larry king

larry king began his interviewing career in the late 1950s on the radio. but he will probably be most remembered for hosting "larry king live" on cnn starting in 1985. he has conducted thousands of interviews of the years and has become the go-to interviewer for anyone dealing with a media crisis mostly due to the fact that he asks softball questions and basically just allows his subject to say whatever they want without much follow-up questioning. and some of his comments and questions are so asinine you have to wonder how he has kept his job for so long.

so this week, the person dealing with a media firestorm was dr laura schlessinger for her on-air usage of "the n-word." heres some links to an audio recording and transcript of what she said on her radio show. in my opinion, dr laura was making a valid point albeit it in a clumsy, misguided way. but in a world where people like al sharpton roam just waiting in the shadows for anyone to say anything of near insensitivity, dr laura had to spend her week on an apology tour. aka, larry kings domain.

you only need to listen to first 25 seconds of the below video to understand why larry has lost his mojo. but heres a partial transcript:

KING: Before we get to the announcement, the one thing that you said was interesting. You said that on HBO, black comics use the N- word.

SCHLESSINGER: Rap music.

KING: But, Jewish comics can kid Jews, Hispanic comics, Josh Lopez, kids Hispanics all the time. Gay comics kid the gay situation. It's OK, isn't it? But not OK when the non-N-person (emphasis mine) uses it.

NON N-PERSON?!?! thats the best way for you to say that larry? good grief!

well, at least he announced that he is retiring from his cnn post which will be taken over by piers morgan of "americas got talent" fame. but maybe not any time soon enough.

British journalist and "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan, who is widely thought to be King's replacement, is apparently having trouble obtaining a work visa, according to several sources...

As a British citizen, Morgan needs a special visa that will allow him to work full-time in the US -- and those types of visas are increasingly difficult to get, according to lawyers who specialize in the field.

so for better or worse, the larry king live unintentional comedy hour rolls on.

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