CNN Reporter Gushes to Lorena Bobbitt: 'Are You Finally Able to Laugh About It?'
On Tuesday morning, CNN anchor Alina Cho interviewed Lorena Bobbitt – who unsurprisingly goes by her maiden name, Lorena Gallo – to discuss her recent efforts to reach out to domestic abuse victims and combat spousal abuse. However, the network not only failed to explain the specifics of her 1993 domestic dispute – where she infamously severed her then-husband John Bobbitt's penis with a kitchen knife – but asked her if she can now look back and laugh about the attack.
Bobbitt took revenge on her husband after she said he had abused her multiple times. Years later, in 1997, she was charged with assaulting her mother. Bobbitt was found not guilty, though the judge in the case said he thought she was guilty, but had "reasonable doubt."
The network failed to report that domestic-violence case during the soft interview in a segment titled "Where Are They Now?" Anchor Alina Cho glossed over her 1993 incident by reporting that Bobbitt "employed a – shall we say, dramatic – response to an abusive relationship." [MP3 audio here.]
After asking Gallo about her recent efforts to counsel abuse victims, Cho popped this gem to her. "I have to ask you this," Cho began, "as you well know, there was a time when joking about the Bobbitts was a national pastime. I wonder after all these years – are you finally able to laugh about it?"
That's right, a CNN reporter asked Gallo if she can now laugh about an incident where she responded to violent abuse by severing her husband's penis. Amazingly, Gallo answered in the affirmative.
"I finally am. And it took a lot of time, it took a lot of years," Gallo responded. "But it's not a subject of laughing matter when we talk about domestic violence, though," she added.
A partial transcript of the segment, which aired on December 28 at 10:36 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
ALINA CHO, national correspondent, CNN: Her name is Lorena Gallo, but back then on news programs and the subject of late-night comedians, she was Lorena Bobbitt. She's remembered as the wife who employed a – shall we say, dramatic – response to an abusive relationship with her then husband John Wayne-Bobbitt. But in the nearly two decades since then she started a new life. She's been in a long-term relationship, thirteen years strong. She has a five year-old daughter. And while she works as a part-time hairdresser and real estate agent, she says her true passion is counseling domestic violence victims through her organization.
(...)
CHO: I have to ask you this. As you well know, there was a time when joking about the Bobbitts was a national pastime. I wonder after all of these years – are you finally able to laugh about it?
LORENA GALLO: I finally am. And it took a lot of time, it took a lot of years, and definitely a lot of – I went to psychologists, and thanks to the doctors, the therapies I'm here, and I'll be able to now basically start all over again and start a new relationship and have a family and basically I can laugh now. But it's not a subject of laughing matter when we talk about domestic violence, though. It's a serious problem and what happened to me was very bizarre, obviously. But I was a victim, I'm not a victim anymore, and that's the message that I come – I have to come across and say it, and domestic violence is a serious issue and it affects 32 million people in the United States and is a worldwide epidemic, it's a social epidemic that if we don't do anything about it, then we faced with a bigger problem in the future for our newest generations to come.
CHO: Well I know the best advice if you're in that type of situation is get out, go somewhere, just leave. So Lorena Bobbitt, now Lorena Gallo, we thank you so much for joining us live today, and best of luck with Lorena's red wagon.
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Comments
Switch the Sexes...
Submitted by Tom Paine on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:10pm.
Once again. Imagine the outcry if Fox had posed the same question to a man who had mutilated his wife. This is what Rush refers to as the Chickification of the news and the not so subtle message that the man always deserved it in some way.
Took the words right out of my keyboard
Submitted by CO2Maker on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:28pm.
If a man--say Bill O'Reilly--yuck-yucked to a male guest --say, Mel Gibson--bout whether he was over his old episode of abusing his wife, the viragos on the left would take a blowtorch to his face.
Ditto here.
Submitted by Martin2717 on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 7:53pm.
Ditto here.
You're kidding, right?!?!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:15pm.
Ask John Wayne B. if he is finally able to laugh about her whacking his tally off!
I'm betting she could laugh about it from the moment she did it. Not defending what he supposedly did, but come on! Does anyone deserve that kind of punishment?
On second thought I guess it could have been worse. She could have left his Zamboni and whacked the hat trick twins. That would probably have been worse. Yeah, way worse!
It's not hard to see
Submitted by MBart on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:16pm.
that Cho was basking in the years-long afterglow of Lorena carrying out the ultimate radical feminist fantasy. Would she be so affectionate if it had been a man who cut off his wife's breasts in response to being abused? Not likely.
This is CNN
Submitted by JustAl on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:18pm.
Where stupidity is certainly not new.
I wonder if....
Submitted by almostacowboy on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:23pm.
...the Clinton News Network will ask those "peaceful" Muslims who cut off Daniel Pearl's head the same question?
My guess? Probably.
What a piece of work. Those
Submitted by johnsonl on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:40pm.
What a piece of work. Those two women should rot in hell.
Hey Ron Goldman.......
Submitted by NeoKong on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 7:31pm.
Are you finally able to laugh about it?Whoah!
Submitted by farstar99 on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 7:33pm.
What a couple of bowsers!
Yikes....
It's funny now to laugh about cutting off someone's body part?
Submitted by Calypso Jones on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 7:48pm.
I'm concerned about the host...'can you LAUGH about it now?? I SINCERELY hope NOT. This is not necessarily a high point in the life of Ms. Gallo. ....except in the mentality of the left.
The painful truth
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 7:52pm.
Unfortunately for the feminists of the world, though women have the great power to bring forth life, that process must be initiated somehow, and there aren't many women who can initiate the process themselves.
Alina Cho was an idiot on CNBC and she is still an idiot. It is not surprising to see that she is working for CNN.
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Matt, I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing...
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 8:07pm.
...the name Lorena Bobbitt again.
I still remember the morning that story hit the radio, and I still remember the twinge of pain I felt at the time.
:-O
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Yeah, they laugh about it now
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 8:13pm.
Yeah, they laugh about it now just like Cho simply laughs off the fact that everyone thinks she is the pedicure lady downtown. What a hoot!
Alina Cho should be fired for
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 8:21pm.
Alina Cho should be fired for asking that question.
Period.
And as for Gallo...what's the message there?
Hey, ladies, you can whack off your husband's johnson, and it might take years of therapy, but eventually you'll be able to laugh about it?
If that's true, does she think an abusive husband, after years of therapy, can eventually laugh about abusing his wife?
Anybody whacks mine off, even
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 8:35pm.
Anybody whacks mine off, even my wife, they are going to get aquainted with two gentlemen that have never let me down: Smith & Wesson. I don't care if I have to go to prison. Cutting off Mr. Johnson is a no no. End of story.
Not a forgivable act.
Super glue
Submitted by SnapTie on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 8:50pm.
Maybe if the had their lips glued together we could all laugh.
Just imagine if it was ...
Submitted by bohratom on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 8:59pm.
Just imagine if a Man had cutoff a woman's clitoris.......You know damn well the liberal media would not be laughing about it....
Again just shows the double standard in the main stream media...
Yup, and if you are a "male,
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 9:21pm.
Yup, and if you are a "male, white, Christian that makes over $30,000, are heterosexual and love everything about America" then you are the villain with this mainstream media. You are essentially scum and deserve your Johnson to be whacked off.
You don't have to imagine it...
Submitted by SickofLibs on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 9:55am.
it actually happens thousands of times a day in the Religion of Peace.
out yonder
Submitted by malthus on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 9:43pm.
If I remember correctly she made sure the unit was not recovered. I wonder if John laughs about losing the centerpiece of his set. Did he get a prosthesis or is he winging it?Alina Cho used to perform in a Nogales donkey show
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 10:02pm.
What? I think I read that somewhere, although I may be wrong.
Tee hee hee. So let's recap: Lorena, you cut off your husband's dick, then you go for a car ride and then you throw it out the window like a Taco Bell wrapper?
Miraculously, the cops find it in the weeds on a median, then even more miraculously, surgeons reattach it.
Hardy har har. Please GFY in this order: 1) Alina; 2) Lorena.
The woman has---
Submitted by matthewdean on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 10:20pm.
GOT to be related to Margaret Cho.
Same kind of class.
None.
MD
Actually...
Submitted by mrbuddhafreak on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 11:41pm.
It wasn't that much of a miracle. They found it using a police dog. But they could use the standard German Shepherd breed. They had to use a weiner dog.
What idiots
Submitted by jaywl on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 11:17pm.
It gets really hard, whoops, sorry John Wayne, it gets difficult to express just how stupid some of these anchors are. The folks here have done a good job with this one. Lets say there is a refugee from Africa, with him on camera is a young wife , he admits to an arranged marriage to that girl only because she had the customary genatalia multilation. Can we laugh? Ask the girl. And, as usual, suppose BO or Hannity asked the girl. NOW has been awful quiet lately (you know why) but that would make them scream loud and shrill.
Yeah, boy. This is the kind
Submitted by Chris Norman on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 11:18pm.
Yeah, boy, this is the kind of intelligent interview that's going to lift CNN's ratings up out of the sub-sub-basement.
sub-sub-basement.
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 11:31pm.
Or sewer. Everyday these guys compete to defy all logical reality.
These guys write the news!
In this case especially,
Submitted by Chris Norman on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 11:36pm.
In this case especially, "sewer" would have been the better description.
Imagine the laughter
Submitted by jon_torlin on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 12:43am.
if more people were aware of the physical damage that muslim men to do the women, some of which is horrific, including genital mutilation. Acid on their faces is another method, otherwise, mutilation with the knife is a favorite.
I'm sure that's hilarious to these sick bastards at CNN. If these stupid bitches were in those countries that practice these things AS A MATTER OF COURSE, I'm sure they'll be laughing.
-Jon
Just a late question.
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 12:49am.
What kind of sick biach wants to laugh about a woman mutilating a man?
Really???
Submitted by texusmc on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 10:17am.
Lorena Bobbit -Gallo?? really? Took alot of years, therapy and psychologists? And yet you are still FLIPPIN crazy!! you can still see the "crazy" in her eyes. as for Cho, two words SHUT IT!
laugh about it....wth!
Where the brains are located?
Submitted by VerityBrown on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 12:51pm.
It's painfully obvious where a lot of you "gentlemen's" brains are located. It's appalling to think of laughing about this situation, and it's shameful that this reporter would suggest it (and even more shameful that Gallo would go along with it). BUT... you won't find many women (even among us conservative women) who feel sorry for a guy who abuses and rapes his wife. If lawmakers weren't so worried about their own "packages," we might have some punishments that fit the crime. I suppose you men always want to keep rape open as an option for getting what you want? That's certainly what men's attitudes about this issue imply!
Where are you brains located?
Submitted by sentry_99 on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 1:15pm.
"I suppose you men always want to keep rape open as an option for getting what you want? That's certainly what men's attitudes about this issue imply!"
Are you serious? I don't think a midnight penectomy is something to laugh about so that means I condone rape? That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Well, we now know why
Submitted by bassndude on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 1:20pm.
Well, we now know why VerityBrown is a sparse poster here. She is a little shy of a full load of marbles...
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
Marbles?
Submitted by sentry_99 on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 1:24pm.
Did you bring up marbles? You chauvinistic supporter of rape. How dare you.
LOL....you think maybe golf
Submitted by bassndude on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 1:27pm.
LOL....you think maybe golf balls and putters would have had more meaning?
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
Yes, like most men, I always keep rape on the table as an option
Submitted by SickofLibs on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 1:52pm.
That was a pretty weird post.
Huh?
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 3:48pm.
"BUT... you won't find many women (even among us conservative women) who feel sorry for a guy who abuses and rapes his wife."
Contrary to your claims, you'll find that most Conservative women don't condone MUTILATION as a form of retribution. Just as most Conservative men don't condone female mutilation as retribution.
I don't know where you get your odd ideas about Conservatives, but, please STOP projecting your own sick beliefs onto others.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
By the way, hypocrite...
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 3:59pm.
"BUT... you won't find many women (even among us conservative women) who feel sorry for a guy who abuses and rapes his wife"
By the way, hypocrite, wouldn't that indicate that even YOU would condone a retaliatory strike, say by mutilating her breasts, against a woman who mutilates her husband genitalia? After all you feel that the punishment should fit the crime, correct?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
I'm a bit confused
Submitted by panzerakc on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 1:50am.
Cho's question seems a bit vague to me.
Is she asking Lorena if she can now laugh about mutilating her husband, or about being abused?
Finally?
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 3:42pm.
"I wonder after all these years – are you finally able to laugh about it?"
Finally? What do you mean by "finally?" According to her own statements to the police, she was LAUGHING as she threw his severed penis onto the side of the road!
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
How interesting....
Submitted by CobraMan on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 3:52pm.
"I finally am. And it took a lot of time, it took a lot of years," Gallo responded. "But it's not a subject of laughing matter when we talk about domestic violence, though," she added."
How interesting, she can laugh at a man getting mutilated, but "domestic violence" is no laughing matter, according to her. I guess domestic violence is only perpetrated by men against women, and the opposite NEVER occurs. Hypocrite, thy name is Gallo.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Lorena Bobbit
Submitted by JEANNIEMAC on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 7:14pm.
At the time this situation happened, I saw Lorena being interviewed. What she said has not been reported in any other venue. She said that when she was pregnant, her husband forced her to get an abortion, which was against her religion, and for which she felt deep sorrow. . When he drunkenly came at her again, all the anger and grief came rushing back and she snapped.
Was that the venue of your imagination?
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 7:23pm.
She whacked it while he sleeping. That was in all the other venues.