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LL Cool J vs. FNC?

Looks like there may a bit more to Thursday’s Palin special on FNC than we thought…LL Cool J tweets the following (via J$)

Fox lifted an old interview I gave in 2008 to someone else & are misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palins Show. WOW

Update 2: TVNewser has an FNC statement on the matter…

A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, “Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith’s interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career.”

Translation: Yes we got caught with our hands in the cookie jar so we’re dropping the interview while making it look like LL Cool J is losing out so that the focus is on him.

Update: Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer offers up a somewhat different opinion…

Me: Recycling an old interview, even if it was on an FNC website, is still recycling an old interview. FNC could have avoided this PR problem by not putting LL Cool J’s name in the press release, which suggests to readers that the interview is new regardless of whether FNC says it is new or not, and noting in the special that the interview was from two years ago. I would have considered that approach appropriate. The way the network did go in its approach to this however needlessly added an air of illegitimacy to the interview’s use. In other words, instead of the issue being “LL Cool J doesn’t want to be associated with Palin”, which would be a winning issue for FNC, the issue is now “the propriety of how FNC goes about doing its specials” which is not something FNC wants.

This entry was posted on March 30, 2010 at 10:20 pm and is filed under FNC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

25 Responses to “LL Cool J vs. FNC?”

  1. cornycob Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 3:51 am

    Remember those annoying “Real American Stories” commercials? I’m pretty sure this show is basically just a one-hour version of that. Which sounds pretty lame.

  2. fritz3 Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 4:48 am

    I’m no FNC or Palin fan but this just doesn’t sound right. I can’t imagine they would do something that dumb when they could get a real interview with almost anyone they wanted.

  3. laree Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 7:38 am

    Is that the real LL Cool J’s twitter?

  4. laree Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 7:40 am

    Imus In The Morning got rid of their twitter account because another person? group? was using a similar name and was misrepresenting themselves.

    That’s why I ask if this is LL Cool J’s real twitter account?

  5. laree Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 7:45 am

    I took a look at the twitter account and it states it is verified. LL Cool J lives in Queens, New York?

  6. laree Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 7:50 am

    Sarah Pac Responds I am guessing this is to hype the segment on Thursday who believes that LL Cool J wouldn’t like to be profiled on the highest rated cable news network? I guess FNC didn’t think there was enough Buzz?

    http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2010/03/ll-cool-j-dont-flatter-yourself.html

  7. Grammie Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 8:35 am

    Check this out by Steve Krakauer on Mediaite.

    http://www.mediaite.com/online/ll-cool-j-distances-himself-from-fox-news-sarah-palin/

    A very “fair and balanced” report, IMO.

  8. lonestar77 Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 8:59 am

    Who comes out better? FNC. It’s not like people were going to flock to the program to see LLcoolj. However, the million or so people who are gonna watch could potentially develop a liking for llcoolj. But, LL (as his friends call him) pretends to be irked because it has something to do with Palin. Now, he loses free publicity that would have reached a ton of people. That LL is one smart cookie!

    On a side note, whoever writes FNC’s reactions is pretty darn awesome. I wouldn’t want to cross FNC for fear of what the “reactions” department would come back with. They are freaking classic.

  9. lonestar77 Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 9:01 am

    Oh, & Spud, DoubleLcoldJ IS the one losing out.

  10. laree Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 9:01 am

    So Fox is cutting his segment because he didn’t want it used, when Sarah Palin is the host. He does work for NBC on NCIS Los Angles perhaps someone at the top at NBC suggested he take the action he did?

    He could have used the cross promotion but not now. On the other hand this helped Sarah Palin it reminded people about her special on FNC tomorrow -Thursday.

  11. terance Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 9:03 am

    So Fox is cutting his segment because he didn’t want it used, when Sarah Palin is the host. He does work for NBC on NCIS Los Angles perhaps someone at the top at NBC suggested he take the action he did?

    NCIS Los Angeles comes on CBS.

  12. laree Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 9:07 am

    Thanks for correction Terance, I don’t spend much time watching Network Channels. I watch NCIS reruns on USA network…they all end up there eventually 🙂

  13. alindc Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 9:22 am

    He probably doesn’t want to be associated with it because of the out-there things Sarah Palin continues to say and how divisive she is. He was shown in the TV promos for this show as well, which certainly had me wondering why/how LL Cool J sat down for an interview with Palin. Which he did not. No wonder he isn’t happy about this.

    Also, what’s wrong with Fox’s PR people, that they’re constantly issuing such juvenile statements like wishing him the best “with his fledgling acting career”? I mean, show some respect, this is not some D-list reality show star we are talking about. LL has had a very successful career in the entertainment industry dating back to the mid 80’s. Fox’s statement about him is really unprofessional IMHO.

  14. fritz3 Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 9:38 am

    I guess I was wrong and they are that dumb.

  15. laural Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 9:58 am

    Lie about the guy and then insult/criticize him when he complains. Leaves little room for complaining about Olbermann, doesn’t it?

  16. harry1420 Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 10:55 am

    alindc, you’ve gotta remember ailes runs his PR department just like he ran his republican campaigns. they are so juvenile at fox. Sounds like palins special won’t be so special. pre-packaged interviews from years ago…geez. thought it was a NEWS channel not the HISTORY channel.

  17. terance Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 11:56 am

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TV_SARAH_PALIN?SITE=WWL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

    “Contrary to what was reported, LL Cool J was never scheduled to be a guest on ‘Real American Stories’ with Sarah Palin this week,” Rhett Usry, the artist’s spokesman, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The show had planned to use an interview from 2008 that was being repurposed without LL’s permission.

    “This statement is not a reflection of any feelings LL has toward Fox News or Ms. Palin, whom he has never met, rather a clarification of what we have seen published in the media.”

    Fox News Channel did not respond to numerous calls and e-mails from The Associated Press inquiring about the status of the segment with LL Cool J, who was born James Todd Smith.

    Note: The AP story also has the same FNC PR quote TVN is using as well.

  18. alindc Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    harry1420 – that’s interesting. I’m not old enough to know/remember Ailes’ campaigns, I wonder what the press releases sounded like then.

    I don’t understand why Fox PR does stuff like this. I mean it just seems to me that if they set a different tone, everybody would benefit, and catty statements like this negatively affect Fox News’ reputation in the industry, and that seems like the opposite of good PR work.

  19. fritz3 Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    This story is starting to take on a life of its own. Now Toby Kieth says he was never interviewed for this show and doesn’t know anything about it.
    It somewhat strange that the promotion the premier show of this big new FNC star is so screwed up. I would tend to blame bad producing but it may be that Palin is too busy on her book tour or doesn’t want to bother doing any real work (like interviewing guests) on the show. It wouldn’t be the first time she bailed when there was work to be done.

  20. laural Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 5:01 pm

    ^ No doubt Mr. Keith is confused, what with the demands of his fledgling music career.

  21. terance Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    Thanks, fritz!

    http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b174457_toby_keith_shock__awed_by_fox_news.html

    I wonder if FNC/Palin are embarrassed yet? I mean, is there going to be any “special” left?

  22. joeremi Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    Talk about branding run amock. This “special’ is so lame. It reminds me of what happened with Tom Clancy. His brand as an author got so popular that his publisher started producing books called “Tom Clancy’s ‘Military-sounding Title Here’..”, which had the real author’s name at the bottom in small print.

  23. joeremi Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    Now Palin gets the KO treatment on Countdown. Handed on a silver platter..

  25. joeremi Says:
    March 31, 2010 at 10:19 pm

    The Mediaite (Lord I hate that fake word) write-up says Palin does short interviews with the subjects of the stories. So what happened with LL and T. Keith? The format sounds like War Stories with Oliver North. If Palin is involved to the extent Mediaite says she is, I don’t see a problem with it.

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