn't get my meal so, and they are a life saver.
STARR (on camera): Really?
TARRY (ph): Yes.
STARR: And that's because it's hard for you to get out?
TARRY (ph): It's hard for me to go in the kitchen to cook because like you see my leg, I'll fall down.
STARR (voice-over): Mary knows how quickly any senior suddenly may need help.
TARRY (ph): I was a mother's helper with children. And I left that and then I started working in hospitals and nursing homes and private homes, taking care of people like I am. Never thought it would be a day somebody would be taking care of me. STARR: According to Borden, it will take 3.3 million more meals a day to provide for all of the hidden hungry seniors.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: He calls himself "The Daily Show's" brown correspondent but this comedian sees nothing funny in the way Hollywood portrays minorities. We're going to talk to Aasif Mandvi about what he thinks needs to change.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Some Americans are outraged over the latest movie by British comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen, "The Dictator."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SACHA BARON COHEN, COMEDIAN & ACTOR: Ah, America, the birthplace of AIDS.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Admiral General --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Cohen's character is a hybrid of leaders like Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi. Some say it's another film in a controversial practice, as all of this, Hollywood itself, called white washing, when white actors are cast in non-white roles.
Actor, comedian, "Daily Show" correspondent, Aasif Mandvi, is joining us from Los Angeles.
Aasif, you recently wrote a satirical op-ed for Salon.com about this practice that happens.
Great to see you, first of all. Love your work. You're very funny.
AASIF MANDVI, ACTOR, COMEDIAN: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: What do you make of this? Why does this upset you?
MANDVI: Well, because I think, you know -- I think this practice of white washing in Hollywood has been going on for a long time. I think the problem is that this attitude that sort of, you know, white is the normal and everything else is not. So there is this kind of idea that a lot of times roles that are -- originally come from sources like comic books or novels and things like that, that are ethnic roles, are often given to white actors when it's converted into a film. Most recently "The Hunger Games" or stuff like that, where you have a white actor playing what was an ethnic role in the novel. So I think this upsets a lot of ethnic people, ethnic actors because this was -- this is something that is perpetuated by Hollywood. And this idea that white is the norm and if you want to identify with the hero, identify with the person on the screen, he or she has to be white. And America's not the same as it was 50 years ago and I think those things should change now.
MALVEAUX: Sure. What is the point of your character on "The Daily Show"? That's kind of satire itself. You throw it out there as the brown correspondent.
MANDVI: Right. Well, what we do -- the point of my character I guess, if there is a point, is I play into this idea that there is this brown correspondent, there is this Muslim correspondent. We need that. We satirize you guys so you know.
(LAUGHTER)
What we're doing is a satire of that.
MALVEAUX: And that's OK. Everybody can take a little ribbing. And everybody's got room for improvement.
What do you make of the case some folks in Hollywood say this is what is going to bring money to a movie, to a film. For instance, Angelina Jolie when she played Mary Ann Pearl in the movie "Mighty Heart" that was something Pearl asked for. They said maybe this movie is not going to get made if you don't have somebody that has that kind of box office cachet?
MANDVI: That's true. That is the reality of Hollywood that white people spend the most money on stuff and so therefore, you know, you have -- the biggest box office stars are Caucasian. I think it's a larger issue. It's an issue of expanding that because America is -- 50 years ago, you could almost excuse it. But today, you know, you do have a much more multi-ethnic society and much more multi-cultural society and the world is smaller. Hollywood exports these films across the world and, you know, we now, with the Internet and Facebook and all this stuff, we're much more aware of the multiculturalism we all live within. And I think that Hollywood doesn't reflect that in the way it probably should.
MALVEAUX: You know the business better than I do. Why do you suppose that's still happening in this day and age?
MANDVI: I think it's just a -- a mind-set that exists from a long time ago, that like I said, white is the sort of norm. We want to project ourselves onto the screen in the form of a hero or heroine, that person has to be white. That's been sold to us for decades.
MALVEAUX: It's an interesting point and interesting read as well.
Aasif, it's great to have you on the show. We'll have you back. We'll talk about other things as well, the brown correspondent role. And you do an excellent job on "The Daily Show." You satire all of us.
Thanks.
MANDVI: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: It's a statistic that you have to see to believe. We're talking about 90 percent of Asian kids may be nearsighted. And there's a surprising reason why.
Later, from self-described hustler to business man, we'll hear from Jay-Z on everything from the economy to same-sex marriage.
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MALVEAUX: We have an astonishing statistic to tell you about. Up to 90 percent of school kids in major Asian countries are nearsighted. How bad is that? Check this out. School kids in the United Kingdom, by comparison, have nearsighted rates around 20 percent to 30 percent. Researchers blame it on parents who keep their kids indoors too much.
"Time" magazine reporter, Alice Park, has been writing about it.
Alice, thanks for joining us here.
First of all, have you gotten pushback on this story? Are people saying what, I really just can't believe this because 90 percent, that's an astonishing statistic?
ALICE PARK, REPORTER, TIME MAGAZINE: The number -- you know, and it is a huge number. The researchers called it an epidemic. It's 60 percent to 90 percent of kids graduating from high school. In some major cities and countries like Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, China are nearsighted. While, yes, you can wear contacts, glasses -- I wear contacts, to correct my vision. But what concerns the researchers is that about 10 percent of kids who develop nearsightedness can develop more advanced forms that can progress to blindness. It's a concern when you see high rates among children who are so young.
MALVEAUX: Alice, why does this happen?
PARK: This is what the researchers wanted to get know. There are few studies that look at trends. When they saw these numbers, they wanted to the bottom of this. Clearly genetics probably play some role. There are no genes that directly relate to myopia at this point, but genetics play some role.
They felt some intriguing evidence. So when they, for example, looked at Singapore, there were three different ethnic racial groups in there -- the Chinese, people of Indian origin and people from Malaysia -- different ethnic groups, different genetic backgrounds. They all seemed to show the same rates of very high myopia or nearsightedness. That was one piece of evidence.
The other piece of evidence came from populations that emigrated, went to other countries. So if you looked at Chinese students who left China and went to places like Australia, where they were more likely to spend time outdoors and in the sun, rates of nearsightedness among these Chinese in Australia were much lower.
MALVEAUX: So do they make a connection here? Are they saying they are nearsighted because they are spend tog much time indoors and this is taking place in majority of Asian countries? Is that what the study is saying?
PARK: The study is saying that since the rates are so high they were trying to find some of these possibly environmental factors that may play a role. And there is an explanation for why kids who stay indoors more and perhaps spend more time reading, more time studying and don't go out as much and get exposed to sun light might be more prone. That has to do with a brain chemical called dopamine. It is involved in depression and mood but affects the development of the eye and it affects the development of the eye ball. So nearsightedness occurs when light does not hit the retina at the right place. The eye ball develops too quickly and is too large. That's what's happening to these kids because dopamine, exposure to sunlight, will increase levels and dopamine will then sort of control the development and the size of the eye ball.
MALVEAUX: Unbelievable, the numbers there as high as they are.
Alice, thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate your reporting.
PARK: My pleasure.
MALVEAUX: Well, he grew up in poverty, now he runs an empire. We're going to hear from Jay-Z about what he's saying about changing the U.S. economy and getting it moving again.
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MALVEAUX: Hip hop mogul, Jay-Z, knows a thing or two about what it takes to succeed. He's one of the most successful hip hop artists in the country. Recently, he sat down to talk business and economy with our Poppy Harlow.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT: Let's talk about business. You're a businessman, a very successful one. When it comes to America, when it comes to the American economy, what are you seeing? Can we call it a recovery?
JAY-Z, HIP HOP MOGUL: This is a test of our character. You know, for a long time, we had it pretty good in America and we were floating on this high. You know, well, we were hiding some of the troubles that we were going through. So I -- I just see this as a test of our character. I think we'll get there and test and resolve of our Americans.
HARLOW: Who will make a better president for the economy right now, President Obama or Mitt Romney? JAY-Z: That's an easy question, President Obama by leaps and bounds. I don't know anything about -- much about Mitt Romney to speak on him other than the things that I've heard. And they don't sound great.
HARLOW: So you're endorsing President Obama this time around again. And just last week President Obama became the first seated U.S. president ever to publicly support gay marriage. What was your thought when you heard that? What does that mean?
JAY-Z: I mean, I've always thought it as something that's still holding the country back. You know, what people do in their own home is, you know, their business. You can choose to love whoever you love. That's their business. It's no different than discriminating against blacks. Discrimination, plain and simple.
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MALVEAUX: Poppy Harlow is joining us live from Tampa, Florida.
Poppy, does Jay-Z think -- he says, plain and simple, it's discrimination. Does he think the president's position on same-sex marriage is going to cost him votes in November? Or is he confident that he's still going to be able to win?
HARLOW: It's a good question, right? Because we saw, especially over the weekend a lot of religious leaders in the African-American community, coming out against this. We know the president called a number of leaders to explain his position. And I asked Jay-Z that question for that reason. He said, look, it's not about votes, it's about what the right thing to do is as a human being. He said to me, it's not about votes, Suzanne, it's about people. He didn't address whether or not this is going to cost the president African-American votes. We know how important that base is for the president. But for Jay-Z followers, if they're following what he says they would be onboard with this.
MALVEAUX: And we know he's a big Obama fan. Did he talk at all about the economy and the expectations that people have for the president and how he's doing creating jobs, that type of thing?
HARLOW: He did a bit. We talked about this also about a year and a half when I sat down with him and he told me at that time, look, the president was two years in. He said, look, it's hard to undo eight years of the previous administration. But I think the most interest interesting point he got on is we can't vilify people for being successful. And this is that argument, which is that income disparity and the middle class and healthy Americans getting wealthier. Jay-Z said our economy is based on free enterprise. That is America. We have to be careful about that discussion. I asked if the Obama administration is sending the wrong message when it comes to being successful, capitalism and free enterprise. He said absolutely not. As you heard, he said he supports Obama leaps and bounds over Mitt Romney.
MALVEAUX: All right. Poppy Harlow, good to see you. Interesting to see Jay-Z as well.
HARLOW: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Appreciate it.
CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ashleigh Banfield.
