Watching Star Jones on Larry King tonight was enlightening, to say the least. Our team aren't exactly fans of Jones, but somewhere hidden in the waffle is some cupability everywhere, including Barbara Walters and ABC. Star's answers to Larry King do display that she is a gifted orator, probably the result of her prior incarnation as a an attorney. That said, she was asked some tough questions, since Larry spoke to Barbara Walters prior to the interview with Jones; one question in particular regarded Walter's statement that after Jones' weight loss, the audience perceived her as postulating that she lost the weight "on her own", rather than medical intervention, and this offended the audience ABC surveyed and damaged her credibility with them. Jones responded to this by pointing out Larry's own comments prior to Jones' surgery was that she need medical intervention to lose weight or she'd die, and that Jones' book points this out as her belief too.
Surprisingly, Jones came off in this interview as rational and even those of us who don't like her had to respect her. Jones stated that Walters knew in April that ABC and she had chosen not to renew her contract, and this in effect to Jones meant that she was fired. Barbara Walter's statement on The View the day after Jones was asked not to return this week specifically states that they would allow her to present her departure as whatever reasons were comfortable to her - it's quite evident that she took Walters and ABC at her word.
ABC actually FAXED a statement to Larry King just before this interview; a key point was that ABC informed Walters and The Views producers in November 2005. Jones maintains that this information was leaked in November 2005 -Jones asked the producers if it were true when she heard in late November 2005, and they insisted it wasn't. However, it was leaked to someone in the press then, and she wasn't told by Walters and The View producers her contract wasn't being renewed until April 2006. ABC also cited not being able to use Star's wedding pictures on The View, as ABC says she sold them to People magazine and maintained their perception that her credibility had taken a hit with the weight loss issue described above. ABC insists that Star's management in January 2006 were informed that they were concerned about her performance and diminishing popularity. ABC's most damming statement is that due to her "deceptions" and her abrupt announcement Tuesday about leaving the show, they couldn't trust her on-air and decided to forego her services.
The Rosie O'Donnell question for both O'Donnell's tabloid attack against Star and the subsequent invite for Rosie to appear on The View shortly thereafter also came up. King asked Jones if he felt Barbara betrayed her by inviting Rosie to be on the show the same week the "attack" occurred, and then to be a co-host and why she didn't speak to Walters, whom she worked with 9 years, about it. Jones said she did, and Barbara told her to "wrap herself around it" and that it was a "business decision." Jones also was gracious in explaining that she is fortunate for the opportunity to work with Walters as one of the greatest journalists of the time, and wasn't going to say anything bad about her.
Star insists that the statements to People magazine about "being fired" were taken slightly out of context - she was asked how she felt about her contract not being renewed, and she answered that she felt like she was being fired. Even King had to agree that it's a question of semantics - if your contract isn't renewed, then you are rather being fired. We're not sure why Walters has such an issue with this as literally, that is what happened whether she likes the statement or not.
Star 's interview with King was a success for her, however it should be interesting what Barbara Walters, The View, and ABC have to say about it tomorrow or next week. If they are smart, they should not respond at all - but since when can media shut up? :)
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