By Jessica Wedemeyer
8:24am PDT, Oct 18, 2019
Megyn Kelly slams NBC News on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" over Matt Lauer investigation, Harvey Weinstein coverage
Megyn Kelly let loose on her former employer, NBC News, during an appearance on the Oct. 16 episode of "Tucker Carlson Tonight." During an extra-long interview, the former "Megyn Kelly Today" host took aim at the newsgathering organization for allegedly attempting to suppress Ronan Farrow's reporting on sexual harassment claims against Harvey Weinstein, as Farrow alleges in his new book, "Catch and Kill." She also questioned what NBC News knew about sexual harassment allegations against their former star, Matt Lauer — and when exactly they became aware of the fact that multiple women had made damming claims about workplace misconduct on his part. "The question is open as to whether [NBC] put dollars ahead of decency, about whether they were more interested in protecting their star anchor than they were in protecting the women of the company," she said. "There needs to be an outside investigation into this company. They investigated themselves. That doesn't work. … How are people supposed to trust it?" Continued the former Fox News personality, "The No. 1 [thing] that needs to happen now is they need to release any and all Matt Lauer accusers from their confidentiality agreements. NBC says it has nothing to hide. Great. Let's not hide anything." She then questioned why NBC News allegedly attempted to suppress the Weinstein reporting: "Was it to protect someone internally?" she asked. "What Ronan is suggesting is they worked to cover up one sexual predator, Harvey Weinstein, in order to protect another: Matt Lauer."
RELATED: Talk show host controversies and feuds
"Wheel of Fortune" guest delivers hilarious, off-the-rails introduction
A contestant on the Oct. 14 episode of "Wheel of Fortune" made headlines with the hilarious way he chose to introduce himself on the game show. After host Pat Sajak asked him to talk about his family, Blair Davis wisecracked, "I've been trapped in a loveless marriage for the last 12 years to an old battle-axe named Kim. She cursed my life with three stepchildren named Star, RJ and Ryan, and I have one rotten grandson." A laughing Sajak pointed out that Davis, who owns a small trucking business in San Diego was just being facetious. "Absolutely. I love them like nobody's business," confirmed the contestant. He also explained that his grandson is responsible for his extremely lengthy beard: "I started growing the beard a couple years back, and every time I threaten to shave it off, he gives me a really hard time. He's grown used to it," he said.
RELATED: The funniest photos of celebs in 2019
"Sunnyside" pulled from NBC schedule, will finish season as digital-only series
The Wrap reported on Oct. 15 that NBC will no longer broadcast the Kal Penn-led comedy "Sunnyside" after the fourth of 11 episodes airs on Oct. 17. The remaining seven episodes will be available to stream online on the NBC app and on NBC.com. "Sunnyside" was the lowest rated new show of the season and the first to get the axe.
Howard Stern gives Ellen DeGeneres a passionate kiss
Howard Stern kissed Ellen DeGeneres on the Oct. 14 episode of her eponymous talk show to distract people from talking about her headline-making hangout with President George W. Bush during the Oct. 6 Dallas Cowboys football game. (Ellen's fans were mad that the liberal comedian was seen acting friendly towards the controversial conservative politician, seemingly giving him a pass for past transgressions.) "People were giving you grief about this George Bush picture. Listen, you know I'm always with you. I'm on your side," said the shock jock. "The problem is — and this is a brilliant booking on your part, having me on the show — people have this picture in their mind of you and George Bush. What you need to do, in my opinion, is take a picture with me, making out with me. Now just hear me out. … Once people see me with you, no one's going to be thinking about George Bush." Eventually, she consented to a peck on the lips, joking, "Nothing worse can happen to me now." After Howard said that they were going to kiss "romantically," Ellen specified that they were "not gonna makeout" and there would be "no tongue." Fired back the radio personality, "You wanna erase the George Bush picture. … Listen, I don't wanna make you throw up or anything." Before taking off his glasses and puckering up, Howard added, "This is the picture that is gonna make American forget that you were sitting next to George W. Bush. You're so smart to do this." They then locked lips — as Howard's wife, Beth Stern, laughed and clapped from the front row of the live studio audience. "I think there was tongue. I felt you pushing a little bit," he said after the smooch.
NBC News president hits back at Ronan Farrow's book: "We have no secrets and nothing to hide"
On Oct. 14, NBC News president Noah Oppenheim sent a lengthy memo to staffers refuting Ronan Farrow's claims in his new book, "Catch and Kill," that the company attempted to suppress his reporting on sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein in order to protect their star anchor, Matt Lauer, who has also been accused of rampant workplace misconduct. (Farrow alleges that the company paid off Lauer's accusers for years before they ultimately gave him the boot.) "Matt Lauer's actions were abhorrent, and the anger and sadness he caused continue to this day. As we've said since the moment he was fired, his abuses should never have happened. Ronan Farrow's book takes that undeniable fact and twists it into a lie — alleging we were a 'company with a lot of secrets.' We have no secrets and nothing to hide," said Oppenheim, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Now that we've read Farrow's book, it's clear — his smear rests on the allegation that NBC's management knew about and took steps to hide Matt Lauer's misconduct before his firing in November of 2017. Without that, he has no basis on which to rest his second conspiracy theory — that his Harvey Weinstein reporting was squashed to protect Lauer." He went on to deny that NBC paid settlements to Lauer's accusers and stood by the company's internal investigation into the disgraced former "Today" show host, maintaining that NBC brass was not aware of any harassment allegations against him before 2017. "The facts do not support Farrow's allegation of a 'cover-up,'" continued Oppenheim, adding that there is "no way we have found that NBC's current leadership could have been aware of [Lauer's] misdeeds in the past" and that "Farrow's effort to defame NBC News is clearly motivated not by a pursuit of truth, but an axe to grind … [and] is built on a series of distortions, confused timelines, and outright inaccuracies." Farrow, meanwhile, has called his book a "meticulously fact-checked work of investigative journalism."
"Saved by the Bell" creator Sam Bobrick dies at 87
"Saved by the Bell" creator Sam Bobrick died at 87 after suffering a stroke, his rep confirmed to Entertainment Weekly on Oct. 14. Bobrick was also an accomplished playwright.
Ava DuVernay, Netflix sued over portrayal of interrogation technique in "When They See Us"
The Wrap reported on Oct. 14 that John E. Reid and Associates, the company behind the Reid Technique — an interrogation system featured on the Ava DuVernay-created Netflix limited series "When They See Us" — is suing the filmmaker, as well as the streamer, over the way the technique was depicted on the biographical drama. On "When They See Us" — which centers around the Exonerated 5, five teenagers who were wrongfully convicted of sexually assaulting a jogger in 1989 and exonerated more than a decade later — the Reid Technique is described as "universally rejected" and portrayed as a means of extracting false confessions from suspects. The series shows detectives using the Reid Technique — which is characterized as "42 hours of questioning and coercing, without food, bathroom breaks, withholding parental supervision" — to elicit false confessions from the boys. The company argues that their eponymous technique was exaggerated and mischaracterized on the show. In actuality, they say, the technique does not call for "conducting excessively long interrogations" or "denying a subject any physical needs." They also claim that the system urges "that extreme caution and care be taken when interviewing or interrogating juveniles or those with mental impairments." The company argues that the technique has not been "universally rejected" and that "When They See Us" made "an effort to cause a condemnation of the Reid Technique." The company is seeking unspecified damages and asking for Netflix to remove the mischaracterization of the Reid Technique from the show.
