The Tribune’s chat with famed broadcaster Larry King continues this week. Larry visited Nashville recently to do a series of celebrity interviews for his multi-Emmy nominated online interview series Larry King Now for Ora TV and Hulu. https://www.ora.tv/larrykingnow
The legendary broadcaster’s show features not just celebrities but also social media stars, influencers, musicians, politicians, athletes, and all personalities alike. During his Nashville visit the Tribune had the opportunity to chat with the acclaimed “King of Talk” who will be celebrating 60 years as a broadcaster as of May 2017, having done about 60,000 interviews throughout his illustrious career. In part two of our continued chat with Larry King, he concludes the interview with his views about the presidential race and about the controversial protest with football player Collin Kaepernick.
TRIBUNE: Our two presidential candidates are longtime friends of yours. You’ve interviewed the Trumps shortly after they got married. Donald Trump is a personal friend. So what do you think about his (Trump’s) candidacy?
Larry: “This whole thing is insane. I mean, I like Donald personally as a friend but this is not the Donald I know. All of this Mexico stuff I don’t know where it’s going. I’ve talked to him many times and I can’t believe a lot of what I hear. The whole racist thing is like bizarre to me. I wish it was all over. Please end it. I love both candidates. One is obviously more qualified for the job than the other. No one can doubt that…I’ve never seen a race (presidential) like this.”
TRIBUNE: Since both candidates are longtime friends of yours, how are you going to decide when it’s time to vote?
Larry: “I have to decide on who I think is the best candidate. I never announce who I am voting for. It has to be who I think serves my country best. I will tell the other one who I for voted afterwards.”
TRIBUNE: What is your spin about the controversy with NFL player Collin Kaepernick’s stance about not standing for the National Anthem as a form of protest against the violence and racism of African Americans?
Larry: “I have no argument against him. I try to always put myself in another person’s shoes. I am Caucasian and I don’t know what is like to be Black. I can only imagine how Blacks feel. But if you take a look at what he’s seeing around him: cops killing blacks who don’t have guns, who if they run away they get shot in the back. I’ve had a Black friend who was stopped by cops in his car in Beverly Hills for no reason–just because he was Black and it was a new car. And so if you live like that in a country that lets you down in many ways, that’s your expression. It may not be my choice but I’m not going to knock him. As long as he said he wasn’t against the military…He took the risk and he gets the condemnation from many people. Many of the people that are criticizing him wouldn’t have the guts to stand up for what they feel….”
TRIBUNE: Out of all of the thousands of people you’ve interviewed, the person that you’ve talked to that I would love to interview is Russian President Vladimir Putin. For some reason I find him fascinating. But I’d like to chat with him about other topics. Not politics. He would be awesome in a James Bond movie!
Larry: “Yes, he is a fascinating guy. He’s very strong and very funny. He would be a successful American politician. He’s seemingly strong-willed but there’s a little bit of light in his eyes — to that I can say.”
