http://tv.yahoo.com/live-...regis_flap

Ringo walks off `Regis' over song flap
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer
Tue Jan 22, 2:31 PM PST

Ringo Starr is known for being the amiable Beatle, but the rock star showed his tough side Tuesday when he walked off the set of "Live With Regis and Kelly" rather than cut short one of his songs.

Starr, who is promoting his new album, "Liverpool 8," planned to perform the title song with fellow rocker Dave Stewart. However, due to miscommunication between his publicist, Elizabeth Freund, and the musical director, Starr didn't realize the performance had to be 2 1/2 minutes or less, Freund told The Associated Press.

When told Tuesday morning that the performance had to be shortened, Freund said Starr tried to cut about a minute of the song's 4 minute, 15 second length, down to 3 minutes and 30 seconds. However, according to Freund, producer Michael Gelman said it had to be less than 3 minutes.


"We offered to cut back our chat time and asked them to fade or go to commercial. They were not willing to do that and Ringo was not willing to cut it further, so without a compromise we were not able to stay," Freund said in a statement to The Associated Press. "Ringo left saying, `God bless and goodbye. We still love Regis.'"

A spokeswoman for "Regis and Kelly" disputed some of Freund's contentions. The representative, who declined to be named -- citing show policy -- told the AP the show's producers tried to work with Starr. The spokeswoman also said the time of his song was almost 5 minutes, not 4 minutes and 15 seconds. She also said that his appearance had been booked since November and that Starr's representatives had agreed to the time requirement for the song.

With Starr absent, fashion designer Michael Kors and the winners of CBS' "The Amazing Race" did extra segments to fill his time.

Despite Tuesday's drama, she said the show would absolutely welcome Starr back.

However, Stewart had plenty of criticism for the show, calling it "disrespectful treatment of us as artists."

"Four minutes (3 minutes and 40 seconds, actually) seemed like an appropriate amount of time for a former Beatle. Mr. Gelman apparently felt Ringo's musical legacy should take a back seat to additional banter about the size of Ms. (Kelly) Ripa's derriere," he said in a statement.

The spokeswoman for "Regis and Kelly" said there would be no comment on Stewart's statement.

Starr, 67, shortened his song for CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," but it was still over 3 minutes, Freund said.

But he was able to play the full song later Tuesday on "Rachael Ray."

"Ringo taped an interview and performance on our show this afternoon, which was absolutely amazing. He performed `Liverpool 8' in its entirety ... and was a complete professional and a pleasure to work with," said Charlie Dougiello, a spokesman for Ray.

i think they could afford to find a freakin' extra minute somewhere for a BEATLE.

with rules like that, no wonder prince has never performed on regis.

Anxiety said:

I know, right?

How you gonna diss the nice Beatle?

Timmy84 said:

Don't get me started.

Moonbeam said:

ACHTUNG!!!! beatle-related thread!!! activate the moonbeam signal! parties must be pooped STAT!!!

I'm just waiting for all Ringo's fellow scousers on the org to rip into him on this thread. We know about his comments on Jonathan Ross but he was also a bit moody on Granada Reports IMO

Anxiety said:

This is how this show always runs which surprises me that people (music ones) even play on it, all through the years anytime i have watched someone (musically) on this show they have had to cut there songs, usually doing a verse chorus and thats it, back in 2000 Rick Springfield was on doing a song from his "Karma" record and as he was doing the song they cut to commercial, it was the rudest thing i ever saw, the show got bombarded with nasty emails and they asked Rick back and he declined when he saw the tape.

2 1/2 minutes?! That's some ole bullshit!

oh boo fucking hoo...if they give you 3 minutes and tell you how much time you have in advance, then pick a damn song that 2:55 seconds. people watch the show to see goofy ass kelly , not an aging beatle. so he got to play the whole song on rachel ray..who gives a shit? what does that show have, like 10 viewers? shit prince couldaplayed alphabet street and been ghost in that time

Fury said:

I doubt that when Prince is playing live he doesnt know the meaning of the word edit.

I'm certainly not a follower of Ringo Starr's music, but it no doubt would be of great substance compared to the nonsense they prattle on about.

Let it be.

Anxiety said:

I agree that a potential hit single on any live talk show should be within 4 minutes. But under 3 minutes isn't realistic for the 21st century, IMO.

Illustrator said:

Oh no u didn't.

Illustrator said:

Illustrator said:

Illustrator said:

!