Broadcast legend and ‘king of talk’ Larry King dies at 87

WASHINGTON—Larry King, who quizzed thousands of world leaders, politicians and entertainers for CNN and other news outlets in a career spanning more than 6 decades, has died at age 87, CNN reported on Saturday, citing a source close to the family.

King had been hospitalized in Los Angeles with a COVID-19 infection, according to several media reports. He had endured health problems for many years, including a near-fatal stroke in 2019 and diabetes.

He had been hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for more than a week, CNN reported.

King's official Twitter account also confirmed the development.

Millions watched King interview world leaders, entertainers and other celebrities on CNN's "Larry King Live", which ran from 1985 to 2010.

Hunched over his desk in rolled-up shirt sleeves and owlish glasses, he made his show one of the network's prime attractions with a mix of interviews, political discussions, current event debates and phone calls from viewers.

Even in his heyday, critics accused King of doing little pre-interview research and tossing softball questions to guests who were free to give unchallenged, self-promoting answers. He responded by conceding he did not do much research so that he could learn along with his viewers. Besides, King said, he never wanted to be perceived as a journalist.

"My duty, as I see it, is I'm a conduit," King told the Hartford Courant in 2007.

“I ask the best questions I can. I listen to the answers. I try to follow up. And hopefully the audience makes a conclusion. I'm not there to make a conclusion. I'm not a soapbox talk-show host.

“So what I try to do is present someone in the best light."

PRESIDENTS AND PRIME MINISTERS

King's guests included U.S. presidents dating back to Gerald Ford, international leaders such as PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, and entertainers ranging from Bob Hope to Snoop Dogg.

King never hid his old-fashioned proclivities and liked to reminisce about performers such as Frank Sinatra and Arthur Godfrey. In 2006 he admitted to a guest that he had never searched the internet, saying: “What do you do, punch little buttons and things?"

But by 2012 King was on the internet himself with his "Larry King Now" show on Ora TV, and later Hulu's streaming service.

He also was a regular presence on Twitter, promoting his interviews and tossing out random thoughts - "I have no desire to eat an artichoke," "My favorite flavor of Jell-O is lime" and "I love to say 'sacre bleu!'" — in what was essentially an online version of the column he had once written for USA Today.

King was an established radio talk-show host when he made his first television broadcast for CNN from Washington on June 3, 1985, five years after Ted Turner started the network.

"Larry King Live" would become one of CNN's highest-rated shows. He left CNN amid falling ratings in 2010 after 25 years with the news network, but stayed busy with his Ora TV show.

"I've known a lot of people who were experts in six or 12 things but Larry seems to be an expert in everything," Don Hewitt, creator of "60 Minutes", told the Hollywood Reporter.

"He's also never confrontational, which is majorly important. In an age when so many people are miserable, he seems to be one of the happy ones."

MIAMI RADIO BEGINNINGS

King was born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger on Nov. 19, 1933, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. He said at age 5 he knew he wanted to be on the radio and in 1957 he moved to Miami, which he had been told had a burgeoning radio market.

King started doing odd jobs at a Miami station and one day was asked to fill in for an announcer who walked off the job. Before he went on the air, the station manager urged him to change his last name to King because it was easier to pronounce and less ethnic than Zeiger.

King became a fixture in Miami but as his reputation grew, so did his troubles.

In 1971 he was arrested on a grand larceny complaint filed by Miami financier Lou Wolfson, who had been in trouble with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wolfson allegedly paid King in hopes of gaining influence on the administration of then-U.S. President Richard Nixon.

The charge against King was dropped because the statute of limitations had expired, but the scandal knocked him off the air for some three years. He did public relations work for a Louisiana racetrack until station WIOD in Miami hired him.

King rebounded and the Mutual radio network gave him a nationwide audience in 1978. He relocated to Washington, a move that led to the CNN job.

He suffered a heart attack and had bypass surgery in 1987, prompting him to start the Larry King Cardiac Foundation a year later. He had surgery in 2007 to clear a blocked artery, was treated for prostate cancer in 2010 and said in 2017 that he had been treated for lung cancer.

King was married eight times to seven women, most recently to singer Shawn Southwick, who was 26 years younger. He had five children, two of whom died in 2020. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Scott Malone and Bill Trott; Editing by Dave Gregorio, Rosalba O'Brien and Alex Richardson)

-reuters-

Dalai Lama says no problem with gay marriage

WASHINGTON - The celibate Dalai Lama has thrown his considerable moral weight behind gay marriage, condemning homophobia and saying sex was fine as long as it was consensual.

The Buddhist monk offered his views on the hot-button social issue during his latest tour of the United States, where he was welcomed Thursday in Washington by top lawmakers and offered the customary prayer that opens each Senate session.

The Dalai Lama, in an interview, said that gay marriage was up to each government and was ultimately "individual business."

"If two people -- a couple -- really feel that way is more practical, more sort of satisfaction, both sides fully agree, then okay," he told an online talk show by veteran radio and television host Larry King.

The Dalai Lama said though that people should still follow their own religions' rules on sexuality.

"But then for a non-believer, that is up to them. So there are different forms of sex -- so long (as it is) safe, okay, and (if both people) fully agree, okay," the Dalai Lama said in English.

"Bully, abuse -- that's totally wrong. That's a violation of human rights," he said.

The Dalai Lama is Tibet's exiled spiritual leader and one of the most prominent leaders in Buddhism.

Gay marriage has won growing acceptance in the Western world and Latin America. But no predominantly Buddhist nation allows gay marriage, although several places with Buddhist influence including Nepal, Taiwan and Vietnam have increasingly debated the issue.

The Dalai Lama, who fled his Chinese-ruled homeland for India in 1959 and later won the Nobel Peace Prize, has prided himself on progressive positions and described himself as a feminist.

But his past comments on gay rights have occasionally bothered some of his Western audiences. In one of his books, the Dalai Lama, while not explicitly criticizing homosexuality, said that sex should only involve "organs intended for sexual intercourse."

'The leading nation'

The Dalai Lama, whose meeting on February 21 with President Barack Obama was angrily condemned by China, separately told lawmakers that one of his main goals was "preservation of Tibetan culture."

Offering advice as a "longtime friend" of the United States, the Dalai Lama said that he considered the nation to be "really a champion of democracy, freedom."

"These traditional values are, I think, very, very relevant in today's world. After all, you are the leading nation in the free world, So, (show) self-confidence," the Dalai Lama said.

The Dalai Lama sat between House Speaker John Boehner, who said he wanted to show bipartisan support for the Buddhist monk, and the Republican leader's often bitter rival Nancy Pelosi, a longtime activist on the Tibetan cause. He later met top senators.

"What is happening in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world," said Pelosi, the leader of Obama's Democratic Party in the House of Representatives.

More than 120 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in recent years to protest what they describe as a stifling Chinese control over their religious, cultural and political freedoms. Obama called for the protection of Tibetans' rights in a statement after his meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Reflecting on mortality

In contrast to his meeting with Obama, which the White House took pains to portray as private, the Dalai Lama was accompanied in his talks at Congress by Lobsang Sangay, who was elected in 2011 as the prime minister of Tibetans in exile.

The Dalai Lama told the lawmakers that he had transferred his political role to the elected leader.

While the globe-trotting monk has been instrumental in throwing a worldwide spotlight on Tibet, he has increasingly been looking ahead to the future of the movement without him.

The Dalai Lama appeared to reflect on his own mortality as he served as the guest Senate chaplain.

Offering prayers to the Buddha "and all other gods," the Dalai Lama recited what he described as "my favorite prayer," which he recites daily for inner strength.

"As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to help dispel the misery of the world," he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com