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In case You Missed It

Ceiling Collapses At A Packed London Theater; Shocking New Video Of Reality Star; Pastor Punished; Obama Family Dysfunction; Perils Of A Princess

Aired December 19, 2013 - 23:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And welcome to "ICYMI," showcasing CNN's best reporting all day and the breaking news tonight.

We have a lot to tell you about, beginning with the shocking new revelations about the "Duck Dynasty" star who made some controversial comments about gays. Wait until you hear what else he has said.

Also, a terrifying crime caught on camera. You see this man fights back and the whole crowd decides to join in.

And the president's half brother talks to CNN, exposing damaging new revelations about Barack Obama Sr. and unflattering details about a chilly brotherly relationship.

All of that, a lot more, "In Case You Missed It." Now let's get started.

We begin tonight in London. A ceiling collapsed on to a packed house of theatre goers at Central London's historic Apollo Theatre when an actor yelled watch out, people thought it was part of the play. In the chaos more than 70 people were injured. A number of them, quite seriously, investigators still don't know why this happened. We know that more than 700 people were there. Minutes after this happened, CNN spoke with people who were inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a loud bang. The ceiling came down. A lot of dust, chandelier and wood and all that sort of stuff landed on five or six rows. A couple of people quite badly hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the actor said watch out --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And one of the actors said watch out. We thought it was part of the play initially. So that was our reaction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was dust and debris and everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Nic Robertson is on the scene for us there tonight. Nick, what is impress sieve London's emergency workers, they responded within 3 minutes. Everyone was evacuated quickly even those that had been trapped. What did you see when you arrived?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There were a lot of emergency service vehicles still flooding the scene here. There were paramedics wheeling in gurneys into the area, taking in back backs of trauma equipment. Fire service trucks beginning to arrive as well. Policemen on the scene, the area cordoned off.

Of course, five hours later now, the cordons are lifted. The traffic is moving back down the street here. Prior to this, we've seen fire service cherry picker come in here, firemen go up the ladder and take a look at the outside of the Apollo Theater, a very dramatic scene here a few hours ago -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick, let's talk about the structure of the building because this is a 112-year-old theater. I know that sounds old. It is not that old by London standards. Were they refurbishing anything? Was there construction on the theater? Do you know?

ROBERTSON: What the fire service officials have told us tonight is that they will through the night be conducting a thorough examination of the building. They say that could go on into Friday. So far they haven't indicated that there is any issue related to work being done on the building, anything that they've been -- has been brought to their attention so far.

It does seem like a very, very unfortunate situation. An area about 30 foot square of plaster collapsing down on the audience there. It's quite a sizable chunk of the ceiling plaster and wood coming down -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: How incredibly frightening for those 700 plus people in London at the theater tonight. Nic Robertson, thank you very much.

And now to the "Duck Dynasty" shake-up and real life drama surrounding the reality TV star of this popular A&E program. Tonight there is shocking new video of Phil Robertson that many may find even more offensive than the original comments. Those surfaced yesterday in his interview with "GQ" magazine. The "Duck Dynasty" patriarch was asked what he thought was sinful.

His response in part was this. Let me quote him. "Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping with this woman and this woman and this woman and those men." After gay rights groups started voicing strong objection to the reports, A&E decided to us is spent the star. Phil Robertson is a Christian. He has deeply held beliefs about homosexuality specifically and there were conservative politicians.

Bobby Agenda will spoke out asking why he is not free to say what he believe, but now tonight in case you missed it, troubling new video surfaced. We shot back in 2010. It shows Phil Robertson at a church podium in Pennsylvania giving a sermon about morality. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL ROBERTSON, CAST MEMBER, "DUCK DYNASTY": Men with men, women with women, they do some against one another and they receive in themselves perversions. They're full of murder, envy, hatred. They are arrogant god haters. They are heartless, they are faithless. They are ruthless. They're doing evil. That's what you have. 235 years, roughly, after your forefathers founded the country, so what are you going to do, Pennsylvania? Judge the bible?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That video was on YouTube. We wondered tonight had A&E seen this prior to casting the show, it's unclear how long Robertson's hiatus will last. "Duck dynasty" is the most popular none fiction show every week.

Meanwhile, yet another state affirmed the right of same sex couples to marry. Today the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled the state may not deny same-sex couples the freedom to marry calling the current federal law unconstitutional. And that ruling comes the same day the United Methodist Church in Pennsylvania defrocked Pastor Frank Shaefer, his offense, officiating his son's same-sex wedding. Anderson Cooper talked to him tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC360": When you performed your son's wedding, did you -- did you think that the road would end up here? With you no longer being a pastor in the Methodist Church?

FRANK SCHAEFER, DEFROCKED UNITED METHODIST PASTOR: I certainly did not. I did it out of love for my son. Especially in the case where in the past he struggled with sexual orientation to a point where he was considering suicide. I thought for sure that church would recognize that this was an act of love and that I would receive leniency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Pastor Schaeffer says he'll continue to speak out and share his story.

And now to the White House tonight. In case you missed it, a surprise move from President Obama. He commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates who were all in prison on crack cocaine charges. You see back in the 1980s, crack laws were passed with very stiff sentences for crack possession, far tougher than any other drugs.

Judges frequently criticized them, but they were forced to obey the law. So today in a statement, President Obama said he was responding to, and I'm quoting him, "an unfair system." He said, "If they had been sentenced under the current law," he goes on, "Many of them would have already serve their time and paid their debt to society."

Iso Gilbert of Tampa, Florida who was sentenced back in 1997 was the first inmate to walk free this afternoon. Most of the others will be released in the next couple of months.

And there is a controversial new book out about President Obama's family written by his half-brother. It is filled with damaging information about Mr. Obama's father and criticisms of the president himself including details of a reportedly chilly relationship between the brothers. CNN's Brian Todd got the inside story for us tonight with an interview with the president's brother.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're close in appearance. That may be about it. Barack Obama's younger half- brother, Mark Obama Ndesandjo in a new book and an interview with CNN has some less than flattering things to say about the president, their past, and their current relationship.

MARK OBAMA NDESANDJO, PRESIDENT OBAMA'S HALF-BROTHER (via telephone): I love my brother. He's a great president. Sometimes he's a lousy brother.

TODD: Why does he feel that way? Mark Ndesandjo feels there is distance, lack of acknowledgment from his half-brother. In the book which comes out in February, Ndesandjo details abuses at the hands of their father, Barack Obama Sr., abuses he believes the president hasn't fully recognized.

NDESANDJO: Barack, I don't think accepts or at least does not want to know the details of the beatings that occurred in our family.

TODD: Ndesandjo is not talking about the president's immediate family. He is speaking about his own. The president by all accounts had very little contact with their father. Only one visit when the president was a boy. The alleged abuse Mark Ndesandjo speaks of was toward his mother, Ruth. She was Barack Obama Sr.'s third wife after his marriage to the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunnam. Mark remembers one day in particular when he was 6 or 7 in Kenya.

NDESANDJO: My father actually broke and came in the door against a restraining order and he held a knife to my mother's throat. I'll never forget the fact that I could not protect her.

TODD: Barack Obama Sr. died in 1982. The president previously said this about his father.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He had an alcoholism problem that he didn't treat his families very well and so obviously it's a sad part of my history and my background. It's not something that I spent a lot of time brewing over.

TODD: David Maraniss wrote a biography of the president.

DAVID MARANISS, AUTHOR, "BARACK OBAMA" THE STORY": In some very important ways, President Obama is lucky he never lived with his father who was abusive towards women and mentally abusive towards his own children. That would have been a very much more difficult upbringing than the one he endured searching for something.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BALDWIN: Brian Todd with that tonight. We should tell you CNN reached out to the White House for comment, but have received no response.

We have to take a quick break. When we come back, what if there were no snow at the Winter Olympics? How do you make a great football play when you can't hear the play being called? IN CASE YOU MISSED IT is back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome to ICYMI. I'm Brooke Baldwin. In the lead-up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin sprung a political surprise. It's a surprise that insiders say really looks like a public relations move. Putin pardoned Russian oil tycoon, the oil billionaire was convicted on money laundering charges back in 2005 and many inside and outside of Russia viewed the case with alarm calling Putin a dictator and questioned whether Russia was a true democracy because he had been an outspoken critic of the Russian president.

But PR move or not, one thing is certain, Putin is facing mounting international criticism over Russia's anti-gay propaganda law. We told you last night that President Obama will not be attending the winter games nor will the vice president or the first lady, instead, the administration is sending a message with a delegation of openly gay athletes.

Add to that tonight, logistical worries for the games there. The stadiums is home to the opening and closing ceremonies, it is months behind schedule leaving only one month for rehearsals there and others worry there will not be enough hotel rooms ready for visitors. But the biggest concern and might I add most vital because we're talking winter games, the snow.

Russia, as you know, known for its bitter cold and harsh weather has selected the subtropical Sochi long a summer get away destination to hold the winter games. Organizers invented contraptions to save the snow from years past. They've been collecting the snow and storing it under big shoots of aluminum installation. Who knows how much of that they will need as it has been snowing in Sochi this season.

Excuses gets you nowhere, those are the words that NLF player, Derrick Coleman lives by. A lot of young men dream of becoming an NFL player and few actually get to do so. That is just the beginning of Derrick's accomplishments. He is the first legally deaf offensive player in the NFL and CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta shares his inspirational story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Derrick Coleman is living a boy's dream, playing in the NFL for the top team in the league, the Seattle Seahawks. Now he didn't start playing football until seventh grade because I had his mom really didn't want him to. DERRICK COLEMAN, NFL PLAYER: I was a normal kid.

GUPTA: The dream of making it to pros began in high school. There he was ranked the number two fullback in the nation by ESPN.

COLEMAN: I wasn't really thinking about it so much until maybe my senior year and I was just going out there and just playing hard. I just wanted to play.

GUPTA: Next stop, UCLA, where he was a running back for four years. His college career ended with a degree in political science and now the 23-year-old is showing versatility as a fullback for the Seahawks, scoring his first touchdown in the pros earlier this month. He's gotten this far with lots of hard work and by overcoming something only two other players in the entire NFL have. He is legally deaf, the result of a rare genetic disorder.

COLEMAN: I lost my hearing since I was 3.

GUPTA: How does he do this? First of all, he makes no excuses.

COLEMAN: No matter what your issue, that shouldn't stop from you doing what you want to do. You should always find a way.

GUPTA: His skull cap keeps his hearing aids in place.

COLEMAN: And I can read lips. I can read lips very well. So what I do is, you know, when I can't hear something, I always go and make sure I'm looking at the person. The person would is the quarterback or whatever.

COLEMAN: I was just like you guys.

GUPTA: Off the field, Coleman tries to make time to speak to deaf and hard of hearing children to offer words of encouragement especially for those who maybe struggling.

COLEMAN: Don't let your hearing be an excuse to not go for your dream, whatever your dream is. People in my opinion, they always find a way. If you want to be successful, you have to find a way.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: He reads lips on field. That's amazing.

Next on ICYMI, is there any privacy left when you're in love with a prince? And our best video out of the hundreds of videos fed to CNN each and every world, the most poignant pictures next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back to ICYMI. I'm Brooke Baldwin. From London today, this revelation that Kate Middleton's phone was hacked back when she and Prince William were merely girlfriend and boyfriend. The news came out the hacking trial of executives and editors from Rupert Murdoch's tabloid empire back then in 2007. The tabloids and paparazzi were constantly stalking her, which was awful to watch.

Videos just like this raising concerns for her safety, especially given what happened to William's mother, Princess Diana. All we learned from the short voice mails was that Kate's privacy was violated and that she and the prince were very much in love. He apparently refers to her as "Babykins."

Now to the video wall with the strongest videos that have come into CNN in the last 24 hours. Let's begin with this surveillance video taken on a Seattle bus. Watch what happens when this man tries to rob this passenger at gun point. Talk about quick reflexes. This guy doesn't even blink. He goes straight for the gun and you see people getting out of their seats. Several brave Samaritans jumping in to take down the robber. Police arrest him soon after.

And this one is for you Lego lovers. You can build pretty cool scuff with these things, but a car you can actually drive? Yes. Look at this. This is possible. A teenager in Romania built the world's first full sized Lego car. All he needed is 500,000 Legos and 20 months to build this thing. The car runs on a compressed air engine and can go up to 20 miles per hour.

And yes, I feel like I remember this as if it was yesterday, the anxiety that comes when applying to college. Ryan knows it well. Ryan has Down Syndrome and he's been waiting for a letter for weeks. So when it finally game, his parents decided to turn on the video camera and watch for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Read it to him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that first word right there? It says congratulations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got accepted?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pleased to inform you of your acceptance into the Clemson Life Program for the fall of 2014 beginning August 17th, 2014.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said yes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They said yes. What do you say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. My God, this is crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you happy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to be a college student next year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to be a Clemson Tiger!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Yes, Ryan, congratulations! Enjoy Clemson. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Finally tonight, we leave but newest species discovered in the world. It's called an Olinkito. This is a baby, discovered in cloud forest of Colombia. They are very, very small so this little guy grows to all of two pounds. They eat fruit and insects. They're nocturnal creatures, which maybe explain why no one spotted him in the forest until now. Cute little guy.

That does it for me tonight. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for watching. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, have a wonderful night.