Joan Rivers Storms Out of CNN Interview
Image by Getty Images
Apparently all that plastic surgery didn’t give Joan Rivers a thick skin.
On July 5, Joan Rivers made headlines after she stormed out of a CNN interview claiming the anchor, Fredricka Whitfield, was asking increasingly “negative questions.”
Rivers, known for her (sometimes) off-color jokes has picked on everyone from Paula Deen to the Jennifer Lawrence. She has even run afoul of the Anti Defamation League once or twice.
On CNN to promote her newest book, “Diary of a Mad Diva,” Joan came under fire for calling President Obama gay, She went on in the same interview to use an offensive slur for a transgendered person when asked about the first lady.
Whitfield began the interview with a summary of Joan’s current career on “Fashion Police” “Although it’s very mean in some ways-” she began. But Rivers quickly cut her off, “It’s not mean. I tell the truth. I’m sure I say the same things that all your viewers say to their friends sitting next to them on the couch….”
“It’s not about them. It’s about clothing,” Rivers defended herself with a shrug.
Asked whether she had any boundaries when it comes to humor, Joan explained, “Life is very tough, and if you can make a joke to make something easier and funny, do it. Done. Do it.”
Despite the tense atmosphere, it was only when Whitfield asked about the fur that Joan sports on the cover of her new book that the interview took a drastic turn “This whole interview is becoming a defensive interview,” Rivers complained. “Are you wearing leather shoes? Shut up.”
“All you have done is negative. I make people laugh for fifty years,” Rivers added, incensed. “I am put on earth to make people laugh. My book is funny. I wear fur that was killed 15 years ago. I work for animal rights. Stop it with ‘and you do this,’ and ‘you’re mean,’ and ‘you do that.’”
Watch the whole interview below:
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
