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American Morning

Eminem Has New Controversial Video Out

Aired August 22, 2002 - 08:56   ET

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

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Rapper Eminem has a new video out. Not surprisingly, it is controversial. The song is called "White America," filled with what some consider disturbing images, including those of a school shooting. In the song he says "White America, I could be one of your kids, white America little Eric looks just like this," a reference to the Columbine shootings and just like this. The lyrics beings have parents of the victims in Columbine outraged. We will not show the video, only a few still pictures from it, as you just witnessed there.
From Denver this morning, Darrell Scott, his daughter Rachel killed during the Columbine shootings on April 20, 1999.

Sir, we appreciate your time this morning.

DARRELL SCOTT, VICTIM'S FATHER: Good morning.

HEMMER: I certainly wish we could talk about other things. I've seen the video. I know you've seen it online as well. Your reaction, sir?

SCOTT: Well, as I watched Eric, who's depicted in the video, wiping away blood from his face and his shirt, I reacted like any parent of a murdered child, especially a Columbine victim, would react. But I don't want to enhance his sales by showing those reactions on television. I do want to say that we put Charles Manson away for life, because of his influence. He didn't kill anyone, but he influenced a number of his followers to do so. And Eminem has a lot more influence and a lot more followers than Charles Manson did.

And I believe there's some long-term solutions to the problems we're looking at. In 1999, I spoke before Congress, the House Judiciary Committee, and I begged our nation's leaders not to slap band-aids on deep, gaping wounds, but to look deeper than gun control and armed guards, things like that, to look at the influences on the lives of our young people. And Eminem represents an influence on the lives of young people. And we really need to take a long look at the influences that come across the media and entertainment.

Thank God for people like Tiger Woods, Foster Freeze, Colin Powell, who have programs, and donate time and money to help kids in a positive way, and we need to give a lot more airtime to those type of programs and people.

But I don't want to dignify Eminem's video. I encourage young people that are listening to please not spend your money and be entertained at the expense of my daughter's death and the 12 other precious people who were killed at Columbine.

HARRIS: We have a statement from Interscope Records, who helped put it out, and the say, "Eminem is an artist. He creates art. He does not do it so that the media can use it go out and solicit angry responses from the public. He does it for fans."

You just a whole lot in your first answer, Mr. Scott. Part of the discussion we had today could actually increase Eminem's popularity, when more people find out about him.

I tell you the problem I had with this video, though, that I watched yesterday. It wasn't just the Columbine references, all due respect to you, but this scene about Eminem in an animated version hanging himself in a bedroom, apparently sitting in front of a computer. And you make the point so well, what is the impact and the influence on young men and women in this country when they see it?

SCOTT: As an American and a patriot, I love this country, and as I watch the Constitution being ripped in that video and I watched young people peeing on the White House lawn, I want to encourage every patriotic young American to stand against this kind of influence, because this is not something that needs to be seen by our nation. In fact, he would have been -- I with I had time to talk about the First Amendment. I'm a history buff and I've got -- we've forgotten the guy's name who wrote the Frist Amendment, but I have some of his personal writings in my library, and I wish I had 10 minutes of public air to talk about how we've misused and misinterpreted the First Amendment.

But our founding fathers would put guys in prison for a lot less than what he's doing here, under the accusation of treason. So there's a lot more to this than just the...

HEMMER: Good luck to you. Your points are very well taken, sir. Darrell Scott in Denver this morning.

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