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Erin Burnett Outfront
Who's Afraid Of A Little Pot?; Is The GOP Playing The Woman Card?; Mysterious Disappearance; Deal in Trouble?
Aired January 24, 2014 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Next, a big development tonight involving Richard Sherman. He has just been fined by the NFL. Tonight, our interview with the controversial cornerback.
Plus, the president says conservative media says that's why he can't get some things done. Is that fair?
New details about Justin Bieber's blood alcohol level when he was arrested. Tonight, we're going to talk to Cory Feldman and Lindsay Lohan's father. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Don Lemon in for Erin Burnett. Tonight, flirting with pot, another major public figure speaking about changing marijuana laws in this country following in the footsteps of President Obama who said marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol and slammed the unfair penalties for some users. Texas Governor Rick Perry, a staunch conservative, also weighed in on pot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: What I can do as the governor of the second largest state in the nation is to implement policies that start us towards a decriminalization and keep young people from going into prison that can destroy their lives. That's what we've done over the last decade.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, his spokesman then clarified saying the governor doesn't support the L-word, which is legalization, but believes it's all about states having the right to make their own laws. It's just like White House Press Secretary Jay Carney who also back pedalled his boss's headline grab on pot saying the president's position on legalizing marijuana has not changed.
So why are politicians flirting with pot, but no one really wants to commit? What are they afraid of now? Joining me now is Miguel Marquez who has been covering Colorado's experiment with legal marijuana. He knows everything you need to know about pot.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And then some.
LEMON: And then Bloomberg television anchor, Trish Regan. Good to see you. She's the author, by the way, of "Joint Ventures Inside America's Almost Legal Marijuana Industry" and former senior drug policy advisor to President Obama, Kevin Sabet. Thanks for joining us.
Kevin, I'm going to start with you. Here's what the polls are showing. The public is clearly behind marijuana. Why are you and your former boss, President Obama, willing to back legislation?
KEVIN SABET, FORMER SENIOR DRUG POLICY ADVISER, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Well, I think, first of all, we have different polls. The Rasmussen poll actually showed it was majority opposed. That was from a month ago. "Washington Post" poll showed it even. It's true that the CNN poll, your poll with ORC as well as the Gallup poll showed majority in favor. We're seeing mixed signals.
The bottom line is this is about creating the next big tobacco. The reason the American Medical Association is on the side of opposing legal sales of marijuana, the reason why the American Society of Addiction Medicine is against it and almost every major medical association is we know this will create the tobacco industry of our time.
We have these groups in Colorado now that are selling candies, edibles and Miguel has been there, and all of these sorts of things that appeal to kids. These lollypops! A 2-year-old girl went to the E.R. last month for a pot cookie that was legally bought.
I actually think, Don, that I feel like legalization has made a lot of people rethink whether this is the right thing or not. They said that the supporters have overstated this whole issue about what legalization is all about.
LEMON: Kevin, I think tobacco is the tobacco of our time. This is the new thing. Miguel, you spent a lot of time with people who want to see these who want to see legalized marijuana. They want to see how Washington state and Colorado how it goes there to figure out how they'll make up their mind. Is this helping or hurting that state?
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's helping. I think that any time you have conservative politicians coming out and saying decriminalization, which let's be honest, decriminalization doesn't mean legalization, that means basically not going not putting people in jail for it.
LEMON: Very different.
MARQUEZ: It's very, very different from what Colorado and Washington State are considering right now.
LEMON: Yes.
MARQUEZ: So to me politicians do this all the time. They try to split the hair. Perry is someone who's looking at a presidential run and he's looking at some ground where he can placate both sides.
LEMON: Trish, you spent time covering this. Hang on, Kevin. You spent a lot of time covering this and your documentary, "Marijuana, Inc.," ahead of its time when it came to talking about the business of marijuana and legalizing it. Do you think this country can afford not to do it?
TRISH REGAN, BLOOMBERG TELEVISION ANCHOR: Well, it is a tremendous business opportunity for sure. I mean, think about the tax revenue, Don, that Colorado is going to collect. There he is a 25 percent tax that they've instituted on all recreational marijuana. They're estimating that they're going to get about $70 million as a result of that off of about $600 million worth of sales.
So, I mean, it's tough because you don't want to say, we're just doing this for economic reasons, but at a time when states are really hurting and they need this kind of revenue, this is obviously a very attractive opportunity for them.
LEMON: Kevin?
SABET: Trish, you know this as well as anybody. For every dollar in alcohol and tobacco tax revenue that states gain and the federal government gains, it costs us 10 in social cost. You know, the last thing that came around that we said, this is wonderful tax revenue was the lottery. The last time I checked, the lottery has not solved public education.
REGAN: No, but here's a problem. Kevin, people are going to do this regardless.
SABET: Sure.
REGAN: It happens and so all the money that you're spending it looks up people.
SABET: Right.
REGAN: You can spend money on education programs. You look at Portugal, for example. Portugal decriminalized all drugs about ten years ago. All the money that they spent locking people up and putting them prison, they've taken that and put it into education programs, and what they've seen is that drug usage especially among the young's has declined.
LEMON: In Colorado it shows overwhelmingly its older people. It's a baby boom generation.
MARQUEZ: There are a lot of tourists. I'm looking at new numbers now out of Colorado and a lot of them are tourists. They moved 60 to 65 percent of their products over to the retail side.
LEMON: No one wants a 2-year-old to go to the E.R., but is that part of the argument? You know, a lot of people end up with their parents' prescription drugs and don't end up in the hospital.
MARQUEZ: You're exactly right.
SABET: Those are legal drugs. Don, those are legal drugs we're talking about. Would we want to expand access and availability for another legal drug?
REGAN: One of the advantages is if you are taxing and regulating it, you have the ability to avoid the 13, the 14-year-old getting access via the underground market. The idea here is to get rid of the underground market.
LEMON: Speaking of that, there is some news today because the Attorney General, Eric Holder, says legal marijuana sellers should have access to banks. How important is this to the business of pot, Trish?
REGAN: This is critical. Actually, this is absolutely, positively critical. I can tell you, Don. I have been out in Colorado and the measures that they have to go through to deal with all of their cash because they can't actually use a banking system. How do you meet pay rolling if you're only operating in cash?
It's interesting. They even go through elaborate measures to make sure that this cash literally doesn't smell. So, in other words, you buy some pot, they take it, put it in a bag and put it in a sealed room because if the bank smells it and it will smell like marijuana because all of these dispensaries do, then the banks say, no way, you're done.
LEMON: How important is it what Rick Perry had to say about marijuana, that it should be left to the states, because sometimes I feel like we are having these conversations in a vacuum or five years later than they should have been had because clearly the wants this to happen. If the public are voting for the people to be in office, then it will be --
MARQUEZ: I think now is probably fine. Going forward I think will be a problem. We have a situation in Kansas where a woman apparently died in custody after being arrested, being denied her medical marijuana. It will be difficult to regulate on a state-by-state basis going forward.
SABET: We do need to make that distinction between decriminalization and legalization. Rick Perry is talking about justice reinvestment in drug courts, which they've invested in. That's very different. Treating this like a health disease is what we want to do. It's why Patrick Kennedy has joined me and people on the right and left. Why the AMA stands on one side and, Trish, you're right. This is a big business. There's a big tobacco business that's looming in front of us.
LEMON: All right, Kevin, Trish, Miguel, thank you very much. Interesting conversation that we will continue here on CNN.
Coming up, President Obama calls out the conservative media saying that's why he can't get some things done. Is it a fair criticism?
Then a new potential legal problem for George Zimmerman. This time it involves a painting and a woman spends two years traveling the world with her husband and suddenly vanishes when she returns to the U.S. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Playing the woman card, today the highest ranking woman in the GOP, Congresswoman Kathy McMorris Rogers posted this on Instagram preparing to deliver the Republican response to President Obama's "State of the Union Address" on Tuesday. There she is with her two- month-old in one hand and her speech in the other hand.
But timing is very interesting on this. It comes one day after Democrats slam the GOP for waging a war against women because former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE HUCKABEE, FORMER GOVERNOR, ARKANSAS: If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription every month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Joining me now CNN political commentators, Reihan Salam and Hillary Rosen. Reihan, I saw you --
REIHAN SALAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Uncle Sugar.
LEMON: Uncle Sugar. Is this picture from Kathy McMorris Rogers, is this Republican Party doing damage control, do you believe?
SALAM: Well, one thing that's important to keep in mind is that Kathy McMorris Rogers is actually a member of Congress in office right now. Mike Huckabee is the host of a television program, not an unpopular one. He's not some official Republican spokesperson.
I also think it's important to keep in mind that if you are going to fault Mike Huckabee, it's for being ungenerous to Democrats rather than insulting women. He was characterizing how Democrats think about women. He wasn't saying that women themselves are people who can't run their own lives.
LEMON: Hilary, I hear you laughing. You've got a smirk on your face. I have heard conservative media say, hey, listen, his comments are being taken out of context on the left. What he's basically saying is that Democrats are being condescending to women.
HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, first of all, I've never heard any Democrat say that women need to control their libido as a rationale for legitimate family planning and birth control, so these words are actually a figment of Mike Huckabee's imagination. That's what Mike Huckabee obviously thinks about women to put those words in somebody else's mouth.
It is ridiculous and disrespectful and obnoxious for him to kind of frame it in this double negative, and I think it's actually so off key that people couldn't even quite figure out the point he was making that Mike Huckabee says that's how legitimate it is. Republicans don't seem to do very well talking about women and birth control. They ought to just stop it.
LEMON: Should he have not possibly used the word libido? Is that the buzz word that got everybody going, do you think?
SALAM: I have a different word. There is someone, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal who intervened. He said the problem is it's not over the counter. The cost would go down dramatically. He's a staunchly pro- life governor who said that. If Mike Huckabee had said rather than have the government give people this item, let's make it more accessible, let's see to it that women can make that choice themselves, that would be a smarter strategy.
LEMON: You know, Hilary, it wasn't just the picture of Kathy McMorris Rogers. Yesterday, the GOP released this video including more shots of her with her kids. There's a video running. This is a step in the right direction. I want to move beyond that. We're talking about conservatives. I want to read you something that the president told David recommends anything of "the New Yorker" about gridlock. The issue has been the inability of mind message to penetrate the Republican base so that they're persuaded that I'm not the caricature you see on fox news or rush Limbaugh. Can the president blame fox news for their problems? There are liberal outlets that do the same thing on the other side.
SALAM: Well, I think he was just talking about his own characterization and I think it is true that his words and his intentions are completely blown out of proportion by not just Fox News by so many in the Republican Party who really are focused much more on an election strategy than they are on governing. We've seen that time and time again.
LEMON: The question is should the president be above that? Isn't the president above that? Like you don't punch down?
ROSEN: I think, you know, the president is expressing a frustration that is very real, which is if there was an environment where he could just have an actual communication about policy with people that often in the past have agreed with many of his proposals and now they reject him for political reasons, then that's a legitimate frustration for him to express.
LEMON: Is he giving them ammunition by speaking about this?
SALAM: Well, here's the fundamental problem, Don. The problem is there are a lot of people, including women who serve in the Obama administration who say that this is a difficult guy to work with. There are lawmakers. Democratic lawmakers who feel as though he's just been tremendously difficult in helping them achieve their goals. It's not just Republicans. So I have a feeling that the president sometimes wants to shift blame to other people for some of his failures as a communicator, as opposed to someone who's building coalitions.
LEMON: Is it women or just the truth? Go ahead, Hilary.
ROSEN: I don't think he is shifting blame.
SALAM: Sounds pretty explicitly what he's doing?
ROSEN: No, I think what he's saying is he needs more and more outlets where it's just him talking to the American people and that are what he's going to do in the State of the Union. He's going to put out aggression, and we'll see if Kathy McMorris Rogers actually comes back and agrees with anything that he says or commits to working with the White House on behalf of the Republican leadership on any of the issues that he raises. I think that this is a big test next week to see whether this next year gets started.
SALAM: The president has given many big set-piece speeches, and it doesn't appear as though there's been a huge boon to his popularity when he does that or his ability to work with lawmakers including lawmakers within his own caucus. He can give a speech, and that's terrific. I don't think that that's going to make it a huge difference.
LEMON: We'll be watching the president's speech come Tuesday. Thank you, Hillary. Thank you, Reihan. I appreciate both of you.
Coming up, a woman spends two years traveling the world with her husband. Now she has disappeared while visiting family in Texas.
Richard Sherman's antics have cost him from the NFL.
And the latest on Justin Bieber's arrest. The father of Lindsay Lohan and former child star Corey Felman weigh in on how much of Bieber's problems are his own fault.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Tonight, a frantic search for a woman who mysteriously vanished after returning from a two-year long trip around the world. Leanne Bearden and her husband traveled the globe for nearly two years before returning to the U.S. last month. The couple was about to move back to Denver to start looking for new jobs when Leanne disappeared. Anna Cabrera has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leanne Bearden and her husband, Josh had been on an amazing journey. They took a safari in Tanzania, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and snorkelled along the Great Barrier Reef. For two years they lived the ultimate adventure traveling the world without a major mishap. A month after returning to the United States Bearden disappeared.
JOSH BEARDEN, HUSBAND: I knew after three hours something was really wrong.
CABRERA: Bearden's husband of four years reported her missing a week ago. He says she went for a walk while visiting her parents in Texas and never returned. At first he thought she decided to explore, maybe became injured and never returned.
JOSH BEARDEN, HUSBAND: She could be ten miles away. Cut up, this looks like a nice rocky drainage ditch, it's pretty. She could have slipped.
CABRERA: That was one theory. As hours of searching turned into days, loved ones descended on Garden Rich, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio. Dozens of volunteers have searched on the ground and in the air around the area where she was last scene.
CHRIS BUSCH, FAMILY FRIEND: Yet days of searching have turned up nothing, not a single sign of the 33-year-old. It's tragic. Its heart wrenching! I feel for Josh and the family. I was down there all this past week and trying so hard to do everything we can, scour every inch of ground in that area. We probably covered privately over 100 square miles.
CABRERA: The couple was supposed to move to Denver last Tuesday. Friends in Colorado are now spreading the word of Bearden's disappearance on Facebook and raising money for private investigators and search dogs. The Garden Rich Police Department in Texas is investigating and now resources from across Texas are on the way to help with a formal search and rescue operation set to begin tomorrow. As precious time ticks by, family members are growing more worried and more desperate.
WILL BEARDEN, FATHER-IN-LAW: We have to be doing something. The waiting is the worst part of this, the waiting and not knowing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Anna Cabrera joins us now. She has been missing for a week. It's freezing. How concerned is the family about the weather?
CABRERA: Certainly that's a concern, Don. It was relatively mild, in the last week. Just last night there was that cold front that moved in. They saw temperatures dip into the 30s, icy conditions. That's a big concern. I talked to her brother who says everyone's trying to stay optimistic. She was in great shape, he said. She has run nine marathons. She's climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. She could survive the elements. A week later it's a big concern.
LEMON: Anna Cabrera, we'll continue to follow this story. Thank you, Anna.
Still to come, new details about the Justin Bieber bust. Cory Felman and Lindsay Lohan's father join us.
Plus, the NFL decides to punish Richard Sherman.
And a man was shot and killed for texting in a movie theatre. We now have a dramatic 911 call from that day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back to the second half of OUTFRONT. A rare look inside Iran tonight, the big question is, are the U.S. and Iran on the same page when it comes to the historic nuclear agreement brokered last November? The White House said Iran agreed to dismantle some of its equipment. Just two days ago, Iran's foreign minister made headlines around when he told our Jim Sciutto that Iran did not agree to dismantle anything.
Now, Jim is on the ground in Tehran.
And, Jim, what are people saying about their government and relations with the West?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, I've been coming to Iran for more than 10 years. And this is really a visit unlike any other. I sense more openness here, more excitement about improved relations with the West with the U.S. What you will not hear though from Iranians is any wavering and support for their country's nuclear program. Like their leaders, they view it as peaceful. They view it as their country's right.
But the emotion, welcome certainly warmer. My producer when we entered the mosque, an Iranian woman came up to her when she found out she's American and gave her a hug and a kiss. We're seeing that a lot here.
And what I do sense across the board is exhaustion among average Iranians, exhaustion with the sanctions regime, exhaustion with their country being ostracized by many other countries around the world and that exhaustion is driving a sense for positive change and a sense that things might change, a hope that their lives might improve. Average Iranian's lives might improve if Iran's relations with the West improve -- Don.
LEMON: Jim Sciutto in Tehran -- thank you, Jim.
Police today released the 911 call made just minutes after a man was shot allegedly because he was texting in a Florida movie theater. The voice you're about to hear is a nurse who was on the phone with police and is also working with patrons in the background to keep the victim, Chad Oulson, alive.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: Can somebody start doing chest compressions and do a pulse?
(CROSSTALK)
CALLER: OK. Come on, come on, buddy, breathe, breathe.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LEMON: The 911 dispatcher tells the nurse paramedics are on the way and goes on to ask about the shooter.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
911: Where is the shooter, do you know? CALLER: In the theater still.
911: OK. Do you know what he looks like?
CALLER: Um --
911: Do you know or you're not sure? Do you know what the shooter looks like?
CALLER: Yes, I do.
911: OK. Can you give me any description?
CALLER: He's right behind me.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, the nurse goes on to say the shooter still had his gun, 71-year-old retired police officer Curtis Reeves has been charged with second degree murder and claims he fired in self-defense.
There are new problems tonight for George Zimmerman as we showed you yesterday. Zimmerman has this new painting mocking the state prosecutor who charged him with the murder of Trayvon Martin. The painting closely resembles this photographer by "The Associate Press." Now, the photographer is alleging copyright infringement.
The photographer's attorney, John Phillips, tells OUTFRONT he will be sending a cease and desist order to Zimmerman today. The next step, Phillips says, will be to determine what damages have been caused to the photographer and "The A.P."
Let's talk about Justin Bieber now. Not legally drunk when he was pulled over for drag racing in Miami Beach yesterday. According to a source close to the investigation, the teen pop star blew a 0.014 during a breathalyzer and 0.02 is the legal limit in Florida when you are under 21.
Still, Bieber did fail a field sobriety test. And police say he was charged with driving under the influence because he admitted to drinking, using marijuana, and taking prescription pills.
Bieber has been tight-lipped since his release from jail other than posting this picture of himself next to Michael Jackson on Instagram. The caption, "What more can they say?"
Our next guests have plenty to say about this. Child star Corey Feldman is here and he is the author of "Coreyography: A Memoir", Michael Lohan is Lindsay Lohan's father. Jim Moret is chief correspondent for "Inside Edition," and Katrina Szish is an entertainment journalist.
Thanks to all of you for joining us. Let's talk about the Biebs now.
Corey, I'm going to start with you. You were friends with Michael Jackson. You see this photo put on Instagram with a caption, "What more can they say?" I mean, how do you react to that? What do you say to that?
COREY FELDMAN, ACTOR: Well, obviously the first thing I kind of giggled but -- I mean, the only thing that I could think is that obviously he in some way in his mind is comparing himself to Michael by saying he's a victim as Michael was a victim, you know, of public ridicule. And I think that's probably what this is about is saying, look, they're trying to ridicule me. They're trying to make me look like I'm some crazy kid, some bad kid. In fact, it's just problems everybody goes through.
(CROSSTALK)
FELDMAN: So, probably him kind of defining his innocence.
Absolutely not. I mean, at the end of the day, acting irresponsible, putting people's lives in danger, that's nothing to take as a joke and something that you've been taking seriously and obviously it's not the kind of attitude that anybody wants to see right now from him, that's going to make anybody have any sympathy or empathy from where he's going to.
LEMON: I want to put up another photo of Justin Bieber shortly after his arrest that we obtain from our affiliate WFOR. And in it, Justin Bieber is reportedly hanging out with his father. There appear to be bottles of beer in the shot. So, there it is right there.
Do you had a relationship with your father that contributed to your problems with drugs and alcohol admittedly. You say that. Is this concerning to you, Corey?
FELDMAN: Well, it's very concerning because at the end of the day, what this means is that he's in an environment where it's being condoned, where it's being egged on. They're treating him like an adult. They're giving him that kind of liberty and freedom.
And, you know, again, it goes back to the same problem. When you have a child who's not being treated like a child for the latter part of their youth, latter part of their teenage years, they grow up very fast and they tend to believe that, hey, I'm getting a police escort one day. These people have my back. They're behind me. They're going to let me get away with whatever I want. And my parents what I'm doing is the right stuff. So, therefore, it's acceptable, it's justifiable.
We need to let him know, it's not OK. It's not OK for the parents to act that way or the parents to act that way.
LEMON: I want to bring in Michael Lohan now.
Michael, you know, Justin Bieber's father is reportedly out with him when he was drag racing. Today, he defended himself tweeting this. He says, "I can protect my kids but I can't protect them from you and your lies. Believe in the truth, not of the lies, of the enemy. #reallife."
I mean, as a parent of a celebrity, right, who has had her fair share of troubles that's been reported, does that look like a road you've been down with Lindsay?
MICHAEL LOHAN, LINDSAY LOHAN'S FATHER: Yes, it's very, very familiar, but I do have to agree with Corey. You know, it's one thing to be around enablers, your friends, bodyguards, management, staff around you.
But when it comes to parents, I just can't fathom a father drinking or a mother drinking or partying with their kids. It's just -- I mean -- and especially if I heard his father was actually holding up traffic so they could race on the street.
I've had a major issue with enablers. As far as people lying about what's going on -- look, a blood test, a field sobriety test doesn't lie. Pictures don't lie. So you can call it a lie all you want, but what you see is what you get.
LEMON: Yes. Jim --
LOHAN: I just have a problem -- yes.
LEMON: Jim, just because he was not legally drunk, that doesn't mean that he is out of the woods yet, does it? He was still charged with DUI. He admittedly was using alcohol and other substances.
JIM MORET, INSIDE EDITION: Well, the bigger problem is, Don, it's not an isolated incident. This is just one of a series of incidents that seem to be escalating. Michael is correct.
Look, I read the report as well that indicated that Justin's dad may have been actually holding up the traffic to enable his son to go on that drag race. Now imagine if somebody was hurt. Imagine if Justin were hurt. Imagine as a parent how you'd feel.
And then you take those photos with the alcohol and then there's a suggestion that his mother may have given him the prescription drugs. I think the investigation is going to look at whether the parents were involved in giving Justin Bieber the prescription medication and/or the alcohol.
LEMON: All right. Katrina, you're sitting here patiently. What are you hearing about the inner circle? You're an entertainment journalist. What are you hearing about the inner circle? Are they concerned?
KATRINA SZISH, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: They're reportedly very concerned. They're urging him to go into rehab for months and he sort of scoffed and laughed it off. I don't need rehab. For what?
But now this has become what we're all hoping is a wake-up call for him is that he can get over this as a small bump in the roads if he really gets back on track. If he ignores this and continues to scoff it off as a big deal, that he really can be at the precipice of a dangerous downward spiral.
LEMON: He maybe watching all of this and going, look, they're talking about me, I'm popular. It's really not good when Whoopi Goldberg said on "The View," this is the worst thing can happen with you.
Corey, you know, you've lived through a downward spiral and witnessed with your friend Corey Haim -- I want to make sure we get this in. It's from 1989. It's a video diary. It's called "Me, Myself, I." In it, Cory Haim is talking about the direction of his life and his image.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY HAIM, ACTOR: The direction in my life right now that I'm trying to, I guess, proceed with in the business is gradually from being the little boy from the younger brother trying to get to be the older brother or the only brother.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: This was on Slate.com. It compares him to Justin Bieber.
When you see this video of Cory and when you look at what's going on with Justin Bieber, do you see the similarities? Is it fair that Slate.com would make the comparison?
FELDMAN: Absolutely. Absolutely.
You know, every time I see Corey, of course, my eyes well up with tears and I get very heartbroken. As you know if you've read my book, I talk about him in my book, and not badly.
But I talk about the damage that he went through prior to the point that he started acting this way, before he started acting out, before he started being quite unruly and doing drugs and doing things to damage himself. At the end of the day it all came from the fact that he did not have the proper upbringing.
Once again, it goes back to the parents. You know, all of this happened because he was allowed to be in situations he should have never been in. People had access to him that they should never have had. There was way too much trust put into the adults around him by his parents. That's what you see with Justin.
LEMON: I'm going to be talking a lot more about this in my upcoming talk show, I'm actually starting my own talk show next Tuesday, and we're going to be hitting this very hard on film on TV. So, I hope you can watch.
I'm going to talk to Jim real quick. I'm going to get back to you, Michael, because there are some things that I want to ask you. There are three Florida police officers who were suspended with providing Bieber with an escort from the airport to an undisclosed location, reportedly a strip club. Is that going to factor into his defense?
MORET: Well, look, Corey brought it up just a couple of minutes ago. One night he's being treated, given special treatment by cops and then the next night, he's being arrested. He's going, I don't understand. I thought you guys are my friends. You know, look, I can empathize with what Corey is saying, and also with what Michael is saying.
As a parent of the celebrity and a celebrity, you know, it must be like you don't know what real life is. The best thing about Corey is he survived. The best thing about Michael, his daughter is doing well now. The big danger is that Justin Bieber won't get help before it's too late, and that's what I think so many people are concerned about it.
LEMON: Right. You set up my next question perfectly, Michael. So, I want to ask you. There have been reports that Lindsay has fallen off the wagon, that she is using substances again. How is Lindsay doing?
LOHAN: Lindsay's doing really well. I think we saw that.
First of all, the producer of "Lone Survivor" would not have taken stock in Lindsay if she's doing well. Look, everyone has good or bad moments. She's not using or drinking. But she has her times when she reflects on things in the past.
I do just want to reflect on one thing. This I don't believe is a bump in the road for Justin at all. For him to be drinking and using prescription pills at this time at this age, that's a major issue that's going to lead to a place he does not want to be.
And like Corey was just saying about his radio show hitting this hard, I mean, I started a treatment center called Dream Recovery. That's exactly what we address. We try to nip it in the bud.
Like Corey said, you try to find out what it was, what the incubus or what the genesis of addiction started at. What was the core issue or the trauma that led him to drink or use? It's not just people or the environment that creates that want or desire to use. Something made you want to drink to numb the sorrow and, you know, numb the pain.
LEMON: You speak so eloquently here. I'm sure at times you wish that your daughter would follow the advice that you appear to be handing out here on CNN. It's not that easy when you're the parent of a celebrity, is it?
LOHAN: No. But here's the difficult part -- you can be sober. I went down the wrong path, too. But I learned from my mistakes and it took an epiphany and a car accident that cost me my life to get back on track.
The thing is, you can tell your kids -- you can advise your kids what to do and they may listen, but when you tell your kids what to do and how to do it, they're going to back off or they're going to run in the opposite direction. So, it does take the people around them that care to really -- you know, to try to get them into a situation to get help. Justin needs help and he better do it now.
LEMON: And especially when the kid is the one who's making the money and is the bread winner in the family, as we have seen so much here.
LOHAN: Absolutely.
LEMON: I wish I could talk to you more.
FELDMAN: I'm really hoping -- I'm really hoping that this does serve as a wake-up call for him and that he really gets the message because he's a great star. He's got so much to offer the world and his fans still love him so much. And this is his moment to really turn things around and be an example.
LEMON: Thanks, everyone. I promise to get you in more next time, Katrina. Appreciate that.
Thank you, Corey. Thanks, everyone.
And be sure to tune in tonight for "Justin Bieber's Wild Ride." It airs at 10:00 p.m., right here on CNN.
Fascinating conversation.
Still to come, Richard Sherman's actions on the field now costing him. It's a media firestorm. Now, he's going to have to pay.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Breaking news: Seattle Seahawks star Richard Sherman has just been fined by the NFL. The outspoken cornerback will have to fork over more than $7,800 for taunting at this past Sunday's championship game.
Rachel joins me now.
This is breaking news. What have you learned about this fine, Rachel?
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Well, first of all, let's be clear. Nobody wants to give away $8,000, but compared to an NFL salary, this is not a huge fine for a player.
It is for unsportsmanlike conduct for taunting. It is for the choke sign that Richard Sherman made at quarterback Colin Kaepernick. This was after he made the play that saved the game for the Seahawks and sent them to the Super Bowl, but before he did the outburst to Erin Andrews on FOX that got so much attention.
You've got to keep track of everything going on with Richard Sherman. We have game-saving play, we have choke sign to Colin Kaepernick. That's the taunting that got fined.
LEMON: One, two.
NICHOLS: And then we have the outburst that enraged half of America. And then the other half of America love him.
LEMON: And then you have all the endorsements that he's getting, right?
NICHOLS: Absolutely.
LEMON: You did a full interview that will air tonight. People on the street are saying Richard Sherman is going to be on CNN. I'm like, yes, our Rachel Nichols.
I want to play a part of it where he talked about his reaction after the rant. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD SHERMAN, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: People like with Muhammad Ali and the backlash that he got. People are comfortable with not being able to expect things, not being able to control things, not being able to put people in boxes and them stay in those boxes, you know?
Maybe I'm a kid from the inner city but they wish wouldn't have gotten out of the inner city and expressed himself in this way. Maybe that makes people uncomfortable. Maybe that -- maybe people don't like to see a success story like that. Maybe it's -- maybe that's what it is. I really couldn't tell you.
NICHOLS: You did have the choice to go either way early on. I mean, did you consciously think either way, oh, I could join a gang or I could go in this direction? Did you mull it over?
SHERMAN: There was always that temptation. There was always that temptation. Well, this guy has the nice car, he has -- you know, he has everything you want.
He gets a lot of the girls. You know, he has everything that you think you want to attain, and he's doing this. So why -- why wouldn't I do it?
But I also started to see the bigger picture and I started to understand that, well, if I find a way to get myself into a college, then I have a chance to make some money, to accomplish all my dreams.
NICHOLS: You were second in your class in high school. You were recruited by USC which at the time was the biggest thing going in college football, but you were also recruited by Stanford and you picked Stanford.
SHERMAN: Yes.
NICHOLS: Was that about more than football?
SHERMAN: It was definitely about more than just football because how almost oxymoronic does it sound that a kid from Compton is going to Stanford. The initial thought was to send a message to the kids to show, look at what hard work can get you. I was just trying to show them anything is possible.
NICHOLS: You didn't just go to Stanford, by the way. You graduated and started working on your masters.
SHERMAN: Exactly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Does a rant overshadow such a great guy? Does it overshadow that?
NICHOLS: It all comes together. It's all his persona. And I think one thing that's so great about Richard Sherman is that he's shown people you're not just one thing. Yes, he's from Compton, Los Angeles, there are a lot of assumptions that go along with that. He's loud and brash on the field, the point where some people would think is obnoxious. And there's a lot of assumptions that go with that.
On the other hand, he went to Stanford and graduated second in his class in high school. Extremely well read, great, smart, insightful guy. He talks really eloquently about issues of race and class in this interview and talks about the fact that thug now being a substitute for the n-word and how -- when he was tweeted at and e- mailed at and so many people upset after this, it wasn't that he heard bad racial language, although of course he did. He did hear that hate speech. It was the coded language that he was so concerned about.
He said honestly, he didn't expect it. He said maybe he was a little naive. He said he thought we've moved past that.
LEMON: I think a lot of people are. In any rate, I cannot wait to see this, Rachel. Great get.
And Rachel will have this on tonight. And you can see more of Rachel's interview, "UNGUARDED", tonight 10:30 p.m. Eastern. Watch it and set you VCR. Good to see you.
NICHOLS: Thank you so much.
LEMON: Joining me now former running back Jamal Anderson and CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin.
Good to see both of you.
All right. Sunny, let's go. You just heard Sherman say that some of backlash he received was because people are uncomfortable of his success story. Do you agree with that?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't know if I agree with that. I think that people called him a thug because it's sort of racial code. And it's the code that's use because the n-word is no longer appropriate in certain circles.
And, you know, I've got to tell you, Don, when you look at Webster's dictionary, for example, and thug is defined as a violent criminal. So to suggest that using "thug" with this gentleman who is a Stanford grad, who is bright, who is articulate, who is successful, a superstar football player makes the point that clearly this was race code, race- based stereotype.
LEMON: I want to tell you this, though, Sunny, because just yesterday, we were talking about the popular web site "The Root" calling Justin Bieber a teen thug. Do you think that's code for calling Justin Bieber the n-word?
HOSTIN: You know, I think that "The Root" was trying to be provocative. I don't think anyone is going to call Justin Bieber a thug, even though he has had run-ins with the law. They're calling him instead of a criminal, which he is now criminally charged, right, they're calling him troubled. They're saying that he can turn his life around.
Just in your last segment people were saying oh, he's got so much more to offer and there's a downward spiral. We saw though in the Trayvon Martin case, Trayvon who was a great student, who was a young boy, he was immediately called a thug and George Zimmerman who was constantly violent was called a hero. And to suggest that it's a race neutral term, you know, Don, I'm kind of shocked at that.
LEMON: All right. So, Jamal, there were comments back in 2009 after your arrest, let's be honest here. One person wrote that ESPN needs to start screening the thugs they hire a little better.
JAMAL ANDERSON, FORMER NFL PLAYER: Right.
LEMON: Did you get the sense this was coded language for the n-word?
ANDERSON: There's no question about it. Don, I'm a graduate as well from the University of Utah. And that's just how it happens.
The majority of time you see this connection, you see guys getting this statement and this stigma from people when they don't have anything elsewhere they can try to say it. So, this is the code that you hear. Oh, this thug does this or this thug does that. And it absolutely is ridiculous.
And I give Richard Sherman credit, Don, for being brave enough to address this in the setting that he did for the Seattle Seahawks.
LEMON: He is not hiding.
ANDERSON: No, he's not. A lot of times guys don't want to deal with this conversation. Guys, don't want to enter --
HOSTIN: Yes, we don't want to talk about it.
LEMON: Hold on, I want to show you guys this, because just last night John Boehner used the word "thug." It's a word that has been used by everyone from politicians to musicians.
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: Have you met Putin? Have you ever met this guy?
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: No.
LENO: No? You don't sound like you want to meet him.
BOEHNER: I don't want to meet him.
LENO: No, no, no. BOEHNER: Listen, I just think he's a thug.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He won't be hanging out with those thugs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a thug.
UNIDENTIFEID MALE: Buford, live with hooligans and amongst the thugs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (rapping): Still live with my parents, but I'm still a thug.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have I displeased you, you feckless thug?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What criteria applies to Barack Obama as being a thug?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The top ten thugs in the world.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We choose to live in a world where a thug and a murderer like Bashar al Assad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: I think it's more nuanced than that. I do think in some cases it is code for the n word. I think in this case, in Sherman's case it is. But thug has been used to describe a whole lot of people.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Nobody's saying that -- go ahead, Sunny.
HOSTIN: You're sort of being intellectually dishonest, Don, because of course, you know --
LEMON: No, I'm not. You saw it there.
(CROSSTALK)
HOSTIN: No, you are, because words alone don't have the same meaning. You have to look at words in context. Words evolve and different meanings are attached to it.
LEMON: Sunny, we're saying the same thing. I say in the context of Richard Sherman, I think it's being used that way. But it's not always --
HOSTIN: It's how it's predominantly used now, Don.
LEMON: It's not predominantly use that way.
HOSTIN: Black and brown men. Just like the term "angry" --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Black and brown men used that word on themselves. They wanted to be called a thug. HOSTIN: Just like the term angry is used to describe me when anybody who really knows me knows that I'm always sunny, always happy. Instead of being called decisive. And it's because I have brown skin. And that's the bottom line. Angry at who --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Quickly, because we have to run. Go ahead.
ANDERSON: We could probably pull up 1,000 different clips of people saying thug and quote unquote justified circumstances. But clearly, in this instance and what we continuously see is the association with young African-Americans.
LEMON: OK, I've got to run. Thank you, guys.
Up next, video just in or Justin Bieber the night he was arrested.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Back now with breaking news. We now have new video that shows Justin Bieber's yellow Lamborghini -- see at the top of your screen there -- racing down the street with police behind him. I want you to take a look at this video. It's obtained by our affiliate WFOR from a homeowner surveillance video. So, while it doesn't look like they're going too fast, we don't know what happened to this particular video what is going on there.
But, clearly, you see the yellow Lamborghini out front and then you see a red Ferrari behind it and then police cars after that. There is a new video. We'll be playing it for you here on CNN.
I'm Don Lemon. Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend.
"AC360" starts right now.
