People: Giving them too hard of a time?
After months of whispers that she was too soft for the evening news, now Katie Couric is being criticized for being too tough on John and Elizabeth Edwards on “60 Minutes.”
Questioning Edwards’ decision to continue his presidential campaign despite his wife’s cancer, Couric said: “Some people watching this would say, ‘I would put my family first always, and my job second.’ … You’re putting your work first, and your family second.”
Dozens of people wrote to the CBS Web site, complaining that Couric was being insensitive and pointing out that she kept doing her “Today” show job, with breaks, when her husband Jay Monahan was diagnosed with colon cancer and died in 1998.
For his part, John Edwards called the questions “tough, but fair,” and his wife called Couric to thank her for the interview.
Says Jeff Fager, “60 Minutes” executive producer: “You’ve got to be good to do that well, and I thought she did it exceptionally well. It’s what we do here at ‘60 Minutes.’ “
She could do verse
Oprah Winfrey will announce a new book club pick on her television talk show today, when she hosts the author of her current selection, Academy Award-winning actor Sidney Poitier.
In January, Winfrey chose Poitier’s memoir, “The Measure of a Man,” ending a year-long hiatus for her club.
Crash course
Actor-comedian Eddie Griffin escaped without injury after crashing a rare Ferrari Enzo worth $1.5 million into a concrete barrier.
Griffin was practicing Monday for a charity race to promote his upcoming film, “Redline,” when he drove too fast around a curve at the Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway.
Said Griffin, referring to his 2002 movie: “Undercover Brother’s good at karate and all the rest of that, but the Brother can’t drive.”
Who kept the Dogg out?
Snoop Dogg and Sean “Diddy” Combs were forced to scrap a tour of Britain after authorities denied Dogg a visa.
“With late notice of Snoop being denied a visa, time has run out and it is too late to reconfigure the show,” the performers said.
In April 2006, Dogg (aka Calvin Broadus) and five other men were arrested on charges of violent disorder and starting a brawl after trouble flared when some in the rapper’s party were denied entry to British Airways’ first-class lounge at Heathrow Airport.
Seven officers received cuts and bruises and one suffered a fracture to the hand.
God swathe the Queen
Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz will take the official portrait for Queen Elizabeth II‘s visit to the United States in early May, Buckingham Palace said Tuesday.
Leibovitz, best known for her Rolling Stone cover photo of a naked John Lennon hugging a clothed Yoko Ono, said the portrait would be “very formal and painterly” and that she was in negotiation with the palace over what the queen would wear.
The birthday bunch
Actress Conchata Ferrell is 64. Actor Ken Howard is 63. Actress Dianne Wiest is 59. Country singer Reba McEntire is 52. Actor Vince Vaughn is 37. Actor Ken L. (“The Parkers”) is 34. Actress Julia Stiles is 26.