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Connect the World
Houthis Release Video Claiming to Show Downed Saudi Jet; OpenAI Finds New Incidents of AI Models Acting Deceptively; Differing Views on Artificial Intelligence in the U.S. & China; CNN Goes Inside a Beijing Bar Where Free AI Comes with the Beer; Houthis Release Video Claiming to Show Downed Saudi F-15 Jet. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired September 17, 2026 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: You're looking at live pictures from Dumfries House in Scotland, where King Charles is warning
tech bosses of existential dangers if AI falls into the wrong hands. It is 02:00 p.m. there. It is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi.
I'm Becky Anderson from our Middle East programming headquarters. You are watching "Connect the World", and wherever you are watching, you are more
than welcome. Coming up, even as the world debates the risks of AI, OpenAI has just revealed six new cases of the tech misbehaving.
Houthi rebels say they shot down a Saudi fighter jet over West Central Yemen and released this video to prove it. And we are just about 30 minutes
away from the start of the trading day, and not a bad start if the futures markets are any indication or higher by more than 1 percent.
The NASDAQ up nearly one and two thirds of 1 percent. It's been a very mixed week this week, so let's see how we get on back there at the bottom
of the hour. Well, we start with the world of artificial intelligence. It's moving fast, and policymakers around the world split on whether to hit the
brakes or step on the gas.
Britain's King Charles is fostering fresh debate. He has invited tech industry leaders to a summit that has just gotten under way in Scotland to
discuss the future of AI. The king won't join in discussions. It's a convention that the British monarch remains politically neutral, of course.
But he is asking two key questions, how can we harness the benefits of AI with safety at its heart? And how can we build international cooperation
and consensus so that no nation is left behind, but the human race is left in place. Two key questions. Well, while some people are weighing up AI's
potential.
China busy putting it to work, of course, from government services to virtual employees. A broad swathe of the population there has embraced AI
in their daily life. It's a contrast, perhaps, with the U.S. where concerns about safety fueling calls to rein in AI development.
Well, just yesterday, OpenAI, one of the leading AI model developers, again sounding the alarm on its own technology. It says it found six new cases of
AI models acting deceptively during what is known as training. The company says it plans to be more transparent about cases of what it's describing as
worrying behavior.
Well, for more on this, let's bring in Lisa Eadicicco, and she's standing by with more. Firstly, about OpenAI's latest release. What do we know about
these new cases of AI going rogue or misbehaving?
LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yeah, Becky. So, one thing to point out here is that this isn't quite the same as what we saw a couple of
months ago with the Hugging Face incident. This was something that OpenAI caught during its training and evaluation process.
And in a lot of these instances, this involved models that were used for internal research purposes or unreleased models. But it's still really
critical because it kind of underscores how AI models can behave in unexpected ways. And I think the Hugging Face incident was kind of a wakeup
call for a lot of these AI companies that maybe they need to be paying closer attention and disclosing more information about these findings.
So that other companies can kind of keep an eye out for that as well in their own AI models. And that's really what OpenAI's goal here is with
sharing this information. And in terms of the new instances that were just reported, the models were found to be doing things like adding instruction,
adding jailbreak like instructions to their context summaries.
In another instance, a model invented information to prevent to hide failures from users.
ANDERSON: Yeah.
EADICICCO: In another instance, it uploaded files to the internet so that it could cite them in a response, and you know there's just a few other
instances like this. So, I think you know what this really kind of shows is that these companies are trying to make some changes and prevent this rogue
like behavior from happening again in the future.
[09:05:00]
And I think that this is really critical because we're at a point where a lot of companies, especially tech giants, are convinced that people are
going to be relying on AI agents in the future. But we really need to understand why these models behave in the way they do.
And ensure that the way they go about solving problems and completing tasks really aligns with how people would do that. So, you know, in these
situations, it's almost like the AI model is cheating to accomplish its goal, and that's exactly what I think these companies are trying to prevent
to stop other instances of models going rogue in the future.
ANDERSON: Massive arms AI race, of course, between the U.S. and China, Donald Trump speaking to that, and he calls this idea of AI safety a hoax.
He says whoever wins the AI race wins, alluding to the race against China to sort of reign supreme with AI technology.
There is a meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump next week, of course, in Washington or in a week or so's time. Do you expect AI now to be
front and center in those discussions?
EADICICCO: I think so. I mean, it's hard to say until we -- until the discussions take place, but I do think AI is already front and center.
There's this belief that whoever win, and this has been said that you know there's this belief that whoever wins the AI race is going to win, and a
lot of other things as well.
And I think that's where a lot of this reluctance to actually kind of slow down the pace of AI development comes from. Comes from this fear that if
the U.S. slows down, what if China doesn't? And so, I think that's why throughout the industry as well, there's been until this point a reluctance
to call it slowing down.
So, I think this is definitely going to be a focus moving forward.
ANDERSON: Yeah, I'm hearing the debate sort of you know, we know it's highly politicized, and there is this sort of, you know, are you a zoomer
or are you a doomer at this point? I'm sure there's a very healthy sort of middle sort of section in that kind of wide debate.
And we'll see where we land going forward. Good to have you always, Lisa. Thanks. Well, while there are growing concerns, of course, in the U.S. over
AI safety. Many in China do seem to be taking quite a different view as Beijing races to catch up and help shape AI's new rules.
Mike Valerio takes us inside a Chinese bar, where the future of AI technology is on tap.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Beijing, you can walk into a bar. Come on, walk with me. Come inside. Walk into a bar, order a beer, and get
unlimited free access to some of China's AI models. It's just a small example of how AI is quickly embedding itself into the fabric of the city.
VALERIO (voice-over): This is Beijing's AGI bar, where the signature drink is mostly froth, partially in homage to AI bubbles and free AI computing
power for customers is the new free Wi-Fi --
ZUO SHENG, AI DEVELOPER: OK.
VALERIO: OK. Let's go. Let's see what you're working on.
VALERIO (voice-over): So, Sheng is a customer using the bar's two NVIDIA supercomputers and free access to an advanced version of the Chinese AI
model DeepSeek to build this website, it's part of his business where you speak a few words.
VALERIO: That's our Tuesday night. That's what we're doing.
VALERIO (voice-over): And by the time we've had a pint, his AI code creates a song based on me just speaking.
SHENG: This technology has blown my mind. I want to leverage it as much as I possibly can.
VALERIO: You don't think China should slow down?
SHENG: I don't think so.
VALERIO: Tell me, why.
SHENG: I think that we don't think so.
VALERIO: Tell me why. Tell me more.
SHENG: The general consensus is that China still lags behind the U.S. in AI, whether in foundation models, real-world applications, or cutting-edge
agent technology, so we are largely in a position of catch up.
VALERIO (voice-over): Some experts in China, quoted by state media, say, slow down, please, from the U.S. are aimed at stopping others from
narrowing the technological gap. Just as Chinese AI models rapidly improve, Beijing's push to stay competitive or even ahead in AI goes all the way to
the top.
This summer in Shanghai, Chinese Leader Xi Jinping called for a new global system to govern AI, as China focuses not just on the technology but having
a greater say in writing its rules.
MS. LI, BEIJING IT EMPLOYEE: I think we should actually accelerate our AI efforts and boost our overall competitiveness. We should encourage everyone
to embrace AI.
SHI HONGHAO, BEIJING TOURIST: It feels like an unstoppable force. After all, look at me. I'm over 50, and I use AI too.
VALERIO: I'm curious what you think this kind of bar existing in Beijing says about Beijing in this moment.
[09:10:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like a cultural symbol.
VALERIO (voice-over): A symbol, the bar's manager says. That AI is already part of this community, one where the future is on tap, but growing global
concerns on AI safety, even potential AI warfare between superpowers, don't seem to be on top of people's minds here.
VALERIO: For all the U.S. warnings about where AI could be going here in Beijing, especially at this bar, it hardly seems like last call. Mike
Valerio, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, King Charles venturing into the AI debate, hosting a summit on artificial intelligence in Scotland. Now, this comes as Buckingham
Palace denies claims in a new book by the brother of the late Princess Diana about the days following her death. An extract published in a British
newspaper says Prince Charles, as he was in 1997, told Charles Spencer, Diana's brother, quote, will forget her soon enough.
Well, the palace has pushed back strongly, saying grief has clouded Spencer's memory and judgment. The book's publisher, however, tells CNN the
passages quoted in the "Daily Mail" are accurate. Well, let's head to London now and to CNN's Anna Stewart. Well, I'm sure King Charles will want
the world to focus on this event in Scotland.
His efforts to bring some sort of UK leadership into the global debate on AI. It is, though, overshadowed by this new quote revelations. What are you
hearing?
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, yes, the focus maybe for the next couple of hours will be on the AI summit because King Charles has just
spoken and talked about the existential dangers of AI. In the room, he's got Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, and Demis Hassabis, the chair of
Google DeepMind.
However, Becky, in less than three hours, we're going to get even more from Earl Spencer's book because it's going to be serialized with excerpts in
the "Daily Mail". And as you can tell, just by having a few quotes earlier today, that was enough to really, well, definitely overwhelm the press in
terms of attention.
Now, this book comes nearly 30 years after Princess Diana's death, it's her brother Earl Spencer, and he has some recollections about his relationship
with the king, then Prince of Wales. And he's talking specifically in the bit we already have about a conversation he had on the phone with Charles,
where he was talking about how he didn't feel Prince William and Prince Harry should walk behind the coffin of their mother, given how young they
were and how public a spectacle it would be in their grief.
Now he says that the then Prince of Wales ranted before hissing, rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough. Earl Spencer says, I couldn't
believe he just said that. I said that flatly, and then I hung up. We're going to get even more. Now the palace hasn't issued a flat, explicit
denial.
What we have is a very carefully worded, stinging rebuke. I would say, saying grief can color memory, which really evokes. You may remember a
similar statement we once had in the late queen's reign, but the palace issued a statement saying recollections may vary, and that was following
Prince Harry and Meghan doing an interview with Oprah.
So, not an explicit denial, it's more implicit, but the palace, really don't. You know, as a sort of principle, respond to allegations in books.
So, it's rare we would actually get anything. And I think the issue we will have is there's more to come. There's more to come in about three hours'
time.
ANDERSON: There will be more to come through the weekend, and then this book will actually be published on Tuesday. So, by saying grief can color
memory, perhaps that's going to cover off a lot of the allegations that the palace will not like to hear in the coming days. Thank you, Anna.
Anna is in London for you. Still to come how President Donald Trump plans to retaliate against the European Union if he thinks its plan to strengthen
ties, or as he thinks its plan to strengthen ties with Canada, is a hostile act. And later, a Saudi fighter jet is said to be downed over Yemen as the
Houthis press their lightning advance. More on that after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:15:00]
ANDERSON: Houthi rebels have released this video of what they say is the wreckage of a Saudi F-15 fighter jet, and claim they shot it down over
Yemen. Now, in a statement, the Houthis say the jet was downed with a surface-to-air missile as it conducted what they called hostile operations.
Saudi Arabia has not commented. President Trump is again insisting that Iran's leaders want to make a deal with the U.S. to end the wider conflict.
It's not the first time Mr. Trump has made such claim. His comments, of course, come after the House voted late on Tuesday this week to approve a
measure that would require the president to end the war. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, hopefully, we're toward the end of the war, they want to make a deal. We'll see how
that works out. They're very much wanting to make -- Iran is very much wanting to make a deal. We'll see how that works.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been fighting for women's rights for years within Iran, and spent the much of
the last two decades in prison on charges of propaganda and collusion. She recently sat down for an interview with CNN's Jomana Karadshe to avoid
putting her at further risk of retribution by the regime.
CNN did agree to focus the interview on her new memoir and personal experiences, rather than on recent events in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NARGES MOHAMMADI, IRANIAN NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE: I was subjected to a very difficult arrest last December and was assaulted by security forces.
The blows I received to my head caused many problems.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In one of her first interviews since her temporary release from prison, Nobel Peace Laureate
Narges Mohammadi spoke to CNN from her home in Tehran, where she says she's recovering and still under medical care.
Mohammadi's health severely deteriorated after her re-arrest at this event in December, after warnings from her family and the Nobel Committee that
she was in critical condition, Mohammadi was released for medical treatment in May. She spoke with us about her memoir that's releasing this week.
KARADSHEH: How do you even write a book in Iranian jails and get that writing out?
MOHAMMADI: Well, getting the writings out was very difficult, I was very fortunate that many of my fellow prisoners, whose names unfortunately I
still cannot mention, because the Islamic Republic is still in power and some of them are still in prison or being pursued by the authorities, these
courageous prisoners helped me get a large part of the book out of prison.
KARADSHEH: So, did you smuggle your writings out of prison?
MOHAMMADI: It was smuggled out. It was extraordinary. I couldn't have done it on my own.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Mohammadi, a fearless defender of human rights, has spent much of the past two decades behind bars, and for her activism,
sentenced to a total of 44 years in prison and 154 lashes, accused of actions against national security and propaganda against the state.
Speaking with CNN could put her at risk of retribution, but Mohammadi is not worried. She says this is her duty.
KARADSHEH: Every time you speak out, you get punished. Your prison sentence gets longer and longer. You are risking this again with the book. Why did
you feel that, that risk is worth taking?
MOHAMMADI: Every moment of my life has involved confronting the system.
[09:20:00]
A system that was systematically violating human rights. This book too is part of the course of my life and is written from this perspective. I may
have taken risks and there may be consequences, but this is what life is like for us here in this region and in this country.
KARADSHEH: In the book, you describe some of the terrible things that take place inside Iranian prisons. You name interrogators. You name judges. Why
did you feel it was necessary?
MOHAMMADI: In order to document these things, it's better to speak out openly about their methods, to expose and reveal their torture. Perhaps the
names remain in the minds of survivors and prisoners, and later we may be able to identify the person.
KARADSHEH: All these years of being behind bars, being denied medical treatment so many times, what impact has that had on your health, on you
physically and mentally?
MOHAMMADI: One of the government's tools of repression is in fact depriving prisoners of timely and adequate medical treatment in prison, that
seriously endangers their health and, in some cases, leads to their death. These deaths are a form of silent execution without any public attention.
Naturally, I was no exception. I was repeatedly denied medical care, and as a result, I now have medical conditions for which I'm currently receiving
treatment.
KARADSHEH: Do you, at times, sit there and regret the path that you have chosen in your life that has led you to sacrifice your time with your
children and your freedom?
MOHAMMADI: I believe that if I could go back to the moment when I began my struggle and to each and every moment when I was arrested, even knowing
what would happen to me, I would certainly make the same choice to begin the struggle and continue it. I have no doubt about that, and I have no
regrets.
But when I look at Ali and Kiana, I find myself faced with doubt. Did I really have the right to deprive them of a very ordinary life of having
their mother with them? That is the difficult part of the question, and I cannot answer it with certainty.
KARADSHEH: I can see you've got the photo of Mahsa Jina Amini there behind you, and that calligraphy next to you that reads, "Woman, Life, Freedom".
It has been four years since the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in the custody of the so-called morality police and the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprising
that followed, what has the impact been of this movement?
MOHAMMADI: This is an opportunity through the pages of this book and through this television screen to pay tribute to Mahsa Jina Amini and to
all those killed during the "Woman, Life, Freedom" Movement, the events of January, and all the movements that the people of Iran have courageously
created over the past 47 years.
If you look at the streets of Tehran and even at cities across the country, you can see how courageously women are standing tall in the streets,
despite the fact that the government is repressing them by every possible means in order to push them back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Iranian government and official media have downplayed Mohammadi's allegations of mistreatment, despite eyewitness accounts and international
public outcry. Well, the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is welcoming an invitation from the EU to make Canada the bloc's first associate member.
Mr. Carney told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that Canada and Europe should go beyond their existing trade agreement. All of this against
the backdrop of trade tensions with the United States. President Trump says the proposal could be a hostile act. Carney responded to that criticism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I also want to be precise about what I am not proposing. I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a
great power rival only with better manners. We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one, no
one can control our open markets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, CNN's Melissa Bell, following this story for us. It was an interesting proposal this week from Ursula von der Leyen. I wonder what
Canada and the EU hope to gain from what is effectively a deeper partnership. I mean, I don't think we need to work out what an associate
partner really means.
We're talking about deeper partnership here beyond trade and how President Trump is responding to that news.
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Becky.
[09:25:00]
You're talking about much more than a traditional trade agreement. What they're talking about as a partnership on issues like defense and security,
so procurement, perhaps involving Canada and some European defense initiatives, something that goes much deeper and much further.
And to answer, that answers both of their current concerns about their need for greater strategic and defense autonomy from the United States, things
like an Arctic partnership. They both have interests, the European Union and Canada, around Green Land and the Arctic technology independence, since
both are looking to decrease their dependency on American tech.
All of these suggest something much deeper that goes much further. And I think Ursula von der Leyen at her State of the Union address, Becky, when
she spoke yesterday, and suggested that associate member status took many people by surprise. It simply doesn't exist for the time being in European
texts.
And we know over the last few decades Europe can be very slow at making such bold and sort of agile moves. And here it was born in her mouth, this
might exist, and he, of course, accepted that idea with alacrity. And I think the American President's response, just a few hours after the
Commission President had made that suggestion, really quite strongly speaking of it as ridiculous, saying that if it was a hostile act, he would
act proportionately-that is, reimpose tariffs on the European Union.
I think the strength of that response shows how worrying it is. Not because, as Mark Carney explains, this new partnership seeks to make them
this new bloc with better manners. There's nothing aggressive about it, but it is about defensively creating something much deeper that hadn't existed
before.
And yet that threatens the United States' ability to have both of these former allied blocs sort of cower into submission whenever the United
States makes a new demand. So, I think it's quite a strong proposal. It's a new and unusual proposal, and I think it speaks to the strength of worry
that is on either side of the Atlantic, Becky.
ANDERSON: Yeah, yeah, know, good point. Thank you. Melissa Bell is in Paris for you. Up next here on "Connect the World". We're programming from our
Middle East Broadcasting headquarters here in the UAE. The start of trading and the business headlines for you, including the impact of Wednesday's
rate rise by the U.S. Fed.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Right. I want to get you to the New York Stock Exchange shortly. Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You are watching "Connect
the World".
[09:30:00]
And we are just waiting on the opening bell on Wall Street being rung today by, I guess, seniors at "The New York Times". It is the 175th birthday of
that publication, that storied publication. So why not ring in the opening bell on Wall Street? And if the futures markets are any indication, these
markets are likely to open higher today.
Do remember, and that's the Dow Jones, and we will watch it as it gets into gear, and we are expecting it to open about a 1 percent higher. So, there
you go. But it is, as you can see, below that 52,000 level. That will be I don't know whether we want to call it a key technical level, but this
market off its highs of course at this point it's been significantly higher than this.
So that's how the DOW has started trading. It had fallen over 600 points yesterday. That was after the quarter point rate rise by the fed, despite
President Trump's persistent demands to lower borrowing costs. All 12 members of the Fed's voting committee opted to raise rates.
As I say, despite these persistent demands by the U.S. President for lower borrowing costs. Chairman Kevin Warsh, who had been selected to lead the
fed by President Trump himself, said that while the economy was strengthening and it is, inflation remains a problem, which it does.
The president reacted angrily to the move, which comes just weeks, of course, before the mid-term elections.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're raising the rates to -- they're raising the rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly do. The problem they have is that we
have the greatest economy in history. We have over 21 trillion dollars being invested in this country, which is five times more than we've ever
had before.
So, they're raising that only for political reasons, and that's a raise against Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, joining me now is CNN Business's senior reporter David Golden -- Goldman, sorry, David. Thank you for joining us. So, what do we
make of Kevin Warsh's decision? We know it was made against the backdrop of President Trump's insistence that rates should must go lower.
And any indication of where Kevin Warsh stands now and going forward?
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, I think that he was bullied into making this decision, but not from who President Trump says,
which is the rest of the fed board, but by the bond market, I think that when you see rates creeping higher and higher toward 5 percent on the
benchmark 10-year yield.
And there is a huge gap between what the bond market was saying the problem was and what the fed had been saying the problem wasn't, right?
ANDERSON: Yeah.
GOLDMAN: Then eventually the fed will need to raise rates, and that's what ended up happening.
ANDERSON: It's fascinating, isn't it? And we've seen that 10-year yield go to its highest in in some time. So, the question is, we're what less than
50 days away from the midterms. High rates equal higher mortgages for people. High oil prices, of course, pushing inflation higher, necessitating
this rise in rates.
Is there -- remind me, is there a fed meeting before the midterm elections at the beginning of November. And if so, do we have any indication about
what might happen next?
GOLDMAN: Yeah, we -- it's in six weeks, so we're just going to miss it. But the thing is that I think that we're going to have a number.
ANDERSON: Right.
GOLDMAN: Yeah, we're going to have a number of issues that the fed will need to tackle soon. One is, do we do this again? One of the reasons that
we saw the stock market, as you mentioned, fall yesterday. It's bouncing back a little bit to today was because the fed strongly suggested that
there's going to be need for another one of these hikes.
Here's the thing, though, is that the inflation that they're trying to combat is mostly oil and gas to your point. And rates are really not a
great tool at combating supply shocks, like when you don't have enough oil to fuel the rest of the market. And so, if the fed is going to raise rates,
it's a very blunt tool.
It can hurt the economy. It can hurt the job market, and if it can't open up the Strait of Hormuz and solve this oil crisis, then you know we might
be hurting the economy with nothing to show for it, and that I think is the big dilemma.
[09:35:00]
And when we go into the midterms, if the oil prices and gas price and diesel prices continue to rise that's going to anger voters, but the
economy might not be in a great place either.
ANDERSON: Yeah. So, we'll see what diesel and gas are doing as we move towards the midterms. We just had a look at what Brent and WTI are doing by
the way, those two these two benchmarks that we look at, they are actually lower today by 102 spot 77 on Brent.
That's nearly 3 percent lower. WTI still above 100, but going lower. So perhaps one of the reasons that these markets are in better shape today,
and they are in better shape. We've got all three of those markets trading high. David, always good to have you. Thank you very much indeed, sir.
Up next in sports, four-time Formula One Champion Max Verstappen versus 100 others in a go-kart. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: U.S. billionaire Robert Kraft says he will donate $2 million towards causes supporting people impacted by the war in Gaza. That is after
the Rapper Macklemore said he would give $1 million to Palestinian causes. This after the Ed Sheeran opening act controversy. CNN's Nick Watt with
more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK WATT, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ed Sheeran, mild mannered, middle of the road musician to the masses, is embroiled in a very
modern maelstrom. His tour now teetering over two words, free Palestine. Support acts have pulled out.
He's reportedly hemorrhaging social media followers, and now taking a kicking online. All that money and fame, and still no balls. Younes
Bendjima, model. It's wrong to be silent during a genocide. Ms. Rachel, YouTuber. I say this as a ginger. I hope you get a really bad sun burn,
Hannah Einbinder, actor.
Sheeran plays Philly Saturday night. We'll see what happens there.
ED SHEERAN, RECORDING ARTIST: I've been trying to figure out a way to say this all day.
WATT (voice-over): This all began about 6000 miles from Gaza City in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on September 4th. Macklemore, pop rapper with a
social conscience, told the crowd one reason he joined his dear brother Ed on tour.
MACKLEMORE, RECORDING ARTIST: Because I wanted to stand up here on stages in stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to
my heart, free Palestine.
WATT (voice-over): Not at my place, you won't, said billionaire Pat's owner Robert Kraft, who owns one of those stadiums. Gillette Stadium has a long-
standing commitment to providing a welcoming environment, Kraft wrote, not providing a platform for hate speech.
[09:40:00]
Sheeran says the promoter pulled the plug. Macklemore claims Sheeran threw him off the tour after a call from Kraft, who had rallied other stadium
owners to issue an ultimatum. If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues. Kraft also called out Macklemore's
broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.
In 2014, he wore what looked like an antisemitic stereotype get-up on stage. Later, described it as a random costume in an apology to anybody
that I may have offended. Kraft critics have also dredged up his past, flagging his arrest for soliciting prostitutes in 2019. Kraft pleaded not
guilty, and the case was dismissed.
Sheeran critics highlighting his closeness to Kraft. He played perfect for the first dance at Kraft's wedding. Sheeran explained why on SiriusXM.
SHEERAN: He was my first stadium that I played in the U.S. ever, and I've always had a lovely relationship with him. He's super sweet.
WATT (voice-over): Sheeran now much maligned for his part in this and for his largely apolitical public persona. It's very hard to just smile and
strum these days.
WATT (on camera): Ed Sheeran sums up his position like this, just because I don't talk about something publicly doesn't mean I don't have an opinion.
Doesn't mean I don't care. Now, earlier, Macklemore laid out a challenge, donating a million dollars, all his earnings from the tour, and saying to
Robert Kraft, match that donation.
Robert Kraft then came out and said, even before Macklemore made this challenge, Ed Sheeran had called me and asked me to donate $2 million. It
seems, at least in public, that all three of these guys agree that the Palestinian people need some help. But beyond that, there is a lot of
noise, and it isn't getting any quieter. Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, Max Verstappen has finally won a race this season. It wasn't though in a Formula One car, but in a go-kart. And there weren't 21
other drivers, but 100. Well, he blew past them all, even though he started last. But that's only to be expected, of course. I guess from a
professional of his caliber.
"World Sport" up after this break with the other headlines from the sporting world. I'll be back with more "Connect the World" in 15 minutes.
See you then.
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[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
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