Gregg Jarrett Uncomfortable: Awkward!

“F**king…stupid…a**!” Today, America’s Newsroom guest go-host Gregg Jarrett got rather uncomfortable today [as he reported a story about the suspension of ESPN reporter Britt McHenry‘s after her “really bizarre foul-mouthed rant against a parking lot attendant for a tow truck company…filled with insults caught on video and then going viral” (via FNC vid)]. And, co-anchor Martha McCallum and Happening Now co-host Jenna Lee did not help things.

For FNC fill-in anchor Jarrett, who recently returned to Fox News after taking off for “serious personal issues,” his segment on McHenry’s suspension was an uncomfortable one for him and his viewers. As his fans may know, Jarrett recently pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct pertaining to an incident at a Minneapolis/St. Paul airport bar and grill: Allegedly, he was intoxicated and he “refused to follow orders and was arrested for obstruction of the legal process and taken to jail.” In a video of Jarrett in an apparent airport holding cell, a belligerent Jarrett calls an officer a “f**king…stupid…a**” and is summarily subdued and cuffed.

Today, a smiling Jarrett introduced his segment on McHenry, saying, “ESPN is suspending reporter Britt MacHenry after she let loose.”* Chuckling, he continued, “[I]n a really bizarre foul-mouthed rant against a parking lot attendant for a tow truck company. The ugly outburst–that’s with a capital “U”–filled with insults caught on video and then going viral.”

Subsequently, producers ran the footage of McHenry horridly raving, “I’m in the news, sweetheart. I will f**king sue this place….I wouldn’t work at a scumbag place like this. Makes my skin crawl even being here. Maybe, if I was [sic] missing some teeth they would hire me, huh?…Lose some weight, baby girl!”

In the segment, Jarrett moderated a discussion whether ESPN had the right to suspend McHenry. During it, he rightly noted, “We all have bad moments, frustrated, and we lash out and feel bad about it afterwards.”

As the block concluded, Martha seemed to gauchely throw Jarrett a lifeline, saying, “I want to go back to Britt McHenry here: I mean…obviously, she was acting like a complete jerk. I think what she needs to do is go back and apologize to that woman. But, the fact that she’s suspended from her job for a week, people have jerky behavior all the time. What’s the limit to that? Where does that end where you’re going to be monitored at home and [unintelligible] well, you said something nasty to your neighbor, and I think that you should be suspended for a week?”

Rightly, Jarrett noted, “Yeah, well the trouble is that she used her position in television in that remark.” He added, “Her biggest punishment is public humiliation. And, boy, check out social media!”

Laughing Martha said, “She’ll probably get more attention….You know how that works. You know how that works in the media world, right?”

All too aptly, Jarrett replied, “I do.”

Probably ready for a modicum of relief from Martha’s ill-conceived banter, Jarrett segued to the promo for the upcoming show, saying, “Jenna Lee is standing by for Happening Now. Hey, Jenna!”

But, there was no relief for poor Jarrett. Jenna began, remarking, “None of us have ever acted…none of us have ever acted like a jerk EVER! Anyways!”

“Anyways.” The elephant in the room remained–unremarked upon. Awkwardly for Jarrett–and the viewer.

*America’s Newsroom – 04/17/15 (@ 10:42 a.m. ET).

Elisabeth Hasselbeck: Who Dat?

FNC’s debutante: courtesy of the curvy couch. Fox & Friends co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck made her debut on the show–and the network– almost two weeks ago. For many F&F viewers who expected F&FW co-host and usual F&F fill-in Alisyn Camerota to take her place on the curvy couch vacated by Gretchen Carlson, it came as a shock when FNC outsider Elisabeth was named the new co-anchor with Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy. Naturally, Executive Programming VP Bill Shine had to do some ‘splaining–or, at the very least–to introduce in some detail this new View gal to loyal F&F viewers: He chose the latter.

In so doing, Elisabeth was feted regally on set by Donald Trump, Sherri Shepherd, and Sean Hannity as they all effusively praised the new FNC celeb to her co-hosts and F&F fans. Attempting to endear Elisabeth further to their audience, Steve and Brian elicited bio details from the blond beauty. And for those viewers who have not seen her in Survivor, The Look for Less (Style Network), or The View, a closer look was surely warranted.

Ergo, during the course of this her inaugural show, Elisabeth and her co-hosts provided the following personal info. The athletic lovely played point guard at Bay View Academy (East Providence) and softball at Boston College; studied studio art at BC; met hubby Tim Hasselbeck (then future NFL quarterback) there and married him in 2002 after about five years of dating; and even designed shoes for a while (for Puma). Of course, they also reminded viewers that Elisabeth had been on the aforementioned shows. (On a more “intimate” level, the mother of three revealed to those who thought that she was a natural towhead that she had dyed her hair brown as a college sophomore or junior–or, not!)

Good start! And, good luck, Elisabeth!

FNC’s “Mean Girl”: Kirsten Goes Loco on Lolo

Today’s “Beast”? Anthony Weiner’s former girlfriend and erstwhile defender Kirsten Powers. Fox News’ self-professed Christian progressive must have forgotten all about I Corinthians 13 (“The Love Chapter”) today. In her Happening Now appearance this afternoon, the usually compassionate Daily Beast columnist defended New York Times sports columnist Jere Longman’s misogynistic attack against Olympian Lolo Jones, a born-again Christian who posed a la a shy pre-Fall Eve in ESPN Body Issue 2009, for her sensual allure to an appreciative media at the perceived slight to her competitors. [N.B. No mention from Longman that Lolo is the first woman who has won back-to-back World Indoor titles in the 60-meter hurdles and that she was a three-time national champion hurdler and an eleven-time All-American at LSU.]

In Kirsten’s HN segment, her fellow Fox News colleague, former NYT investigative reporter Judith Miller opined, “I think it was very unfair….It was so harsh on her. It was so unforgiving.”* Substantiating her point, Miller cited the criticism of the NYT‘s very own ombudsman Arthur S. Brisbane, who said, “I think the writer [Jere Longman] was particularly harsh, even unnecessarily so….[T]his piece struck me as quite harsh and left me, along with others, wondering why the tone was so strong.”

Shaking her head, Kirsten emphatically countered, “I don’t agree! I do not agree.” Clad in her low-cut, sleeveless, short black dress, FNC’s blond beauty, perhaps, ironically groused, “He [Longman] never called her the Anna Kornikova: he interviewed somebody who said that….The point that he was actually trying to make is that here are actually two other American athletes whose names we don’t even know really…[who] have gotten no endorsement deals, have gotten no media coverage even though they have medals when this person who didn’t even get a medal is getting all of this media attention….How did she become the victim?”

Then, Kirsten added, “In terms of him talking the stuff about her, she’s the one who put it out there….She’s a woman. She’s, at least thirty….She cannot complain about media coverage that’s critical of her.” Coming to Lolo’s defense, Miller exclaimed, “Oh, yes, she can. Yes, she can when she’s really being attacked.” Shrugging her shoulders, Kirsten replied, “I don’t think it was an attack.”

Miller answered, “It was an attack! The only two people quoted in the entire piece are negative quotes.” Smirking, Kirsten caustically queried, “You’re not allowed to write a negative article about an athlete?” Miller riposted, “Wait a minute! He left out the fact that she had spinal surgery the year before. Her own extremely back story left out.” After clenching her teeth as Judith spoke, an irate Kirsten argued, “But, hasn’t that been covered extensively.”

Miller responded, “But, not in his column! If somebody’s reading that column, you have no idea where [she’s coming from]…Why beat up on this woman?” Unconvincingly, Kirsten replied, “He’s not beating up on her!” Immediately, Miler countered, “He was!” Appearing to contradict herself, Kirsten answered, “And, why he is not allowed to do that? I don’t understand.”

Interjecting, HN co-host Jon Scott remarked that while Lolo’s competitors may have won medals she was apparently the only woman to have won the national indoors hurdling championship twice. Cutting to the quick, he said, “Let’s show the photo that…aroused so much, I guess, ire, so much negative attention to her.” As the photo of a seated nude Lolo looked backed at the camera with all of her “lady bits” discreetly covered, Jon continued, “What doesn’t get noted is the small type there…a quote from her coach at LSU Dennis Shaver who writes, “She has the perfect core, which is where her horsepower comes from. Her abs are like a washboard, all muscle fiber and no fat. You don’t get like without proper diet and training: And, even then, you’d need Lolo’s determination.’ That gets lost in the coverage of that photo.”

“Exactly: it certainly did,” concurred Miller. As Kirsten laughed in derision, Miller chastened, “And, the back story gets lost. And, Kirsten, I’m really surprised.” Interposing, a bemused Kirsten queried, “What back story? I don’t even understand.”

Miller explained, “Wait a minute! You can make the point that the media likes some people and the companies choose to use some people without beating up on her, without demeaning her or her achievement. And, the fact that she’s a self-proclaimed Christian virgin and comes from this poor family. I think it’s an amazing story.”

Gesticulating animatedly, Kirsten interrupted, “As one of the other girls comes from a very poor story [sic]. And, it’s an amazing story that been covered ad nauseum.”

As Kirsten ranted, a smiling Miller interposed, “She’s beautiful. Why should we hold that against her?”

In a seemingly disingenuous response, Kirsten said that “we shouldn’t” but then echoed Longman’s plaint that Lolo was getting a disproportionate amount of attention. Then, baring her claws, Kirsten caustically exclaimed, “And, I’m sorry, but, you know, the whole born-again Christian thing and posing naked, I don’t think they really go together. Call me crazy!…I talk about my faith all the time, and if I posed like that I would expect to hear about it!”

Conversely, if Kirsten posits like that, she should certainly expect to hear about it.

Happening Now – 08/10/12 (@ 12:45 p.m. ET)

Update: Video via J$P.

Bocephus: Boycott F&F (and ESPN)

“That’s exactly what I said!” Unrepentant, rebel country music superstar Hank Williams affirmed his call for a boycott of FNC’s top-rated Fox & Friends in his latest release. In response to ESPN’s apparent axing of his long-standing Monday Night Football promo after a controversial “Fox & Friends” interview, Williams retaliated with “Keep the Change,” a free download to his fans. In his new record, Williams complains that F&F twisted his words: then, he acerbically lilts, “Yeah, you can keep Fox & Friends and ESPN out of your homes, too [because] Bocephus and all of his rowdy friends and his song are out of there. Yes, sir!”

Yesterday, Williams visited The View to make his “apology.” In the course of the virtual lovefest, Barbara Walters did him to task for his call for his call for a boycott of F&F and ESPN. After pointing out that ESPN (like ABC, the home of The View) was owned by Disney, she remarked, “But, you are now telling people that Fox & Friends and ESPN, other people should boycott them.” Rather than offer amends, a somewhat embittered Bocephus responded, “That’s exactly what I said!”

Later in the day, Williams appeared on FNC’s Hannity.* When co-host Sean Hannity mentioned his The View reception, Williams gushed, “Oh, it was fantastic!” Subsequently, when Hannity asked him about his departure from ESPN, he strangely failed to ask him about his call for a boycott of Fox & Friends. Perhaps, it was understandable. All in the FOX family?

As the interview began to conclude, Hannity commented, “You know what, I love football….I’m gonna miss your open.” With a glint in his eye, Williams responded, “Well, stand by for 2012. It’s a free country with lots of options and lots of choices.” Hannity replied, “So, in other words, we may not have heard the last of Hank Williams, Jr., on football?” Grinning, Williams answered, “We’ve been contacted today. The song is mine, Sean!”

Subsequently, smacking his ring forcefully on the desk, Williams continued, “Let’s talk about the poll. They had a poll…’who would you like to have on do the Monday Night [Football] 53% me!” Chuckling, Sean jested, “You don’t look as good as Faith Hill but she does Monday Night Football.” Williams replied, “No, no, no, no! But, that’s another network. But, there are other networks.” Hannity replied, “Yes, there are. Fox is one of them!” Shaking his head emphatically, Williams answered, “Uh, yeah!”

“Ready for some non-ESPN football,” FOX fans? The answer sounded pellucidly clear. Ready for some Fox & Friends? Bocephus ain’t!

Author’s aside: For a related Carpe Diem story, cf. “F&F’s Bizarre Bocephus: Obama Like Hitler?“

Ann Coulter: We Look Fantastic Naked!

Geraldo at Large guest Ann Coulter tantalized her conservative fans by baring a little of her libertine side tonight. During a segment on ESPN reporter Erin Andrews who had denied to Oprah that she had staged the “Peeping Tom” video, host Geraldo Rivera aired a portion of the interview. As it ran, Ann whispered a racy aside to fellow guest Kimberly Guilfoyle.

After the footage had run, Geraldo told Kimberly that it was “clearly an inside job.” Kimberly responded, “But that doesn’t mean that she staged it.” Then she gratuitously added, “What Ann and I were talking. Go ahead and say it, Ann.” Chuckling, Ann replied, “No. That was a hot mike.” However, Kimberly could not keep that delicious tidbit from the audience: She disclosed, “No, she said, ‘I think we, too, would look pretty good walking around naked, too.'”

Defending her risque remark, Ann stated, “Well, Oprah just challenged it, saying, ‘Nobody looks that good walking around naked.’ And, I said, ‘We look fantastic naked!'”* Amused, a grinning Geraldo interjected, “Oh, my dear! How did we get here?” Kimberly answered, “I don’t know!” Laughing, Ann riposted, “It’s your topic!”

Tempting viewers with thoughts of herself and Kimberly nude, the conservative siren sure knows how to bring errant sailors ashore.

Geraldo at Large – 09/12/09 (@10:54 p.m. ET)