Boston Marathon Bombing Victim: ‘Shame on You Meet The Press‘
Adrianne Haslet-Davis, the dancer who lost her leg in the 2013 bombings at the Boston Marathon finish line, is apparently not happy about an interview she taped Friday for this coming Sunday’s Meet The Press. Haslet-Davis, who recently appeared in a CNN documentary with Anderson Cooper, tweeted her disappointment in the NBC News show for allegedly using the names of the bombers during the segment when she had requested they be left out.
Cannot believe @meetthepress chose to use the bombers name instead of respect their guest. Had to walk off set crying.
— AdrianneHD (@AdrianneHaslet) April 11, 2014
I feel so disrespected @meetthepress I asked politely yesterday and you said yes. Now you choose to use the name instead
— AdrianneHD (@AdrianneHaslet) April 11, 2014
Let's change the dialect to honor the survivors and not focus on the criminals. Shame on you @meetthepress
— AdrianneHD (@AdrianneHaslet) April 11, 2014
Since she posted those initial tweets, Haslet-Davis has been retweeting messages of support from followers, many of which accused Meet The Press of being “disrespectful” and “deceitful.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the show said:
“Adrianne Haslet-Davis is an inspiring survivor with an important story to share. She was due to take part in a roundtable discussion for Meet the Press with three other participants. She requested that the alleged bombers’ name not be used in the entire program, but given the nature of the discussion we couldn’t make that guarantee. We regret any distress caused by this miscommunication.”
The show is promoting a special edition titled “The Boston Bombing One Year Later” on its website, which will include a roundtable discussion with Doris Kearns Goodwin, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), and former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis as well as interviews with Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki and former New England Patriots player Joe Andruzzi. There is currently no mention of the interview with Haslet-Davis.
UPDATE (7pm ET): According to sources at NBC, the discussion that prompted Haslet-Davis to leave the interview happened off-set before any taping began. For that reason, her story will not be part of Meet The Press’ program Sunday.
In addition, host David Gregory tweeted his apologies to Haslet-Davis Friday afternoon:
I'm so sorry @AdrianneHaslet was upset tdy + had a bad experience w MTP. As I told her, her comfort level is far more imp than any show
— David Gregory (@davidgregory) April 11, 2014
Our segment for air Sun is a celebration of Boston w smaller focus on whether clues were missed that could have stopped the bombers.
— David Gregory (@davidgregory) April 11, 2014
[photo via Twitter]
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