Larry King Gets One More Laugh Over Carrie Prejean Interview

Larry King wanted the last laugh from his testy interview with former Miss California Carrie Prejean, and got it Sunday in an interview with CNN's Howard Kurtz. Kurtz hosted King Sunday on "Reliable Sources" to showcase memorable interviews from 25 years of "Larry King Live."

One of the interviews was King's clash with Carrie Prejean from November, 2009. As NewsBusters then reported, King pressed Prejean about reports of a sex video she made as a teenager for her boyfriend. In addition, he repeatedly asked her about a settlement she made with the Miss Universe organization even though she kept asserting the matter was confidential.

Prejean then told King he was being "inappropriate." She removed her mic when a caller claiming to be gay pressed her about same-sex marriage. Supposedly the agreement between Prejean's publicist and King included no phone calls during the interview, although King denied having knowledge of that at the time of the interview.
 

King has had less controversial interviews with much more controversial figures, such as Paris Hilton, Monica Lewinsky, and Sinead O'Connor. He asked Lewinsky twice in 2000 about her feelings for Linda Tripp, but backed off both times when Lewinsky wouldn't answer. King was quite deferential to Sinead O'Connor in his interview with her this past March.

King reported that Prejean was only the second person he ever interviewed who took off her mic and walked off the set. "I don't know what was inappropriate about the question I asked," King insisted. He then mimicked Prejean in a bratty voice, and wondered "what ever happened to her?"

"Haven't heard much of her lately," Kurtz snidely remarked, to which King laughed.

A transcript of the segment, which aired December 26 at 11:11 a.m. EDT, is as follows:

HOWARD KURTZ: How did you feel, when suddenly she's taken off the mic and walking off – I don't think that ever happened to you before.

LARRY KING: Well the only other time it happened was this doctor who walked off because he didn't want to ask questions about an incident. He walked off. But she – that was strange because she thought that I was inappropriate.

KURTZ: Yep.

KING: And I don't know what was inappropriate about the question I asked.

KURTZ: No matter what you asked, she said "You're being inappropriate, Larry. You're being inappropriate."

KING: (Mimicking Prejean) Yeah I know, Larry.

By the way – what ever happened to her?

KURTZ: Haven't heard much of her lately.

KING: (Laughing)