I reported with disbelief earlier today that KCPQ’s website, Q13.com, had only briefly posted video of that satellite media tour interview with an intoxicated Paula Abdul. It appeared for a few hours after the interview on the Fox affiliate’s morning show, then mysteriously disappeared. Now a few days later, it’s approaching 2 million views on YouTube, and it’s making the rounds all over the place. So why wouldn’t Q13.com take advantage of a golden opportunity and post the video front and center? I’m hearing that Fox asked KCPQ to pull the clip off Q13.com. This makes much more sense, especially when you consider Fox’s statement out today in support of Abdul:
“Last week, during a satellite press tour there were intermittent technical difficulties, including severe audio issues in which multiple stations were speaking to her at once. Rather than getting angry about these difficulties, or stopping the tour, Paula forged ahead and decided to have fun with the increasingly challenging situation. Unfortunately, because reporters and viewers were unaware of the situation, her humor was misconstrued.”
While there were some initial audio problems, she was clearly intoxicated. Come on, Fox, we’re not stupid. (Full disclosure: I work for KING5.com, a competitor, and I used to oversee Q13.com when I was assistant news director at KCPQ six years ago.)