Now Toby Keith Isnt Sure About His Part In The Sarah Palin Special Sarah Palins Real American Stories special premiering tomorrow night is continuing to draw controversy today (also, we got a sneak peek of the show).
First it was LL Cool J, and now representatives for Toby Keith are speaking out about their surprise regarding the country stars inclusion in the show.
According to HitFix:
Keith, who says hes a registered Democrat, was not told about the usage of a past interview for Palins program. We were never contacted by Fox, his rep tells Hitfix.I have no idea what interview its taken from.Theyre promoting this like its a brand new interview. He never sat down with Sarah Palin.
Well we knew he wasnt interviewed by Palin, but he is a significant part of the special and more so than LL Cool J (and Jack Welch). His story is narrated by Palin.
But Fox tells us they did contact several members of Keiths team to make them aware that he would be part of the program, including Elaine Schock, his publicist, who spoke with a Fox News producer, and the USO, where his manager is on the board. An insider tells us Welch wasnt contacted either and as far as we know, is happy with his part in the show.
Meanwhile, the back-and-forth with LL continues. His rep tells E Online, Contrary to what was reported, LL Cool J was never scheduled to be a guest on Real American Stories with Sarah Palin this week. The show had planned to use an interview from 2008 that was being repurposed without LLs permission. This statement is not a reflection of any feelings LL has toward Fox News or Ms. Palin, whom he has never met, rather a clarification of what we have seen published in the media.
And a Fox News spokesperson tells Mediaite: Fox News did not commit to restrictions on its interview with Mr. Smith so therefore the network did not need his permission to use the interview in this program.