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Joy Behar Page
Asylum for the Quaids?; Mel Gibson Comeback Derailed; Keith Richards Disses Mick
Aired October 25, 2010 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOY BEHAR, HOST: In his new book, Keith Richards says Mick Jagger was so awful that he had to get stoned just to work with him. God, I hope people don`t think I`m that difficult.
Hey, I`m not like that, right, guys? Right? Hello? Anybody? Anybody?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming up on The Joy Behar Show, Randy Quaid and his wife seek asylum in Canada saying they`re on a celebrity hit list that had already claimed Heath Ledger and David Carradine. So have they crossed the line from erratic behavior to full-on crazy?
Then Mel Gibson is dropped from the "Hangover" sequel after complaints from the cast and crew. They gave Mike Tyson a second chance. Is this a "Hangover" hypocrisy?
Plus "Sex and the City`s" Cynthia Nixon is here to talk about her new role as a gay rights activist.
That and more starting here right now.
Just when you thought things with actor turned fugitive Randy Quaid and his wife Evi could not get any crazier, here`s the latest. The Quaids are now seeking asylum in Canada saying that a celebrity hit squad, quote- unquote, is out to get them just like they killed Heath Ledger and David Carradine. So should the Quaids be given asylum or be put in an asylum?
Joining me now to talk about this are Danny Bonaduce, actor and radio talk show host on 94.1 WISP in Philadelphia; Shaun Robinson, "Access: Hollywood" weekend co-host and correspondent; and Becky Altringer, a private detective who was once hired by the Quaids to investigate whether they were targets of a Hollywood hit squad.
Ok Shaun, let me start with you. I know we only have an hour, but can you bring us up to speed on Randy and Evi`s recent problems?
SHAUN ROBINSON, "ACCESS: HOLLYWOOD": Yes, Joy. I tell you, I don`t think they could write a Hollywood movie any more bizarre than that. As you said, the Quaids are seeking asylum in Canada because they feel like they are the targets of -- they call them the Hollywood star whackers. And they`re talking about, as they have said when asked, accountants and lawyers and embezzlers, among other people.
They believe that Heath Ledger and David Carradine were actually victims, murder victims of people like these Hollywood star whackers. And so now they`re seeking asylum in Canada because they actually fear for their lives.
It`s -- I don`t know how you can write something more bizarre than this, Joy.
BEHAR: Didn`t David Carradine commit suicide and Heath Ledger overdosed. So where`s the connection?
ROBINSON: Nobody seems to know if there is a connection. The only connection so far is that Heath Ledger and David Carradine are both former co-stars of Randy Quaid`s. And as far as we know, the Quaids don`t have any proof that David Carradine and Heath Ledger were actually murder victims.
As you probably know -- go ahead, joy.
BEHAR: No, you go. Continue.
ROBINSON: Well, as you know that the Quaids were actually arrested. They were squatting in a house in Montecito, California, a house that they formerly owned several years ago.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Doesn`t Oprah live there? Wait a second. Oprah Winfrey lives in Montecito. It wasn`t her house, was it?
ROBINSON: In Montecito, right. Fortunately it was not Oprah`s house, but it was a house that they used to own. A caretaker on the property found them squatting in this house and also claimed that they did something like $5,000 in damage to this property.
BEHAR: Right. That`s right.
ROBINSON: So they did not show up when -- the judge had to issue a bench warrant for their arrest because they did not show up in court. So obviously, this couple has had a number of problems.
BEHAR: All right. Now Danny, look at this. This is Randy Quaid`s lawyer who read a statement from Quaid outside a Vancouver courtroom on Friday. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN TSUJI, ATTORNEY FOR RANDY AND EVI QUAID: They`re requesting asylum from Hollywood star whackers, Evi and Randy Quaid. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hollywood star whackers? What does that mean?
TSUJI: I`m just reading what`s written here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: Besides George Michael, who are the star whackers?
DANNY BONADUCE, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Always nice to be here, Joy. I have thought I heard all the conspiracy theories there were about Hollywood with the gay mafia and this and that. I`ve never seen any example of any of that. But if there were -- first of all, they made the worst choice in cities to seek asylum because seven out of the last ten movies that you`ve seen that were supposed to be in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York were actually shot in Vancouver.
Everybody that they`re trying to hide from is in Vancouver. So I think it`s a bad call. And for the Hollywood star whackers, what did Randy have in mind? That maybe they`re going to start with the C list to see if anybody noticed? We`ll start with Randy Quaid then move our way up the ladder and see if anyone notices.
BEHAR: Yes. Ok.
BONADUCE: And can I say in all seriousness?
BEHAR: Yes. Go ahead.
BONADUCE: The Canadians are real strict. I`ve actually been deported from Canada and I wasn`t even in any trouble. I had been in trouble in America 15 years ago. They essentially said, we don`t want your kind here and sent me home. They`re not going to get asylum in Canada.
BEHAR: Exactly. Becky, the Quaids hired you to track down these people who they thought were trying to kill them. What did you uncover?
BECKY ALTRINGER, FORMER DETECTIVE FOR THE QUAIDS: Well, as I was investigating it, I realized that the only one trying to hurt Randy and Evi Quaid was Evi Quaid.
BEHAR: Really? That`s all you discovered. You didn`t find anybody hounding them or threatening them or anything like that?
ALTRINGER: No, I did not. When they originally hired -- I`m sorry.
BEHAR: No. Go ahead.
ALTRINGER: I was going to say when they originally hired me the list of names was Heath Ledger, Chris Penn, Natasha Richardson and David Carradine.
BEHAR: It seems like they`re either crazy or on drugs or a combination of all of that. What do you say?
ALTRINGER: Well, I observed Evi Quaid snorting some type of white substance that she told me was Demerol. But I`m not really sure what it was.
BEHAR: Demerol comes in powder form? I didn`t even know that.
ALTRINGER: No, she would take the pill and squash it up. But I think that was Ritalin because that was the only prescription that I saw.
BEHAR: You know Danny, people will snort anything. I was just watching "60 Minutes". Keith Richards says he snorted his father`s ashes. I mean come on.
BONADUCE: Right. He did. Ozzy Osbourne snorted a big line of red ants one time because he didn`t like the behavior of Motley Crue. So yes people will put almost anything up their nose. I don`t if it`s a great idea. But I agree with the young lady, the P.I., who said the only thing that`s hounding Dennis Quaid (SIC) to an asylum and not the kind he`s wishing to be granted is Evi.
I believe this happened because I know Randy. Aside from the parts he plays are usually the drunk Average Joe, I`ve never seen Randy drunk, but I`ve seen him be nothing but your average citizen. But her quotes make me think she`s a raving lunatic.
That`s just my opinion. I`m not a psychiatrist. Of course I`ve seen them. I`m not a drug addict, of course, I`ve been one and this is the way they behave.
BEHAR: Listen to this Danny. At one point Evi sent nude photos to herself to a Seattle newspaper with a note saying here is my German stuff. I`ve been to the black forest, too, but this is ridiculous.
BONADUCE: I would think waxing would handle that entirely. We can involve another country and get Brazil involved in this and she`ll be just fine.
BEHAR: We can`t even show -- we can`t show the pictures, but here`s a few of the others that were posted on RadarOnline that they`re showing some of them.
Becky, tell me something. Why doesn`t Randy leave her?
ALTRINGER: Because I believe Randy`s a victim of domestic abuse. I`ve seen it.
BEHAR: So is paranoia a result of domestic abuse?
ALTRINGER: No. Her paranoia is she`s mentally ill. I mean, I`ve observed it. I`ve observed it getting worse. Then with snorting this substance that she`s snorting, it makes it worse. They were living with us, and she didn`t go to bed for what was it two days?
BEHAR: So what is he there for? Is he as an enabler? Is that your point? He`s enabling her.
ALTRINGER: No.
BEHAR: He`s afraid to leave her because she`ll go to hell in a handbasket? What?
ALTRINGER: I think he`s afraid to leave her because she`ll harm him or someone that he cares about.
BEHAR: Oh, I see.
ALTRINGER: Because that`s what I saw.
BONADUCE: I agree with that. You`ll see and you`ve seen it and you`ve reported it on this very show that it -- I believe it was said on this show that women are normally -- don`t normally, I`m sorry to say that -- abused six times before they do anything else. We always put domestic abuse on the man against the woman.
In this case I believe certainly mental abuse if not physical abuse has been used against Randy Quaid where he`s actually first afraid and then falls into the Helsinki Syndrome where he actually believes her lunacy.
And in my opinion she`s an absolute lunatic. He`s no longer afraid of her, he now agrees with her. He`s been beaten into submission.
BEHAR: Ok. Are you referring to the Stockholm Syndrome which is Sweden?
BONADUCE: Yes, I was. I`m sorry. Yes, I was. Thank you.
BEHAR: Helsinki is in Finland, but they`re all in Scandinavia, so you`re on the right track.
BONADUCE: I was at the right part of the map. They sound like the chef from Sesame Street, that`s who I meant.
BEHAR: Ok. So Shaun, what about his brother Dennis? Is he trying to intervene at all? What`s going on there? Do you know?
ROBINSON: Joy, there has been no public statement from Dennis Quaid. Dennis, obviously, is Randy`s younger brother. And reports are that the two had been estranged because of Randy`s really bizarre behavior.
So far Dennis has made, like I said, no public statement. But hopefully the family is kind of getting together trying to figure out how they can actually help Randy. Because as you`ve been saying on this panel discussion, that he seems to need some very, very serious help.
BEHAR: It`s really unfortunate because Randy`s a very good actor. And we`re sorry. All kidding aside, we`re sorry to see this.
Thanks everybody very much.
Up next, "Sex and the City`s" Cynthia Nixon joins me.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: The Tea Party is not the only political action group making headlines. Fight Back New York is working to unseat state senators who voted against equality for gay and lesbian New Yorkers.
And here to talk about the campaign is the lovely and talented Cynthia Nixon. Actress and activist, I might add.
CYNTHIA NIXON, ACTRESS/ACTIVIST: Thank you.
BEHAR: Not too many actresses are activists, too. So that is quite a nice thing that you are. Now, you had two kids with someone that you didn`t want to marry apparently.
NIXON: That`s right.
BEHAR: And now you`re with a woman that you want to marry.
NIXON: Yes. Yes.
BEHAR: But they say you can`t.
NIXON: Well, they say I can`t in New York State.
BEHAR: In New York, yes.
NIXON: And that`s really where I`d like to do it.
BEHAR: Right.
NIXON: But you know, we`re not going to wait forever, but there are - - luckily there are other states, some quite nearby where we can go, but we really want to get married in New York --
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Of course, where you were.
NIXON: -- because it`s our -- it`s our home town.
So we`re working with Fight Back and we`re doing everything to see -- to see that the next time same-sex marriage comes up for a vote in the New York state Senate that it passes. So --
BEHAR: Well, what do you say to your kids when you try to explain to them, I live with this woman, we love each other, but we can`t get married? How do you explain that to them?
NIXON: I -- you know, they understand the -- of course this is our other mom and of course our moms would want to get married and have all the full financial and legal benefits. They just -- they can`t understand why it could possibly be illegal or what the thinking would be.
BEHAR: They don`t get it.
NIXON: No, they don`t get it.
BEHAR: Of course not.
NIXON: No they don`t get it.
BEHAR: Because it`s illogical and stupid.
NIXON: I think it is. I think it is.
BEHAR: Now, you could do civil unions in New York, right, or not?
NIXON: No --
BEHAR: You can`t do that either.
NIXON: No.
BEHAR: I didn`t know that.
NIXON: No. And you know, civil unions are --
BEHAR: It`s not good enough?
NIXON: -- I think have been pretty much debunked. I mean, frankly even once we get married, there are 1,100 federal benefits that we will not be receiving because of the Defense of Marriage Act. Like for example if I should die before my girlfriend, she can`t inherit my social security. I`ve been working since I was 12 --
BEHAR: That`s not fair.
NIXON: I`ve been paying money -- that`s totally not fair.
BEHAR: So who would get it, nobody?
NIXON: No. You know, I mean, there are -- there are a lot of things. If we were a man and a woman and we`re married --
BEHAR: Yes.
NIXON: -- our -- our income would be -- our -- our savings would be viewed as totally joint. And she would not have to pay any taxes. Right now if I would die and she would have a need to take care of our kids, she would -- half of that money would disappear whereas if she was a man and we were married that would not be the case.
BEHAR: I see. In your case it`s -- it`s much more important for people who are workers making a regular salary. I mean, you`re a spokesperson, but you`re in rarefied air in a way. We`re talking mostly about people who need that social security very badly.
NIXON: Right. Although you know, I mean, I think I have a lot in common with people across the country whereas, you know, my soon-to-be wife, she is the stay-at-home mom with our kids.
BEHAR: That`s true.
NIXON: And I want to do everything I can to legally and financially protect her. And at the moment --
BEHAR: What does she do when you -- when the kids are out of the house?
NIXON: Oh she`ll go back -- she`ll go back -- she`ll go back to work.
BEHAR: She`s a lawyer. Isn`t she?
NIXON: No, she`s an organizer. She`s a community organizer.
BEHAR: Organizer, oh, like Obama.
NIXON: Yes.
BEHAR: A-ha. But you know, so the difference between civil unions and marriage is basically a financial thing. It`s not really a religious thing.
NIXON: It is everything, I mean, you know, civil unions, I mean, part of the problem with civil unions is --
BEHAR: Yes.
NIXON: Well, first of all, separate but equal. We understand that that doesn`t work. Also, you say I`m -- I`m married to that person. People know what that means. I`m civilly unioned to that person, what is that?
BEHAR: That`s true.
NIXON: And we have -- we have cases of people who have not been allowed in the death beds of their -- of their significant other, have not been able to make medical decisions, and not just -- it`s not just a financial thing by any stretch of the imagination. It`s when you`re married, people understand what that is.
I mean, we could -- we could reinvent the wheel and say, Christine is the woman with whom I live and I share child-rearing responsibilities and with whom I intend to live out my days and with whom I may get -- or I could just say she`s my wife.
BEHAR: She is your wife, yes.
NIXON: And then people understand what that is.
BEHAR: Right. Well, even I as a heterosexual couple, I don`t even know what to call him.
NIXON: Right.
BEHAR: Because I`m not married to the guy.
NIXON: Right.
BEHAR: So I call him my spousal equivalent.
NIXON: Right. You call her your partner and people say, oh, I didn`t know you were in business together.
BEHAR: Yes exactly.
NIXON: It`s like, no. Yes.
BEHAR: It`s hard to do.
NIXON: No.
BEHAR: My lover is a little too intimate.
NIXON: It`s a little explicit.
BEHAR: A little too explicit, none of your business if he`s my lover or not.
NIXON: Yes.
BEHAR: Yes.
Ok, you know the other thing about it is that, you know, the right wing people who are against gay marriage --
NIXON: Yes.
BEHAR: -- they are always talking about oh, the kids, the kids, the kids, what about the kids who are in these situations? What about those kids whose parents are gay?
NIXON: Right. I mean --
BEHAR: They don`t seem to care about them.
NIXONO: Right, and I mean, I -- I -- I have to say that -- you know, they`ve -- they`ve done a lot of studies and they`ve shown that definitely the children of same-sex couples are very harmed by the fact that their -- their parents can`t marry or their parents are not viewed as a legitimate couple. And there`s absolutely been no evidence to show that somehow the children of straight couples are somehow harmed by the same-sex marriages of couples that they might never meet. How could they possibly be harmed by that?
But the other thing that I -- I want to say when people raise that is you know, maybe there are people who object to gayness and object to gay families, but it`s not like they`re going to be able to wave a wand and like we`re all going to disappear. Like --
BEHAR: Or turn straight.
NIXON: Or turn straight or like we have families and we have children and by your blocking our path to equality, it just means my -- my -- my spouse and my children are vulnerable. It doesn`t mean that we`re going to go away or we`re going turn straight or something. It just means that my family is vulnerable.
And I have a hard time believing that if people really thought that through that they would want my -- my kids or -- or my wonderful girlfriend to be in a legally and financially vulnerable situation.
BEHAR: You think they haven`t thought it through or they don`t care?
NIXON: I think they have a -- I think they have a --
BEHAR: They`d like you to disappear, I think.
NIXON: I think they`d like me to disappear.
BEHAR: Yes.
NIXON: But we`re not going to disappear. We`re here and you can think whatever you want to think about us, but you can`t get in between us and -- and federal benefits and us being treated equally.
BEHAR: Right.
NIXON: It`s unconstitutional.
BEHAR: And the Fight Back New York is working on this?
NIXON: Fight Back New York, yes, we -- we -- we came into existence after -- after we lost the vote for same-sex marriage last year in Albany. And we have been very effective so far. We`ve -- we`ve taken out two no votes already. We`ve got a third -- we`re focusing very heavily on Frank Patavan in Queens who`s been in the state senate for 37 years.
BEHAR: What about Andrew Cuomo, he`s pro gay marriage?
NIXON: Andrew Cuomo is terrific.
BEHAR: Paladino, what a jerk.
NIXON: Not so much. Not so much.
But I feel like really important like for years gay people have supported candidates that they knew would fight for them, but now we`re taking a different --
BEHAR: Good.
NIXON: We tried the carrot, now we`re trying the stick. Now we`re saying, you voted against us, we`re voting against you.
BEHAR: Ok. When we come back, I want to show a PSA that you did with Alec Baldwin.
NIXON: Yes.
BEHAR: We`ll be right back with more from Cynthia Nixon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: I`m back with one of the stars of "Sex and the City". She`s also a passionate gay rights activist. Cynthia Nixon. You know, you use humor a lot in this PSA. Let`s look at the one you did with Alec Baldwin.
NIXON: OK.
BEHAR: Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: As a result of this video, a vast and malicious whisper campaign has emerged alleging that I can`t marry Jesse because I`m not gay. I hear people saying this behind my back on a daily basis. Oh, Alec Baldwin, he`s straight. He`s a heterosexual. He likes women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alec, you are straight.
BALDWIN: That`s not the point. There`s one reason and one reason only why I can`t marry Jesse in New York next year, the New York state senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: You know, it`s great to have a so-called straight guy -- who knows for sure.
NIXON: Oh, come on.
BEHAR: I`m teasing you, Alec. No, I`m kidding. But to do it like that is terrific.
NIXON: And Whoopi did one for us that we`re airing -- you know, because it does affect straight people, too. Straight or gay, we all know gay people and love them and we want to support them.
BEHAR: And you need straight people to speak out against the bigotry. Otherwise it`s just preaching to the choir all the time. It`s like Gentiles need to speak out against anti-Semitism and racism et cetera.
NIXON: Absolutely.
BEHAR: Now Carl Paladino, he made some very vile anti-gay statements. "I just think my children" -- this is his quote -- "and your children would be better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family."
Hello, that`s what you want to do. "I don`t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option. It isn`t."
Do you think that that kind of rhetoric causes or is there a cause and effect between this type of rhetoric and gay bashing that`s going on lately?
NIXON: Absolutely.
BEHAR: You do?
NIXON: Absolutely. I feel that people like Carl Paladino and I feel like all of the ads that have been launched to fight against legalizing same-sex marriage in different -- you know, people hear that. When you send a message that there are two different categories of people and one is fully vested and had fully legal rights and the other is not quite human, it sets those people up as a target.
That`s why we see the bullying. It is one thing for me to be called a name but for a 13-year-old gay kid who is confused about their sexuality to be targeted? We`ve seen this rash of suicides.
NIXON: Why should you be called a name also?
NIXON: I don`t want to be called a name. I want everybody to think I`m terrific. But I think -- you know and I can wait and get married in Connecticut. And people say it`s generational and in 10 years, 20 years, it won`t even be an issue. Ok for me, but what about the 13-year-old kid who feels that being gay -- he hears over and over again being gay is so terrible and like Paladino says, dysfunctional. He doesn`t think he`s worthy to live and he goes and he kills himself. He goes and jumps off the bridge.
BEHAR: That happens more than people even want to admit.
NIXON: Absolutely.
BEHAR: You know. This self-hatred that kicks in because of these outside forces.
NIXON: Right. The number of gay kids, it`s like four to one or something versus straight kids that kill themselves.
BEHAR: The religious institutions don`t help it either.
NIXON: No. Well, some do, some do. And I think they`re coming along. But I feel like this is why things like repealing "don`t ask, don`t tell" is so important and passing same-sex marriage -- whether you want to get married or not, as a gay person, whether you want to enter the military as a gay person, the more we get equal rights and the more we`re seeing this fully human, the more this stuff will go away. This bullying.
BEHAR: Absolutely true. Well, you`re the perfect spokesperson for this Cynthia. Thanks for doing this.
NIXON: Thank you.
BEHAR: Ok, we`ll be back in a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: Mel Gibson`s big comeback has been derailed. After complaints from the cast and crew of the "Hangover" sequel, Mel was let go and replaced by Liam Neeson. I love him! Apparently, Mel is now furious. In fact, he hasn`t been this angry since, what, 20 minutes ago.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: With me now to talk about this and other fabulous stories in the news are comedian Rich Vos, Robin Quivers, co-host of "The Howard Stern Show" co-creator of the 15 Foundation (ph), and Rebecca Dana, senior correspondent from The Daily Beast.
OK, in the first "Hangover," Mike Tyson was left in there, and he`s a convicted rapist who beat his wife. He got a second chance. Why not Mel?
RICH VOS, COMEDIAN: Well, Mike didn`t mess with the Jews. That`s the problem.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: The Jews and blacks.
VOS: That`s the deal.
BEHAR: I know. And probably the gays. I`m sure he said something homophobic. It goes with the whole package, doesn`t it?
ROBIN QUIVERS, CO-HOST, "THE HOWARD STERN SHOW": Yes, but Mike is black. And you know, he`s probably mentally challenged. And so he`s got that disability thing going for him.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mike Tyson?
QUIVERS: I think he`s disabled. And so you can`t discriminate against the disabled.
VOS: And here`s the thing. If Mel Gibson can`t get a cameo, I don`t have a shot.
BEHAR: Well, that`s the thing. I mean, how the mighty have fallen, when a guy named Zach -- what the hell`s his name?
REBECCA DANA, SR. CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: Galifianakis.
BEHAR: ... Galifianakis is -- could get Mel removed from a film.
DANA: Well, I love the fact Galifianakis is now the moral arbiter of Hollywood, right?
(LAUGHTER)
DANA: This sort of, like, fat, lunky, bearded guy is telling us -- and correctly, I think, sort of saying what`s what, so...
QUIVERS: Well, since he`s not real Hollywood, he didn`t know the rules. He didn`t know you`re supposed to let every good-looking guy get a bye for whatever they do!
(LAUGHTER)
VOS: If Mel Gibson wants to open for me in Connecticut, he can any time he wants.
BEHAR: I know. Me, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`ll work with him.
VOS: I`ll work with him.
BEHAR: Listen, I`m working a Jewish center pretty soon. I`d like to see him show up for that.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: What about the -- do you think that the cast had a fear that they were going to lose money -- let`s get to the cast and crew for a second because, you know, people would come to see the movie and then they would probably -- or not come because he was in it and they would lose money, right?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, there were all these studies done maybe a month after the big story blew up. And an overwhelming majority of people interviewed said, no, that this wouldn`t affect them at all. I think 4 percent of people or some ridiculously low number said that they would actually not see a Mel Gibson movie. So this actually seems to have been something of an ethical or moral crusade.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an industry thing because people -- by and large, it was the industry reacting. It wasn`t the general public.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The crew, also, which...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: And my crew would do that for me, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would have been Mel Gibson`s first big...
BEHAR: Don`t get that excited, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would have been Mel`s first big film after this whole scandal. So if anything, you`d think that people would go to theaters to see him...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... just to see if he would...
BEHAR: Hey, what do you make of the fact that Jodie Foster says he`s the most loved man in Hollywood? What is that?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When is she out? Does she talk to anybody?
BEHAR: What do you mean, out where?
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, she doesn`t go out. She doesn`t come out. She doesn`t do anything! How does she know what people do?
VOS: She did that through Skype.
BEHAR: She what?
VOS: She did that through Skype. No one`s seen her.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: OK, let`s talk about the Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards`s new memoir, "Life." It hits the book shelves tomorrow and contains a big bombshell. You know what that is? Keith actually passed away in 1987.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, that is new!
BEHAR: Let`s take a look at some of Keith`s digs at Mick Jagger, OK? This is what he said. He refers to Mick as "disco boy" and "your majesty." I think he even calls her (ph) Brenda (ph), which is I believe a nickname for Queen Elizabeth (INAUDIBLE) He says, Mick started to become unbearable in the early `80s. He says he hasn`t stepped foot in Mick`s dressing room for 20 years. And he claims Mick has a, quote, unquote, "tiny todger."
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Now, you know, with friends like these...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you really think Mick is upset that Keith hasn`t come to his dressing room? You think he says, Why doesn`t he come to my dressing room? I love him!
VOS: And the thing is, the Rolling Stones would survive without Keith Richards, but not Mick Jagger. I mean, he`s the Rolling Stones to me, Mick Jagger.
BEHAR: Well, Keith Richards -- wait a second. Keith writes all the music.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s right.
VOS: Well, I stand corrected.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you seen this group?
BEHAR: When he was on "60 Minutes" the other day, he said that his job -- Keith`s job is to turn on Mick Jagger so that Mick Jagger can turn on the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it`s absolutely true. If you saw that concert film they did, Keith gets to sing one song during the movie. That`s when people go to get popcorn and sodas. And then they come back when Mick is back on stage.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, speaking of turning them on, I think there -- something else is turning all of these people on, and it might be the same thing that`s responsible for their faulty memory or these -- I mean, these people -- they`ve have done so many drugs over the years, who can even remember what happened?
BEHAR: Isn`t it fascinating that he could remember enough to write a memoir? It`s unbelievable.
VOS: He said he did drugs -- well, he`s been doing drugs for, like, 30 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he also blamed Mick for that. He said in order to deal with him, he took drugs.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Well, you know, he also says in the book that Mick had an affair with Keith`s girlfriend, this woman, Anita Palinberg (ph). Maybe he`s pissed off at that and that`s why he`s dissing Mick.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or maybe he just wants to sell a lot of books before they go on the next concert tour.
BEHAR: OK. Here`s another bargain. Brett Favre admits that he left suggestive voicemails for Jenn Sterger (ph), a former Jets employee, in 2008. What he doesn`t admit is sending pictures of his privates to her. So who did send the pictures? That we have to know.
VOS: Well, it can`t be his privates because he has a new helmet every week.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Old joke! He keeps coming back to different teams.
VOS: Because those are different teams.
BEHAR: Oh, I see.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you got to get into another crowd for that one.
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Is he suggesting that someone is trying to set him up, Rebecca?
DANA: I have no idea what he`s suggesting. But it seems like Brett Favre really has an active and interesting personal life if he can`t even keep track of his cell phone. I think -- just -- can we just take these phones away from these celebrities? Have we learned nothing in the last year?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s bringing everyone down!
DANA: Tiger Woods and Ashton Kutcher and every -- just put it away. Take the battery out. Just (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The other thing about men is, you know, like, I saw "60 Minutes" yesterday, and they were doing this whole thing on chimps and how we`re just like chimps.
BEHAR: Oh, that was so great, with...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it`s true because we got technology, and a guy looks at a phone and goes, Oh, I know what to do with that. I`ll take a picture of my ba-dink-ta-dinker!
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know what to do!
BEHAR: And he says he didn`t send a picture of his todger...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it was on his phone and it came from his phone.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Watch this "Saturday Night Live" spoof. It`s funny, how they took care of that point. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wrangler he open-fly jeans feature an ultra- relaxed fit right where you need it most, the fly. Why let zippers and buttons slow you down? With open-fly jeans, it`s always out and camera- ready. I`m ready for my close-up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: Very funny.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Go ahead.
VOS: I don`t know. I heard he sent, like, four pictures that said retired, playing, retired, playing. You don`t get that one, either?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this another...
(CROSSTALK)
VOS: It`s Brett Favre! He`s a football player. (INAUDIBLE) ballerina jokes?
(CROSSTALK)
VOS: Also, he admits to calling her, star 67. It blocks your calls. I made tons of creepy calls. Star 67, that`s all you have to do, and nobody knows who`s calling you.
BEHAR: You know, I don`t care if you wear a Jewish star, you`re a weirdo!
(LAUGHTER)
VOS: Star 67.
BEHAR: OK, finally, ratings -- listen to this story, which breaks my heart. The ratings for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" have been in the tank. They`ve been pulling in fewer viewers than Conan O`Brien did when he hosted the show, for some strange reason. I don`t -- I don`t get it. And apparently, some comedians couldn`t be happier. Isn`t it wrong, bad form for one comedian to snipe at another comedian? That`s my philosophy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it`s certainly bad for people to revel in the downfall of others, but it happens all the time. And from what I understand, Jay Leno with comedians, you know, sort of has a bad reputation because they feel he was one of the greatest comedians around in this era, and he sold out to do "The Tonight Show." He moved to the middle. He lost his edge. And he started promoting people that he wouldn`t have, you know, given the time of day when he was out there...
BEHAR: Like who do you mean? Like who?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, somebody said -- I don`t know who it was...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, you know, the first guy he made a star was Carrot Top. And apparently, Carrot Top wasn`t well thought of in the comedy community...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: Oh, so they`re just pissed that he didn`t make a star of them!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s right.
BEHAR: Oh, I get it.
VOS: I mean, it`s comics that can`t get on his show that are -- you know what? Of course, it -- any comic that`s offered a talk show is going to take it. He was number one, and they pulled him, you know?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
VOS: He was number one. That`s like sleeping with, like, you know, a supermodel and waking up with Snooki. Of course you want to go back to that supermodel, right?
BEHAR: And then he sort of lost his momentum when they did that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that was NBC`s...
BEHAR: He was on a roll.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... fault. That was a stupid thing to do. You have a winning combination. Things are going well. You sabotage yourself. And then after you see you made a mistake, you try to recreate magic? It doesn`t necessarily work.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think (INAUDIBLE) I mean, Jeff Zucker made a calculated risk when he made the decision to give the time slot to Conan O`brien because it was two years away and Conan`s contract had come up, and so he bet that Jay`s ratings would be down.
BEHAR: And where is Jeff Zucker today? Not working at NBC anymore.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The reality is, though, that ratings have been sort of in a freefall in this -- in late night television for a while now. And the one thing this NBC kerfuffle did was generate interest in it again. And it just seems like, among other things, maybe people don`t like Jay Leno. But it seems like things are going back to...
BEHAR: I like Jay. Jay has me on the show. He has women on the show. Letterman doesn`t have a lot of women on his show.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That`s true.
BEHAR: Just saying`! Thanks, guys, very much. By the way, Robin is running, because she`s nuts, the New York marathon for charity. So go to the 15foundation.org for more information.
Up next, Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle has a new TV ad running. Don`t look for it on CNN Espanol.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Tomorrow on THE JOY BEHAR SHOW, the one and only Jerry Springer, plus actress Denise Richards. Now back to Joy.
BEHAR: Republican Mary Fallin, who`s running for governor in Oklahoma, says she`s more qualified than her opponent because she`s a mother. Her opponent, Jari Askins, is not. So does being a mother make Fallin a better candidate?
With me to discuss this and more is Lizz Winstead, co-creator of "The Daily Show" and contributing blogger at The Huffington Post, and political commentator Ron Reagan. Greetings.
OK, this is what Mary Fallin said at a recent debate when asked what distinguishes her from her opponent. She said, "I think my experience is one of the things that sets me apart as a candidate for governor. First of all, being a mother, having children, raising a family."
Was this a cheap shot? What does it tell you about this woman.
LIZZ WINSTEAD, CO-CREATOR, "THE DAILY SHOW": Well, A, either she has an abysmal voting record, and B, while motherhood is a really important job and I`m really glad she`s good at it, it`s not the only thing that qualifies you. She`s not running for governor of Montessori School. She`s running for governor of the state of Oklahoma.
BEHAR: Well, she -- like, she has a background in politics already.
WINSTEAD: Exactly. So talk about that.
BEHAR: Well, she`s using that, right, Ron? I mean, you know, the truth of the matter is that there are very few female senators, let`s say, and they only ask this question of women.
WINSTEAD: That`s right.
BEHAR: They never ask this question of men. Go ahead, Ron.
RON REAGAN, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That`s true. You would never see this question asked of men, and men would probably not bring up fatherhood and things like that in a debate. But what Ms. Fallin was doing was employing an age-old Republican strategy here. She`s trying to paint her opponent as "the other." She`s trying to highlight the fact that a woman who is in her 50s, let`s say, doesn`t have children, isn`t married, and she is suggesting to her voting base that there is something wrong with her opponent.
This is -- we`re going to see this theme recur as our discussion goes on here, this portraying -- this idea of "the other." It`s not enough that her opponent is somebody she disagrees with, she has to be somehow deviant, somehow unnatural. And that`s what she was trying to highlight in that debate by highlighting her own motherhood and parenthood as opposed to her opponent.
BEHAR: Right.
WINSTEAD: Well, Ron, I am 49 years old, single, never married and no children. And I am highly unqualified to be elected for very different reasons...
(LAUGHTER)
WINSTEAD: ... none having to do with my barren uterus!
REAGAN: Nothing to do with that, no.
BEHAR: Well, you`re smarter than Christine O`Donnell, that`s what we want to know.
WINSTEAD: My barren uterus is smarter than Christine O`Donnell!
BEHAR: OK, Fallin, the woman from Oklahoma that we`re talking about, has defended her remarks. She said, I was just explaining that these things give me a good perspective on the challenges Oklahomans face." You buy that, Lizz?
WINSTEAD: Well, yes, good, you know? If she`s got to chastise members of -- you know, of the statehouse in Oklahoma to not put gum under their chairs and to change their underwear before they go to school, yes, I think that is what -- I mean, it`s ridiculous. She should run on her congressional record, how she`s done and how she wants to be the chief executive of Oklahoma. She should give her points of that, not how she can mother the state of Oklahoma.
BEHAR: I think that you`re absolutely right, Ron, too, because -- and the other thing is Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Janet Napolitano have all been questioned on their marital status. Is this sort of also a disguised...
WINSTEAD: Gay!
BEHAR: ... anti-gay thing?
WINSTEAD: Yes.
REAGAN: Yes. Absolutely.
BEHAR: Are they trying to say that these women are lesbians? You know, that`s where the "other" thing really sticks in there, doesn`t it?
WINSTEAD: Yes, it does.
REAGAN: Absolutely. Again, that`s what Fallin was trying to do with her opponent here, is suggest in code that maybe there`s something that her voters wouldn`t approve of in this woman`s lifestyle because she`s not married...
WINSTEAD: Yes, she`s having sex all the time.
REAGAN: ... because she doesn`t have kids.
WINSTEAD: Clearly, this woman is having sex constantly. And so how could she be the governor of Oklahoma when she`s constantly having sex as a single woman in her 50s?
(LAUGHTER)
BEHAR: All right. Well, this one had sex, obviously. She has children. She`s a mother. All right, let`s stay with the campaign trail. Now, Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle has made another seemingly racist TV ad. She said it doesn`t appear racist to her. Of course not. She may have had trouble seeing the TV screen through her hood. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harry Reid voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals, even for the time they were here illegally. And now Harry Reid is fighting for a program that would give preferred college tuition rates to none other than illegal aliens, using your money to pay for it. Leading to a simple question. What does Harry Reid have against you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BEHAR: You know, she is so stupid!
WINSTEAD: I`m surprised she just doesn`t use the Frito Bandito in her ads.
BEHAR: Oh, my God!
WINSTEAD: I mean, it`s so -- I mean -- overtly racist, this woman. I mean, how does she -- I mean, maybe she doesn`t see it because she thinks they`re Asians. She thinks those men are Asians.
REAGAN: That`s right.
BEHAR: Well, she doesn`t know the difference between Latinos and Asians...
WINSTEAD: Exactly.
BEHAR: ... but she does know that neither group should get food stamps.
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: You know, Ron, this is how stupid she is. Hispanics make up roughly 25 percent of Nevada`s population. Aren`t they an important voting group, Ron?
REAGAN: They would be, but won`t be to her anymore, that`s for sure.
(LAUGHTER)
REAGAN: I mean, standing up in front of a class full of, you know, Hispanic kids and saying, Gee, you look Asian to me, and this sort of ad -- this -- but this again we get back to "the other." This is the other.
BEHAR: The other.
REAGAN: The other, those brown people are going to menace your white children if you let Harry Reid stay in office here.
BEHAR: She should...
REAGAN: That`s the message here.
BEHAR: ... make the movie "I See Brown People."
WINSTEAD: Well, what`s so amazing, too...
(LAUGHTER)
WINSTEAD: ... is that first of all, she stood up in a school of kids who can`t vote for her because they`re not old enough. And B, what`s amazing to me is when you watched Harry Reid and Sharron Angle -- I watched the debate. He`s running against possibly the scariest person to ever run for Senate, and he hesitated to point that out.
BEHAR: I know.
WINSTEAD: It`s kind of, like, Harry...
BEHAR: She`s so annoying when she goes, "Man up."
WINSTEAD: "Man up."
BEHAR: Who`s more of a man than Harry Reid?
WINSTEAD: Yes, that Harry Reid!
BEHAR: Well, he does stick to his guns, which, by the way, speaking of guns, Angle also says conservatives should be expected to use guns to try to get what they want, if they don`t get what they want from the election.
WINSTEAD: But here`s the...
BEHAR: I mean, she needs to go to jail, this woman.
WINSTEAD: But here`s what`s insane is that this race is close. I mean, Harry Reid could not rally ballgag salesmen to an S&M convention. I mean, it`s amazing to me...
(LAUGHTER)
WINSTEAD: ... that he is so inept at making this woman (INAUDIBLE)
BEHAR: OK, we`re going to have to take a break. When we come back, we will continue this discussion. So stay there!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BEHAR: The CEO of NPR has apologized to employees for the handling of the Juan Williams firing last week, but she stands by her decision. Williams had said on Fox that he gets nervous when he sees people with Muslim garb on planes.
I`m back with my panel to talk about this. Now, what does this say about America right now? And what do you think about the fact that, you know, NPR had to backtrack a little bit?
WINSTEAD: Well, you know, I think there`s two parts of this. There`s what he said and there`s how NPR handled it. What he said is reprehensible. And NPR is not a commentary station, it`s a news organization. And if you could find me somebody who said something similar who wasn`t reprimanded for it, then I would say, Oh, this is hypocrisy. But you`re not guaranteed a job. And if you work for an organization that has a set of standards and strict journalistic guidelines and you go out of the norm into crazy commentary someplace else, sorry, dude. Like, poor Juan. He had two jobs. Now he has one that pays $2 million.
BEHAR: Right.
WINSTEAD: Oh.
BEHAR: Right.
REAGAN: And can I just say...
BEHAR: Go ahead, Ron.
REAGAN: ... that Juan Williams is, like, the luckiest guy on the planet. Who gets fired and then gets $2 million...
BEHAR: I know.
REAGAN: ... for being fired? He`s lucky that NPR...
WINSTEAD: For being a racist.
REAGAN: He`s lucky that NPR didn`t do this the right way. What they should have done...
BEHAR: Right.
REAGAN: ... was called him into the office and said, Look, Juan, we`ve been through this time and time again. You know, you work here, you work for Fox. You say things over there you`d never say here. You know that`s against our policies. Here`s the deal. It`s us or it`s them. Under those circumstances, Juan probably goes to Fox because that`s where the money is.
BEHAR: Right. There`s no money at NPR.
REAGAN: But he wouldn`t be getting any $2 million.
WINSTEAD: Well...
REAGAN: No, he wouldn`t be getting any $2 million. He got $2 million because he was fired. They made it an issue that they could then turn against NPR.
BEHAR: Exactly.
WINSTEAD: And it wasn`t apparently the first time...
(CROSSTALK)
BEHAR: ... the money, isn`t it. Yes, go ahead.
WINSTEAD: It wasn`t apparently the first time that they`ve talked to him, just like Ron said.
WINSTEAD: Oh, no, no.
WINSTEAD: Time and time again.
BEHAR: So then why didn`t they fire him before?
WINSTEAD: Because I think they were trying to be fair and equitable and give him a shot at having him understand, Dude, you can`t do this. And I think there`s always a last straw, and I think this was the last straw.
BEHAR: Well, she also said, the woman who fired him -- what`s her name? Schiller -- she said, "The news and media world is changing swiftly and radically. Traditional standards and practices are under siege." Is that a slam at Fox? Because they are now hiring -- they have hired at Fox, Palin, Huckabee and Karl Rove. It`s interesting.
WINSTEAD: I just think...
BEHAR: And also -- wait, also candidates -- Politico is reporting that Fox has deals with four possible Republican candidates for president in 2012, Sarah, Mike Huckabee...
REAGAN: Pretty much everybody...
BEHAR: ... Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.
REAGAN: ... who`s not Mitt Romney...
WINSTEAD: Yes, pretty much everyone who`s not Mitt (INAUDIBLE)
REAGAN: Exactly. Everybody who`s not Mitt Romney who`s running for president on the Republican side is working for Fox.
WINSTEAD: That`s right! We should stop calling them Tea Party candidates and start calling them Fox News candidates because that`s what they are.
REAGAN: Fox candidates. Exactly.
WINSTEAD: They are funded Fox candidates.
BEHAR: Well, how come they get away with that?
WINSTEAD: Because they`re -- you know, they -- I guess you can type the word "News" on your logo and call yourself Fox News and still be a general entertainment network because that`s what they are. They`re a general crazy clown circus.
REAGAN: They get away with it because they`re on the right, too. They get away with it because they`re on the right. If MSNBC was giving money, cash contributions to the Democratic Governors Association, as Fox does for the Republicans, they`d be called out for it and MSNBC would be humiliated, for instance...
BEHAR: I wish they would try it.
REAGAN: ... as a sort of left-leaning network.
BEHAR: I really wish they would try it. By the way, NPR only gets 2 percent in federal funding, or $3.3 million. Big donors include Ray Croc`s widow and George Soros. They`re complaining that the funding should be taken back. Only 2 percent is federal funding.
WINSTEAD: Right.
BEHAR: OK, thank you very much, you guys. And catch Lizz doing a show after the Rally for Sanity on October 30th. More information, go to Lizzwinstead.com.
Tomorrow night, Jerry Springer will be my guest. You`ll want to be here for that. Good night, everybody.
END
