To have a successful TV talk show you tend to need a niche – Oprah has her self-help, Jerry Springer has his confrontations and Maury has his berserkoid ADD DNA tests – but none of them angrily blow up teenage girls.
That's where Montel Williams steps in, though. Although Montel Williams has plenty of his own niches already – like being the only highly-decorated military talk show host, and the only occasionally-suicidal multiple sclerosis-suffering talk show host – he's now also the only talk show host who, when asked interview questions he doesn't like by teenage newspaper interns, screams "I'm a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up!" at them, before realising he's made a bit of a fool out of himself and apologising, which he's just done. But at least it's a step up from Montel Williams' other niche – being the talk show host who looks most like Ming The Merciless.
2007 hasn't exactly been a golden year for the daytime television talk show. In Britain a judge likened The Jeremy Kyle Show to 'human bear baiting', while elsewhere Oprah Winfrey managed to successfully open a child abuse factory masquerading as a school for clever girls. And, whisper it, there's a chance that Jerry Springer might be the teensiest bit staged.
But Montel Williams has managed to keep his head above all the dirt by continuing to go about his business as usual; rescuing teen prostitutes, offering reasoned discussion about the emotional impact of being transgendered, violently threatening to blow up teenage newspaper interns just for asking him questions he didn't like the sound of, that sort of thing.
The last one of these happened in Savannah on Friday, when Montel Williams was promoting free prescriptions for the poor. However, Montel terminated an interview with Courtney Scott, a high school intern at the Savannah Morning News, after she innocently asked him if restricted profits would stop pharmaceutical companies from investing so heavily in research and development costs. At the time, Montel responded to question with this:
“I'm here as a patient advocate talking about the fact that medications available today are saving people's lives, that's what's saving mine and after that, this interview is done."
And then, later on, Montel Williams and Courtney Scott managed to bump into each other again at a hotel. Although Scott was there on an unrelated assignment, Montel thought she was trailing him, and got a little bit angry with her, her crew and pretty much the entire universe in general. According to a web content producer for the newspaper who was accompanying Courtney:
“As we were preparing to film, Montel walked up with his bodyguard and got in Courtney Scott's face pointing his finger telling her ‘Don't look at me like that. Do you know who I am? I'm a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up’. At this time he was randomly pointing at all of us.”
Such was the ferocity of Montel Williams' outburst that Courtney Scott later filed a police complaint about it. But at least Montel Williams now admits that he did wrong – not just for threatening to explode a teenage girl but also for making the factually-incorrect mistake of calling himself a big star, when really it's only the elderly and unemployed who know who is is with any degree of certainty. Montel has now put out a statement apologising for the incident:
“I mistakenly thought the reporter and photographer in question were at the hotel to confront me about some earlier comments. I was wrong, and I apologise for my overreaction.”
Not only that, but Montel has also invited Courtney Scott and her family onto his show to apologise to her publicly, as part of a special entitled I've Learned That Screaming Angry Terrorist-Style Threats About Blowing Up Teenage Girls Is Wrong. And, if the negative publicity persists after that, Montel Williams will check into a rehab facility for men who want to explode young girls and then apologise directly to Al Sharpton, just because he figured that's what everyone else does in this sort of situation.
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Robert Chadfield says
Dear Mr. Williams: I have all ways admired you for your efforts in helping those who can’t afford them to get needed Rx drugs. I have a serious illness and know how important this is to me. I am fortunate to have a good insurance plan in addition to being able to cover those costs not covered by insurance. I have watched your show for a number of years (love Sylvia Brown by the way), and have found you to be a thoughtfull and insightfull host. This recent incident by no means changes my view of you. We all have our “moments” were we say or do things we regret, (for me it’s usually 2,4 and 6pm daily). You have all ways been considerate of your guests and the those in the studio. I can only imagine it has not all ways been easy. Keep up the good work and I will keep tuning in, specificly when Ms. Brown is on. She seems like a lady who would be a lot of fun at a party. All the best; Bob Chadfield, Minneapolis,MN.
John Mack says
PhRMA Intern thinks Montel should be fired. See how she foiled Montel’s terrorist plot here: http://pharmamkting.blogspot.com/2007/12/phrma-intern-v-montel-hs-intern-is.html
Lisa Emrich says
Excerpt from my own blog early yesterday:
Montel Williams has multiple sclerosis, as do I, and has been the visible image of PPArx since . Now I’ve got my own opinions as to the quality of assistance which Billy Tauzin and his Orange Bus purport to provide needy individuals. [see PhRMA and PPArx: How much are they really helping patients in need?]
Previously, I’ve given Williams the benefit of the doubt regarding the use of his image to promote a glossed-over PR concoction. I have no doubt wondered as to the level of compensation the Big Pharma lobby may be providing him, but I’ve let it go.
Is Montel Williams Disturbed by Big Pharma?
Also, as someone with MS, I understand the type of pain (as Ken Johnson eluded to) which can become so distracting as to limit one’s emotional control. But this is not the same as ‘pseudobulbar affect’ which is characterized by inappropriate emotional outbursts, ie. laughing uncontrollably at something sad.
In my opinion, Montel’s behavior was inexcusable and should not be blamed on MS. In no way should he have jumped to the conclusion that Ms. Scott had ulterior motives. His behavior was simply inappropriate in normal circumstances, much less as the representative of a program which supposedly helps patients in need.