Prejean Needs No Enemies with Friends Like NBC
Miss California Carrie Prejean appeared on NBC's April 30 “Today” to discuss her role in the new ad against same-sex marriage produced by the National Organization for Marriage.
Co-host Matt Lauer told Miss California Carrie Prejean, “We're happy to give you the platform” to talk about her beliefs, but based on some of his questions, and the interview's set-up, it appeared NBC wanted her on the program to simply hype the idea that her belief in traditional marriage is “controversial.”
Lauer's colleague, Chris Jansing, referred to Prejean as a “conservative sensation” before she quickly re-visited and downplayed the smears leveled at Prejean in an introductory segment.
Jansing characterized the profane rant by celebrity blogger/Miss
As for Lauer's interview with Prejean, he did ask her why she decided to help NOM, but then confronted her with a statement released by the director of the Miss California USA Pageant:
In the entire history of Miss
Lauer later asked, “Well, but because this is such a polarizing issue, Carrie, such an explosive issue, did you ever give consideration to perhaps holding your fire on this issue until your reign as Miss California at least ends, and then going forward and taking part in campaigns like the one you're taking part in today?”
Again, at no point did Lauer or Jansing mention the tidbit that Prejean represents the majority view of Californians with regard to same-sex marriage.
Lauer, and the heads of the Miss California pageant, also apparently forgot that Prejean didn't so much “go forward” with her views on same-sex marriage as she was thrust into the marriage debate by a gay activist who injected politics into a beauty pageant.
Instead of praising Prejean for standing strong for her convictions, NBC forced her to defend her position once again.
Colleen Raezler is a research assistant at the Culture and Media Institute, a division of the