On Friday's NBC Today, news anchor Natalie Morales worried about the safety of reality star Kim Kardashian after a "nasty surprise" at a red carpet event: "...a woman threw white powder on the starlet. Paramedics were called to the hotel, but Kardashian refused treatment....The woman who allegedly threw the so-called flour bomb was detained but later released."
The same concern was never extended to Republican presidential candidates who endured glitter-bomb attacks from radical gay activists at campaign events. In fact, NBC actually depicted those incidents as gaffes and stumbles for the candidates.
In a later report, correspondent Andrea Mitchell declared: "Topping off a bad day, the Gingrich's book signing in Minneapolis was briefly interrupted by a glitter attack. Activists said it was a gay protest."
On the February 2 broadcast, correspondent Peter Alexander described a similar glitter attack on Mitt Romney as another "distraction" for the campaign: "He was greeted in Minnesota by a pair of glitter bombs from gay rights protesters."
Notice the lack of concern for the candidates and the promotion of the childish actions as a form of gay rights protest.
In contrast, on Friday, with Kardashian in the line of fire, Morales described the incident as "very scary." Co-host Ann Curry agreed: "Yeah, because you don't know what it is at first." Morales added that it was "frightening," while fill-in co-host Willie Geist remarked: "Easy to laugh after the fact, but in that moment, that's kind of scary." Weatherman Al Roker chimed in, "that's terrifying."
The Washington Post reports that the flour-bombing of Kardashian was also a form of protest, by an anti-fur activist.
Here is a transcript of the March 23 report on Kardashian:
7:00AM ET TEASE:
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN [DUMPING BAG OF FLOUR ON KARDASHIAN]: ...you fur hag!
CURRY: Her assailant detained at the scene and the reality star is laughing the whole thing off.
7:19AM ET SEGMENT:
NATALIE MORALES: Kim Kardashian got a nasty surprise on the red carpet, as we showed you, last night when a woman threw white powder on the starlet. Paramedics were called to the hotel, but Kardashian refused treatment. Instead, she took the incident in stride, dusting herself off, getting cleaned up, and returning to the event.
The woman who allegedly threw the so-called flour bomb was detained but later released. Kardashian told deputies she did not want to press charges. Joking about the incident, Kardashian said, "I told my makeup artist I needed more powder." It is 7:19 right now. Let's turn it back over to Ann, Willie and Al. Still, very scary.
CURRY: Yeah, because you don't know what it is at first.
MORALES: Yeah, absolutely.
CURRY: You're not sure if somebody let her know that it was flour at the beginning.
MORALES: But it's – yeah, frightening.
CURRY: But it sounds like she handled it with aplomb.
WILLIE GEIST: Easy to laugh after the fact, but in that moment, that's kind of scary.
ROKER: Yes, that's terrifying.
CURRY: Yeah, exactly.
