Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Remembering Prince; Meeting the KKK; Beyond the Call of Duty. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 22, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Of your relationship, but I want you to start with us this morning on the moment where you're at a show, you're not expecting to see Prince, and you see him across - I think you were at an Al Jarreau show. And you saw him across the room and it was his eyes. Tell us about his eyes.

SHELIA E., PRINCE'S FRIEND AND COLLABORATOR: Yes, they were very piercing. He was standing against a wall at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California and we were watching Al Jarreau. I was on the other side and we just happened to look at each other at the same time and I saw his eyes and just went, wow, who is that?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I want to talk to you, Sheila. You know, we've spent some time together on the air talking before. Really good to see you, and I can see how heavy your heart is. I've got to talk about my favorite song of yours, "Glamorous Life." I've told you before what that song has meant to me. He co-produced that hit. He co- produced that album. Talk about collaborating with him, and what that was like in those moments when you're just working, just the two of you at a piano or in a booth working together.

SHEILA E.: Oh, it was a lot of fun. You know, it's pretty awesome to be able to be in the studio with him, first of all. And we had a great time. We, you know, we ended up doing the "Glamorous Life" record. That whole record was done in a week.

PEREIRA: Wow.

SHEILA E.: I didn't want to go home. He didn't want to go home. We just kept recording until it was done. That's the fastest record I've ever done. And - but we had a great time. And - and the good thing - and everyone has said this. I mean, different people that he's collaborated with, we loved collaborating with him because he brought the best out of us. And he was influenced by all of us as well. You know, we just had great moments. He - he did things differently, you know, and he'd - he - he would do things outside the box. You know, he was - there were no limits for him.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It's an interesting distinction, right, because collaboration can mean some different things. It can mean, you know, I'm giving you my ideas, or it can mean, you know, I'm making your ideas or helping make your ideas better. And it sounds like that's what Prince wanted when he was working with you and others. He wanted to make your ideas shine and glow.

SHEILA E.: Absolutely. It was always like that. It was - it was - they were great moments.

CUOMO: You talk a lot about the different phases of the relationship. How you met, that you were collaborators and talking about it in the work, and how both of you worked so hard so often on what you were trying to achieve, and that, really, you see that as the main thrust of what brought you guys together. Yes, there was romance. Yes, there was an engagement and a great story about him asking you to marry him during a performance, right?

SHEILA E.: Yes. Yes. It was during a -

CUOMO: Did you take -

SHEILA E.: Yes, it was during the "Purple Rain" song. I was playing drums. And in the midst of that song, as I opened my eyes, we both felt like we had hit this moment of the song was so intense. And when I opened my eyes, he turned around and looked at me at the same time and then asked me to marry him.

PEREIRA: We've been talking a lot about that vibe that we all felt. And, granted, we would be, you know, hundreds of feet away from him on the stage or seeing him through a TV lens or a camera lens. You - you were up with him, beside him, singing, performing. Was it even more electric, that - that intangible essence of him when you were with him in person?

SHEILA E.: Oh, absolutely. You know, there was nothing like it in the world. And I loved being around him and performing, you know, his music. It was - it was a lot of fun, you know, and we got to do as much as we wanted to do. And, for me, during the Sign of the - Sign of the Times tour being his musical director and putting together the band and, you know, figuring out what we were going to do, I mean it was - it was a great, special moment and a special time.

BERMAN: He was a star. Not just a star, a mega star, for almost 40 years. You know, how - how did he change over that period of time?

SHEILA E.: When I first met him, it was during his first record. And, as an artist, hopefully everyone does change as an artist and as a songwriter so that they continue to grow. And that's what he did. He kept pushing the boundaries, you know. He wanted to make different music, you know, different times, and what he felt, what he was going through, what he felt like, you know, who he was in influenced by. He was always influenced by the people that he was surround by. And as the bands have changed as well. So, you know, his music has changed, and - and it was a great thing.

PEREIRA: And I love that he was willing to share his music with a slightly different crowd and show different sides of him on occasion, because he was very private. He was a funny guy. We heard Mike - Michaela Angela Davis (ph) talk about when they were just kicking it, how he - a lot of humor would come out. But you look - I'm showing the guys and the people in the studio kind of crowded around, looking at that Muppet clip. Do you remember Starfish and Coffee, when he was on "The Muppet Show." It was this beautiful and like child-like kind of moment. [08:35:18] CUOMO: But still sexy.

PEREIRA: But still sexy with a Muppet. I mean, it's crazy.

SHEILA E.: No, he - he was very funny. He - he was - he did a lot of funny things. And the public really didn't get to see that side of him. But he did a lot of crazy things in private, yes.

PEREIRA: And he was on "New Girl," that TV show now, and it was a whole episode where he showed a very different kind of side of him. It was great. Fantastic humor.

CUOMO: What are you going to miss moment?

SHEILA E.: Yes.

CUOMO: You knew him for so long in so many different ways.

SHEILA E.: I'm going to miss my friend. It's as simple as that. I'm going to miss my friend.

CUOMO: What made him a great friend?

SHEILA E.: Unconditional love, respect, laughter, ups and downs, no matter what you stick together and you have each other's back.

BERMAN: Do you have any sense of what happened? We know he was sick last week. It was the flu. He had to land on the way home after a trip in Atlanta. Was he really sick? Sicker than anyone realized?

SHEILA E.: I don't really know. I mean there is things that are happening now we're - we're in discussions and, you know, trying to figure out. I know one thing, that he worked really hard, and he always tried to do his next thing bigger and better. And I looked at him as an athlete. We're athletes. We have to train. And if you can imagine, all these years, you know, during the "Purple Rain" tour, even before then, but jumping off risers in those shoes, in the heals, and what it's done to his body. You know, it's like any athlete, you're running, you're training, you know, doing the splits, you know, running around the stage back and forth. We have - both of us - all - even some of the other band members, we've had so many injuries, you know. And people just don't know how hard it really is to do what we do. And he was - he gave his all, all the time.

PEREIRA: Every - every person who ever saw his show would say that, that they always felt like they got his best. Let me ask you, Sheila. I don't know as you - if you, as a friend, would have ever had these end of life kind of discussions. Sometimes that comes up, I mean, between intimates. How do you think he would want you and the people that are mourning him to go on and how he'd like to be memorialized?

SHEILA E.: Well, it's really challenging because, you know, listening to all the music, I haven't - since yesterday, I didn't hear any of the music. I didn't really want to look at the news. It was hard to read everything because it made it reality. And I think for him he doesn't want anyone to mourn. Knowing him, he wants everyone to celebrate. Celebrate him and celebrate his life and celebrate all the things that he had done for all of us, because he did it for us. Everything that he did, he did for us.

CUOMO: We know there's a lot of work that he still had that he kept away that was unfinished and it will be very interesting to see what happens and hopefully you're involved with that as well. There are a few who collaborated with him the way you did. Sheila E., I'm sorry for your loss, we all are, but thank you for sharing a little bit of what made Prince special with all of us.

SHEILA E.: Thank you. Thank you very much.

CUOMO: There's a lot of different ways to look at this man. Everybody took something different from him. We will give you more unique perspective on the man who is now gone, Prince. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:03] PEREIRA: Here we are with the five things to know for your Friday new day.

The tributes keep coming in for the legendary Prince a day after his sudden death at the age of 57. We know an autopsy is set to happen today to try and determine the cause of death.

Donald Trump's advisors, new advisors, say he's been playing a part up until now and will soon adopt a more presidential persona. Trump is campaigning in Pennsylvania ahead of next week's five Super Tuesday contests. Meanwhile, the Democratic candidates on the stump today in delegate rich Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton hoping to seal the nomination in next week's five northeast primaries, while Bernie Sanders admits he faces a hard path.

The president will lunch with the Queen of England. Right now, tonight, the Obamas will be the guests of honor at a royal family dinner in Kensington Palace.

Passover begins at sundown tonight. The traditional Seder dinner celebrating the Jewish people's exodus from Egypt and their liberation from slavery.

For more on the five things to know, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

John.

BERMAN: All right, Michaela.

One man from North Carolina is helping hundreds of children with special needs. CNN Hero Harry Swimmer is doing it all with the help of his horses. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY SWIMMER, CNN HERO: Horses are very special animals. People just don't realize it. What do you say now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walk on.

SWIMMER: That's my girl.

We had a child on a horse who had a seizure, and that horse stopped dead in his tracks. When nobody else noticed it, the horse caught it first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You can watch Harry's full story on cnnheros.com. And while there, nominate someone you think deserves to be a 2016 CNN Hero.

CUOMO: I like that seeing my face on camera did nothing to stop you from speaking. You just went right through it.

BERMAN: You don't faze me. You don't get to me.

CUOMO: Does comedian W. Kamau Bell faze you? He's going to be getting up close and personal with the KKK in the premiere episode of his new CNN series. He's joining us on NEW DAY, next. You'll see me, but you'll hear John Berman.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:50] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

W. KAMAU BELL: This guy said he was coming alone. Why did I believe him?

KKK: then, I'm gonna let you know, I'm the Imperial Wizard of the International Keystone Knights of the Klu Klux Klan.

BELL: Don't you think that by wearing the same robes that you're - that it's hard to separate those two different clans? Like -

KKK: I have an opportunity to wear a Klansman's robe. Why? Because I'm white and I believe in the ideals, rituals, and beliefs of the Ku Klux Klan. I was raised that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That's a preview of the brand new CNN original series, "United Shades of America," debuting Sunday night on CNN. Host W. Kamau Bell steps out of his comfort zone, all of our comfort zone, and goes face to face with the KKK. The brother joins us now.

And I have so many questions for you. Were you terrified? Why? Why? And were you afraid?

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": Why? I was trying to tell a TV show. Was I afraid? Absolutely. Absolutely.

PEREIRA: But this - OK, we all got to promote a show, et cetera, et cetera -

BELL: Yes.

PEREIRA: But you - you wanted specifically to do this?

BELL: No, I - yes. Yes, the idea of the show is that I'm going to step outside my comfort zone and go places and learn things I don't know or go to places I don't think I should go. And if you're a black man in America, the first place you shouldn't go is to hang out with the Klan.

PEREIRA: Yes, mom told us that, right? So -

BELL: Yes, she was very explicit about that.

PEREIRA: Yes, really explicit about that.

BELL: Yes. Ys.

PEREIRA: You ignored her and went and did it anyway.

BELL: Yes, she wasn't happy.

PEREIRA: OK, so this experience, you see them in the robe. That's going to set off feelings. You see them lighting a cross on fire. That's going to set off some feelings. They have very specific ideas about interracial marriage. Oh, brother, did you tell them that your wife is white?

[08:50:13] BELL: Yes. If I don't own my wife in front of the Klan -

PEREIRA: Yes.

BELL: You know, what kind of husband am I? If I don't say - if I don't claim her as my family, I'm not the brother (ph) I think I am.

PEREIRA: But that must have just done things to you inside.

BELL: Well, at that moment, I felt very proud to do it, because I was like, I'm not - there's nothing that's going to - you're going to do to make me reject my family. And so - and it's the other point, with watching the cross, yes, I felt the weight of history the whole time. I mean I'm not going to lie. I felt the weight of my people, my ancestors. You know, I know standing in front of a cross burning, most black people who see that don't get away alive, you know, or they - it's in front of their homes. And so I was aware of the - of everything that was happening. I just also tried to see if I could talk and connect through that.

PEREIRA: And could you? I mean let's - we want to - we want to push people to the show.

BELL: Yes, yes, yes.

PEREIRA: I don't want to give it away. But do you -

BELL: Yes. Yes.

PEREIRA: Do - could you? Because I think in situations like that we want to look and find the humanity in another person's eyes, right? Did you?

BELL: I absolutely did. I connected with them. I made them laugh at my jokes. I feel like, when you make people laugh -

PEREIRA: Yes.

BELL: You actually are sort of - they're saying, I submit to you.

PEREIRA: Yes.

BELL: You win this round. And I feel like, if the whole thing is white supremacy, well, I'm making you laugh, does that change your idea a little bit?

PEREIRA: Right.

BELL: And by the end of it, I know at least a couple of those dudes liked me. I know at least a couple of those Klansmen went to bed and said, I think I like a black guy now.

PEREIRA: He's cool, so maybe the others are cool.

BELL: Yes.

PEREIRA: But they - you know, the idea of walking in another man's moccasins, if you will, right?

BELL: Yes, yes, yes.

PEREIRA: So what can we expect - I mean you kind of - you kind of went there on the first one.

BELL: Yes.

PEREIRA: You've got to do a whole season.

BELL: We started with a season finale, yes.

PEREIRA: So - yes, right.

BELL: Yes.

PEREIRA: So what should we expect? Outside a comfort zone each time?

BELL: Yes, but in different ways. The second episode is in San Quentin, talking to lifers in San Quentin. And that's black men around the same age as me talking about - and sort of there before the grace of God go I. So that's -

PEREIRA: Sobering.

BELL: Yes, it's a very different episode. But there's humor throughout every episode.

PEREIRA: Because you funny.

BELL: I'm pretty funny.

PEREIRA: You funny.

BELL: I'm pretty funny.

PEREIRA: So, I have to talk to you also about the day that we're having because, you know, I'm sitting here in purple and we've been bathing the studio in purple light and I think all of us are trying to get our brains around the passing. We didn't know him, but we felt like we knew him -

BELL: No.

PEREIRA: Because he represented us, but he didn't, but he did, Prince.

BELL: I mean I think he - I think we did know him. I think he gave us exactly what he wanted to. And we were all - we all had a piece of him. And controversy, am I straight or gay, am I black or white, do I believe in God or do I believe in me (ph), he's saying, I'm here for all of you. And I think that's why his passing is affecting so many people is because he was here for all of us. And he's still here. We have the music.

PEREIRA: He is.

BELL: Yes.

PEREIRA: And that's the interesting thing about it. I remember saying that to Chris, that after Michael Jackson died, I couldn't bear to hear his music. All I want to do today and for like the end of time is play every single Prince hit.

BELL: Yes. And the other lesson he taught us, because I want to do that too, I had to go buy it. He taught artists, you have to own your contents.

PEREIRA: But - paid, yes. yes.

BELL: And so even in his death h said, you still have to value what I do.

PEREIRA: Right. Right.

BELL: You still have to pay me. You can't go to Spotify and just listen to it.

PEREIRA: So it's - it's - it is, OK, it's beyond that. It's beyond just the music and how he influenced us.

BELL: Absolutely. Yes.

PEREIRA: We're going to feel the ramifications of what he said and stood for -

BELL: Yes.

PEREIRA: In so many aspects. Kamau, it is so great to see you again.

BELL: Thank you. Thank you.

PEREIRA: You're part of the family here on CNN.

BELL: Thank - oh, thank you.

PEREIRA: We want to point people to this powerful, powerful premiere edition of "United Shades of America." It will air Sunday night, proudly we can tell you, 10:00 p.m. only on CNN. Good to see you, love.

BELL: Thank you for having me.

PEREIRA: John.

BERMAN: I cannot wait for this show.

All right, a dramatic rescue caught on video. How two sheriff's deputies went beyond the call of duty and changed their lives. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:14] CUOMO: Two Florida sheriff's deputies say their lives are forever changed after pulling a woman out of a burning car. Now although this story of heroism has a terrible ending, its impact has touched many. CNN's Polo Sandoval has this week's "Beyond the Call of Duty."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is moments after a car collided with two trucks at an intersection outside of Vero Beach, Florida, in late March.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's somebody in that car.

DEPUTY ROBERT SUNKEL, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: In that car?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

SUNKEL: We can't get them out?

SANDOVAL: That's Indian River County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Sunkel. His dash cam captures him running towards a fiery wreck with his police baton in hand.

SUNKEL: Ma'am, can you hear me? Can you crawl this way?

SANDOVAL: Trapped in the car was the severely injured driver, Cheryl Coons (ph).

SUNKEL: Cheryl's car was right over here. And the driver's side was over here, which is where all the flames were. As you can see the telephone poll is burned.

SANDOVAL: The flames consumed the car quickly, as the desperate deputy worked to rescue the woman.

SUNKEL: Come on. Are you buckled in?

SANDOVAL: Seconds later, backup arrives.

DEPUTY LINDA NOLAN, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The smoke was - was billowing straight up. I could see it from several miles away. I immediately grabbed my fire extinguisher, came running.

SUNKEL: You can't get in that window.

NOLAN: Get on the other side.

SANDOVAL: Despite repeated painful burns, Deputy Linda Nolan and her partner finally freed the woman.

SUNKEL: (INAUDIBLE) driver - driver (INAUDIBLE).

NOLAN: Go, go, go!

SUNKEL: Ma'am, stay with me. Hey, hey, stay with me.

NOLAN: Ma'am! Ma'am!

SUNKEL: Stay with me.

SANDOVAL: Cheryl fought long and hard to survive, but her injuries were too severe. The 58-year-old woman died in the hospital nearly three weeks after her cash. Today, the two deputies take comfort knowing they gave Cheryl and her family a special gift, more time.

SUNKEL: That brings a little bit of joy just knowing that she got to see her family one more time and her family got to come and say goodbye to her.

NOLAN: It helps knowing that - that the family had that. To be able to give someone that kind of opportunity is something that, you know, you don't get all the time.

I was very grateful to be able to meet them. And it's helped me a great deal.

SANDOVAL: Polo Sandoval, CNN, Vero Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: It's the kind of solace you need to develop when you're confronted with the worst that life has to offer on a daily basis.

PEREIRA: Especially on a day like that, it's important for us to remember that.

All right, it's time for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

Carol.

[09:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Mystery surrounding the sudden death of music legend Prince. Today, officials are expected to conduct an autopsy to try and determine how the 57-year-old died.