At this point, I think it’s safe to assume that — thanks to that douchebag, Matt Lauer — the fourth hour of “The Today Show” contains its most entertaining moments. Sure, a lot of this hour features Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb getting lit while “sampling cocktails,” but the two co-hosts share a nice chemistry, and I sort of enjoy watching this fourth hour, which plays in my city during my gym hour.
Friday’s episode, however, got hilariously out of hand when Hoda introduced the topic of grooming “down there.” It seems that Kathie Lee actually has something in common with Walton Goggins (who finds pubic hair to be “so beautiful, so feminine“), Janeane Garofalo (who thinks an absence of hair is a problem), and Daniel Radcliffe (who finds a clean slate on a lady is “f***ing creepy“). Everyone is entitled to their own opinions on the subject, of course, and now Kathie Lee reveals herself to be a fan of as little grooming as possible in that region: “I have friends who have landing strips, and some of you are in this room right now, and it’s just wrong. It’s just wrong.” When Hoda went on to reveal that she’s a big landing-strip fan, Kathie Lee’s reaction is priceless. Here’s a video clip of the discussion:
Kathie Lee does make a good point about the vajazzling. We perpetuated our species for millions of years without gluing jewels down there, and there’s simply no need to entice a dude with vajazzling, which probably has the opposite effect. Just ask Jennifer Love Hewitt. Regardless of such extreme measures on behalf of JLH, I found this conversation between Kathie Lee and Hoda to be quite amusing. You know that this television moment would have never gone off without a hitch if Regis Philbin had been involved. Poor Reeg.
These photos are from the 11/12 after party of Scandalous: The Musical. This image in particular creeps me out because Liza Minnelli is looking all righteous, and then Kris Jenner has to ruin the photo by lurking in the background.
One of the big stories yesterday was about how Kathie Lee Gifford stupidly asked actor Martin Short how his marriage was going, despite the fact that his dear wife has been deceased for nearly two years. Short was super classy about the whole thing, and didn’t even call Kathie Lee out for it on the air. He said he was married 36 years and that he was “madly in love.” A few of you said that Short’s response brought tears to your eyes. It kind of brought it home for me that love doesn’t die. It also showed what a gentleman and professional Short is, especially in comparison to Kathie Lee. I know if someone asked me about a loved one who had passed I would have blurted out immediately that they were gone. Short waited until the commercial to break the news to dimwit Kathie Lee.
In his response to the fallout from this story, Short of course remained very classy and thoughtful. He told E! News “people make mistakes and there’s no ill will intended.” He didn’t even call out Kathie Lee by name! Here’s more, thanks to E!
While the Internet is still abuzz about the mistake Kathie Lee Gifford made on Wednesday’s Today show when she asked Martin Short about his wife, who died in 2010 of ovarian cancer, the gracious star has clearly accepted her apology.
“On live television, people make mistakes. There’s no ill will intended,” Short exclusively told E! News about Gifford’s gaffe while doing press for his latest film, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. “It’s nice to aspire to be kind of elegant.”
I didn’t pay a lot of attention to Short prior to this, but now I’m a very big fan. What a great guy he is.
Also, you know how Kathie Lee apologized on the air and then later tweeted an apology to Short? Gossip Cop points out that the account Kathie Lee tweeted, @MartinShort, isn’t his Twitter account at all. She could have figured it out if she even bothered to visit the link for the account one time. Note to Kathie Lee: get an iPad and wiki your guests, dumbass.
Kathie Lee Gifford, 58, has admitted that she loves Botox. (On Today this morning she said “I’ve been getting it since I was 40 years old.”) It’s clear that she uses/abuses it, although she only half admits to having other work done. In 2010, Kathie Lee and Hoda went without makeup on their show and Kathie Lee moved her face around and said “look closely. If you see a scar, I’ll own up to it. Only from the neck up.” She then gave a wink to the camera. So she’s not a plastic surgery denier, and that’s nice to see.
On this morning’s Today Show, Kathie Lee and Hoda both had work done for the cameras. It was non-invasive and they didn’t even get any injections, disappointingly. I was kind of hoping for a real eye lift, kind of like how Harry Smith got a live colonoscopy in 2010. Kathie Lee had this deep tissue eyebrow “lift” called Ultherapy that’s touted as an alternative to Botox. (And a super expensive one at that. It costs $1,200! Dr. Oz has featured this on his show too. It uses ultrasound and is supposedly very safe and effective, although it takes 2-3 months to take full effect. It actually looks kind of awesome.) Hoda, 47, just had some laser hair removal on one of her arms. They did show a live Botox injection along with spider vein removal, but that was on participants who agreed to get it on air, not on either of the hosts. Here’s more:
During TODAY’s fourth hour plastic surgery extravaganza, our intrepid co-anchors bravely underwent some (minimally invasive) work, on-air. Here’s how it went down.
Step one: Prep
After revealing what they’d be getting done — an eye lift for KLG, and arm-hair removal for Hoda — the ladies got prepped at the desk, being numbed and shorn, respectively. They spent the show dressed in hospital gowns (“This looks like we should be serving food at the school cafeteria,” remarked Hoda) and awesome anti-laser sunglasses.
Step two: Procedure
Kathie Lee’s old pal Dr. Patricia Wexler removed her forehead-numbing cream and got to work, first lifting and then massaging the area above her left eye. Kathie Lee took having her face prodded and vibrated like a pro (“Not the first time we’ve done this,” she noted cooly.) Hoda was less cucumber-water cool. As Completely Bare’s Cindy Barshop zapped her arm with a green laser, she worried, “Is that smoke?” then added, “Where’s the wine?”
Step three: Recovery
Finally, it was time to relax with a glass of Champagne. Well, sort of. Hoda was still half done, but with time-a-wasting, opted to finish up her lasering off-air. So how were the results? “One of my arms is baby smooth and one is like a gorilla,” noted Hoda.
In the end, the ladies looked refreshed, relaxed, and semi-smooth, at a cost of $1200 (for brows) and $400 (for Hoda’s arm hair).
One of my friends just got a job working in a clinic that offers Botox, liposuction, and all the other cosmetic procedures that women around my age are opting for. So I’m tempted, I’ll admit. I’ve been kind of shielded from all the injectable madness to date (apart from my awesome job) because I’ve been in a remote area. So I will wait and see what my friend says about it, but I’m a freaking chicken when it comes to anything medical. I hate just going to the doctor, so that might save me from getting something done I might regret. That, and the high cost.
Kathy Lee and Hoda talk about feeding tubes at 5:15 to 7:15
A couple of years ago, I saw a lady on some idiotic talk show say in all seriousness that she wanted to get a tapeworm so she could lose 10 pounds. This boggled my mind, because it seems way more uncomfortable and nasty to have some parasite living in your gut than just to work hard and lose weight the old fashioned way. I have the same reaction to this ridiculous story about women going on a “feeding tube diet” of 800 calories a day to drop weight fast for events, like their weddings. It’s just outrageous and sounds so painful. If you’re going to do this to yourself willingly (and not because you need it to live, that’s of course different), why does the food have to go in your damn nose? Can’t you just go on a liquid diet, like a few slim fasts or juices a day? (Not that I’m advocating that at all either, just that it sounds better than a feeding tube for God’s sake!) Anyway apparently this is a new thing, women are actually doing this, and it just makes me sad. A Florida doctor outfits them with a feeding tube attached to a liquid diet in a purse at a whopping cost of $1,500 for 10 days. The women go out into the world, and onlookers and acquaintances assume they’re suffering from a terminal illness. The result is about 20 pounds lost in a week and a half. You can read more about this story on The NY Times and on DListed.
A reader sent this story to us as a tip, and she was personally outraged that Kathy Lee and Hoda made fun of the diet on The Today Show yesterday. They laughed about how ridiculous this diet was and joked about going around with the bag and the tube up your nose, but they didn’t make any mention of people who actually need feeding tubes to live. The people in the feeding tube community are upset that these two were making fun of the mechanism of feeding tubes, when they serve a very necessary purpose. Our tipster told us that she has a daughter who relies on a feeding tube and that she “was livid to see their immature, uneducated and asinine opinions.” She told us to check out Kathy Lee and Hoda’s facebook page, where they’re getting lambasted for this.
Here’s what Kathy Lee and Hoda said that people found offensive. These comments start at 6:19 in the video above:
Hoda: That tube has to stay down, there could be some infections who knows what the other problems are with it, but you’re carrying around a bag all the time. And if it gets knocked out, what if you fall down. (Laughs)
Kathy Lee: A nightmare, just flops out of your nose in the middle of the… you’ve got to think these things through.
And here are some of the comments on Facebook about their remarks:
I don’t think you realize how many individuals in the USA right now have a feeding tube. The numbers are stagering. Patients in the ICU, NICU, PICU, and Oncology departments all have the posibility of haveing a feeding tube. This doesn’t include the hundreds of thousands living at home with a fedding tube. For the individuals with a feeding tube it is a life line, not a way to lose 10 pounds. I am a nurse and mother to a child with a feeding tube. I will tell every person I work with about this story and because they know and love my son they will tell someone else…do you see where this is going? I hope so because you will see your ratings fall I am sure. I am sure you have a medical resource on your show…they need more education and so does your hosts Kathie Lee and Hoda.
I guess you didnt watch yesterday when they displayed their morals over feeding tubes and pretty much insulted the entire feeding tube community. Take a look at the pictures and see all of the children they decided to ultimately giggle about, call gross…those children have to carry around “that bag”. It’s disgusting and we are deserved an apology. Out children depend on “that bag” for survival.
I suppose a public apology from Kathie Lee and Hoda for their horrible comments about feeding tubes was too much to hope for. Their publicists are probably just thrilled they’re getting so much attention, even if it is negative. The best we can all do now is boycott the show, sign the petition, spread the word, and keep fighting!
On some level I do understand why people are upset about Kathy Lee and Hoda laughing about the way that feeding tubes work. If I had someone close to me that needed one, I might feel the same. They were making fun of an ill-advised diet, though, and they surely didn’t mean to mock people with medical issues who need feeding tubes to live. I think they should apologize, but I don’t blame them for laughing about it. Again, they were making fun of the mechanisms of the diet, not the medical application. They didn’t seem to mean it that way, and it came across as inadvertent. It was somewhat dumb, but once they get laughing they can make some stupid comments. I’m surprised this is the first time these two have been offensive. (It probably isn’t, it’s just the first I remember.) They drink wine half the morning most days.
Update: We got a nice follow-up explanation from our tipster. She writes:
On the feeding tube diet
Many, including myself, are rightfully outraged that a doctor, who is sworn to a Hippocratic oath which states that “shall do no harm” would even offer a service. Not only is it unethical, unorthodox and purely for profit but it is also highly dangerous. A total of 800 calories a day is infused through the NG tube. Yes, you will lose the 20 pounds because your body is thrown into crisis mode and depletes through all its energy. As soon as that tube is removed, these vanity projects will see that weight gained back and more. A body cannot quickly adjust to eating normally, essentially starving and then eating normally again. It’s why crash diets never work and this is nothing more than a crash diet in the most despicable and revolting form.
The thing that makes the majority of us the most livid is that these women are using the tube for the total opposite intended purpose. We bumped my daughter’s tube feeds and she only gained half an ounce. Our kids struggle to grow and thrive with the feedings and yet bitches like these use them as an ego and vanity boost.
On Kathy Lee and Hoda being disgusted by feeding tubes
Parents of tube fed children and tubies (as we tend to affectionately call them) are already facing stigmas. Feeding tubes are not widely accepted. Kathie Lee and Hoda had a real chance to show the medical neccesity aspect and the positive impact of a feeding tube. By condemning and being disgusted by feeding tubes, they are just further sending the message that is unnatural and revolting when it is anything but. I can’t tell you how many parents, myself included, are subjected to stares and questions. Some innocent but some scathing, such as if we would just let our kids eat that they wouldn’t need the tube. The lack of understanding and blantant ignorance is something Kathie Lee and Hoda could have corrected not reveled in.
Sorry for my long response but as my daughter’s advocate, mother and nurse I can not stand by and let prejudice and ignorance continue!
