Ex-Miss California USA Carrie Prejean Flips Out On CNN’s Larry King

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean lost her cool on CNN over a question, labels it “inappropriate” and takes off her microphone. A note to politicians, celebrities et. al: When you do an interview or broadcast and there is an elephant-in-the-room question the way to handle it isn’t to walk off or turn off your microphone.

As a longtime former reporter, I can attest that when a news source in a forum where it is not on background or off the record says “No comment” — except for those who love, support or are allied to that news source — the news source comes off as not answering due to having something to hide or being embarrassed. Stripping away the inevitable ideological rhetoric of right and left and on this story, this appearance didn’t enhance her image. There are a zillion evasive ways to answer a tough question: just turn on the Sunday morning TV shows and watch politicians on those programs. Or bank CEOs before Congress or CEOs of insurance companies when grilled on health care questions.

Not a good P.R. move and whoever heard of someone suggesting Larry “So waddayathink…How do ya feel?” King who has thrown more softballs than all the softball leagues in America combined is an unfair, tough,”gotcha” interviewer? Anyone who did his or her advance prep could have handled this question — which was handled with the equivalent of someone sticking their fingers in their ears. Those who support her for partisan reasons may call it a masterful performance but that is spin and wishful thinking. (Perhaps it’ll start a new approach for talk show guests who don’t like questions: call it inappropriate, take off your mike and just sit there talking without a microphone and scold the host.)

This qualifies as “good television” due to the emotion — but it is lousy p.r. indicating poor advance preparation:

UPDATE: Here’s some other media reaction (views below do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its many writers):
–LA Times:

We’d like to call it “inappropriate” too. And maybe even throw a “misleading” for good measure. In the entertaining three-minute clip, Prejean becomes agitated when King repeatedly asks her why she dropped her claims of libel, slander, and religious discrimination against the Miss USA pageant. TMZ has reported that Prejean decided to strike a deal only after the lawyer for the pageant revealed a homemade sex tape of a 17-year-old Prejean.

King wasn’t asking about the particulars of the settlement, just why she settled, mind you. But Prejean repeatedly called him “inappropriate,” took off her microphone, and appeared to want to leave. She never really owned that moment, we should add. She fumbled, looked around the room, and stayed sitting in the chair, even though she had removed her mike.

And then after the commercial break — which you don’t see on the clip that hit cyberspace last night — Prejean is still in her seat. She didn’t go anywhere. There was still her new book, “Still Standing” to promote. So she forgave King for his other violation — Prejean’s publicist had set some rules: no phone calls and King had turned to his phone lines when she refused to answer his “inappropriate” questions.

–Baltimore Sun blog:

Prejean, who is selling a book, has this rap she’s also selling in recent interviews as to how “conservative women” are treated poorly by the “liberal” press.I think her primary goal is to somehow link herself to Sarah Palin whom she mentions a lot. And so, last night, she decided to do a little agit prop playacting, even though Larry King is one of the nicest, kindest interviewers on the face of the Earth, let alone TV. There was absolutely nothing “inappropriate” about what he asked. She later said it was inapprorpiate for him to take phone calls, even though that is what the Larry King show almost always does.

–New York Daily News:

No one’s voting Carrie Prejean for Miss Congenialty, thanks to a temper tantrum on “Larry King Live” last night.

During the televised interview, the 22-year-old beauty queen refused to answer King’s questions about her lawsuit settlement with the Miss California organization.

Asked about the motivation for the settlement itself (and if it might have anything to do with her recently released sex tape), Prejean answered through pursed lips, “Larry, you’re being inappropriate.”

It’s a mantra she repeated many times to the venerable show host before he opened the phone line to callers.

The moment the first caller said, “I’m a gay man,” Prejean began unhooking her microphone from underneath her sweater and whispering to someone in the wings before staring blankly at the camera.

“I can’t hear you,” she said, like a six-year old on a playground.

“That’s because you took the mic off,” King replied.

“I think you’re being extremely inappropriate right now, and I’m about to leave your show,” Prejean repeated before flashing a bright white pageant smile.

With all this talk of propriety, Prejean may keep in mind that she is currently starring in both a sex tape and nude photos that are making the rounds.

--EOnline:

Larry King got the fallen beauty queen so fired up on CNN’s Larry King Live last night, she walked out on the show.

Prejean is in the middle of a publicity bonanza hawking her new book, Still Standing, which details her clash with Donald Trump, Shanna Moakler and the rest of the Miss California organization.

After she showed off the tome and talked about her love for Sarah Palin—she considers herself “Palinized”—King began to ask about Prejean’s recent settlement with the pageant organizers. She continued to spout her party line…that is, until she called King inappropriate and ripped off her microphone…

…..After a quick commercial break, she claimed King and her publicist had agreed that she would take no viewer questions. He said he was unaware of that agreement and so ended the episode of Inappropriate King Live.

To think—he didn’t even ask if she was going to take the million-dollar porno deal!

Wonder what she’ll say to her ex-boyfriend—the one who dropped the bombshell sex tape—when she hears he told TMZ that she urged him to “lie” and say she was 17 in the raunchy video. He claims, however, to have received the tape in 2007, when she was 20-years-old.

--CBS News frames it this way:

Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean made a short but dramatic appearance on Larry King Live Wednesday, in which she refused to answer an openly gay caller and threatened to walk off the show, after King asked questions about the role a sex tape may have played in a lawsuit settlement.

And of course it was argued by left and right with predictable positions (defend or blast) on The View.