Who said that only Kanye and 50 cent could get headlines for their wager and tirades about soundscan numbers being inflated (which they are in all cases), now Barry Manilow on the day of his new cd is in the middle of a feud with the View and pulls out of the show due to his political views.



LOS ANGELES (Sept. 17) - Pop singer Barry Manilow, a major Democratic fundraiser, said on Monday he has scrapped plans to appear on the television talk show "The View," because he did not want to be interviewed by its conservative co-host.

Manilow was scheduled to appear on the ABC morning show Tuesday, the same day his new album, "The Greatest Songs of the Seventies" hits stores. But those plans fell through because of his issues with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, an abortion opponent and supporter of the Iraq war.

"I had made a request that I be interviewed by (co-hosts) Joy (Behar), Barbara (Walters) or Whoopi (Goldberg), but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out," he said in a statement on his Web site (http://www.manilow.com).

"It's really too bad because I've always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs."

In an earlier statement to the news Web site TMZ.com, which broke the news, Manilow said Hasselbeck was "dangerous" and "offensive."

But a source close to "The View" said "we canceled him," because producers refused to comply with Manilow's "completely disrespectful" demands.

The source told Reuters that Manilow had appeared on the show twice in the past year when Hasselbeck was present, and had been booked for Tuesday's appearance since July. The source could not think of a similar incident with another guest happening in the past.

Manilow has been a generous contributor to Democratic Party candidates, according to data compiled by the Federal Election Commission.

This year, he contributed the maximum-allowable $2,300 each to the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joseph Biden, and John Edwards, as well as to Ron Paul, a maverick Texas Republican.
He has also been a big supporter over the years of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, a California lawmaker on the left wing of the Democratic Party.

Manilow, whose biography says he has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, reached No. 2 on the U.S. pop album charts last year with his previous release "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties."

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002, although many of his big hits -- such as "Mandy," "I Write the Songs" and "Looks Like We Made It" -- were written by other people.


By the way that last statement in the article about his songs is so dumb, he wrote 100% of all the music and writes about 60-70% of his lyrics in his catalog, really dumb statement from the reporter to make.

Stupid, bad look for Barry.
[Edited 9/18/07 9:48am]

lilgish said:

Well it gets attention, i think its better than him going on the show and mixing it up like a child with her, which is something that show does on the daily. I think he would look worse if he did, especially since the press still spins things that way.

lastdecember said:

He should just talk about his sappy music, instead of anything serious.

good for him.

lilgish said:

The funny thing is that PRINCE back in 1999 made the same request about who was allowed to interview him and got his wish, so its strange that the show's producers would complain about his request, others have done it.

the show is about voicing your view so part of me thinks its not fair to attempt to censor opposing views but elizabeth is such a blind puppet for the right that i kinda see why he wouldn't want to deal with her...and she is getting worse and less articulate as time goes by.

and to whomever said he should stick to talking about his music, the view is an issues related show...all guests are asked "hot topic" questions.

sosgemini said:

Yeah its not like he pulled out of the Leno show because Jay is an avid republican, Jay wouldnt ask "view" based questions of Manilow or any other guest unless it was a political figure.

that's so so silly of him.

I think it sets a bad precedent to stop talking to those who don't share your point of view.

Even politicians of different views & parties can be civil to one another when necessary.

If anything, he should refuse to be on a show that hires someone like that at all, but for him to act like he'd go and joke around with Whoopie as long as Elizabeth's not there just says he's immature.

NDRU said:

Well i agree and disagree, i see his point and honestly that is the way the show goes, it is not UNLIKE a celebrity to go on one of these shows and request certain interviewers, they all have done it, and alot have done it with the View for similar reasons, many asked in the past that Rosie not be there for an interviewer just because they didnt know what she would say. I dont think its a sign of maturity, because i think people would have less respect if he went on and she said something and then he got into a whole debate with her, im sure people would be saying why didnt he just avoid her. I think it was a wise move, and its not strange to request certain interviewers, hell Prince in 1999 on the view requested certain ones because he only wanted certain questions asked.

I see why some people might not agree with Barry's move, but Elisabeth doesn't know what she's talking about most of the time. She spouts off these ridiculous conspiracy theories about anybosy who is remotely left wing and on top of that she is very argumentative.


For people who are Republicans, to each their own, but if you're going to espouse a certain rhetoric, you should at least have an intelligent argument.

lastdecember said:

yeah requesting a certain interviewer is fine, and even requesting that they not ask certain kinds of questions is fine, too. I mean, an interview with Barry Manilow should be pretty light fare.

I just think it's a little immature. He could have raised a big stink after Elizabeth asked questions not on the list, and maybe gotten her fired for not sticking to the script (if that happened). But he ends up looking like he's afraid of her or something.

NDRU said:

Well true, but i think he took a more mature way out of it, avoiding a fight, even though the fight would have brought him more light, but its his call. Its still not clear if the show dropped him or he dropped the show, the producers claim they dropped him because of his request which would be contradicted themselves since they have "obliged" many celebs on who they wanted to talk to, so i dont think it will hurt either of them, i think it will give Manilow a platform of some sort because now he is gonna be asked why he pulled out by other interviewers like Leno and those types.

I refuse to go on 'The View' for the same reason!

Dumb. "The View" is definately the audience that buys his records.

However, it might be his attempt just to get back into the papers, let alone the blogosphere.

I don't blame him. I won't watch the show until she is canned.

He looks less and less human every day...

WTG, Barry!!

JesseDezz said:

Dude he's in his early 60's, have u seen Prince without the 250 pounds of layers of Makeup, get ready for that...

Good for him! I can't stand that Elizabeth chick,she's so whiny and bitchy.

lastdecember said:

His lack of human features seems more the result of facial alterations - plastic surgery - than age. Besides, Prince wearing 250 lbs of makeup's nothing new - he's been doing that for years

It's similar to Bruce Jenner - have you seen him lately