Throughout her 250-or-so years in television, Barbara Walters has interviewed everyone from Margaret Thatcher, to Michael Jackson, to Fidel Castro to, yes, Dakota Fanning. Also, she once claimed on The View that she heard her dog Cha-Cha say, "I love you."
So you would think that Barbara Walters has absolutely no standards when it comes to things she'll say, or people she'll interview on the air. Well, as it turns out, Walters does have an incredibly arbitary line that she won't cross twice: Paris Hilton.
From The NY Post:
Barbara, after NBC opted out and Paris Hilton's interview was again offered you – for free – why'd you pass? "Look, I've done prison interviews before, but people like the Menendez Brothers were really important news stories," said the First Lady of the Soundbites. "This wasn't. And even though I'd already written my questions, when all that pay-for-play stuff happened, I suddenly felt this was not up to my standard. It . . . felt . . . sort of . . . "
Sleazy?
"Tawdry. The whole thing somehow was beneath me. Besides, it was a no-win. If I did a tough piece and her tears started to flow, it would be, 'Oh, there's Barbara Walters making people cry again.' Too soft, and I'd be criticized."
So, to sum up: Doing one prison interview with Paris Hilton = Acceptable to Barbara Walters
Doing another prison interview with Paris Hilton = Tawdry, and magically beneath Barbara Walters
Good to know. And for future reference, here's a short list of things that are NOT beneath Barbara Walters:
1. Hamming it up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in their "lair."
2. Working out with Jim Carrey on a treadmill:
3. Talking about silk panties. (Video here, please don't watch it.) And
4. Cheesing up a story about transgendered kids (montage via fourfour):