NBC and ABC both passed on the first post-prison interview with Paris Hilton, apparently causing the honor to fall into the lap of CNN's Larry King.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
"I am thrilled that Larry King has asked me to appear on his program to discuss my experience in jail, what I have learned, how I have grown and anything else he wants to talk about," said Hilton through her publicist, according to Variety.
Hilton is currently being held in Los Angeles' Century Regional Detention Center and serving the remainder of her 45-day sentence that resulted from parole violations of a September 2006 drunken driving conviction. She is scheduled to be released on Tuesday.
King's post-jail interview announcement comes on the heels of earlier reports that NBC and ABC had both been -- in violation of what has traditionally been a journalistic no-no for serious American news organizations -- attempting to use cash to woo Hilton for a sit-down with their reporters.
Last Thursday, The New York Post reported that NBC had agreed to pay Hilton up to $1 million for an interview Today co-host Meredith Vieira. NBC -- which recently landed an exclusive interview with Britian's Prince William and Prince Harry after paying a reported $2 million for the American broadcast rights to an upcoming Princess Diana memorial concert -- later denied the report and insisted it doesn't pay for interviews.
"NBC News does not pay for interviews," NBC News spokeswoman Allison Gollust, who wouldn't confirm or deny "any interview would take place," told The New York Times in a report published Friday. "Never have, never will."
The news of Hilton's NBC deal reportedly "infuriated" ABC executives, who had considered themselves the "front-runner" due to The View co-host Barbara Walters' relationship with Hilton's mother Kathy. According to The Times, ABC News had offered Hilton $100,000, however in order to get around the news organization's policy of not paying for interviews, the payment would technically have been for access to photos and personal videos that would be utilized in the interview.
According to Variety, the negative publicity generated by The Post's report sent the Hilton family scrambling back to ABC however the network's news division -- presumably also concerned about the bad publicity the interview talks had generated -- decided that it was no longer interested and publicly announced that it had rejected Hilton's interview offer.
"As always with Larry, there are no ground rules and no compensation for this interview whatsoever," King's spokeswoman Bridget Leininger told Variety.
The interview will air Wednesday, June 27 at 9PM ET on CNN's Larry King Live.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio
