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CNN Saturday Morning News
Tech Companies Reveal NSA Requests; U.S. Fears Snowden May Defect; 473 Homes Destroyed, Two Dead in Colorado; Georgia Church Boots Boy Scouts; Taking Heat for PhotoShop Makeover
Aired June 15, 2013 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Alison Kosik.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. 7:00 here on the East Coast. We are glad you're with us.
KOSIK: And we begin this morning coverage with a new and stunning development in the National Security Agency surveillance of American citizens. With the government's permission, Facebook and Microsoft are coming forward now with their roles in those National Security Agency requests. This is the first time we're learning about specific government requests for information in the wake of the NSA leaker.
According to lawyers for both companies in the last six months of 2012, Facebook -- listen to this -- Facebook received between 9,000 and 12,000 requests for information. And Microsoft said it received 6,000 and 7,000 during that same time period.
CNN Money correspondent Laurie Segall, she's been following the story and joins us by phone.
Laurie, tell us what this means for users of companies like Facebook and Microsoft.
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Hey, look, Alison, I think what this means, we need to know for national security that these companies like Facebook, like Microsoft, this is a huge resource that they're tapping into this information, and we're now beginning for the first time to really see some transparency. You know when Facebook put out this report early this morning, late last night, they essentially said that local law enforcement uses these reports to try to help track down missing children, you know, gang-related activity that's going to help with national security.
So, I mean, for the first time, we're really beginning to wrap our heads around the idea that our lives online are not completely private. They are a huge resource for national security.
KOSIK: You know, there's a big implication here for other tech companies, Laurie. You know, their data and their relationship with the government. Tell me what that you are hearing from the people with whom you're speaking with?
SEGALL: You know, I speak to these tech founders for a living, Alison. You talk to all these folks, you know, their M.O. is to break things and hack and to do that kind of thing. I actually sat down with Alexis Ohanian, he's the founder of Reddit, and he said this is going to have major implications for Silicon Valley and entrepreneurs. Listen to what he told me, Alison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXIS OHANIAN, CO-FOUNDER, REDDIT: It will come up a lot sooner for founders. And founders maybe who were thinking, you know, move fast and break things are now going to be thinking move fast to break things but don't break the Constitution. And I think thing this is an opportunity for us as citizens to draw a line in the sand as to what is off limits, what is still private, even in this digital age.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEGALL: And this is a conversation that Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are having and talking with a lot of these folks that are high up at all these companies and they're saying that, you know, there are two views on this. There's another view. I actually spoke to an investor who said that, you know, really, this is kind of a no-brainer, that this should not be shocking. Listen to what he told me, Alison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRUCE K. TARAGIN, BLUMBERG CAPITAL: I would say our perspective overall as an early stage founder in technology, is fundamentally, privacy is dead. Today, there are nine companies participating. I suspect there will be 1,000 companies that are in a position to participate 10 years from now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEGALL: Wrap your head around that, Alison. So, you think about the nine companies that the NSA is reaching out to, the Google, Yahoo, Microsoft. But a decade from now, our lives are online. And what we share and we share so much information online, that this isn't going to be shocking. And early investors in Silicon Valley understand that and they're investing in companies knowing that.
KOSIK: Makes us think twice about what we're sharing online. Laurie Segall, thank you.
BLACKWELL: The man who leaked the existence of the NSA surveillance programs is getting some support in Hong Kong. That's where Edward Snowden is believed to be possibly in a safe house.
CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Hong Kong right now.
Nic, tell us about this rally this morning for Snowden. How many people were there?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Perhaps not as many as he would have liked to have shown up, Victor. I talked to the organizers down at the rally. It was raining perhaps that dropped the numbers. They told me they were waiting for several hundred. I would say there were perhaps about 300. But you know what, out of those 300, about a third of them were journalists covering the event.
So, really, it's not a big sort of show of support for Edward Snowden. And you can't just blame it on the rain. Just a couple days ago there was a big rally in support of -- or to sort of highlight the Tiananmen situation in mainland China back in 1989 when those students were killed. You know what, between 50,000 and 150,000 people showed up for that rally and it was pouring with rain.
So, Edward Snowden sort of getting, I have to say, a bit of a thumbs down from the people of Hong Kong right now.
BLACKWELL: The people who showed up there, did they tell you why that were there supporting him?
ROBERTSON: Yes, they think he's done the right thing. They think that he is correct to draw attention to what the NSA has been doing. They want to see him supported by the legislature in Hong Kong.
They don't want to see him handed over. Not that there is a request for his -- for extradition to be sent back to the United States. But they really believe that he did the right thing. And they want him left alone and protected. There was even concern expressed that if he is picked up by the Hong Kong authorities, eventually, if there's an arrest warrant, then almost by default, they suspect that whatever material he has on his computers could end up in the hands of authorities in Beijing, ultimately, as well.
BLACKWELL: So, what's the status of this search? Because I said at the top that he's believed to be in a safe house. Where are we in this search with Snowden?
ROBERTSON: You know, we really don't know. He kind of broke his cover. I'm thinking about it. I mean, his most valuable asset for somebody not technically on the run, he's still a free man, no arrest warrant.
His most valuable asset has got to be his location. Well, he kind of gave that up by showing he was in Hong Kong. That was late Sunday. 12 hours later, he checked out of his hotel, early Monday morning here. And we don't know precisely where he is right now.
But I talked to a former assistant police commissioner here. And he said, look, he's pretty sure that there will be people tracking him right now, Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right. Nic Robertson for us in Hong Kong -- thank you.
Let's go to Colorado where what's believed to be the worst wildfire in the state's history has destroyed -- destroyed 473 homes, damaged a few others. But there was hard rain Friday that helped firefighters north of Colorado Springs get a little control over the black forest fire. It's now 30 percent contained.
To the south there's another fire, the Royal Gorge fire, 65 percent contained. But there's a new fire that's burning blamed on lightning. Authorities say lightning sparked that one in the western part of the state. Across Colorado, 800 firefighters and support crew members are battling the flames.
Let's go back to Paul Vercammen in Colorado Springs this morning.
Paul, where are they optimistic or are they thinking they're going to have another rough day as they saw at the beginning of the week?
PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, they're extremely optimistic. And what is giving them this optimism right now, if you can believe this, Victor, it's 52 degrees during the streak of the fire's peak, seven degrees at this time of night, unbearable temperatures, extremely high winds. This turn in the weather is really helping them out. And, of course, the unsuspected or unpredicted thundershowers came that dropped rain on the area and they are feeling very good about things this morning, victor.
BLACKWELL: (AUDIO GAP) Paul, tens of thousands of people displaced because of this storm. How are they coping?
VERCAMMEN: Well, they're coping and get big with a little help from their friends and some cases county fairgrounds. As you know from going through these neighborhoods, a lot of people have ranchettes and a lot of animals -- we lost a light here -- in this weather.
But let's go ahead and listen to a woman who had a story to tell. I ran into her at the fairgrounds here in Calhan here in Colorado and she has found a place for her animals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is wonderful. I take him on foxhunts.
VERCAMMEN (voice-over): The Black Forest Fire chased Nancy Bee and her menagerie of animals to a make shift camp at the country fair grounds.
NANCY BEE, FIRE EVACUEE: Last I was in the house, the houses were exploding all around me, just big boom, big smoke, black smoke in the air and I could see the flames, that was it. So, really, I'm leaving. We're gone.
VERCAMMEN: Bee and her husband fled their five-acre property. He went to town to help his ailing mother. Bee took her animals and slept here on the front seat of her truck.
(on camera): What is it like not knowing whether or not you have a house to go back to?
BEE: It's ridiculously insane. I don't know. Right now, I'm just trying to take care of all the animals, the 11 dogs and the six -- eight horses. That's what I'm concentrating on right now.
VERCAMMEN: Bee is a dog person, a horse person and a people person.
Howard, her new neighborhood at the fairgrounds plays gospel music, hymns of hope for about dozens of people and 200 animals living in high plains limbo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VERCAMMEN: And there are a lot of people who are just Nancy, not really sure if they have a house to go back to.
Back to you in Atlanta.
BLACKWELL: Far too many. Paul Vercammen in Colorado Springs -- thank you.
KOSIK: So, the question for those who are in Colorado, affective by those fires, is the weather going to bring relief them?
Let's bring in meteorologist Jennifer Delgado. She's in our CNN severe weather center.
Jennifer, what's it looking like?
JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Alison.
Well, for today, we don't have any red flag warnings in place for Colorado Springs, where Paul is, but we still a lot of dry air in place. Right now, things are pretty nice as we go through the afternoon, we're going to see that air working in and that means those humidity values are going to be dropping. High temperatures today are going to be generally in the lower 80s.
Now, notice, we are going to see a chance of some showers and thunderstorms out there.
Now, the problem is, if we do get some of these storms out there, we're not expecting significant rainfall. But the other problem is when you get lightning bolts out there, those could trigger again potentially more fires across parts of Colorado.
Right now, as we talk about some of the rain, well, it's coming down right through the Midwest including Chicago. As we go through the afternoon, once again, a severe weather threat. Slight risk.
Some of these storms will be producing damaging winds as well as hail. That includes Chicago all the way down towards Denver. So certainly there are going to be storms out there you need to pay attention to.
On a wider view, the Northeast is looking nice and then out west, shine. Guys let's send it back over to you.
KOSIK: Jennifer Delgado, thanks.
DELGADO: You're welcome.
KOSIK: A second blast in two days has left another person dead at a chemical plant in Louisiana. Last night, a 55-year-old man was killed and eight others injured in a plant 40 miles northwest Baton Rouge. The plant manager insists there was no explosion and no fire. He said a nitrogen vessel ruptured. This incident comes just after days after an explosion at a plant 10 miles away. Two people were killed and more than 100 were injured there.
We've got much more ahead this hour.
BLACKWELL: Here's what's coming up --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK (voice-over): Fallout from the Boy Scouts' decision to allow openly gay members. While one pastor kicked out a troop while another minister is extending open arms.
This is the advertisement, but this is the reality. Incident air brushing or calculated manipulation?
And it's the divorce that launched a thousand tweets. What's at stake between the split between the News Corp chief exec and his tiger wife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Get ready for a new treat in the mornings. In just two days. Count them. Two. All new morning show "NEW DAY" begins with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira. Starts at 6:00 a.m. Eastern, do not miss it.
KOSIK: I'm not going to miss it.
BLACKWELL: No, you won't. Neither will I.
KOSIK: Have you heard of the new movie out starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson?
BLACKWELL: Yes, a couple of 40-year-old guys get an internship at search engine starter ship (ph). They're working at a company like Google. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Google.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got us a job at Google?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an interview for an internship that could lead to the job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're kidding, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have more life experience than they age of most of our interns.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Yes, it's funny and you should laugh. But Google interns are paid, prepare yourself, almost $6,000 a month. They're interns. They get housing, food, a gym membership, potential job following internships, and, of course, their check.
KOSIK: But it's not easy to get the internships at Google.
BLACKWELL: No.
KOSIK: Some of those interview questions are really, really tough, like how many times does the minute hand pass -- 15 times a day --
BLACKWELL: The questions are tough --
KOSIK: They ask really convoluted questions. It's tough to get in. They earn that money.
BLACKWELL: Come on, $6,000 a month. I imagine there's people who have specialized knowledge to get to that. There are people working for 20, 30 years not making that much money.
KOSIK: Speaking of money, overdraft fees, ever pay them?
BLACKWELL: I used to, yes.
KOSIK: Well, banks are raking in the benefits. A new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that 61 percent of bank fees were for overdrafts and insufficient funds and in 2011 that added up to $12.6 billion in fees. The average consumer pays $225 a year in overdraft charges. It's one more reason why we love to hate the banks.
BLACKWELL: Yes. And there was a time when $225 was a good year in overdraft fees.
Let's talk about this. Some computers will cost you thousands of dollars. How about a computer for 25 bucks. Sounds good, right?
KOSIK: It does.
BLACKWELL: Well, have a slice of Raspberry Pi. Spelled P-I.
The company, rather, the computer, the size of a credit card, it started as a way to get kids interested in computer science. This is what you do. Your plug all your components into this little thing. Again, it's the size of a deck of cards.
You plug in your monitor, you plug in your mouse, you plug in your keyboard. Whatever else, and then you got a tiny computer. Sounds good, right? Raspberry Pi expected to sell 10,000 units, so far, it's sold more than a million.
KOSIK: You sit here at a cubicle here at CNN?
BLACKWELL: I used to.
KOSIK: Well, I sit at a cubicle. BLACKWELL: Don't go to that. See, I know you're going to go to that next.
(CROSSTALK)
KOSIK: I've got a love-hate relationship with my cubicle. If you do, you can relate to this. The more light you get at work turns out the more sleep you get at home. A study done by the Journal Sleep and Sleep Disorders Research found this out, people who worked at an office with windows slept an average of 46 minutes longer than their counterparts. I actually sit at this really dark cubicle at the New York Stock Exchange. There's no light.
But I sleep really well because I'm exhausted.
BLACKWELL: I've got this terrible cubicle at the New York Stock Exchange. Sorry, Alison.
I'm calling shenanigan on this, though, because, yes, I've got a window. We're all against the window, but sleep is not really allowed at CNN. They're keeping you up for the live shot. So, I'm calling shenanigan on this. There's an asterisk. Except for reporters, that hasn't happened for us.
KOSIK: Yes.
All right. To a serious story --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KOSIK: The little girl who sparked the national debate over lung transplant rules undergoes a life saving surgery. We're going back to Sarah Murnaghan's story and what it means other kids.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Ten-year-old Sarah Murnaghan is on a long road to recovery after getting a new set of lungs this week from an adult donor. Sarah's case sparked a national debate over transplant rules.
On her Facebook page last night, Sarah's mom posted a long message detailing a new policy change, saying she wanted to clear up, quote, "misconceptions" about Sarah's case.
Our Zain Asher has this look back at Sarah's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a lifetime of cystic fibrosis, 18 months on a waiting list for a child's donor lungs, 10- year-old Sarah Murnaghan's chances for survival, slim.
FRAN MURNAGHAN, SARAH'S FATHER: We knew at some point she would need new lungs. We hoped it would be much further down the road but over the years, her disease has progressed. ASHER: Friday, May 24th, her parents take to Facebook in a desperate plea for help, spreading the word about a rule at limiting Sarah's access to adult donor lungs.
SARAH MURNAGHAN: I'm scared.
ASHER: On May 26th, "Saving Sarah" first airs on "CNN SUNDAY MORNING," shedding light on the Organ Procurement and Transportation Network or OPTN, and a little known policy, children under 12 must wait until all adult recipients pass on donor lungs to be even considered.
By Monday, May 27th, Sarah's story hits the home page of other news outlets. And pressure from Pennsylvania's forces health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius to step in. Although the secretary refuses to intervene directly, on May 31st, she asks OPTN to review its policies. But the demand for change continues.
And on June 4th, the secretary is confronted on Capitol Hill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam Secretary, I would urge you this week to allow that lung transplant move forward. It simply takes your signature.
ASHER: On June 5th, the Murnaghans file a lawsuit saying the policy discriminates against children. Hours later, a federal judge grants a temporary order that Sarah be considered for lungs alongside adults. Soon after this video is taken, Sarah's condition worsens. On June 8th, a tube is inserted through her mouth to help her breathe.
JANET MURNAGHAN, SARAH'S MOTHER: I'm not going to tell her she's dying.
ASHER: An emergency meeting takes place and the OPTN board grants a one-year change, allowing all children to be placed on the same waiting list as adults.
The family then gets a call they've been waiting for. Wednesday, one week after being placed on the same list as adults, Sarah undergoes a lengthy surgery for a new set of adult donor lungs.
JANET MURNAGHAN: That donor is her hero, our hero of this story. But she wouldn't have had access to that hero if it weren't for the change.
ASHER (on camera): Sarah's mother said at the start that she was going to fight for the next person's kid. As it turns out, another child from Sarah's hospital Javier Acosta was also wait for lungs. His family followed in the Murnaghan's footsteps and filed their own lawsuit. He, too, now a waits his new lungs on the adult list -- Alison.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: OK. Zain Asher, thanks.
BLACKWELL: A pastor in Georgia gives a local Boy Scout troop the boot after a vote to allow gay members. But find out what a neighboring house of worship did in response. We've got both ministers here in studio coming after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Now for an update on mortgages. Look at this, rates climbed higher this week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'm Alison Kosik. Thanks for being with us this morning. Here are some stories making headlines this hour.
I want to show you this remarkable new video CNN obtained of the Castro brothers in Ohio. You're looking at the first moment the brothers were in police custody, about six hours after three missing girls escaped from Ariel's home last month. Now, the current suspect, Ariel, he's there in the center. He appears passive throughout the tape but look at his brothers, Onil and Pedro who had no part in alleged crimes. They seemed to be upset with their brother.
Now, there's no audio with this. But at one point, you can see Onil had some sort of physical outburst there, deliberately running head first into a glass wall, not just once but doing this twice.
Earlier this week, Ariel pleaded not guilty to 329 charges of murder and rape. Meantime, authorities are conducting DNA tests on evidence to determine if any additional victims may have been held inside his Cleveland home.
Investigators are examining what's left of an outdoor deck at a popular sports bar in Miami. They're trying to figure out how it collapsed into the water Thursday night, sending some patrons to the hospital with critical injuries. We're also hearing some of the 911 calls made the night of the accident.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OPERATOR: Miami-Dade County Police and Fire. Where's the emergency?
CALLER: I'm at Shucker's Bar & Grill and the deck just totally completely physically collapsed. There's at least 100, at least, people in the water right now. Other people are going in to save them but it's horrible.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
KOSIK: About 100 people were on the deck when it collapsed.
Police in California say the suspect in the Santa Monica shootings left a farewell note, apologizing for killing his father and his brother but he did not explain why he went on that rampage a week ago. Five people were killed. Police say John Zawahri tried to buy a gun in 2011 but was denied because of a Justice Department notice. They say they used gun parts to build a gun that is illegal to own. VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: When the Boy Scouts of America voted last week to allow gay kids and teens into their organization, the LBGT community and its advocates celebrated the decision.
But there were some who didn't share in the excitement. In fact, since that vote, some pastors across the country have booted local Boy Scouts troops from their churches, stopped them from meeting there. Including this one, the Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta.
If you're wondering why, here's the pastor, Ernest Easley, explaining his decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERNEST EASLEY, SENIOR PASTOR, ROSWELL STREET BAPTIST CHURCH: Boys in a tent sexually attracted to other boys whose hormones are going off the wall, something's going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Pastor Easley got a standing ovation from his congregation when he kicked out troop 204, but he also ruffled some feathers including a nearby house of worship which in response placed on their marquee outside welcoming the Boy Scouts to their place of worship to meet their instead.
Now, Reverend Stephanie Seigh is the senior pastor at the church, the One World Spiritual Center in Marietta.
You'd rather be called a reverend, right?
REV. STEPHANIE SEIGH, SENIOR MINISTER, ONE WORLD SPIRITUAL CENTER: You can call me whatever you want.
BLACKWELL: OK. She joins us now.
And Pastor Easley is here as well.
Thank you both for being here to talk about this.
SEIGH: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: I want to start with you, Pastor Easley. We heard your explanation. I know the goal of Christianity is to be Christ-like. Do you think Jesus would have kicked those Boy Scouts out?
EASLEY: You know trying to be Christ-like is a challenge these days. I think about when guys tried to trick Jesus up, they brought a girl, a woman caught in adultery, Jesus confronted her with her sin. He didn't condone it. He confronted it. He didn't say keep on doing what you're doing, but because he loved her, he said go and sin no more.
BLACKWELL: But do you think he would have kicked these boy scouts out? Do you think that's the right decision? EASLEY: I know this, as a Bible-believing church, Roswell Street Baptist Church, we're not going to align ourselves in a formal capacity with any outside group that openly accepts and affirms moral practices that violate God's word.
BLACKWELL: Reverend Seigh, you welcomed them to your church.
SEIGH: Yes.
BLACKWELL: Why?
SEIGH: One World is an interfaith spiritual community. We honor many facts (ph) of God. We focus on what's at the heart of the world's great religions. And what we believe is primarily at the heart of those religions is love.
So this decision to invite any Boy Scout troop asked to leave is simply us being who we are. It's just a great opportunity to live what we believe.
BLACKWELL: Pastor Easley did you think you didn't have gay boys and teens in your church before the Boy Scouts said it's okay to save it?
EASLEY: Oh, sure. I think it's naive not to think that. And at Roswell Street Baptist, I think I was asked last week, would you allow a homosexual in your church. We invite them. We invite every adulterer, liar, fornicator, sinner in our church in order to hear the liberating gospels, message, that sets the person free from sin, forgives him and restores them like God intended them to be.
BLACKWELL: Your facial expression changed when he answered the question. I'd like to know why.
EASLEY: Well, at One World, we believe that we are exactly as God created us to be. We welcome everyone to our community. We don't judge who you love any more than we would judge the color of your eyes.
So, again, I'm just delighted that we have this opportunity to spread that message of love that believe is -- was Jesus' primary message, love your neighbor as yourself.
BLACKWELL: Let me follow up that. Do you think what you are spreading, what you are displaying, Pastor Easley, is love by telling them to get out?
EASLEY: I do. Because --
BLACKWELL: How?
EASLEY: Well, because love doesn't condone sin. It confronts it. And over and over in scripture, you find sin not condoned but confronted. Even Jesus on many occasions when they confronted with sinners, they experienced forgiveness and grace. And then he says go and sin no more. You know.
I think what sin does, it divides people, it destroys people physically, psychologically, spiritually. That's why Jesus came and he died. And he rose from the grave in order to set people free from sin, its bondage. To have peace with God through a relationship with Jesus.
BLACKWELL: I want to read something that was posed on your Facebook page. We've got here. We can put it up on the screen. "If you're Christian and you're against homosexuality, it's not because you're Christian, it's because you're homophobic."
Are you homophobic?
EASLEY: Absolutely not. No. In fact, we're concerned and burdened for every homosexual. And again every liar and adulterer and any sin -- any moral sin you want to discuss.
BLACKWELL: But you don't kick out liars and adulterers?
EASLEY: No, but we're not embracing an outside organization that advocates it. Frankly, we're not kicking anybody out of the church.
BLACKWELL: Well, are they holding meetings there, the troop's not meeting there because you told them not to meet there?
EASLEY: Actually, they will meet until the end of the year.
BLACKWELL: But they won't be when the policy is in place. That's your decision?
EASLEY: That's correct.
BLACKWELL: So indeed you did kick them out?
EASLEY: Yes, as far as outside organization, right. They're not members of our church. It's just an outside organization that we sponsor, that we open our buildings to.
BLACKWELL: There's an obvious contradiction that if you allow, in your words, you say, you allow homosexuals to be members of your church --
EASLEY: I did not say that.
BLACKWELL: OK. Explain. Clarify that.
EASLEY: I said they're welcome to come to our church.
BLACKWELL: But they're not allowed to be members?
EASLEY: No, they're not allowed to be members. Not until they come to terms with their sin, repent with it. And come to Jesus with their savior.
BLACKWELL: Every time I look at you, your face kind of changes. What do you believe about this policy from the Boy Scouts and also churches like Pastor Easley's church that decides that you cannot be a member if you're a homosexual?
SEIGH: Well, clearly, we support the new policy. And we actually believe this is a much more limited issue than we're being exposed to. The good news is, that most of the churches and organizations that support and sponsor Boy Scouts are continuing to do so. Most of the response that we've gotten, based on our very innocent marquee sign, is overwhelmingly positive with people supporting this decision. And supporting the organizations who are honoring the decision that the national organization has made.
BLACKWELL: All right. Reverend Seigh, Pastor Easley, thank you both for talking with us.
SEIGH: Thank you.
EASLEY: Thanks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Special agent Sarah Ashburn, you're about to be interrogated by an officer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm an officer and that's perp.
UNIDENTIFEID FEMALE: Could you just close the door on your way up?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll shut the door, when you lay down here and put your head on the door, I'll slam it about 157,000 times.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Girl, you better run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Melissa McCarthy getting laughs in her new film, "The Heat" with co-star Sandra Bullock. But some are outraged over a U.K. movie poster that PhotoShopped McCarthy making her look like a totally different woman. Did they go too far? I'm going to show you the controversial image, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Welcome back. We are in the E-Block. And that means time for entertainment.
KOSIK: And let's go ahead and start with some people are calling the worst PhotoShop job ever.
BLACKWELL: Really bad.
KOSIK: Look at this poster from "The U.K." for a new 20th Century Fox movie called "The Heat."
OK. So, that's Sandra Bullock on the left. On the right is a very different looking Melissa McCarthy.
BLACKWELL: Yes, look at her face. She appears to be much slimmer.
Here's a side by side of the real McCarthy and the edited McCarthy, two very different. Hey, joining me now for more, V-103 radio personality and entertainment correspondent Kendra G.
Good to have you.
KENDRA GILLIAMS, ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Good morning.
BLACKWELL: And "In Touch Weekly" senior editor, Kim Serafin.
So, Kendra, we're going to start with you. Why did they do this to her?
GILLIAMS: You know what? They PhotoShop everything. It's so common. And it's really sad, because I love Melissa McCarthy. She's just so bubbly. She's very comfortable in her own skin.
And what I love about this, the consumers are talking about it, that makes it outrageous. I think coming soon we'll back away from the PhotoShopping, because they PhotoShop everything. She's not the only person that happens to.
KOSIK: But the "New York Observer's" Rex Reed famously attacked McCarthy in the review of her last film, "Identity Thief" this last February, calling her a tractor size, a female hippo. And, quote, "a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career with being obese and obnoxious with equal success."
Why all this hate for a woman who has built her career that any starlet should envy? I mean, you think about the part that she's in for "Bridesmaid", she embraced --
GILLIAMS: Every movie that she's in --
KOSIK: She's awesome. Where's all the hatred coming from?
GILLIAMS: Well, you know what, America, people in general, are generally not that kind on people overweight, just being honest over it. But that's about the person who said it, not about her. We'll come to a point in time, all these weight issues, even I have a pressure to be thin and look a certain way.
But I think those comments were so horrible and they were so mean that you can't even take them seriously. It's all about that person and that person has a lot of hate issues themselves.
BLACKWELL: Hey, Kim, I want to read for you the response to the attack. She said with "The New York Times", "I felt really bad for someone who's swimming in so much hate."
It's difficult to, I don't know, take this culture in Hollywood seriously. And when you discuss serious roles, could she be a leading woman in this culture in Hollywood in a drama, or is it just OK for larger people to play comedic roles?
KIM SERAFIN, SR. EDITOR, IN TOUCH WEEKLY: She's obviously created this niche for herself. She is responding as you mentioned. It was really good that she did not say anything back in February when this review came out. When all these hateful things came out, a lot of other people said things.
But now she's speaking out saying, that, you know, if she was 20, this might have affected her. Now, she's in a happy place in her life. And she has two daughters herself and she almost wanting to make sure that other people are not affected by comments like this.
You know, we're seeing in Hollywood a lot of different sizes and types and ages in Hollywood. So I think there's definitely a changing reaction out there. People do want to see people of all different shapes and sizes. And I think like Melissa McCarthy paved that way. So, I love that, and I think that's why people love her.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Roberto Cavalli and the sketches for Beyonce showing her with Barbie doll legs, not the curve that she's known for. Also, actresses like Jennifer Lawrence saying they're considered, quote, "obese in Hollywood."
We've been talking about this for so long. How does this change, if Melissa McCarthy is PhotoShopped. And a woman in this dress, this is Lawrence as well. How does this change? Where do you begin?
SERAFIN: Well, I think you just mentioned, Jennifer Lawrence. I think she's such a perfect example. She looks like every woman. She looks like a real person out there.
And yet, you're right. She did say she was kind of considered fat in Hollywood. And clearly she's not. And she's also an Oscar winner. And she's part of the one of the hugest movie franchises out there and she's really working all the time.
So, I think you're seeing reaction from people. Thank goodness for Twitter, thank goodness for Facebook. Thank goodness for people being outspoken they will call anyone on those PhotoShopped things like the Beyonce sketch. The reason people love Beyonce because she's curvy and she embraces her curves. And she's very talented, too.
But I love that. I love that there are so many people really speaking out against when something like this happens.
KOSIK: All right. Kendra G., let's switch topic, from PhotoShopping one actor down to wanting another one to cover up, look at this, an almost naked male model.
That's Kraft's "let's get zesty" campaign which some says goes way too far in attempt to promote salad dressings.
I think he's hot. I don't think --
GILLIAMS: Let me tell you something, I'm happy to be on a diet right now because I'm going to buy all the zesty salad dressings.
This man is incredible. I think, you know, sometimes we take things too seriously and it's not serious. I mean, he's doing his job. I like the commercial and I'm going to support it. I really am.
KOSIK: All right. BLACKWELL: Do you need to be naked to sell zesty Italian?
GILLIAMS: Well, it doesn't hurt, Victor. Let's take off the tie --
(CROSSTALK)
KOSIK: No, no.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKWELL: Kim Serafin, thank you so much.
GILLIAMS: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Quick break, we'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This week on the "Next List" we talk to Graham Hill, a designer that says living with less can lead to happier, more compelling lives.
GRAHAM HILL, DESIGNER: This main space transforms into five different rooms.
GUPTA: Hill is building micro-housing that is anything but meager starting with this 420 square foot apartment in Manhattan.
HILL: New York City, you will have guests come.
GUPTA (on camera): You can have guests here?
HILL: Yes, absolutely.
Just a couple of bunk beds, and then there is this cool ladder thing that comes down.
We have so much more space and so much more stuff than we did 50 years ago, you'd think we would be happier. In fact, happiness levels are basically flat lined.
GUPTA (voice-over): The best part of living with less, more freedom to do what you love.
Join me Saturday, 2:30 p.m. on CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Excellent to see the development.
KOSIK: It is.
BLACKWELL: From tabloid boss to tabloid star.
That's what some people on Twitter are saying after a media mogul, Rupert Murdoch declared he's divorcing his wife.
KOSIK: He is 82 years old, she is 44, which has caused some people to call her a gold digger, even though she was very successful before marrying him. Now, people are happening to what will happen to his fortune?
CNN's Alina Cho with more on the breakup fit for the headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The marriage of Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng was a partnership in every sense of the worse.
He, the 82- year-old chairman and CEO of News Corp with holdings that include Fox News and the "Wall Street Journal", one of the richest men in the world.
She, age 44, nearly half his age, a glamorous third wife with a taste for high fashion and high-powered friends.
But this is what made Wendi Murdoch internationally famous. 2011, smacking a protester who tried to throw a shaving cream pie at her husband as the media tycoon testified before Britain's parliament about his newspaper's practice of phone hacking. The video went viral earning her the nickname "Tiger Wife".
Now their divorce first reported by deadline.com is front page news. This is Rupert and Wendi Murdoch in happier times, talking to our Piers Morgan at this year's Academy Awards.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: How do you feel about CNN doing so well against Fox at the moment?
RUPERT MURDOCH, CEO, NEWS CORP: I think we're OK.
CHO: The Murdochs met in 1997 at a News Corp party in Hong Kong, where the Yale-educated Wendi worked at Murdoch property Star TV. Two years later, the couple married on his yacht in New York Harbor. They have two young daughters and all the benefits that come with being super rich.
No word on what Wendi could walk away with, but Murdoch, worth $11.2 billion paid his last wife a reported $1.7 billion in what was billed as the most expensive divorce settlement in history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Rupert Murdoch's spokesman has confirmed that $1.7 billion figure, saying it actually was in excess of that. As for what cause the split, of course, there are all kinds of rumors. But so far, nothing at all has been confirmed. Rupert Murdoch's spokesman would only cite the divorce filing, which states and this is pretty standard, quote, "The relationship between the husband and wife has broken down irretrievably" -- Victor and Alison.
BLACKWELL: Alina Cho, thank you. Next, take a look at the upper left side of your screen. Do you see that? A man falls five stories to the ground before a stunned crowd, and you will not believe what happens next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Get ready for a new treat in the mornings in just two days. Our all-new morning show "NEW DAY" begins with Chris Cuomo, and Kate Bolduan, Michaela Pereira. "NEW DAY" starts Monday morning, 6:00 a.m. Eastern. Do not miss it.
KOSIK: OK. Now, here is something you just got to see. I want you to watch the left side of your screen here. A man is going to fall five story and smash into the sidewalk. You can see him lying there -- debris around him and people gather to help.
And look at that, moments later, he walks away. He is the one in the middle there in the striped shirt. Let's show the fall again. People try to help, and then he is going to walk away, you know, and he is a little stunned, but otherwise he was OK. Nine lives.
BLACKWELL: Yes, thank you for starting your morning with us.
KOSIK: We've got much more coming up on CNN SATURDAY MORNING, which starts right now.
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