Essay 4621

Distorting the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• Halle Berry is backpedaling over a comment she made on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. During a segment where the actress was viewing computer images of herself distorted by the Mac program Photo Booth, she apparently blurted an anti-Semitic remark. “Here’s where I look like my Jewish cousin!” joked Berry at a photo with a big, distorted nose. Berry managed to persuade Leno to delete the comment when the segment aired. “What happened was I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me,” explained Berry. “We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said [of the big-nose picture], ‘That could be your Jewish cousin!’ And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn’t mean to offend anybody. I didn’t. I didn’t mean any harm. … I am so sorry, and I apologize.” Bet she wishes the photo was among the things we lost in the fire.

• Two co-defendants in the O.J. Simpson case pleaded guilty to lesser charges yesterday, and in exchange, the men will testify against Simpson. Look forward to Mac Photo Booth renditions of O.J.’s mugshot.

• Securities firm Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $16 million to settle claims that it discriminated against Black and Latino financial advisors in its network. A class-action lawsuit by 1,300 Black and Latino employees charged the company gave them less pay and fewer promotions than White counterparts. The settlement includes providing diversity training to sales branch managers and tying their pay to recruiting and hiring minorities. Can discrimination be filed as a tax write-off?