Ereka is on The View now rebutting Omarosa's "N" word claim.

Ooh, details! I'm at work and forgot to set my TiVo!

tothemax, you beat me to it, but I'll confirm that you're absolutely right. And I say that as a lawyer who's never said "no" in a written response, but always that "[client] is unaware of the existence of any such documents." And yes, it's precisely because you just never know what's going to turn up. But it means N-O, no.

She's basically saying if she had used the word, the producers would have included it. It would have made great TV. And seeing as how Omarosa was not a retiring personality, if Ereka had used it, O would have been all over her. Why did she wait eight weeks to go public with it? Then ex-survivor Elizabeth Hasselbeck says she called her "good friend" Mark Burnett and he says it never happened. Feh.

Tomorrow on the View: DT and tonight's ex-Apprentice.

(Disclaimer: It's actually part of my job to watch inane TV all day long.)

sorry, my computer is still slow & I was beaten out by over 20 minutes - I suck.

I just saw it too. The View panel seemed to support Ereka and told her that, "She was in the clear"

Ereka did come off as "Ereka like", though. I sort of don't blame her, as I would be extremely angry if I had to defend myself as well. Ereka also called Assy a liar, saying that Assy is claimning to have her PhD. finished when she really didn't.

Is your company hiring?? :O)

I completely agree, had that really been said, I would guess that MB would've included it for dramatic purposes (not that Assorama isn't a walking Greek tragedy already) simply because of all the argumentative and melodramatic footage that would have been produced by such an incident. If that had really been said, it would have certainly been a theme throughout the duration of the taping (i.e., Robin's use of said term on the Real World...not that I watch that show or anything...ahem), and one would think it would've been hard for the producers to simply ignore. One would think, anyway.

Aww mookster! Inane TV? I'd say this is Riveting Television! The Doritos of entertainment. You know it's not good for you but you just can't stop.

Just watched Ereka on the View and yes she did categorically deny that it happened and in fact, Star was the one who sought the once and for all confirmation. Ereka flat out called Oma "a liar." She didn't say anything about showing the tape. How do you show tape of something that didn't happen?

Is that all she said? Did she categorically deny saying it? Did she say that the producers are going to show the actual tape? Was she really pissed off about it?

And I thought the "cast" wasn't allowed to talk until they were "fired."

Yep,, she categorically denied ever using the N word. There was no mention of the producers showing the tape, but Kelly said that MB asked the producers and camera people if the N word was ever used and, according to Kelly, they said that it wasn't.

She said it isn't in her vocabulary, I find that dubious. She also claims that O went around saying she had a pH.d, which she never did. Ereka also did a bunch of research, had NOTECARDS, and clipped articles about Omarosa. Something about that bothers me. Not that I like Omarosa, but I just HATE her for some reason, like I feel she is a total stuck-up bitch.

Did anyone else catch Omarosa on the "Jamie and Danny" show, Star987 in LA?

She was only on for 3 or 4 minutes and she contradicted herself so many times I lost count.

They asked her about playing the race card. She said something about it's not a game and by implying that it is a card game is downplaying the issue (or some such). She said that she would never say that the saying "pot calling the kettle black" was a racist term.

J&D said that she did say that on the show. O said that was just editing and that's not what happened. They take 72 hours and cut it down to 44 minutes and that never happened.

Only a few seconds later, o said that she wouldn't be one to complain about editing. J&D both jumped in with, "But you just did!" She countered with "It's just a game, take from it what you will".

Now I'm confused, is it a game or isn't it?

Then they asked about her concussion and prefaced it by saying that drywall is light. O said, "If something were to fall in your studio right now, would you just ignore it or would you go 'wat up?' to your manager? Don't make light of something that caused me pain. Enough of that, next question."

J&D said, "Oh shut up, Omarosa. Don't be 'that' girl. 'Next question' my ass. America is going to hate you if you are 'that' girl."

Then they asked about her talk show. She said that there were several options on the table and one of them she was particularly fond of. Danny asked who it was with. She said that she couldn't discuss it.

Danny said something to the effect of, yeah, all of our negotiations have to remain confidential also. You're fired.

Shortly thereafter, Omarosa hung up on them.

I have to give O some kudos, however. Right at the beginning of the interview, she was giving shout-outs to all of her homies in LA. Jamie said, "Our show rules, but we're not all 'down wit dat', if you know what I mean. Our listeners have names like 'Becky'." Then O went into a valley-girl voice and said, "I want to give a shout out to Becky and Kathy." Heck if I didn't see a glimmer of a sense of humor.

Ereka has been fired. Remember - "Please don't say it, Mr. Trump."

OOh, yes, she was very Ereka-like. She said she could "prove" that she never said it, and then proceeded not to. She also protested to much, methinks, repeating "that word is not in my vocabulary." She came armed with clips proclaiming O a lunatic, and I think one of the Viewers told her to put them away. Yes, I'd be pissed too if I had to defend myself against O, but Ereka will be Ereka.

Eh, the carrying note-cards thing... isn't that what we're doing at TWOP? Talking about and keeping track of the many ways that Assorama keeps contradicting herself? Ereka is basically just trying to defend herself in a systematic manner, and I don't see anything wrong in that. In fact, I like her all the more for it.

And again, I do think the N-word isn't in Ereka's vocabulary. Is she hysterical? Irritating? Annoying? YES. But is she racist? Probably not. At the very least, I've NEVER seen or heard of anything that would indicate that she was, and it is beyond foul of Omarosa to tar her like that.

Ereka seemed to get along just fine with Kwame, and even though she got into conflicts with Tammy, it was because Tammy was a clueless airhead, not because Tammy was an Asian. If Assorama wasn't going around accusing Tammy of being a racist with an ever-changing story, would anybody ever think Ereka was capable of saying the N-word?

Matt Lauer seemed to have a pretty single-minded focus, which was to get them to acknowledge that the women chosen for the show were not representative of women in the business world.

The professor scored two good points: one that when you fall into a stereotype, then all the attributes associated with it fall in on your head. Also, that her class of 45 said that the female Apprentices were not representative of women in business. Oh another good point, was that women who use sexuality in business often come out the worse for it.

I agree that these women did not seem to have the behavior that is par for the course in the the business world: ability to maintain composure, especially under stress or attack, (Carolyn, for example, has composure in spades), to keep issues at arm's length (not taking things personally).

As Carolyn pointed out, Kristi and Jesse were good in that regard, just that Kristi didn't know how to take the responsibility without going down with it. TD gave the answer to that one in the last boardroom with Kwame, you say that you messed up and you learned from it.

I meant that Oma was only fired last week, so she couldn't have been making the accusations publiclybefore then.



Just because you "get along" with someone, doesn't mean you're not racist or use foul language. I don't know that Ereka is, because I don't know her. Now, I'll see if anyone surfaces with "proof" that she's used the term before--a la Mark Furman.

And many people say they have their PhDs when they're approaching completion, as Oma now says she is.

I suppose the most upsetting thing about this is that once the allegation is out there, especially with something as inflammatory as using thr N word, it gains legs. Now, even if Ereka never said it, she will have to carry this burden around with her. I didn't care for her much,and she got her comeuppance by getting fired, but if she never said it she does not deserve to be slandered.

Funnyfan, I agree. I loathe Ereka, but this Sounds like something I might do. I'd want to able to point to the specific articles where someone accused me of using the n-word, so that when an interviewer says O denies saying it I have the proof easily at hand. But that's because I believe in doing my research before going into some sort of public speaking environment. It makes me feel more confident.

Definitely. Assorama has been poven a liar again and again-- but the "racism" charge is so strong, that it will haunt Ereka even though her "accuser" is an idiotic, lying sea-hag.

I feel very bad for Ereka. She was irritating, sure. But she doesn't deserved to be slandered and have her name dragged through the mud.



Definitely. I think trying to anticipate all the questions and contexts her "racism" might come up in was very smart of Ereka. At the very least, it shows that she's treating this charge with the seriousness it deserves.

ETA: A few people posted while I was typing my response, basically saying the same thing.


I didn't see Ereka on the View, but what else could she really do? If Oma is accusing her of saying the N word, Ereka has to respond by saying that she didn't use it. I think "that word is not in my vocabulary" is a complete lie only because that word is in everybody's vocabulary. This doesn't mean everybody uses it though.

As others have mentioned, the odious thing about Oma's accusation is, whether or not it's true, people are going to remember it was made and that's totally unfair to Ereka. If Ereka didn't forcefully say that she didn't use the N word, then people would accuse her of not protesting enough. She's screwed either way.

I caught Conan and am surprised no one has mentioned how she grabbed onto Jeff Goldblum(sp?)'s hand and held onto it for a few minutes, while Conan was 'kidding' her about her on screen reputation. He looked like he
didn't know quite how to react... she really laid it on ....
In my opinion, one of the best words I can use to describe Assorama is, insincere.
Her manner of speaking, in that 'pageant' voice and persona just comes across as so controlled and fake ....
As for her own talk show, I really find it hard to believe anyone would put any money on this dame, but the curiosity factor might cause some people,
like me, to tune in for the first couple of shows, just to see her bizarre behavior, much like not being able to stop yourself from looking when passing an accident....as you can see on this site, we are all tuning in to catch the latest episode of her own personal drama....
I did go on and on, didn't I, sorry about that...

Exactly.

In scenario one, Ereka doesn't respond or weakly responds to the "racism" charges. Many people will then think the racism charges were right, since by keeping quiet, she's actually agreeing with Assorama's version of events.

In scenario two (which is what is happening), Ereka goes in prepared to refute the "racism" charges as best as she can. Some people will still take it as her just trying to cover up her racism, instead of trying to clear her good name.

Either way, the shit has hit the fan for Ereka. And all because of a bunch of awful, boy-who-cried-wolf, trumped up "racism" charges.

God, I never thought I'd end up seeing Ereka, of all people, as a likeable victim of this whole process. The things Assorama makes us do...

Hopefully, when the show is over, the other female contestants who were there can speak to the veracity of Assy's charges. Right now, I suppose, Jesse, Kristi, and Tammy could speak about it.

It will also be hard for Ereka, because it is extremely hard to disprove a negative.

I take back my impugning of Ereka's character. She wasn't a favorite of mine, but I agree with what's been said: Defending herself against something that didn't happen puts her in an impossible position.

I also don't think it happened based on O's relatively meek response when the "N" word was allegedly used. For someone so hyper-aware of the cameras, she would have (rightfully so, if it had indeed happened) taken full advantage.

First of all I do believe Ereka. However I have a question. If someone on this show did ever say the 'N' word do you really think it would have been broadcasted? I bet NBC would be in a world of trouble from the FCC and the NAACP. Rememeber the Janet Jackson incident? Well IMO this would be 100 times worse. So I can't see why NBC would ever risk that.
Again I do believe Eerka and not Assorama.

That's another great point! Look at how she built up the "concussion" thing from a tiny piece of plaster. And look at how she went around accusing Heidi of making "f-bombs" to the Donald.

If Ereka really had cursed her out, I'm sure Asso would have made a big-too-do about it to the Donald, to the other team mates and to the world at large via a Confessional. The fact that she's making the charges only now-- when she's inflamed with bitterness over being fired-- makes it all the more unlikely that her brush with racism actually happened.



If the N-word was actually said, they'd probably bleep it out, and then cut to various reaction shots of everyone looking shocked. You needen't actually hear the N-word in order to get the idea that it (or something equally foul) was said.

Well, I think NBC clearly would have bleeped the actual word, but I agree with Ereka that they absolutely would have aired the incident and all accompanying fallout. Talk about water-cooler TV! No way would NBC have passed that up.

IIRC, MTV/Viacom is the outlet getting socked with the Boobgate drama and (again, not that I watch this show, but) the Real World, an MTV program, has addressed this issue in its latest season. It also, surprisingly, managed to do so very tactfully, so there is a precedent that such an issue could be addressed on TV in a not-so-volitile manner. That MTV would be the ones to accomplish that speaks volumes, at least to me. NBC is a far classier (most classiest?) station, and would probably be able to manage it, too.

Yeah, maybe Omarosa didn't talk about the incident until she got fired, but she still waited until 6 days after and numerous interviews later to make it public on the View yesterday. She also never said that she filed an official complaint and that the producers know about it -- she apparently didn't (makes no sense to me) and they don't. This is the toughest thing for Crazy Ereka. You can never absolutely prove that you DIDN'T do something.

Omarosa's credibility is for shit for many reasons. The other thing that occurred to me was that I never really noticed Kwame acting skeeved by Ereka. IF Ereka had really used that word, wouldn't Oma at least have gone to her "brutha" (her word) to, I don't know, give him a heads-up, or seek commiseration, or something? And IF it happened, wouldn't Tammy, another person of color, have reacted to it as well, especially having been present at the alleged scene of the crime?

I don't have a problem with Ereka for being prepared with notecards. I would guess that she is at the "white-hot" stage of her anger. She was all excited and talking fast and I assume that she didn't want to waste her 5 minutes on the show in speechless outrage or in tears which I half expected to happen. When she said "that word is not in my vocabulary," I think she meant that she doesn't use that word. It's a saying. Girl is fond of them.

Everytime I see Omarosa now, I just think she's even crazier off the show than she was on it... and that's damn hard to do.

ITA with everyone who never thought they'd be on the side of Ereka!! That's the curse of Omarosa, first she makes me like Heidi?!?!? And then Ereka!!?!? She has thrown my world akimbo.

Heidi does "f-bomb" all over the place. Some, myself included, might think it's endearing. Hee. Concussion drama? Not so much.

Carolyn looked beautiful this morning on the Today show. She has her hair styled slightly different (less poofy, more curly) and was, as always, charming.

The professor lady was like the anti-Carolyn...giddy to be on tv and she seemed rather worthless. She's supposed to be a business professor at NYU, but everytime they asked her a question she prefaced the answer with "I asked my students and they said..." and I don't think she once gave her own opinion. Isn't she supposed to be teaching them rather than learning from them? Then again, I suppose Assorama would say that every man is your teacher. Gah.

I don't see why that's hard to believe. It's certainly not in mine, or anyone else with whom I associate. As many people have pointed out here, when someone levels an accusation like that against you, it almost forces you to "protest too much." You're pretty much between a rock and a hard place--not enough, people won't believe you, too much, people won't believe you, and all the while, you may have done absolutely nothing wrong.

ETA: if the word had been said in aired footage, it probably would have been bleeped out, but as far as I know, it's not a word that would be enforceable by the FCC, because it's not "obscene" (ie, refers to sexual or excretory functions). Course, now that the FCC seems to think it can take over the country, maybe I'll soon be proven wrong.

Y'all know I hate Ereka, but I think "that word is not in my vocabulary" is almost exactly what I would have said in the same circumstances. It means, "Not only didn't I, but I never would, ever." I would have found myself striving for the same level of indignation that anyone would even suggest such a thing.

ETA: My bad, all, should have read further back, didn't realize there would be so much activity today.

kemeyers, you might want to check the FAQ, specifically this question. The last few pages are all about the interview on the View.

Never mind.

I wanted to add something to what peacheskdd said about completing a Ph.D. I have a Ph.D. and you do not have one until you graduate. Academics make these distinctions because a lot of people do the coursework and never write the dissertation. I don't know many people who would claim what they don't have, even if they're close to graduation. I hate it when people put PhD ( c ) on their cards or correspondence to indicate they're a PhD candidate. Don't do it; it's wrong!

Exactly. For O's claim to be true, Ereka would have had to call her the name without anyone else hearing it--unlikely since O says it happened during the whole pot/kettle/racist terms brouhaha, when all of the women were around. And beyond Tammy, I think any of the women would have been shocked by it--I would have and I am white. Even if I had let Ereka and O battle it out at the time, it would have definitely affected how I acted around Ereka--because I don't like racists. In watching, I didn't notice that any of the women seemed uncomfortable around Ereka, and I have trouble believing that no one other than O would have been upset by the exchange.

I agree somewhat. It wasn't so much the notecards as it was the article clippings. They weren't of times that O said she called her a nigger, there were of people dissing Omarosa. The way she presented them it was like O was a movie. New York Times says "Deelusional", Boston Globe says "You can't miss this crazy bitch", Houston Chronicle says "Two thumbs way down, Omarosa sucks".

I saw The View this morning and Ereka used the articles (with headlines that Assorama was a lunatic or otherwise criticizing her) as a way to answer the question of why she though the false accusation was made.

Overall, Ereka did a good job - she made it very clear that she would never use the n-word, she gave a few reasons why it was illogical to think that the incident was covered up (ie. would make great TV, no references to it by Assorama on camera, other girls rallied around her), gave the aforementioned reason why she thought Assorama made the allegation and had Elizabeth & the other hosts backing her up. Seriously, it could not have gone better for her.

Adding on to the comments on Carolyn/George on Today:

Matt was trying *so* hard to use the men v. women angle to make it a social commentary type piece and, I suppose, make it more of a serious than fluff piece. While the responses were interesting, I would have preferred that the pretense of sociological analysis be cast aside & just heard what Carolyn & George wanted to say about the show.

And not only did Carolyn look great (hair looked a bit more modern, more makeup, etc.), she also was wearing a skirt! It wasn't obvious because they were seated at a table rather than on a couch, but she was definitely showing leg. Is that a first for TV Carolyn? I don't think I've seen her in anything other than a pantsuit before.

Argh, I'd love to see a clip of Carolyn (ok, and the rest of them, I guess), but I couldn't find one on the Today site. Does anyone know if NBC houses archived clips or screen caps of all their stories? (And yet, I could immediately find one on Ponderosa. Ech.)

Since she can't prove that she didn't do something, the next line of defense is "Look at this famewhore freakshow. How credible is anything she says?"

True. But in my experience the kind of person who would use the epithets that Omarosa has attributed to Ereka -- and those terms are those of a pretty hard-core racist -- would have shown other signs of being a racist. A racist (or someone who has even slight issues with race) acts like a racist in many other ways. If, for example, Omarosa had accused someone like Robb the strangling idiot from Survivor of using that term, I'd think there was a chance in hell.

Ereka has not exhibited any signs of racism whatsoever. I think that is what the first poster was trying to say. It goes beyond "getting along"; Ereka did not interact with others with respect to their race. Their putative social status in high school, sure (ptui!). But not their race. A bitch, not a racist.

Ugh. How pretentious. I've had the fortune to avoid this so far. I mean, I'm a Ph.D. student (although a while away from being done yet) and I would never, ever put anything like that on correspondence until it was actually done (and then only on professional correspondence). Currently I only list the "candidate" part where it is absolutely necessary for someone to understand the educational level I'm at (like C.V.'s or something similar). Also, maybe I"m wrong, but doesn't the word "candidate" only apply to people who have finished the coursework and are working on the research (at least in America, I know it is different in European and British schools)?

Anyway, back to Omaslanderer--I think I've figured out what's going on with the whole "N-word" debate. You see, in O's mind it did actually happen. After all, Ereka used a perfectly acceptable and mundane expression (pot-kettle) which O then very deliberately misunderstood as a racial slur. Just as O continually creates stories that mutate at warp speed, this incident has become so changed in her mind that Ereka is now, as far as she is concerned, guilty of using the "N-word". She's so deluded that to her they could well be one and the same.

There's little doubt that this woman learned from Washington's best while working for Clinton-Gore. Soon she'll be debating the meaning of the word "is", mark my words.

The clip is now on the Today Show website (scroll down to "latest Today show video" and it's number 7 our of 12) but beware you can't watch it if you use a Mac.

You don't have to be a racist to call a Black person a nigger.

Buh?

(Quote edited for profanity because I have never used that word in my life and am not about to start.)

True, but in that case you probably have to be completely out of touch with reality, and since neither Tammy nor Sam was named as the offending party, I'd have to say the likelihood of that is low!

Anyway, so that we don't completely veer away from the topic: Bowie Hogg was on 100.3 in Dallas this morning and said that Trump, in the first boardroom had come off as a jerk because he'd just lost a yooge business deal, but that in subsequent boardrooms TD was cordial and even told jokes to relieve the tension. He also said that TD is a germaphobe and that his assistants carry wet-naps for him to use after he shakes someone's hand!