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American Morning
Interview with Harvey Fierstein
Aired November 27, 2003 - 08:46 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.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, a few moments from now Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is going to step off on the upper West side of Manhattan, head down to Herald Square, the Macy's flagship store there.
As usual, plenty of colorful helium balloons and floats. But also, on one of those floats this year is actor Harvey Fierstein, star of the Broadway show "Hairspray." On that float, he's dressed as I believe it's Santa's wife, Harvey. It's not going over well with everyone. And we saw good morning to you and happy Thanksgiving.
HARVEY FIERSTEIN: Well, Bill...
HEMMER: First -- go ahead.
FIERSTEIN: Bill, I'm not so sure I'm thrilled to be following something about how to take calories off. Are you saying something about me?
HEMMER: Not at
FIERSTEIN: Are you calling me a float or?
HEMMER: No suggestion whatsoever.
FIERSTEIN: Or are you saying I need, somehow I need to diet? I don't know, Bill.
HEMMER: Listen, I think you look great. Tell me about your costume, Harvey.
FIERSTEIN: It's a William Ivy long original. And it's Mrs. Santa Claus. It's Edna Turnblad of "Hairspray" as Mrs. Santa Claus. And this is the best I could do. Do you think I pulled it off?
HEMMER: Harvey, listen, here's the rub, though. You wrote this piece in "The New York Times" this weekend.
FIERSTEIN: Right.
HEMMER: And you asked the question what if Santa really was gay? Could there be another Mr. Clause?
FIERSTEIN: Exactly. Right.
HEMMER: What was your suggestion in what you wrote? FIERSTEIN: Well my -- what's really interesting to me is that I wrote this piece that I think is pretty good. And nobody's gotten past the first two sentences over whether I'm Mrs. Santa Claus or not. Do you think it's more shocking that a man is playing -- a man who plays a woman on stage in Broadway every day is playing Mrs. Santa Claus today? Or is it more shocking that while we're spending $87 billion to bring freedom to all the people of Iraq, those same legislators are sitting in Washington trying to figure out how to deny basic rights to our own citizens? Which is the more shocking story?
HEMMER: Hey, Harvey...
FIERSTEIN: I'm sort of surprised CNN hasn't covered this well.
HEMMER: Harvey, the parade's saying it's no place for a political platform. How do you respond to that?
FIERSTEIN: That's right. I absolutely agree. I wrote my piece in "The New York Times." I'm here today to have a fabulous time. I grew up with the Macy's Day Parade. Every turkey I ever cooked was with the Macy's Day Parade in the background. Today is a time to have a good time. I wrote a piece in "The New York Times." So it's the media that doesn't know how to separate things, not Macy's and me.
HEMMER: Well listen...
FIERSTEIN: We get along just fine.
HEMMER: Yes, I know there were meetings yesterday between you and the folks for the parade. How did they come out, by the way?
FIERSTEIN: That's not true. That's not true.
HEMMER: No? "The New York Times" is wrong then?
FIERSTEIN: You can make things up if you like. It's "The New York Times." honey. I had no meetings with anybody from Macy's. I got a message from Macy's saying they love me as much as ever. And here I am today. Here I am in this costume. They wrote me a beautiful song which me and the Dynamites are going to sing together.
HEMMER: Let's hear it.
FIERSTEIN: And that's it. So I wish that you at CNN and other reporters would cover the real story, you know, cover the real story, which is we want equal rights, not special rights.
HEMMER: Listen, thanks for coming on today.
FIERSTEIN: We want equal rights. Thank you.
HEMMER: We wanted to give you a chance to explain yourself, and also the parade, as well.
FIERSTEIN: And listen...
HEMMER: Listen, now the bottom line, it's a beautiful day for a parade.
FIERSTEIN: Yes, it is.
HEMMER: So get your right hand warmed up and do a lot of waving.
FIERSTEIN: We're going to have -- I'll be waving. Look, I gotta practice.
HEMMER: We gotta go. Bye-bye.
FIERSTEIN: Bye, Billy.
HEMMER: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 27, 2003 - 08:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEMMER: All right, Heidi, a few moments from now Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is going to step off on the upper West side of Manhattan, head down to Herald Square, the Macy's flagship store there.
As usual, plenty of colorful helium balloons and floats. But also, on one of those floats this year is actor Harvey Fierstein, star of the Broadway show "Hairspray." On that float, he's dressed as I believe it's Santa's wife, Harvey. It's not going over well with everyone. And we saw good morning to you and happy Thanksgiving.
HARVEY FIERSTEIN: Well, Bill...
HEMMER: First -- go ahead.
FIERSTEIN: Bill, I'm not so sure I'm thrilled to be following something about how to take calories off. Are you saying something about me?
HEMMER: Not at
FIERSTEIN: Are you calling me a float or?
HEMMER: No suggestion whatsoever.
FIERSTEIN: Or are you saying I need, somehow I need to diet? I don't know, Bill.
HEMMER: Listen, I think you look great. Tell me about your costume, Harvey.
FIERSTEIN: It's a William Ivy long original. And it's Mrs. Santa Claus. It's Edna Turnblad of "Hairspray" as Mrs. Santa Claus. And this is the best I could do. Do you think I pulled it off?
HEMMER: Harvey, listen, here's the rub, though. You wrote this piece in "The New York Times" this weekend.
FIERSTEIN: Right.
HEMMER: And you asked the question what if Santa really was gay? Could there be another Mr. Clause?
FIERSTEIN: Exactly. Right.
HEMMER: What was your suggestion in what you wrote? FIERSTEIN: Well my -- what's really interesting to me is that I wrote this piece that I think is pretty good. And nobody's gotten past the first two sentences over whether I'm Mrs. Santa Claus or not. Do you think it's more shocking that a man is playing -- a man who plays a woman on stage in Broadway every day is playing Mrs. Santa Claus today? Or is it more shocking that while we're spending $87 billion to bring freedom to all the people of Iraq, those same legislators are sitting in Washington trying to figure out how to deny basic rights to our own citizens? Which is the more shocking story?
HEMMER: Hey, Harvey...
FIERSTEIN: I'm sort of surprised CNN hasn't covered this well.
HEMMER: Harvey, the parade's saying it's no place for a political platform. How do you respond to that?
FIERSTEIN: That's right. I absolutely agree. I wrote my piece in "The New York Times." I'm here today to have a fabulous time. I grew up with the Macy's Day Parade. Every turkey I ever cooked was with the Macy's Day Parade in the background. Today is a time to have a good time. I wrote a piece in "The New York Times." So it's the media that doesn't know how to separate things, not Macy's and me.
HEMMER: Well listen...
FIERSTEIN: We get along just fine.
HEMMER: Yes, I know there were meetings yesterday between you and the folks for the parade. How did they come out, by the way?
FIERSTEIN: That's not true. That's not true.
HEMMER: No? "The New York Times" is wrong then?
FIERSTEIN: You can make things up if you like. It's "The New York Times." honey. I had no meetings with anybody from Macy's. I got a message from Macy's saying they love me as much as ever. And here I am today. Here I am in this costume. They wrote me a beautiful song which me and the Dynamites are going to sing together.
HEMMER: Let's hear it.
FIERSTEIN: And that's it. So I wish that you at CNN and other reporters would cover the real story, you know, cover the real story, which is we want equal rights, not special rights.
HEMMER: Listen, thanks for coming on today.
FIERSTEIN: We want equal rights. Thank you.
HEMMER: We wanted to give you a chance to explain yourself, and also the parade, as well.
FIERSTEIN: And listen...
HEMMER: Listen, now the bottom line, it's a beautiful day for a parade.
FIERSTEIN: Yes, it is.
HEMMER: So get your right hand warmed up and do a lot of waving.
FIERSTEIN: We're going to have -- I'll be waving. Look, I gotta practice.
HEMMER: We gotta go. Bye-bye.
FIERSTEIN: Bye, Billy.
HEMMER: All right.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
