Paris Hilton`s CNN Interview Gets Low Grades
A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: A Michael Moore "Sicko" shocker, where he is banned from now. I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.</s>BROOKE ANDERSON, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT ANCHOR: And one of the biggest pop groups of all times, back together. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.</s>HAMMER: On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, inside Paris Hilton`s startling interview with Larry King, straight from Larry himself.</s>LARRY KING, CNN ANCHOR: Think you got a raw deal? Do you?</s>PARIS HILTON, "THE SIMPLE LIFE": Yes, I do.</s>HAMMER: Tonight, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT reveals the secrets of what happened when the cameras stopped rolling.</s>KING: I thought through the first five minutes she was rather nervous.</s>HAMMER: Larry King right here on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. Plus, new details of what happened when Paris got out of jail. And you won`t believe where she is now. The stunning stories about Paris you haven`t heard. Wrestling in crisis. Tonight, startling new questions raised by the horrific deaths of wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and his son. Was steroid use to blame? And will this apparent murder-suicide bring down professional wrestling for good? SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with the unbelievable story behind the disturbing deaths. Hello, I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.</s>ANDERSON: Hi there everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. And right now you are going to get the story behind the story of Paris Hilton`s confessions.</s>HAMMER: That`s right. Tonight SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is bringing you the inside story of Larry King`s exclusive interview with Paris Hilton from Larry himself. It`s the interview that has made headlines around the world. And today Larry and I talked about the things you haven`t heard before, including what was going through his mind as Paris spoke for the first time since getting out of jail.</s>HAMMER (voice-over): It was the interview heard and watched around the world.</s>HILTON: I just want to let people know what I went through.</s>HAMMER: Paris Hilton`s sitdown with CNN`s Larry King, her first TV interview since being released from her 23-day jail stint for violating probation, had everyone playing critic, from TV pundit --</s>LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: I was moved. I thought this showed her as a more complex person, clearly a very kind person.</s>LAUREN LAKE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Paris is very boring.</s>HAMMER: To people on the streets.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paris Hilton is Paris Hilton. She`s not going to change at all. I don`t think so.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, she doesn`t have to change. She can afford not to.</s>HAMMER: Now SHOWBIZ TONIGHT gives you the inside story behind the interview everyone`s talking about.</s>HILTON: I`ve been a little immature in the past, and made some wrong choices.</s>HAMMER: And watch as I turn the tables on Larry King on his own set, interviewing the interviewer about what he thought about his worldwide exclusive with Paris Hilton. In short, it wasn`t easy.</s>KING: To be honest with you, A.J., I had to work.</s>HAMMER: It was a nervous Paris Hilton who strode into CNN`s L.A. office for the big interview.</s>HILTON: I`m a little nervous.</s>HAMMER: Larry tells me she wasn`t kidding</s>KING: I thought for the first five minutes she was rather nervous. Then I thought she calmed down.</s>HAMMER: Paris used the bulk of the interview to tell the world that her humiliating jail time has forever changed the party going heiress we have known throughout the years.</s>KING: Think it changed you?</s>HILTON: Yes, definitely. I have a new outlook on life.</s>HAMMER: But make no mistake about it, she thinks her 23-day jail term was too harsh.</s>HILTON: You know, I think the crime did not fit the punishment.</s>HAMMER: That response didn`t sit well with some critics.</s>LAKE: We haven`t established that she`s accepted full responsibility for what she did.</s>HAMMER: Larry King tells me he can see why people weren`t happy with her response. (on camera): Larry, do you think that she was in denial that people wanted to see her being more contrite?</s>KING: Absolutely. I think sometimes people can be in denial.</s>HAMMER (voice-over): But the moment that has people shaking their heads is Paris Hilton`s answer to Larry King`s drug question.</s>KING: Have you ever been addicted to drugs?</s>HILTON: No.</s>KING: Taken drugs?</s>HILTON: No.</s>KING: Never taken drugs.</s>HILTON: No.</s>HAMMER: Let`s just say her answer has left some critics, well, skeptical.</s>KEN SUNSHINE, CELEBRITY PUBLICIST: It`s crazy. Does anybody really believe she`s never taken any drugs ever.</s>HAMMER: In fact, Hilton`s statement is becoming the most eyebrow raising drug denial since --</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I experimented with marijuana a time or too and I didn`t like it. I didn`t inhale and never tried it again.</s>KING: I was surprised by her answer on never taking drugs.</s>HAMMER: Larry tells me even he was taken aback.</s>KING: Most people are telling me that they think that in the past she probably had a drug probably and saying that she never took drugs, people didn`t believe that.</s>HAMMER: Still, he`s keeping an open mind.</s>KING: I`ve learned over 50 years, people aren`t always what their reputation is. So I don`t know that she took drugs. So I can`t say you`re a liar.</s>HAMMER: Something else from the Paris interview is setting tongues wagging, Larry tells me.</s>KING: That`s been oddly the most thing mentioned to me today by the most people.</s>HAMMER: We`re talking Paris and the Bible. She insists she emerged from jail a more spiritual person, telling Larry the Bible brought her comfort in jail.</s>HILTON: I`ve always had a sense of spirituality but even more so now after being in jail.</s>KING: Did you read the Bible in jail.</s>HILTON: Yes.</s>HAMMER: But then there was the pause.</s>KING: What`s your favorite bible passage?</s>HILTON: Hmm, I don`t have a favorite.</s>HAMMER: I had to ask Larry about it. (on camera): Were you surprised she got tripped up there.</s>KING: It came to me that most people who read the Bible have a favorite passage. So it came to me the thought that maybe she didn`t read the Bible. That was a long pause.</s>HAMMER: Maybe you caught her somewhere. Maybe you caught her</s>KING: Maybe.</s>HAMMER (voice-over): Still, Larry is giving Paris a passing mark for her interview performance. (on camera): How do you think she did overall?</s>KING: I think she did OK.</s>HAMMER (voice-over): But one question still baffles the 50-year broadcast veteran, the phenomenon that is Paris Hilton.</s>KING: I was most puzzled -- and she didn`t have an answer for it -- why do they follow her around? Why were there mobs of people outside CNN yesterday? Why?</s>HAMMER: So it seems Larry has learned something that`s becoming more and more apparent to all of us. One can`t explain the fame or infamy of Paris Hilton. But it can make for interesting TV.</s>HAMMER: Yes, it can. By the way, TMZ.com is reporting that Paris is heading to Hawaii. Not sure if she`s checking into the Hilton Hotel though. You can download Larry King`s entire interview with Paris Hilton on CNN.com/podcast. That much I do know. And you can also get it directly from iTunes. And stay right here with SHOWBIZ TONIGHT for my entire interview with Larry King. What really surprised him, and secrets about what he and Paris talked about during commercial breaks. We`ve got the inside scoop coming up at 30 minutes past the hour.</s>ANDERSON: So we`ve just heard from Larry on how he thought Paris did. Now it`s time to grade Paris. So we`re taking out the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT report card. With me tonight from Atlanta -- you saw her in the piece just now -- Lauren Lake, defense attorney and TV host, and here in Hollywood, Howard Bragman, founder of 15 Minutes Public Relations. All right guys, here`s what we`re going to be grading her on, believability, demeanor, if this really is a new Paris, and her overall performance. Now, we do know that one of Paris` biggest challenges was the believability factor. Would people believe what she was saying? And I have to tell you, there was a lot of skepticism when she said she`s no longer a party girl, that she`s never tried drugs, that she`s found god. Lauren Lake, what do you think? Was she believable to you?</s>LAKE: Not too much. And it`s unfortunate because she had some good moments in the interview. But on very crucial moments, she slipped. I mean, when he asked her how does she think her ADD affected her when she was in jail? No real answer. Has she ever used drugs? No. What`s your favorite passage of the bible? I don`t really have one. We weren`t asking her to quote chapter and verse. But at least tell us one little thing.</s>ANDERSON: Yes, I agree with you. The good moments for Paris were few and far between. Howard, overall, what do you think? Did she come across as believable? I know you don`t think that the strip-search was the most humiliating moment of her life, as she claims.</s>HOWARD BRAGMAN, 15 MINUTES PR: No, perhaps not. I mean, everybody has seen Paris Hilton naked. I`m gay and I`ve seen Paris Hilton naked. Let`s start there. OK.</s>ANDERSON: So I`m guessing, Howard, that you wouldn`t grade her very well on believability. What would your grade be?</s>BRAGMAN: Well, I`m a pretty harsh grader because I train people to do interviews like this for a living, and she felt trained. If the -- if she`s doing a really good job, you don`t want to know she`s trained. And I think it was pretty clear that she had some pat answers. I`m saying a D. I`m being tough here.</s>ANDERSON: A D. Lauren what about you?</s>LAKE: I unfortunately gave her a D as well.</s>ANDERSON: I have to agree with both of you. All right, we`ve got to move on to next on our report card, and that is demeanor. Paris in the interview said that she thought she got a raw deal and that her sentence was unfair. Was her attitude the right one? Was she contrite enough? Lauren, what did you think of her demeanor?</s>LAKE: Well, I thought her demeanor wasn`t bad. I don`t think she got shoock on the questions. I don`t think she ever felt like, don`t ask me that. You have a lot of nerve. We didn`t get that kind of aloof feeling that sometimes many of us feel like she may have in real life. I think demeanor and appearance -- I`ll add that in -- she was OK. The dress was nice, sweet, not too sexy, very classy. And she kept her cool. So on that, I think she did a little bit better in demeanor than she did on believability.</s>ANDERSON: Howard, what`s your take?</s>BRAGMAN: Not so much. I mean, this is her highest grade from me. I would have liked to see more emotion, more catharsis. She looked like she would have rather been at the dentist getting a root canal to me, but I`m going to give her a C plus and be generous. I just wanted her to feel more.</s>ANDERSON: Lauren, how about you? How do you grade it?</s>LAKE: And I was even more generous. I gave her a</s>B. ANDERSON: All the way up to a B. All right, well now let`s talk about the New Paris. She really tried to convey that she`s a changed person, that she`s misunderstood, that she`s not a dumb blonde, but a hard worker and famous for something, not nothing. Lauren, do you think she was convincing that this really is a new and improved Paris?</s>LAKE: No. And this is where I got stuck. Number one, I never got her taking full responsibility for what happened. She`s still talking about a raw deal. Who gave her the raw deal? The justice system or your attorney that told you that you could drive. We still haven`t gotten down to the bottom of that.</s>ANDERSON: She was playing the blame game there.</s>LAKE: Yes, but who is really to blame here? You are saying your attorney told you you could drive. Where is this attorney and did they really tell her that? Now secondly, not only did she never accept full responsibility, we never got down to the bottom of what really happened to her, in terms of this whole catharsis. What happened in jail? It`s kind of like god found me and I became spiritual and now I want to work with breast cancer research. And it`s kind of like you had 3 1/2 weeks to think about it. We`re not looking for an overnight sensation, and yet, we are looking for more than contemplation. What is your plan?</s>ANDERSON: Tell us about that transformation. Very quickly, Howard, what do you grade her here?</s>BRAGMAN: I`m saying she`s on probation in the court of law and she`s on probation in the court of public opinion. I`m giving her a C. We are just not going to know from one interview. We`re going to known as time passes whether there`s really a new Paris out there.</s>ANDERSON: Lauren, you`re up.</s>LAKE: And I`m sorry, afterwards, I felt like I`m giving her a D, and I want her to accept some responsibility. And I want more than just talk. I want her to walk the walk.</s>ANDERSON: OK, overall performance, we`ve got ten seconds left. Howard, you first.</s>BRAGMAN: C-minus. A little better than a D, but it didn`t do her a lot of good, but not a lot of damage either.</s>LAKE: I gave her the exact same thing, a C-minus overall. She sat through the questions. I commend her for that. But she could have gone deeper and let us know who she really is. I still don`t know.</s>ANDERSON: All right, tough crowd. I can`t say I disagree with anything either of you said. Lauren Lake, defense attorney and TV host, Howard Bragman, from 15 Minutes Public Relations, thank you both.</s>HAMMER: Now we`d like to get your take. It`s our SHOWBIZ TONIGHT question of the day. What do you think, Paris Hilton interview, do you now have more respect for her? You can vote at CNN.com/SHOWBIZTONIGHT or email us at SHOWBIZTONIGHT@CNN.com. You can also vote on our question of the day by zipping off a cell phone text message to 45688. If you wan to vote yes, write SHOWBIZ yes; if you want to vote no, write SHOWBIZ no. Send it to 45688. And coming up, a lot more inside secrets of Larry King`s interview with Paris Hilton.</s>KING: I was surprised on her answer of never taking drugs.</s>HAMMER: The drug issue just one of the many controversial things that Paris said. Coming up, Larry is here to tell me exactly what was going on when the cameras weren`t rolling.</s>ANDERSON: Also, wrestling in crisis. Tonight, I`ve got the new questions about the horrific deaths of Wrestler Chris Benoit and his family. Were steroids to blame? And could this bring down professional wrestling? That`s next.</s>HAMMER: And more Michael Moore controversy. Today, a "Sickco" shocker. I`m going to tell you where he`s now supposedly banned from. That`s coming up next.