[Natasha Curry, Cnn Headline News Anchor:] Tonight on the "SHOWBIZ Countdown", we have three sides of this story. The juror, the star witness and the parents. The key players in the George ZimmermanTrayvon Martin case. We`re taking you inside the legal drama like never before.
[Rachel Jenteal:] It was racial. To be honest, racial. If you were if Trayvon was white, he had a hoodie on, would it happen?
[Curry:] All right, whose side are you taking? And can you guess what`s going to be number one on the "SHOWBIZ Countdown?"
[Unidentified Male:] Until the stand your ground law is abolished in Florida I will never perform there again.
[Curry:] Stevie Wonder stands his ground against Florida himself. The music legend is vowing to boycott Florida and anywhere else with a stand your ground law. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" starts right now. What`s up, thanks for hanging out with us tonight. I`m Natasha Curry in for A.J. Hammer. You know, the expression is there are two sides to every story. Well, tonight in the "SHOWBIZ Countdown" we`re counting down the three different sides to the story of George Zimmerman`s acquittal on charges that he murdered Trayvon Martin. The anonymous juror known as B37, George Zimmerman`s parents, star witness Rachel Jeantel. Their very first interviews about how they feel about the verdict.
[Rachel Jeantel:] Upset, angry, question and mad.
[Unidentified Female:] I think George Zimmerman is a man whose heart was in the right place. I knew that he`s a truthful man, that I knew from the beginning that he was saying the truth and it was in my heart and I knew that the truth will come out.
[Curry:] Yes, not two but three sides to this story. Keli Goff is with us tonight. She`s a special correspondent for theroot.com and Jane Velez- Mitchell also here, of course, covering every moment of the Zimmerman trial and hosts "The Jane Velez-Mitchell Show" weeknights at 7 P.M. Eastern here on HLN. So, first, ladies, thanks for joining us. I`m going to kick off the countdown with number three, what made the Zimmerman trial so controversial and emotional and that is race. What role do you think did it play in the trial and Trayvon`s death. Well, the prosecution`s star witness in the case, Rachel Jeantel just told CNN`s Piers Morgan that Trayvon`s death was all about race.
[Jenteal:] It was racial. Let`s be honest, racial. If you were if have was Trayvon was white and he had a hoodie on, would it happen? Because that was around 7:00 o`clock or something. That`s around that people walk their dogs, people stay outside, all that.
[Curry:] Now, Kelly, what do you think? Do you believe that Trayvon was killed because of the color of his skin?
[Keli Goff, Special Correspondent, The Root:] Well, you don`t even need me for this segment because I think that Rachel actually articulated that perfectly, which is that and even the juror conceded that George Zimmerman should not have gotten out of his car and so I keep coming back to the question of why did he get out of the car? Why did he get out of the car? And if it had been a white teenager, wearing a hoodie, walking down the street minding his own business, I just don`t know how anyone can say with a straight face George Zimmerman would have felt the threat to his community and his neighborhood and would have gotten out of that car. And if that`s what you believe, then, of course race had something to do with this. And I don`t see how anyone could argue otherwise.
[Curry:] And there are two more sides, too, to this explosive race question. So let`s watch here with the anonymous juror known as B37, just told CNN`s Anderson Cooper and then we`re going to watch here what Zimmerman`s mom Gladys just told ABC`s Barbara Walters. First, though, the juror.
[Unidentified Female:] And I think just circumstances caused George to think that he might be a robber or trying to do something bad in the neighborhood because of all that had gone on previously. There were unbelievable number of robberies in the neighborhood.
[Unidentified Male:] So you don`t believe race played a role in this case?
[Unidentified Female:] I don`t think it did. I think if there was another person Spanish, White, Asian, if they came in the same situation where Trayvon was I think George would have reacted the exact same way.
[Barbara Walters:] There are people who say that your son targeted Trayvon Martin because Martin was black. How do you answer them?
[Gladys Zimmerman:] Absolutely not. Absolutely not.
[Walters:] Tell me more.
[Gladys Zimmerman:] Georgie is not racist. We are not racist. We don`t see colors. I mean we are color-blind.
[Curry:] So a very different take from Rachel Jeantel. So, Jane, I`m wondering what you`re thinking. Which voice do you think is most convincing to you?
[Jane Velez-mitchell, Cnn Headline News Anchor:] I am certainly not going to jump in on a story that has almost equally divided the nation and presumed that I had an answer and know what was going on inside that guy`s head except that I think he showed very poor judgment as the shrinks would say, it`s probably multi-determined. In other words, a lot of things caused him to do what he did that night and I think part of it is his psychological neurosis, the fact that his dad was a judge, the fact that he was a cop wanna-be. I think on a very deep level this is a guy who wanted attention, wanted approval from his father, wanted to be either a cop or a judge because daddy was a judge and he didn`t really succeed in daddy`s eyes. This was all about some kind of twisted desire to gain approval and be a hero. As to whether or not he was thinking racist thoughts in his head, I cannot tell you that. I don`t know.
[Goff:] Can I just say?
[Curry:] And Keli, you want to jump in. Yeah.
[Goff:] Can I just say, Natasha, though, to Jane`s point. I wrote a piece for "The Root" where I explained how the racists that we`re talking about now is very different from sort of the 1966 definition, which I think people are used to throwing around. Racism in of its essence today, modern day racism, is not someone wearing a Klan robe during and throwing around the "N" word while they are beating up a black person and thinking racists thoughts. That I call the kind of racism that can be sort of surgically removed like a tumor. You can take down the whites only signs and pass a bunch of laws. But today there`s subtle racism, which is someone can vote for Barack Obama and yet still see a white teenage boy and not feel in fear for their life and see a young black teenage boy and think he`s up to no good and he`s a bad person.
[Curry:] Yeah.
[Goff:] That`s the kind of subtle racism that a lot of us believe was at play.
[Curry:] Yes.
[Goff:] I don`t think he was walking in the street saying I hate black people. I think that if he saw a young black man, his reaction was vastly different than if he had seen a young white man. And that`s form of racism, and I think that`s what we`re talking about here.
[Velez-mitchell:] Well, let me say I believe, I agree with Stevie Wonder. Let`s get rid of the stand your ground law and we could focus on these personalities all we want, but the fact is, that there`s a law on the books that encourages people to go out and play judge and jury.
[Goff:] Yeah, she is right.
[Curry:] Yeah, we all have an opinion about it. That`s for sure. But let`s move on now to number two on our "SHOWBIZ Countdown" of the three sides to this story, the question asked to all of us was, was the not guilty verdict a fair one? Here is star witness Rachel Jeantel. Watch.
[Piers Morgan:] They concluded he had acted in self-defense. What do you say to that?
[Jenteal:] B.S. Just
[B.s. Morgan:] In your heart what do you believe happened?
[Jeantel:] He was trying to get home and he was and that`s a fact.
[Curry:] So, Keli, you`re just trying to get home, she says. Do you believe that Rachel Jeantel has that correct?
[Goff:] Look, here`s the bottom line. I just don`t understand how you can be following someone else and then standing your ground from them. I mean that`s just really all I can say and that`s what I think is frustrating. You can say that George Zimmerman was defending his life possibly, but from a fight that he started by assaulting someone or following someone or harassing someone. I mean if I`m walking down the street and someone`s following me I just don`t understand how I`m endangering that person`s life so that they need to stand their ground.
[Curry:] And, of course, there is no question that Zimmerman`s family that they thought that acquitting him was absolutely the right thing to do. I mean watch Zimmerman`s mom and juror B37`s dramatic revelations about that verdict, first, though, his mom. Watch.
[Gladys Zimmerman:] I love him with all my heart and that I knew that he`s a truthful man, that I knew from the beginning that he was saying the truth and it was in my heart and I knew that the truth will come out. I`m sorry that it has to come this way, painful for the whole family, but the truth will set you free.
[Anonymous Juror B37:] It`s just hard. Thinking that somebody lost their life and there`s nothing else could be done about it. I mean, it`s what happens, it`s sad, the tragedy this happened, but it happened. And I think I think both were responsible for the situation they had gotten themselves into. I think both of them could have walked away. It just didn`t happen.
[Curry:] So, Jane, I mean you`ve got both juror B37 saying that both Zimmerman and Trayvon were responsible for what happened. Do you buy that middle ground position?
[Velez-mitchell:] I will say that I believe that the prosecution bungled this case and they did not start out by trying to explain why George Zimmerman had injuries. Had they done that, had they co-opted that piece of information and owned it, they may have I think fared better. They never presented a theory of what they believed happened that night. All they did was accuse George Zimmerman of lying and that didn`t beat the burden.
[Curry:] And, Keli, quickly, what`s your response?
[Goff:] You know, what I love about my mom is that she doesn`t believe in defending me when I`m wrong and I have a hard time believing she`d go on Barbara Walters if I what I did resulted in another person`s death.
[Curry:] Ladies, thank you. So as we`ve heard there, then really are three sides to this very complicated story, but of all the explosive questions debated, which one is going to be number one in the "SHOWBIZ Countdown?" The big reveal coming up in just a moment. Jane, Keli, stay right there.
[Goff:] And we are arguing three sides from the Zimmerman insiders now Stevie Wonder, he is also taking a stand in this case. The music legend making a dramatic decision about his future performances. New York City, it`s always setting the trends, well, the latest trend might be re-electing freaky disgraced lawmakers. Eliot Spitzer slept with hookers and Anthony Weiner sent a tweet with no pants on. Now, let`s look in live in New York City is about to put these two back in office. Right now at the streets of the Big Apple and "SHOWBIZ" dares to ask, who would you rather not?
[Unidentified Male:] You would say Weiner?
[Unidentified Female:] Yes.
[Unidentified Male:] If you`re saying Weiner.
[Unidentified Female:] Yes. Weiner. I said Weiner. Yes. You`re saying Weiner? I`m agreeing with her. Weiner. I have two out of three women saying Weiner.