Rachel Maddow says she was never asked about Anderson Cooper
Tue. April 26, 2011 2:19 PM by Pink Pulse
rachel maddow
photo credit // msnbc
Rachel Maddow's interview with The Guardian has drawn so much attention from LGBT media and blogs that the openly lesbian anchor has responded to some of the criticism. The MSNBC anchor says she never referred to CNN's Anderson Cooper.
"I wasn't asked about Anderson Cooper, I didn't say anything about him, he literally was never discussed during the interview at all -- even implicitly," Maddow wrote on her blog late Monday. "I don't tend to be shy when I criticize -- you wouldn't have to read between the lines if that's what I was trying to do."
In the interview, which was published Monday, The Guardian's Hadley Freeman asks the 38-year-old MSNBC anchor if she feels frustration about "an equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out."
Maddow responds, "I'm sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they're doing what they're doing, but I do think that if you're gay you have a responsibility to come out."
Although the news anchor in question goes unnamed in the interview, widespread speculation on the Internet was that the question was about Cooper.
"Although criticism of Mr. Cooper was intimated by The Guardian and picked up everywhere -- I did not make that criticism in the interview, nor did I imply it, nor is it what I believe," Maddow concluded in her blog.
Ironically, Out magazine recently named Cooper and Fox News anchor Shepard Smith among the most influential gay figures on its Power 50 list.
"I wasn't asked about Anderson Cooper, I didn't say anything about him, he literally was never discussed during the interview at all -- even implicitly," Maddow wrote on her blog late Monday. "I don't tend to be shy when I criticize -- you wouldn't have to read between the lines if that's what I was trying to do."
In the interview, which was published Monday, The Guardian's Hadley Freeman asks the 38-year-old MSNBC anchor if she feels frustration about "an equally well-known news presenter who is widely assumed to be gay but has never come out."
Maddow responds, "I'm sure other people in the business have considered reasons why they're doing what they're doing, but I do think that if you're gay you have a responsibility to come out."
Although the news anchor in question goes unnamed in the interview, widespread speculation on the Internet was that the question was about Cooper.
"Although criticism of Mr. Cooper was intimated by The Guardian and picked up everywhere -- I did not make that criticism in the interview, nor did I imply it, nor is it what I believe," Maddow concluded in her blog.
Ironically, Out magazine recently named Cooper and Fox News anchor Shepard Smith among the most influential gay figures on its Power 50 list.