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EXCLUSIVE: Katie Couric covered up RBG's dislike for taking the knee: Anchor says she edited 2016 interview to 'protect' the justice after she said people who kneel are showing 'contempt for a government that made a decent life possible'
By DANIEL BATES FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
- Katie Couric has admitted to editing out Ruth Bader Ginsburg's controversial comments from her 2016 sit-down with the late Supreme Court Justice
- Couric writes that she was faced with a 'conundrum' while working on the story for Yahoo! News, in her scathing new memoir, Going There, released October 26
- The former Today show host reveals Ginsburg responded negatively when asked about people who kneel for the national anthem as a protest against racism
- The published story did include quotes from the justice calling the gesture 'dumb and disrespectful' but omitted more controversial remarks
- Ginsburg had also said that such protests showed 'contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life'
- '...which they probably could not have lived in the places they came from...as they became older they realize that this was youthful folly,' she added
- Couric claims that Ginsburg, who was 83 at the time, was 'elderly and probably didn't fully understand the question'
- She admits she 'wanted to protect' Ginsburg and felt that the issue of racial justice was a 'blind spot' for her
PUBLISHED: 12:36 EDT, 13 October 2021 | UPDATED: 15:30 EDT, 13 October 2021
Katie Couric has admitted to 'protecting' Ruth Bader Ginsburg from public backlash by cutting out negative comments she made about people who kneel during the national anthem.
The former Today show host reveals in her new book that she let her personal political views influence her editing decisions during her 2016 interview with the late Supreme Court justice.
In new memoir, Going There, Couric writes that she edited out a part where Ginsburg said that those who kneel during the national anthem are showing 'contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.'
The published story, which Couric wrote for Yahoo! News in 2016, did include quotes from Ginsburg saying refusing to stand for the anthem was 'dumb and disrespectful', but omitted more problematic remarks.
In her new memoir, Katie Couric admits to editing out Ruth Bader Ginsburg's controversial comments from their 2016 interview (pictured) to 'protect' the late Supreme Court Justice
But Couric writes in her memoir that she thought the justice, who was 83 at the time, was 'elderly and probably didn't fully understand the question.'
The anecdote is the latest controversial revelation to emerge from Couric's book, which is set to be released October 26.
DailyMail.com previously revealed how the veteran news anchor brutally rips into her former colleagues, ex-boyfriends, and celebrities in the score-settling tome, which runs to 500 pages.
Couric, 64, writes that she always tried to keep her 'personal politics' out of her reporting throughout her career.
But she faced a 'conundrum' when Ginsburg made comments about Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL player who became the controversial figurehead behind the national anthem protest against racial injustice.
Couric felt that when Ginsburg said that people like Kaepernick were 'dumb and disrespectful' they were comments that were 'unworthy of a crusader for equality' like the liberal Supreme Court justice.
The day after the sit-down, the head of public affairs for the Supreme Court emailed Couric to say the late justice had 'misspoken' and asked that it be removed from the story.
Couric writes that she was 'conflicted' because she was a 'big RBG fan', referring to Ginsburg's moniker.
Couric called a friend, David Brooks, a New York Times journalist, who advised her that Ginsburg probably didn't understand the question, even though she was still serving on the Supreme Court at the time.
However, David Westin, the former head of ABC News, advised Couric to keep it in.
'She's on the Supreme Court. People should hear what she thinks,' he said, according to Couric.
The final version of the story, which meant to promote a compilation of Ginsburg's writings called, My Own Words, included her criticism of 'stupid' and 'arrogant' protesters.
According to Couric, she 'wanted to protect' Ginsburg and felt that the issue of racial justice was a 'blind spot' for her. They are pictured together in an earlier interview for Yahoo! News in 2014
But what was left out was arguably more inflammatory.
Ginsburg went on to say that such protests show a 'contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.'
She said: 'Which they probably could not have lived in the places they came from...as they became older they realize that this was youthful folly. And that's why education is important.'
Couric claims in the book that she 'lost a lot of sleep over this one' and still wrestles with the decision she made.
According to Couric, she 'wanted to protect' Ginsburg and felt that the issue of racial justice was a 'blind spot' for her.
Ginsburg, who died last September at age 87, was asked for her thoughts after former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick came under fire in 2016 for taking a knee at the start of NFL games in protest against racial injustice.
'Would I arrest them for doing it? No,' she told Couric. 'I think it's dumb and disrespectful. I would have the same answer if you asked me about flag burning.
'I think it's a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn't lock a person up for doing it. I would point out how ridiculous it seems to me to do such an act.'
When Couric pushed further asking if she believes athletes are 'within their rights to exercise those actions', Ginsburg replied: 'Yes. If they want to be stupid, there's no law that should be preventive.
'If they want to be arrogant, there's no law that prevents them from that. What I would do is strongly take issue with the point of view that they are expressing when they do that,' she added.
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Cac holding down one of there own, how surprising.
That Kaep story probably means she was also 
