New Day Censors Sexy SI Swimsuit Models–Butt

Fox & Friends celebrates the bevy of beauties’ derrieres. Sex: Yes, it sells. And, that may be one of the reasons that priggish CNN’s morning show New Day gets it head handed to it on a silver platter on a daily basis by its saucy FNC counterpart Fox & Friends.

Today, New Day (a la the 1956 “Ed Sullivan Show” of Elvis’ gyrating hips) bowdlerized the bottom half of the cover of the Sports Illustrated 50th Anniversary Issue cover which featured three bathing beauties flaunting their assets. In its sole coverage of the SI cover, ND entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner stood next to a big screen (featuring the fetching faces and topless tops of Lily Aldridge, Nina Agdal, and Chrissy Teigen from the back), reporting, “Now this is the first time since 1994 that three women have been on the cover.”*

Noting the obvious omission, i.e., ND co-host Kate Bouldan complained, “I don’t see swimsuits, though….You could actually show their derrieres!” Expressing her disappointment at New Day‘s censorship, she explained, “One of my girlfriends–her swimsuit line is featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue“: When Nischelle responded, “Oh, so they’ve got your friend’s bottoms on?,” Kate excitedly exclaimed, “Yes! “Basta! So proud! It’s such a big moment!”

In pellucid contradistinction from CNN, F&F prominently and proudly featured the uncensored scantily clad ladies: To wit, it proudly proclaimed “Bottoms up” of the 2014 SI Swimsuit cover girls. At the start of each hour, the cover was shown as F&F co-hosts touted SI‘s answer to the winter blues: In tandem, respectively, news reader Heather Nauert would end her top-of-the-hour headline stories with the SI Swimsuit cover displayed on F&F full screen as she invited guys to “take a long look” at “those booties” that “everybody wants to see.”**

Except for Jeff Zucker‘s censors on CNN.

*New Day – 02/14/14 (@ 7:14 a.m. ET).

**Fox & Friends -02/14/14 (@ 6:11 a.m. ET; @ 7:06 a.m. ET; and @ 8:06 a.m. ET).

Friel: Bob Hope Alive

Courtney: completely clueless? If not, FNC entertainment correspondent Courtney Friel certainly did not help her case this morning. As any Fox & Friends fan knows, the former Maxim model does not always appear to be the brightest bulb on the FNC set. In fact, today, she seemed only slightly plugged in.

During an F&F segment entitled “Celebrity Charities,” Courtney seemed ill-prepared from the onset.* When co-host Alisyn Camerota questioned her about the difference between a charity and a foundation, Courtney consulted her written notes with almost every phrase. Albeit, she did appear to recuperate a bit when Aly asked about which celebrity had “the worst” charity, i.e., which one had the “fewest dollars go to the actual cause.” (Courtney replied that “the highest operating expenses were at Rosie O’Donnell’s “For All Kids Foundation,” citing Forbes.com.) Nevertheless, when Aly asked whether some of a donor’s money went to overhead rather than “the cause,” Courtney unfortunately flickered.

In her response to Aly, Courtney declared, “It seems like that. And, especially with sports fundraising, that’s like the worst thing to contribute to because Bob Hope, he has a golf tournament every year in Palm Springs, and last year they raised $1.6 million for charity but it cost five times that to run the event.”

Strangely, Aly did not appear to take notice of Courtney’s gaffe or, perchance, she hoped that the audience would ignore it, too. Rather, Aly replied, “Oh, my gosh!”

Indeed. On the eve of the Fourth of July weekend, the entertainment reporter of the armed forces “favorite” news channel does not seem to know that the most illustrious entertainer of America’s troops died almost seven year ago. Crazy!

*Fox & Friends – 07/02/10 (@7:33 a.m. ET)

O’Reilly Factor: “Freak” Jacko & His “White Children”

Bill O’Reilly consigned Michael Jackson to the “Cultural Warrior” segment for a public flogging. Introducing the “Media Glorification?” story to his guests, Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson and Fox News anchor Juliet Huddy, O’Reilly opined, “Many news people apparently think that Mr. Jackson was some kind of hero because he could sing and dance.” After that questionably racial remark, O’Reilly remarked, “To be fair, you had to cover a story like this ’cause the man was one of the most successful entertainers in history but to spin it into some kind of glorification is flat out dishonest.”

After O’Reilly asked Gretchen if she were growing weary of the story, Gretchen groused, “I, personally, am very tired of this story….I feel that it is a disservice to the American public to cover this story 24/7.” O’Reilly concurred, “I absolutely think that…we are overplaying it but we’re in a competitive industry.”

Turning to Juliet, O’Reilly asked, “The other media…are glorifying the man, are they not?” Juliet answered, “They are glorifying the man.” She asked, “Why not take a stand and say this man has been accused [of paedophilia]: He wasn’t convicted….Neither was O.J. Simpson.” O’Reilly replied, “Because you can’t cede the audience like that: It ruins your whole month of ratings.”

O’Reilly posited, “Black Americans are much more engaged in watching this stuff than white Americans even though Michael Jackson has white children and he chose to have white children and the face deal I don’t even want to get into.” He pontificated, “There’s no racial component to this story at all.” [Regrettably, in an earlier segment with a former Jackson attorney, Jerry Reisman, O’Reilly raised the spectre of race as well: When Reisman explained Jackson’s “glorification” in part by the American and world press because of his contribution to the “African-American experience in America,” O’Reilly coarsely queried, “You buying that? You are? Then he inseminates…the mother of the children with white people’s sperm and there’s some kind of racial component to black people?”]

Revisiting Juliet’s point, Gretch declared, “And we’re also not focusing on the paedophile accusations as well.” O’Reilly elucidated, “We can’t because he was acquitted.” Dismissively, Juliet interjected, “He was acquitted as O.J. was acquitted.” O’Reilly concluded, “The only thing you can say with certainty is what he did with children was inappropriate and it is wrong for an adult to do what he did.” As a postscript Juliet added, “But he’s forgiven because he’s an entertainer and he’s considered quirky….He was a freak.”

Regardless of one’s view of Michael Jackson, the Cultural Warrior segment was strange, not necessarily because of the opinions stated, but because there were no counterpoints. There were no black Americans to explain to O’Reilly the significance of Michael Jackson who had done for blacks what Elvis did for whites, i.e., bridge the racial and cultural divide. Both were flawed, fallen men but transcendent American artists.

Jacko: F&F’s Faux Facts

Today Fox & Friends’ “News by the Numbers” seemed more like “Michael Jackson Fan Fiction” by Steve Doocy.* In this segment “dedicated to the career of Michael Jackson,” Steve claimed that Jackson was the “only artist ever to get in twice” into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and that Jackson’s thirteen Grammys and number one hits were both “record-setting.” Not quite.

As to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Steve, at least, forgot Paul McCartney who was inducted as a member of the Beatles and as a solo artist.** With regard to Grammys, Stevie Wonder with 22 surpasses Jacko (13) as a solo male artist.*** Likewise, pertaining to record number one singles, Elvis Presley, Rock & Roll’s King, with 17 bests Pop’s King (13).****

Speaking of records, who was fact-checking F&F’s record today?

[There is no doubt that Michael Jackson was an incredible talent. As his life is memorialized, there is no need to over-hype. Appreciate him for he was: another great conflicted artist.]

*F&F (06/26/09) – @7:24 a.m. ET
**http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/the-beatles
**http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/paul-mccartney
***http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,264981,00.html
***http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_records
****http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7327843.stmS

Gretch: Wager Weasel?

Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson seems to weasling out of her bet with F&F Weekend co-anchor Clayton Morris.* After a Consumer Electronics Show segment with Clayton showcasing the latest gadgets this morning, Gretch asked, “Hey, Clayton: ‘member that bet that we had?” Clayton replied, “Yeah, I remember.”

Gretchen continued, “Well, Brian may be willing to take a mulligan for me so we’re going to reveal that when you join us later on in the show.” Clayton cagily cracked, “Wait a second: that sounds like a scam to me.” Then F&F co-host Brian Kilmeade intoned, “Maybe, the Giants can do what the Vikings couldn’t and that’s beat your Eagles: Maybe, it’s time to factor me into this.”

When Clayton returned, nothing more was said about the wager between Gretchen and Clayton. More than likely, Gretch will not be wearing the Eagles’ jersey tomorrow nor singing their war anthem. As Elvis, today’s birthday boy, might say, “A little less conversation, a little more action, please.”**

*https://jakeho.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/clayton-loses-tutu-gretchen-gains-jersey/

**http://crocmusic.com/track/197443/elvis_presley/little_less_conversation/