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American Morning
'Rosie' the Magazine and Rosie the Person Heading Different Ways
Aired September 19, 2002 - 08:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A nasty divorce right now to talk about in the publishing industry. "Rosie" the magazine and Rosie the person are heading different ways. On Wednesday, an angry Rosie O'Donnell saying she is quitting her namesake publication, saying that she was betrayed by her partners who away her editorial input.
Here is Rosie:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL: I'm sorry to have to tell my readers and, mostly, my staff, that my involvement in the magazine is ending. But my integrity and my name are at stake and that price is too high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: At this point, it is our understanding that a December issue of the magazine will be the last, the final one with her name on it. Let's talk more about that decision from yesterday with Matthew Rose of the "Wall Street Journal," our guest here on "American Morning."
Good to see you, Matthew.
Good morning.
What precipitated this cat fight?
MATTHEW ROSE, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": It was one of those remarkable things where 18 months or so, the corporation between the two was remarkably successful. Took a magazine that was faltering, called "McCall's," turned it into "Rosie," and it was doing phenomenally well.
Rosie had her TV show, which gave it great national exposure everyday. Then, something happened in the middle of this year, and you know, without being too much of a psychologist, what seemed to happen was that after she dumped her TV show, released her autobiography in which she came out of the closet and decided to go back to being a stand-up comic, she changed her personality. Gone was this slightly warmer, fuzzy, touchy-feely sort of female storyline, and it was a much harder, harsher Rosie.
And at that point, with the changing of the guard of editorial at the magazine, things began to clash between on the one side her, and her publisher on the other side. HEMMER: There was no touchy-feely yesterday. Listen to a little bit more from what we heard from Rosie O'Donnell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: It went so far that while I was on vacation, with my family, in Miami, in July, the CEO of G&J, without my permission, called a senior staff meeting in my personal office -- in my personal office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Sounds personal.
ROSE: It was remarkable. Normally, when these happen, both sides will come out to make very polite personal statements about how happy they were to have corporation, how sad they were that it fell apart. These guys are brutal toward each other. I think that's indicative of how nasty the last three months have been.
HEMMER: Explain something to me. I don't read the magazine. I don't read the magazine. I've seen it once or twice, but I don't read it. She was on the cover of every magazine, right?
ROSE: Not every one, a couple she was off. And that was one of the bizarre disputes she had. From the outside, the arguments she had seemed totally trivial, where they reached the point where the couldn't agree on a single thing about how the magazine would go. And the real kicker was when the new editor came in from "People" magazine, and wanted to put Rosie in the center of a magazine cover with "The Sopranos," and Rosie, by all accounts, said, I don't go in the center of magazines, you don't understand me.
HEMMER: That is amazing thing to say when you have circulation of 17 million.
ROSE: I think circulation is about 3 1/2, but yes, it's a pretty substantial magazine, and the whole point it would be Rosie the brand, Rosie her face and Rosie her personality. And as that changed, and as they clashed, that project began to slowly become dysfunctional.
HEMMER: I'm thinking there is a legal fight in here somewhere?
ROSE: Undoubtedly.
HEMMER: Mary Jo White was hired by Rosie O'Donnell, and she is no small figure.
ROSE: The legal firepower was unbelievable. They had David Boies on one side and Mary Jo White on the other side, and Gwynn Winjar (ph), the publisher, has been collecting evidence, what they think is evidence, to compile for a lawsuit, ever since this fight began.
So I would not be at all surprised if in the next days or weeks, we see a pretty whopping great suit filed against Rosie. HEMMER: And the wheel turns. Thank you, Matthew. Matthew Rose, "Wall Street Journal." We'll talk again.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Different Ways>
Aired September 19, 2002 - 08:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A nasty divorce right now to talk about in the publishing industry. "Rosie" the magazine and Rosie the person are heading different ways. On Wednesday, an angry Rosie O'Donnell saying she is quitting her namesake publication, saying that she was betrayed by her partners who away her editorial input.
Here is Rosie:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSIE O'DONNELL: I'm sorry to have to tell my readers and, mostly, my staff, that my involvement in the magazine is ending. But my integrity and my name are at stake and that price is too high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: At this point, it is our understanding that a December issue of the magazine will be the last, the final one with her name on it. Let's talk more about that decision from yesterday with Matthew Rose of the "Wall Street Journal," our guest here on "American Morning."
Good to see you, Matthew.
Good morning.
What precipitated this cat fight?
MATTHEW ROSE, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": It was one of those remarkable things where 18 months or so, the corporation between the two was remarkably successful. Took a magazine that was faltering, called "McCall's," turned it into "Rosie," and it was doing phenomenally well.
Rosie had her TV show, which gave it great national exposure everyday. Then, something happened in the middle of this year, and you know, without being too much of a psychologist, what seemed to happen was that after she dumped her TV show, released her autobiography in which she came out of the closet and decided to go back to being a stand-up comic, she changed her personality. Gone was this slightly warmer, fuzzy, touchy-feely sort of female storyline, and it was a much harder, harsher Rosie.
And at that point, with the changing of the guard of editorial at the magazine, things began to clash between on the one side her, and her publisher on the other side. HEMMER: There was no touchy-feely yesterday. Listen to a little bit more from what we heard from Rosie O'Donnell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: It went so far that while I was on vacation, with my family, in Miami, in July, the CEO of G&J, without my permission, called a senior staff meeting in my personal office -- in my personal office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Sounds personal.
ROSE: It was remarkable. Normally, when these happen, both sides will come out to make very polite personal statements about how happy they were to have corporation, how sad they were that it fell apart. These guys are brutal toward each other. I think that's indicative of how nasty the last three months have been.
HEMMER: Explain something to me. I don't read the magazine. I don't read the magazine. I've seen it once or twice, but I don't read it. She was on the cover of every magazine, right?
ROSE: Not every one, a couple she was off. And that was one of the bizarre disputes she had. From the outside, the arguments she had seemed totally trivial, where they reached the point where the couldn't agree on a single thing about how the magazine would go. And the real kicker was when the new editor came in from "People" magazine, and wanted to put Rosie in the center of a magazine cover with "The Sopranos," and Rosie, by all accounts, said, I don't go in the center of magazines, you don't understand me.
HEMMER: That is amazing thing to say when you have circulation of 17 million.
ROSE: I think circulation is about 3 1/2, but yes, it's a pretty substantial magazine, and the whole point it would be Rosie the brand, Rosie her face and Rosie her personality. And as that changed, and as they clashed, that project began to slowly become dysfunctional.
HEMMER: I'm thinking there is a legal fight in here somewhere?
ROSE: Undoubtedly.
HEMMER: Mary Jo White was hired by Rosie O'Donnell, and she is no small figure.
ROSE: The legal firepower was unbelievable. They had David Boies on one side and Mary Jo White on the other side, and Gwynn Winjar (ph), the publisher, has been collecting evidence, what they think is evidence, to compile for a lawsuit, ever since this fight began.
So I would not be at all surprised if in the next days or weeks, we see a pretty whopping great suit filed against Rosie. HEMMER: And the wheel turns. Thank you, Matthew. Matthew Rose, "Wall Street Journal." We'll talk again.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Different Ways>
