Skip to main content

tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  May 11, 2014 4:00pm-5:01pm PDT

4:00 pm
school girls from their beds. >>. >> that was really brave of you. >> you ran in the bush? >> yes. >> and what happened then? >> so in this most dangerous assignment, any cnn correspondent has had this year, nama and her producer made the frightening journey from abuja to chibook. it's been nearly a month since the 27 of girls were abducted, taken into the jungle and possibly split up and sold as child brides.
4:01 pm
we're joined now from abuja. i guess in this emotional interview she was giving you people wondering where did she find the courage and why did she decide to share her story first hand with cnn? >> well, she said it was three of them, it was her and two other friends. one friend actually, unfortunately, broke her leg attempting to escape. she said that she came on to trees and her friend just clung to first branch. she jumped from that tree, broke her leg and was picked up again by the militants. she was eventually found later in the forest in a bad state. they felt she was too heavy a burden to take on. you can understand being in that position and trying to weigh up that risk, where are they taking us, what are they going to do to us. in that moment it became very clear to her that she couldn't do that to herself. she couldn't take that risk for her family. so she jumped. and miraculously, she landed,
4:02 pm
she rolled, there were some cuts and bruises on her, but that was it. then she hid in the forest, waited till dawn. you can only imagine what it must have felt like for her mother having sat through that night, hearing the gunfire, watching the flame, unable to get to her daughter only to see her walking in, randi. by an absolute miracle, some of those girls managed to escape on that horrifying night, but even for them in nightmare isn't yet over. one of them has agreed to speak to us, but she's asked that we don't identify her, that we don't give away her name, her family house, anything that could give away what she fears the most, the kidnappers could come back for her. >> what kind of cars? was it one or more? >> 7. >> 7 lorries?
4:03 pm
>> yes. >> and this was at 10:00 at night? >> in the night. >> did that make you feel that they had come to get you, to get the girls? >> yes. >> that's when you knew that they'd come to kidnap you? >> yeah. they said we enter this lorry. we go. i said i will drop down. >> that was really brave of you. >> yes, we would rather die than go. we run in the bush. >> you run in the bush? >> yes. >> what happened then? can you describe the men that came and took you? what did they look like? were they wearing civilian clothing or military uniforms? what were they wearing? >> i don't understand.
4:04 pm
>> but what was their dress? what were they wearing? >> i'm feeling afraid. >> did they look like soldiers? >> i'm afraid. >> you feel afraid? >> yes. >> you don't want to talk about what they look like. >> no. >> that's okay. i understand, i understand. i'm sorry. >> you went to the school where these girls lived. i want to take a look at that, then we'll talk in a moment. >> once they gathered up the assembled girls, they marched them through here out of the school gates and then their rampage began. they burned or broke everything that they could see in front of them. most of this is pretty much unrecognizable. they went through the library, they went to the lab, they wanted to make as sure as they could that none of this could be used again. >> so what was that like being in that place where these girls were seen?
4:05 pm
>> well, i think for me it was just -- what was heartbreaking is that these girls should have been on the verge of a future. they should have been about to, you know, sit for their school exams. these are the brightest girls in the surrounding villages. these are the girls that had been sponsored by their communities, they paid the money in those poor rural areas to put up the money to have your daughters in a dormitory studying for the university exams, a lot have been invested and a lot was hoped for for these girl. to have that opportunity taken away from them and to see the v vindictiveness for them to do that, for to you not leave a single recognizable scrap of paper, they burned everything that was burnable and they ripped apart the sheets of metal -- i hope you can see that in the photos we're showing. this is the amount of hatred in their hearts and how much they
4:06 pm
wanted to stop these girls from actually moving out of chibok and having a life, randi. >> were other people there as shaken up and as afraid of boko haram as the school girl that you spoke with? >> absolutely. because boko haram is still very much a real presence in that area. just on the road we were traveling on the day before, there was an exchange of gunfire between police and boko haram. that was during daylight. you can imagine the degree of brazenness that they're still mao auding when the government has said they're going after them in a serious way. that clearly isn't having any impact on them. so you're fending for yourself, you feel isolated, you feel abandoned. at the same time we spent the night with them. i have to tell you it was probably one of the longest nights of my life. none of the men slept. they were just patrolling with some pretty trivial weapons in
4:07 pm
the face of what boko haram are armed with. they have rpgs, heavy artillery, they have machine guns and these guys were trying to protect their families with beaus and arrows and machetes. i can't imagine what it's been like to do that every single night since april 14th when that abduction happened. >> it sounds absolutely terrifying for you and certainly for them as well, anyone there. did you see any sign of boko haram in that town or evidence even that they had been there? >> well, we saw the burned-out marketplace and we saw the school, but it's very difficult because this is their terrain. this is their hometown. and it's very easy for them to disappear until they're not, until they're riding through their town shooting their machine guns in the air. that's what makes them so terrifying. they melt back into the forest bordering a lot of these towns and they disappear as the
4:08 pm
undergrowth until they strike. >> just a fascinating report. and to see that girl speak to you with such fear still just certainly terrifying. stay with us because we want to talk more about how far you and your team went to cover this story. it's been checkpoint after checkpoint and we've definitely as we've been traveling north from the nigeria capital abuja seen evidence of those promised security reinforcements the government is sending to combat the boko haram threat. but as we've traveled deeper towards that boko haram heartland, much of that presence seems to have evaporated. >> four days and 700 miles to one of the most dangerous regions on earth and a place where many nigerians lived plagued by terrorists and vulnerable to them every hour of every day. that's ahead.
4:09 pm
♪ ♪fame, makes a man take things over♪ ♪fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow♪ ♪fame, puts you there where things are hollow♪ the evolution of luxury continues. the next generation 2015 escalade. ♪fame
4:10 pm
you created light. you are loved. celebrated. but things have changed since you got into this business. at philips, we're creating led light that people can color... adjust... even make beautiful sunsets. dear sun, you might be number one, but we're getting closer. innovation and you philips
4:11 pm
that, my friends, is everything. and with the quicksilver card from capital one, you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase. not just "everything at the hardware store." not "everything, until you hit your cash back limit." quicksilver can earn you unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you could possibly imagine. say it with me -- everything. one more time, everything! and with that in mind... what's in your wallet? nbr: scott - we're concerned. you just fed your lawn earlier this spring and now you're at it again. scott: (chuckles) indeed, a crucial late spring feeding helps defend the grass against the summer heat to come. nbr: we knew that - right guys? oh yeah! scott: feed your lawn. feed it!
4:12 pm
one of the most remote and dangerous places on earth, the corner of nigeria. cnn has been the only news organization going there gathering accounts about the ab ducted school girls. nima elbagir and lillian leposo and nick midway, they made that journey from abuja to chibok. the journey was full of twists and turns to avoid fighting and the most dangerous areas. you can't forget that many people call this place home, living with the threat from boko haram every single day of their lives. nima elbagir is back with me from abuja. share with us this journey that your team went through to try and get there. >> i think we all felt it was
4:13 pm
really important to go the way that, as you said, normal nigerians would be going. that anybody trying to get in or out would be taking these roads and be taking these kind of rifbs. it really drove home to us how isolated chibok is and also given how much uproar internationally there is, given how much focus there has been on these girls, the disparity between that and the reality on te ground and how abandoned these people feel, it was just really heartbreaking to feel that nobody has helped you in spite of how much you're hearing that they want to help you or that they say they will. i don't think we were really aware when we were doing it that it was as bad as you're now making me realize it clearly was. it was just really important to get there and how isolated these people are. we knew this was the only way to do it. i can say i'm really lucky. i work with some amazing, amazing people. >> as you said, you went there
4:14 pm
and you heard from these girls. they haven't even been interviewed, at least the one girl who shared her interview with us, she's not even been interviewed by authorities. but tell me more about the journey. such a dangerous part of the world, i'm sure there must have been scary moments there along the way, some particular moments. >> well, i think what was quite extraordinary was how unreinforced this road was. so if you are a normal nigerian taking this route and you have an expectation of security, to have that get less and less the further you get away from the towns and the urban centers where the government is based, is horrifying. and i think it was important for us to live that, as we were driving out of the towns we'd see the reassuring sights of armed men and checkpoints and people checking cars because boko haram have stormed towns before. they've killed police officers.
4:15 pm
in fact, when we were out there, just a hundred kilometers from where we were staying in another town called the capital of borneo state, 300 people were killed. until you get there, because it's so difficult to get that news out, you don't realize how free boko haram's reign is in the northeastern part of nigeria. difficult to say what the near misses are but seeing that reality of the people on those roads and that deep, deep scrub, you understand why that area's so insecure and why it's so difficult to find those guairl, randi. >> did you see their prominence and their power in that area? >> absolutely. we saw villages, we saw burned-out cars, even some police stations and army command
4:16 pm
points. you could see the evidence of recent attacks in burning marks they were trying to paint over. it's very much an ever-present reality for people's lives out there. also important to remind people that, yes, this is a very remote part of nigeria. but it's africa's largest economy. abuja just hosted the world economic forum. this disparity is extraordinary that some people could be living in this booming, burgeoning growing middle class african economy and other people are living through hell. >> just a terrifying experience for so many there. a story that leaves so many of us angry but also feeling so powerless. so we certainly appreciate you sharing some of that with us. ahead we'll talk a little bit more about that. we're also going to be talking about what can be done to help the girls and prevent this from ever happening again. does hashtag activism actually
4:17 pm
work? and will a military response solve this crisis or perhaps make it even worse? just last hour the l.a. clippers won a nail-biter over the oklahoma city thunder. erasing a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter. their playoff series all tied up, two games apiece. magic john srson, who was attac in the recordings by donald sterling, guess what? he was at the game. shelly sterling, says she's going to divorce donald sterling soon and fight for control of the clippers. we also want to let you know this, anderson cooper sat down today with donald sterling. picture right there on the two of them talking. you can see the exclusive interview tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. eastern. we'll have a sneak peek tomorrow morning on new day which begins at 6:00 a.m. eastern time. don't miss the full interview tomorrow night right here on cnn. we've never sold a house before.
4:18 pm
(agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. there are a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (husband) that's good to know. for $175 dollars a month? so our business can be on at&t's network yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month.
4:19 pm
low dues... great terms... let's close. new at&t mobile share value plans. our best value plans ever for business. we'll be here at lifelock doing our thing: you do your share spontaneous moments thing, alerting you in ways your bank alone can't. get lifelock protection and live life free.
4:20 pm
4:21 pm
could mean less waiting for things like security backups and file downloads you'd take that test, right? well, what are you waiting for? you could literally be done with the test by now. now you could have done it twice. this is awkward. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. i want to continue our conversation about the hundreds of nigerian school girls who were kidnapped and what the waiting world can do to help. let me get back to nima elbagir in abuja and professor at johns hopkins school of advanced international studies.
4:22 pm
paul, what can we do? our viewers are certainly concerned. there are groups that are concerned. how do we act? is it about money? is it about protests? what is the answer? >> the answer is citizens need to put pressure on the jonathan government to guarantee security and the funds that are allocated for security in this region. there needs to be accountability. the women that launched the social media campaign are demanding governance, they're demanding security, they're demanding resources to protect the girls, to protect the population. there's been a collapse of governance and the whole issue of boko haram has become a political football where one region has blamed the other. the military announced that they had been recovered at one point and then announced that, no, it was false. this is incompetence. if you read the nigerian press,
4:23 pm
it's full of stories about incompetence, about embarrassment. this is a tragedy, but it's a man-made, human-made tragedy on the part of the government and the inability to provide security to people in this region. it would be very difficult to solve the problem. there's a forest nearby and there's a border and a mountain range, so the countries of niger, cameroon, the french would all have to be brought in in order to do this. but for the moment it's important to support the women that have made this issue the reason why we're here this evening. >> yeah, well a lot of people have been signing on to the twitter #bring our girls back. the question is does hashtag activism work? if it did force nigeria to act, what else can hashtag activism do? >> the evidence is here, we're here right now, for the lesson
4:24 pm
for the women leading it, wouldn't be here. >> let me have nima respond to that. >> sorry, what it does do is i think it expresses to whether it's the leadership in the u.s. or uk or international, this is something their citizens care about. what people need to do is maintain that pressure so this doesn't just become an easy score, a bandwagon for people to hop on to. we've seen the first lady, the president, the uk prime minister all of them posing holding up bring back our girls. now put actions behind those words. pressure the nigerian government to put action behind their words. they've been talking about a thousand special forces and helicopters and fighter jets. we saw no evidence of that on the ground. the u.s. has a bilateral agreement with nigeria. they have the capacity to exert pressure. if american citizens are showing their government this is an issue they care about, then the
4:25 pm
u.s. will use that power to pressure goodluck jonathan to actually finally put troops, his troops where they should be, randi. >> so paul, what about military intervention? i mean there's certainly been criticism of it that it typically leads to an erosion of democracy, is that a danger in this situation? >> to have american -- first off the nigerian military will not cooperate with the americans in providing support. that's one of the findings of my research. the second is many of these troops have serious human rights violations associated with them. they would have to be cleared by american law in the leahy amendment. another issue is having more american troops in this area is a muslim majority region needs to be entered into very cautiously because it's
4:26 pm
provocative. the issue is to put pressure on the jonathan government to use the resources. billions of dollars have been allocated for security as part of the budget. there's no accountability at all. corruption is rampant. there needs to be accountability that forces the human rights of these girls. that's the issue that americans should be demanding and be less concern about a safe supply of oil and be more concerned about fulfilling the commitment to the girls and, as your correspondent mentioned, when the media frenzy dice down, these girls are going to be there. >> thank you so much for bringing us that story. a dangerous storm system is moving across the midwest and sending people scrambling. we'll have the latest on where the system is headed and how many people might be in danger. then today is the first day of michael sam's new life as the
4:27 pm
nfl's first openly gay football player. ahead we'll speak with one of his teammates about his own experience being drafted and what lies ahead for sam. [ female announcer ] hands were made for playing. ♪ legs, for crossing. ♪ feet...splashing. better things than the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. if you're trying to manage your ra, now may be the time to ask about xeljanz. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz is an ra medicine that can enter cells and disrupt jak pathways, that comes with ra. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start xeljanz if you have any kind of infection, unless ok with your doctor.
4:28 pm
tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz, and routinely check certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common, and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if you are pregnant, or plan to be. taken twice daily, xeljanz can reduce the joint pain and swelling of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate. ask if xeljanz is right for you.
4:29 pm
of moderate to severe ra, even without methotrexate. beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right? you see the thing is geico, well, could help them save on boat insurance too. hey! okay...i'm ready to come in now. hello? i'm trying my best. seriously, i'm...i'm serious. request to come ashore. geico. saving people money on more than just car insurance.
4:30 pm
we're tracking a dangerous tornado threat, a twister touching down in nebraska. it's been on the ground there for a while. jennifer gray is following it for us. what can you tell us? >> when we came on before it was headed straight for lincoln. it has basically made a jog a little bit to the north and is now just to the north of lincoln. good news there is lincoln will be spared this one, dodged a bullet. you still see nasty storms in lincoln but doesn't look like this one producing a tornado is just on the north side of you. the tornado warning to the north of lincoln including the counties of lancaster and sounders is in effect until 7:00 central time. green, richland and rock creek
4:31 pm
all in the path of this one. get to your safe spot, that safe room that we've been talking about. looks like that tornado warning that they had just reissued a couple of minutes ago is now not in effect any more. so the tornado threat right there is gone. there is another one, though, just to the southwest. we'll click on that one and let you know the threat, of course, this one is headed right towards ponti rock in great bend. this effect until 6:45 central time. pleasant grove and ripper river in the path of these. these storms popping up in nebraska and down to kansas and we'll see these in iowa. >> jennifer gray, thank you very much for the update from there. we're talking a lot about michael sam, the person and michael sam, the football player, but michael sam, the brand also a very big part of this story. he already had an endorsement deal even before he became the
4:32 pm
nfl's first openly gay player during yesterday's draft. here he is shortly after he joined the st. louis rams. >> ai am overwhelmed and excite and proud to be a ram. i knew i was going to get picked somewhere and every team that passed me, i was thinking how i'm going to sack their quarterback. i'm proud to give everything i've got for st. louis. so many people are proud of the st. louis organization for being the one to make history. >> michael sam is just a rookie but he sounds pretty media savvy, doesn't he? let's talk about it and his brand with a branding expert and ceo of demand works and terence moore is back, a columnist for mlb.com. what stands out to you about michael sam? how would you say he's handled his dupuebut so far? >> he's an incredibly courageous
4:33 pm
guy for even having made the move he made a few months ago before the draft knowing what he was putting on the line. he's very authentic and i think he speaks from the heart and he's so obviously a team player, that he's moving his brand, i think, toward or how people perceive him toward the mainstream in a really effective way. but i also think that michael sam is benefiting enormously from a shift in american opinion in general. i mean, in 2003, 55% of the population opposed, for example, same-sex marriage and today 59% of americans support it. so there's been this really rapid and extensive shift in american opinion around inclusiveness, around sexual orientation issues, around the kinds of things that have been very polarizing. it helps his brand. not to say all that has disappeared but a different
4:34 pm
environment, a different landscape for him that didn't exist a few years ago. i think he's also being helped enormously -- this is to take nothing away from him -- but he's being helped enormously by brands like the nfl and roger goodell having for many years laid pipe around inclusiveness, around behaviors that bring people in and don't exclude them. the nba is there, notre dame just last week launched an extensive inclusion campaign directed at lgbt athletes. even the miami dolphins -- >> that's all part of it. >> the miami dolphins got their player back on the page after a negative tweet about michael sam. so there's a groundswell that i frankly have never seen before. let me bring terence in. michael sam a trail blazer, but he's not alone. he has a strong support base to work from. >> he definitely does. to add to what martha said, this visa commercial is very
4:35 pm
interesting because the slogan of the commercial is visa everywhere, so they're trying to use him to say that in all different communities you can have visa, they're trying to expand that. of course the president is behind him and, as martha pointed out, the entire nfl establishment the player for the dolphins come out with a negative tweet, he was immediately slammed by the general manager. that being said, we've shown this over and over again, the celebration yesterday of michael sam and his boyfriend after he was drafted and the kiss and the hug and the cake and that sort of thing. i'm still wondering how in the long run that's going to play for people on the fence particularly since he's trying to appeal to a wider audience. it may play well. we just don't know. that's the one thing that we still have to watch here. and we're going to find out probably sooner than later just how inclusive people are in
4:36 pm
general. >> i'm not talking about being coached on the field but martha does it sound like to you that he -- i mean, this is a guy who had a pretty rough upbringing, a pretty rough start. does it sound like he's being coached along the way to help lift his brand. >> i'm sure he has good advice. i don't know that i would call it coaching. it sounds like he's a pretty well grounded guy on top of that. i think any athlete who operates at the level that he does recognizes that ultimately it's going to be his performance that will have the impact on his brand, that will be the lasting impact on his brand and that the headline of first openly gay player in the nfl draft will not be the headline that really characterizes all of his career because he's going to have to perform, to terence's point. what's going to get people off the fence will be performance in the end. and he'll be up to that. and he'll compete on those
4:37 pm
terms. but i think he's media savvy but he's very authentic. i think ultimately brands that, people, personalities that portray and authentic aspect of themselves are once that win. >> he comes off very real and very warm. >> yes. >> as well. >> yep. >> terence moore, thank you very much. martha, i'd like you to stick around. imagine waiting for that phone call that changes your life and makes your biggest dream come true. that's the call that michael sam and 255 other young men got this weekend. there's michael sam getting his call. what is it like to get a call like that and how will sam fit in as the first openly gay player in nfl history? we'll speak with one of his teammates straight ahead. what super poligrip does for me is it keeps the food out. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. [ male announcer ] just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. [ corrine ] super poligrip is part of my life now. woman: welcome to learning. spanish in the car.c on. to seal out more food particles.
4:38 pm
passenger: you've got to be kidding me. driver: this is good. woman: vamanos. driver & passenger: vamanos. woman: gracias. driver & passenger: gracias. passenger: trece horas en el carro sin parar y no traes musica. driver: mira entra y comprame unas papitas. vo: get up to 795 miles per tank in the tdi clean diesel. the volkswagen passat. recipient of the j.d. power appeal award, two years in a row.
4:39 pm
tigers, both of you. tigers? don't be modest. i see how you've been investing. setting long term goals. diversifying. dip! you got our attention. we did? of course. you're type e* well, i have been researching retirement strategies. well that's what type e*s do. welcome home. taking control of your retirement? e*trade gives you the tools and resources to get it right. are you type e*?
4:40 pm
4:41 pm
waiting to be drafted by the nfl must be a nerve-racking experience. the tension, the fear, wondering if your devotion to football was all for nothing. we're getting an inside look at the draft day experience. joining me now on the phone new st. louis ram e.j. gains who was also a college teammate of michael sams. e.j., congrats to you. >> thank you. >> that's great news, such terrific news for you. take me back to the moment. i guess even before the moment. how worried were you, if you were worried at all, that you might not get drafted and maybe be skipped entirely? >> oh, man, i can't even explain how nerve-racking it was.
4:42 pm
you know it's a blessing just to get drafted at all, but going into the draft people are telling you you might go second, third, fourth and waiting until the sixth round was definitely nerve-racking. >> from what i understand you were the 188th pick. tell me about it when you got that call from the rams, what did they say, what did you feel like? >> oh, man, it was like a weight got lifted off my shoulders. coach fisher got on the phone he said, e.j., you can breathe now because your name's about to be called. >> tell me about the emotion you were feeling. >> it was everything, i was excited, i was happy, i was crying, you know, something like that is not only life changing for me but also for my family. so like i said, it was all the emotions in one. >> who were you who were you surrounded by? who was celebrating with you? >> a sports bar here in kansas
4:43 pm
city. >> what? you were just at a sports bar? that's incredible. you were just hanging out at a sports bar and that's where you got the call? >> yeah, shooting pool with my friends and my family so -- >> wow, that is really amazing. so i guess you have this teammate named michael sam also joining you. we've talked about him a little bit as well. you played with him at the university of missouri. how excited are you for him? >> oh, i'm so excited. you know, it's honestly a family atmosphere when we go to missouri. that's like a brother to me. to see him get drafted, i was excited. to find out it was for the rams, i was even more excited. i can't wait to get out there tomorrow to talk to him. >> have you had a chance to talk yet since you were both drafted? >> no, no, i haven't. i was going to wait for, you know, things to kind of settle down a little bit. so i'm going to just wait until we both get out there to st. louis and talk to him and
4:44 pm
congratulate him. >> we can't ignore all the excitement about the fact that he's making history here, the first gay nfl player. how do you think he's going to be received there? you know, when he joins the team and goes into that huddle, is that going to be just about football, do you think? >> i couldn't tell you, but honestly, i think it lot be. going some place like that, it's about football. i think just everything about his character, you know, how courageous he is on and off the field. i think that will settle in the locker room. >> we're thrilled for him and also especially thrilled for you. e.j. gaines, we'll be rooting on the st. louis rams, congratulations again on being drafted. >> thank you. i appreciate that. >> well, the l.a. clippers are celebrating a victory tonight. a short time ago the clippers won a thriller over the oklahoma city thunder erasing a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
4:45 pm
the nba playoff series tied now at two games apiece. magic johnson, who you will remember was attacked in the recordings by clippers owner donald sterling, well, he was at the game. shelly sterling meantime says that she's going to divorce donald sterling soon and she has plans to fight for control of the clippers now as well. donald sterling breaking his silence right here on cnn. anderson cooper's exclusive interview airs tomorrow night 8:00 p.m. eastern. you can get a sneak peek of the sterling interview on cnn's "new day" that airs from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. eastern time. they stood up for their beliefs and their show was canceled. why hgtv backed away from a planned show when the hosts spoke out. was it about politics or performance? we're moving our company to new york state. the numbers are impressive. over 400,000 new private sector jobs... making new york state number two in the nation
4:46 pm
in new private sector job creation... with 10 regional development strategies to fit your business needs. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york... with the state creating dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. become the next business to discover the new new york. [ male announcer ] see if your business qualifies. (agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. there are a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (husband) that's good to know. meet your biggest competitor: philips slimstyle led bulb. beautiful quality light with a slim design, at a slim price.
4:47 pm
nehey!r! [squeals] ♪ [ewh!] [baby crying] the great thing about a subaru is you don't have to put up with that new car smell for long. the versatile, 2015 subaru forester. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.
4:48 pm
trwith secure wifie for your business. it also comes with public wifi for your customers.
4:49 pm
not so with internet from the phone company. i would email the phone company to inquire as to why they have shortchanged these customers. but that would require wifi. switch to comcast business internet and get two wifi networks included. comcast business built for business. the bennett brothers were poised to begin a career as hosts of their own hgtv show about home renovations but the network canceled the program after reports surfaced that the twins had made critical remarks about homosexuality. hgtv's decision has caused plenty of controversy. i spoke with them about it earlier this weekend. >> we emphatically built that. we love those folks. we know even if there's silence
4:50 pm
on their part, we know they love us. and i think honestly that they would rather have us back for me and not necessarily him, but. >> the more important thing is hg doesn't need to apologize to us. jason and i, and i cannot say enough, we are not victims. we stepped back and now we're going to go right back to the grindstone selling houses in north carolina, loving our wives, loving our kids, trying to be good community men and hopefully doing some solid things for the lord, but they owe us no apology, but we would love to be with them, if we could. >> let's talk more about this. martha pees is back, branding expert and ceo of demand works.com. hgtv pulled the plug on this whole series pretty quickly. they acted pretty fast. they didn't say much about it. how would you assess i guess their decision? they're not used to controversy. you don't usually associate
4:51 pm
controversy with hgtv. >> that's exactly right. i think first of all you have to acknowledge just in the whole environment that there are people who are going to be upset about whether it was politically correct, motivated, whether they were bullied into it, how the decision was made. you have to acknowledge that some people are upset about that. but i think you got to move on from that and said look, hgtv is a business and they made a business decision. they're the number one cable network in some day parts, some weekend day parts, in fact. they have the most affluent audience on cable television and those are assets they really need to protect and they need to grow, and i think even beyond the demographics and the value of their audience to advertisers, they're a brand that is a retreat for viewers. you turn on hgtv to get away from the 24/7 news cycle, oddly.
4:52 pm
it's a little ironic that they're like the oasis, they're the refuge from the news and vitriol. even hillary clinton has gone on record with the "new york times" saying when she wants to get away from campaign questions, she turns on hgtv. >> learns how to decorate the white house. >> there you go. it's a brand -- the serious point is, it's a brand that is not associated with the kind of conversation that would be created if they had put the series on air. so they need to take steps, i think, to separate and protect their brand from that kind of conversation. and you know, i think in that sense, they have made an astute business decision and they probably handled it well because they have been pretty succinct about it and not engendered a whole lot of conversation around it. >> all right. appreciate you weighing in on that. thank you. >> a pleasure. thank you. our next guest says that she's nobody's mother and doesn't ever want to be. the flipside of mother's day
4:53 pm
which really hits home for a whole lot of people. see what you think after the break. it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain. little things, anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. insures support. a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like... ...sooner than you think. ...you die from alzheimer's disease. ...we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call, or donation adds up to something big. alzheimer's association. the brains behind saving yours.
4:54 pm
4:55 pm
4:56 pm
three words, call your mother. it is one of those rules of the universe on mother's day, but that call today can also go to sisters, to aunts, teachers and all the special women who stepped up when a mother could not. kat writes for cnn living. so great to see you on mother's day because you wrote this amazing piece for cnn.com and it's about the women in your life, when your mother is not. you actually asked for cnn ireporters to weigh in and help you out with this.
4:57 pm
i guess they shared some of their personal stories as well. >> it's so lovely. this is such a complicated day for so many people, it's really joyous for a lot of people getting to take their mother to brunch and celebrate but for those whose mothers are not able to be there for some reason, it is really complicated. luckily, there are a tremendous bunch of women who step up and help out. we asked ireporters to share their stories. i was bawling at my desk reading about teachers, bosses, family friends, aunts, sisters who saw that there was a child in pain who needed somebody to be there to have these life lessons, to share life lessons and really brought them up into adulthood. it's a really lovely thing that people just do instinctively. i sent a bouquet to a mother's sister for everything she did. it's a great day to give a phone call as well. >> was there one that stood out? >> there was a woman saying her father had remarried and her mother had died suddenly in an
4:58 pm
accident, and she didn't like her stepmother, she was, you know, she kept saying to her you're not my mother, and this woman already had three children of her own. she and this woman's father did a tremendous thing. they stayed married, they moved into separate houses and each watched their own kids, and she learned to love this woman and now calls her her other mother and she almost lost her to cancer last year but she's come back, she's doing really well and now this woman really appreciates the woman who stepped up. >> so it ended beautifully. >> it's a gorgeous story. >> you have also been very open here on mother's day about your own decision not to be a mother. i guess all the questions that you get when you're a married woman, healthy married woman, and yet you don't have children. what do they say? >> well, it's an interesting thing because say, a gentleman stood up to tell me i failed at my biological reason for being a woman. >> wow. >> amazing what the internet will do. but more than that, actually,
4:59 pm
people who have stepped up since i wrote that piece and said oh, my gosh, i thought i was the only one, people treat me like i'm broken, like you don't know what you're talking about, maybe you will make another decision later. the more of us who talk about this, the fact that this is just something we don't want or can't have or there are a million reasons not to be a mother, the more of us who stand up and talk about this, the less alone all of us feel. slightly less awkward mother's day is going to be. i wish happy mother's day -- >> quickly, what do you say to people who say why don't you have kids? >> i don't want to. >> that simple. >> yes. it's just something i don't want and this doesn't mean, people assume you're a child hater, they assume a lot of things and that's not the case. i take care of the people i love and the creatures i love in my life and i feel fully fulfilled with that. >> i thought it was amazing. both of them were incredible articles on cnn.com. appreciate you sharing with us. happy mother's day. >> happy mother's day to you, too. i'm randi kaye in new york.
5:00 pm
anthony bourdain eats his way through mexico and russia tonight on cnn "parts unknown" begins right now. have a wonderful evening. mexico is a country where every day people fight to live. all too often, they lose that battle. a magnificent, heartbreakingly beautiful country, the music and food, and a uniquely mexican, darkly funny, deeply felt world view. right down there, cuddled up beneath us, our brother from another mother.