14 DAY TRIAL // Joan Rivers is known for her often controversial brand of humor and her sharp wit. She's also known to never back down from a fight, but when she was interviewed by CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield in connection with her upcoming book, “Diary of a Mad Diva,” Rivers didn't hesitate to get up and leave when she didn't like the line of questioning.
The “Fashion Police” star spent some time defending herself from the questions of the inquisitive reporter, successfully dodging the blows that would have her hint she was often overstepping the boundaries of comedy into controversy.
On everything from her mean quips on “Fashion Police” to the fact that Rivers decided to wear fur on the cover of her new book, knowing full well that she was going to catch flack from animal rights activists, Fredricka seemed intent on making Joan seem like a mean person and the aging comedienne caught on quickly.
Despite the fact that the interviewer was nothing but smiles, her remarks and questions all indicated to the fact that she didn't care too much for Rivers' style of comedy. Finally, when she had had enough, Joan exploded, “you are not the one to interview a person who does humor, sorry.”
Joan slammed the anchor by adding, “This whole interview is becoming a defensive interview.” As she sat up from her chair and removed her ear piece, Joan added that Whitfield had nothing but “negative” things to say.
For her part, Whitfield tried to play it off like she didn't know where all of this hostility was coming from, and she managed to seem genuinely surprised when Rivers actually stood up and left the shot.
When the interview was aired, the producers added a part where Fredricka explained what happened after the cameras were turned off. She said that she thought Joan was doing a stunt up until the very end, and it wasn't until she could hear in her ear piece the comedienne making some harsh comments in her still attached microphone that she realized it wasn’t a joke.
“Off camera, [Rivers] kept her microphone on as she continued to talk and dropped some rather unflattering four-letter words,” the CNN anchor divulged.
The Hollywood Reporter contacted the “Fashion Police” star and asked her about the incident. She came forward to explain that “I do not do, and never have done, PR 'stunts. The CNN interviewer was a news reporter and not an entertainment reporter. She did not seem to understand we were talking about a comedy book and not the transcripts from the Nuremberg Trial.”
