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Katie Couric admits to editing Ruth Bader Ginsburg interview to 'protect' the late justice | Daily Mail Online
Katie Couric admits to editing Ruth Bader Ginsburg interview to 'protect' the late justice
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.
Going There will be available on October 26
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.
Katie Couric rips colleagues and celebrities in memoir
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick came under fire in 2016 for refusing to stand for the national anthem at the start of football games in protest against racial injustice
Kaepernick kneels during national anthem for first time in 2016
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.
Ginsburg, who died last September at age 87, was among the left-leaning justices on the Supreme Court
Couric's new book is set to make waves upon its release after excerpts revealed some eyebrow-raising confessions she makes in the tome
DailyMail.com earlier revealed other eyebrow-raising confessions Couric makes in her book, including how she gave Ashleigh Banfield, the former CNN presenter, the cold shoulder at NBC because helping her would be 'self sabotage.'
Couric also slams Deborah Norville, who she replaced on NBC's Today show, for having a 'relentless perfection' which turned off breakfast show viewers.
Couric is just as blunt about her love life and says ex-boyfriend Brooks Perlin, who was 17 years her junior, was a 'mid-life crisis' while TV producer Tom Werner was a 'textbook narcissist'.
Couric puts down Martha Stewart and says that it took a 'few years in prison for her to develop a sense of humor.'
Even the Royal family end up in Couric's sights and she describes how Prince Harry reeked of cigarettes and alcohol when they met, and how Prince Andrew cozied up to Jeffrey Epstein at a bizarre dinner at his New York mansion.
Couric claimed that her former nanny, who she calls 'Doris' in the book, was creepy and needy and that she fired her for spreading gossip about her first husband.
DailyMail.com tracked down the nanny, whose real name is Nancy Poznek, and she claimed Couric was the needy one and was so disorganized it was like living with a 'teenage boy.'
Katie Couric's former nanny slams her tell-all memoir
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...Side note...Did yall know RBG only had ONE black law clerk her entire term on the bench?
https://archive.is/hOkAK/again?url=...rticularly-diverse-lot/#selection-495.0-506.0
"Since joining the Supreme Court in 1993, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has hired only one African American clerk. (Further, as noted during her confirmation hearing, then-Judge Ginsburg never hired an African American clerk during her 13 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.”
https://archive.is/E6COX/again?url=...974a86-cd77-11e8-a360-85875bac0b1f_story.html
"Explaining his selection of law clerks whom other judges overlook, Kavanaugh said: “What it takes is not accepting the same old answer, oh, there’s a disparity. Well, why and then do something about it.” As part of that effort, Kavanaugh frequently speaks to black law student organizations to encourage clerkship applications.
Ginsburg, on the other hand, has hired only one African American law clerk in her 25 years on the Supreme Court. This is an improvement from her 13-year tenure on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, when Ginsburg never had any black clerks. When this issue was raised during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 1993, Ginsburg said: “If you confirm me for this job, my attractiveness to black candidates is going to improve.” This remains a promise unfulfilled."
Some noted her poor record of hiring Black law clerks and her comments in 2016 (which she later apologized for) calling Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protests “dumb” and “disrespectful.”
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