More on Imus/Rutgers Meeting, Rap Discussion, Raw Politics, Giving 360, Aging, And Ashley Judd Fights Malaria (Friday's Show)

Hi everyone. I almost skipped this, but since I didn't do last Friday I'll give you a quickie. That sounds dirtier than it's meant to. Anyway, Anderson is off to Afghanistan (yikes!), so tonight we've got Kiran Chetry in New York and John Roberts in Washingon hosting for us, as well as practicing for their new gig. Once again we lead off with the Imus controversy (still!!!!) and in a Kiran piece we learn that the meeting with the Rutgers players and Imus lasted three hours and tears were shed. Also, the players have accepted Imus' apology. Thank God! Can we move on from the meeting now (which should have been private anyway)? Apparently no we can not. Next we're joined by the coach's pastor, Reverend DeForest Soaries. He tells us that most of the time Imus just listened to the women. Kiran notes Imus actually learned about his cancelation right before the meeting, so the pastor was put in the position of doing the Christian thing and being supportive. That must have been awkward.

Moving on now to a Tom Foreman piece about rap artists. Because we're all about being shocked about rap and hip hop now. Once again CNN has raided MTV's smuttiest for our viewing displeasure. In a statement, producer Russell Simmons tries to distance hip hop/rap from the Imus thing, saying "hip-hop artists rap about what they see, hear and feel around them." Right. We learn in the piece that, actually, studies show kids who listen to rap are more likely to drink, do drugs, and be violent. Though I suppose that could be correlational. Tom tells us, "if the issue was Don Imus and a few ill-chosen words, the story is done. But, if the issue is many others saying the same words and worse to much bigger audiences, the story is just beginning." Yeah, the story is done. Unless media companies are going to start talking about their own people without prodding. What say you CNN? Do you support everything out of Glen Beck's mouth?

Next we have an interview with Al Sharpton, who John describes as both "a player and player hater." Ha! Oh my. There's something about a middle aged white guy saying "player hater." John asks why there's not the same outrage over rap lyrics as there has been over Don Imus. Sharpton says that there has been it's just that the media hasn't been there. John then asks, "but, if you, Reverend Sharpton, were out protesting in front of 1755 Broadway, the home of the Universal Music Group, this weekend, don't you think that that would get the coverage?" Well, depends. Has there been a development in the Anna Nicole Smith baby daddy money debacle (or whatever the hell it is they're fighting about)? Sharpton says he has protested outside places before. "I should ask you why you guys have not covered that," he says. Seriously. John tries to argue that they have been covering it-at least this week. Well, duh. That's his whole point isn't it? The media runs around like they collectively have ADHD. This week it's those nasty rap lyrics; next week it will be something else. John then plays us a clip from a Nelly video and let me just say how thrilled I am to have him representin' for my city. After some more discussion John tells us, "I just want to read a quote from Snoop Dogg," and I bust out laughing. We're really through the looking glass at this point aren't we? I'm actually glad to finally be hearing from the rappers, but it's still completely bizarre.

Moving on to an interview with "Vibe" editor in chief Danyel Smith. Basically this whole interview is about the question of why it's okay for rappers to say what Don Imus said, but not Don Imus. Danyel thinks it's the way he said it and because he was in a position of power. She seems to think it was even worse that he didn't say it in anger because at least if he did he would have that to fall back on. According to her, rappers have their art to fall back on. Huh? John asks her if she thinks this will be a flash in the news cycle. At first she says she would hate for it to be Don Imus to change rap, but then she says that if he does cause the lyrics to improve she would shake his hand. So...okay. After this there's "Raw Politics", a David Mattingly piece on the preacher's wife, and weather stuff. However, I'm skipping it all to save time.

Transitioning now to a "Giving 360" piece from Randi Kaye. Hey, is this consistency? From 360? The mind boggles. Readers might remember that the show started this segment last Friday and quite frankly I was skeptical that we'd ever see it again. Maybe they will actually keep up with it. Anyway, Randi's piece is about Aaron Dworkin, a violinist who founded the Sphinx Organization, which provides classical music programs to minority kids. Aaron, an African American, was adopted by white parents and raised in a mostly white environment, which made him feel like he didn't fit in. He credits classical music with saving his life. For more info you can go to SphinxMusic.org

Next up we've got some aging talk and Kiran notes 60 is the new 40. Hey, remember when you were a kid and 40 just seemed soooooo old. Not so much now, huh? Anyway, we're introed into a Sanjay Gupta piece and he shows up an age progression of him from his current age of 37 to 100. "Handsome, right," he asks. Uh, okay. Actually Sanjay doesn't look too bad at 100. And I think how he's looking now goes without saying. Sanjay wanted to know if he'd make it to a handsome 100 years old, so he had an expert follow him around. His day starts at the crack of dawn and, aw, there's Sanjay walking his dog. The expert says we're suppose to get at least eight hours of sleep, so Sanjay totally flunks that part because he only got four hours. Is there anyone who actually has time to get eight hours of sleep? Sanjay gets props for not being a coffee drinker, but the expert is a bit concerned that he has two full time jobs. I'm a bit concerned too. It's not like he's stocking shelves at a Wal-Mart, he's operating on people's brains. I wouldn't be too happy to know my surgeon was running on only four hours of sleep. Plus he's got two little kids. And he just wrote a book. And now I'm sitting here wondering how the hell he even did all this. Sanjay must have superpowers. So will Sanjay make it to a 100? Well apparently you have to watch his special to find out. Oh, cliffhanger! And oh noes, I didn't watch, so now I'll never know. Seriously though Sanjay, take a nap or something sometimes.

Transitioning to an interview John did with Ashley Judd on her fight against Malaria. She doesn't have it herself, she's trying to help others not get it. Ashley took up the cause because "3,000 children dying a day of a mosquito bite is not acceptable to me." Amen to that. The charity involves buying $10 bed nets that keep out the mosquitos that carry Malaria. Oh, and Ashley brought props. She shows us the net and states that April 25th is Malaria Awareness day. There's a day for everything. Check out MalariaNoMore.org and FiveAndAlive.org to help. After the interview John and Kiran talk a bit about their new American Morning hosting gig. Kiran notes they probably won't be watching 360 anymore because it's past their bedtime now. She asks what time John will be getting up and he says about 2:30 AM. Ugh. That's way worse than my sometimes 5:30 AM. John tries to be an optimist about it though, noting there's nothing like seeing the sun come up. Kiran thinks that's sweet, but points out they'll be locked in a studio and won't be able to see the sun. Ha! I'm liking her. That'll do it. This actually wasn't quite as quick as I thought I was going to make it. The show was just okay. C+