Montel Williams Show 'Ambushes' Military Families
Monday, March 12, 2007 at 02:18PM 
Bottom Line Up Front: Air Force Wife tells her story of bait and switch on the Montel Williams Show as she and other military families that led them feeling ambushed by Montel.
In September 2006, I appeared on the Montel Williams Show as a military wife and conservative blogger. This was a round table discussion with main topics of Islam, education, the Hugo Chavez comments at the United Nations and the war in Iraq. My husband, an active duty soldier in the U.S. Army, is an Operation Iraqi Freedom vet so I reluctantly accepted the invitation. I appeared along with Jesse Jackson, Amy Holmes, Asra Nomani, Imam Feisal Rauf, actor Tony Goldwyn, Kevin Chavous and Randi Weingarten. It was co-hosted CNN’s Lou Dobbs and aired on October 12, 2006.
What I experienced was disappointing to say the least. My comments were heavily edited and my rebuttals, admittedly infrequent, were met with a commercial break. It was also connoted that I was a segregationist because I supported my daughter’s same-gender education at her junior high school and school choice.
Over the weekend I received an e-mail from an Air Force Wife who appeared on the show last week. Here is part of what she wrote:
Montel’s show invited us to attend a taping about how military families deal with deployment as audience members. About 25 of us accepted (including my husband - a veteran of both Afghanistan and Iraq - and myself).
We were ambushed. The show was about the Anthrax vaccine. Information was presented that was inaccurate and completely scaremongering. When we stood up at the microphone to point this out, it (appeared it would be) taped over! We protested to producers and asked for fair representation. It got worse and worse. A few of the wives had husbands who were currently deployed and at least one of them was reduced to tears.
Finally, our entire group stood and walked out during a break in the taping.
Read her account Another Reason Not to Trust the Media at SpouseBUZZ. She wrote in part:
Our family support center had received an invitation from the Montel Williams Show to participate in the audience of a program about deployments and the effect that it has on military families.
The trouble started during the second taping, when we learned that Montel’s agenda with military people wasn’t what it had been portrayed to be when our group was invited to attend. And as military families have been burned so often by unscrupulous media members, we probably should have sensed it from the beginning. We were going to be ambushed.
As soon as the opening tape began to roll, hubby and I were uncomfortable. Montel was using this episode to discuss the debilitating illnesses some military members have suffered from anthrax inoculations. Using footage with the flag and men in uniform, Montel referred several times to military members being “guinea pigs”, repeated several times about the mandatory vaccine which he presented as going to everyone with no one being able to refuse it. **
Seeing first hand Mr. Williams’ professional decorum, it didn’t surprise me to find a reply in an entry I wrote about a previous Montel show on Iraq in January 2007 from Cheri Jacobus, a Republican pundit. She appeared along with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, Republican Amy Holmes, actor/activist and apparent foreign policy expert Morgan Fairchild, along with some disgruntled guests who have a beef with military life and the President.
As a guest on the Montel Show, I was surprised when watching it to see they had edited out more than half of my comments — most of which were pretty significant and made good points in rebuttal to Montel. The show that aired had little resemblance to what actually transpired during the taping.
January 28, 2007 | Cheri Jacobus
I also received this comment:
Amy, I just want you to know that your site is the 4th I’ve found just Googling Montel and the phrase ‘racist’ that all described being a guest on his show, the mistreatment you experienced, how you were not allowed to respond, and sadly, you all have basically the same story to tell: Montel invites people on his show that do not share his opinion/side of things, but has NO intentions of allowing them to show him the reality of what most Americans know: terrorists suck and they unfortunately come in all colors. Watching him berate his guests, outshouting them is disturbing at the very least, and makes me wonder why he didn’t stay with (as other commentators have suggested) Sylvia Browne as his forte’.
January 26, 2007 | Tracy
In short, when military issues are being discussed, the Montel Williams show is not about a public discussion; it is about spreading Mr. Williams’ uninformed opinions on the the President or the war in Iraq. He frequently shouts over guests and makes long statements when, as host, he should ask guests their opinions and allow them to answer. The Montel Williams Show is also fond of editing out rebuttals and counterarguments that don’t coincide with Mr. Williams’.
I will be video blogging Airforcewife and her family support center comrades’ show when it appears in a couple weeks.
Mudville Gazette and Hot Air have more….
RELATED POSTS:
Another Bush-Bashing Montel Show
Montel Williams Episode Airs
On the Montel Williams Show
My after action review letter to Montel
Trackback URL:
http://amyproctor.squarespace.com/blog/trackback/956669
Montel 
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (19)
Amy, what Montel Williams does is nothing new, as a matter of fact, I would have to say that it is par for the course on just about ALL talk shows, including those on the Fox News channel. It has gotten to the point that, no matter what the topic under discussion, I begin to wonder why these shows even bother to have guests on them, because the hosts of the shows seem to KNOW EVERYTHING there is to know about EVERYTHING, and they don't shut up long enough to let the guests get their point across. As soon as a guest starts to get a point across, the host shuts them up and goes off on a different track.
Then as if that isn't bad enough, if a show has two or three guests on that are supposed to debate an issue, the guests are so rude that they talk over each other so that the viewer can't understand anything being said.
As far as Montel goes, I don't even waste my time tuning him in.
Why is this a surprise? The Montel Williams Show is right up there with Jerry Springer. It’s all about shock and entertainment, not actually informing the public. Why would anybody watch his show let alone go on it?
Rev, I never watch the show myself.
Silke, I was asked to share my views as a military wife and mother. I was told I represented their demographic (which I highly doubt) and thought it would be a great opportunity to contrast Jesse Jackson's views, for example. But it was bait and switch. This is exactly what the military families experienced, but worse. They were told their show would be about deployments and the effect that it has on military families but it was as smear campaign on the "Bush military" and demeaned troops and their families.
I wouldn't blame the victims but the ones who misrepresented the show to us. Don't you think military families deserve to be treated better? I do.
Actually, I don't usually watch the show, either, and for many of the same reasons the Rev. listed.
However, millions of people DO watch the show. And many of them have little or no connection to military families. I get constant questions from civilian friends and family members about our life, and I also get hit with many misconceptions that others hold about the military life.
Since Montel himself is a veteran, I thought it would be a chance to go beyond the oft-misconstrued soundbites of our life to really explain what it is we live with, go through, and experience. His veteran status made me believe that he would give us a fair hearing.
It did not.
There is very much in our military lives that has no parallel in the civilian world and we really need to be able to express it. As it is now, time after time, we military families seem only to serve the purpose of validating someone's point of view.
Thank you for picking this up, Amy.
Keep getting the word out Amy, everyone should be made aware of this travesty.
Unless you have lived the military life, whether in active duty or part of the family unit, no one can possibly understand how different our lives are.
So, when an opportunity arises, naturally, we think it's safe to finally speak, but then reality hits hard when someone like Montel or any Hollywood type ambushes and discredits those who know the truth.
airforecwife made a point I neglected to mention, which is that Montel is a veteran. No military family member would suspect him to be so hostile to the current administration that he would alienate and offend military families. But he does.
Thanks, Leticia!
Amy, of course I think military families deserve better but come on…these shows are a joke and a total waste of time.
I'm not at all surprised, Amy, after what you experienced back in September. You were hardly allowed to talk.
What a shame.
How predictable. Montel used to come off as a decent person (1980's), but over the years has turned into a bitter old man. Couple that with his troubled personal life and one can understand why. There's nothing much more to add exccept his treatment of military families is appalling.
Typical Montel. I think he is smoking too many doobies for his MS. Just after the Gulf War he totally humiliated a friend of my husband and me. The topic was "military wives who get out of control when their husbands are gone" This poor guy was TDY during the taping. His wife was a creep and we all knew it. SHe showed herself for the whore she was on Montel's show. That was her choice. The problem was she gave Montel a photo of her and her husband. (our friend, Brian) He was totally humiliated on national tv. He did not know she was going to be on tv and he certainly did not give permission for his image to be shown on national televison!!!
Very Rev. Fr. Gregori-
We live in a soundbite culture. Still, one expects something better from a show with an extended format to discuss a single issue (or perhaps a very limited range of issues) rather than, say, the O'Reilly Factor, which is hosted not only by an absolute blowhard, but a blowhard who is only giving his guests 25 seconds to respond to a very complex issue. If you can throw a soundbite out there in response, no problem, but most people (liberal or conservative) want to say something with a bit more meat to it and the typical news show format simply doesn't allow for it.
So what Montel does and your average news show anchor does might seem similar, but really they're VERY different beasts and I personally find it a lot more disturbing that Montel edits his guests in this way. I never respected him back in his more tawdry days and I certainly don't respect him now.
I'm just dumbstruck.....
I consider afw a friend of mine, and will mention this on my blog as well. I'll also cross-post it at Flopping Aces. It's absolutely despicable, and Montel should reap the condemnation he just sowed.
It's hard to imagine that Montel was a Marine - he's become such a coward if he can't open up the debate with people he has invited to his realm!
I am totally shocked that you not only did'nt posted post my last comment, but you ignored me and didn't challenge me. Um, are you working for the DOD? I was at the Montel show and I have a completely different account of what happend. I would also like to know who invited all those people since Montel doesn't tell his audience what the show is about? My husband is still Active Duty and we love the military, but lets face it there are peopele who only care about the money or power of it not the soilders! For instance, Agent Orange? Or how about the Tuskegee Airmen? The list goes on! Quit drinking the koolaide and find out what really is going on. Montel didn't say one bad thing about those military people nor did he blame them for their outbursts. He was very sympathetic! I challenge you to contact me and change my mind. Personally, I think you must be paid to do this blog or have some connection to the DOD.
Louise
Louise, I seem to recall your entry and am sorry it didn't post. Unforutnately, I delete a large volume of inappropriate comments and perhaps yours was inadvertantly deleted. That's the only thing I can come up with and I apologize. I only delete offensive or vulgar comments, and I don't remember yours being either.
When I was on Montel, I knew what the topic was. They told me outright. They told airforcewife as well. Unfortunately in her case they changed the topic, or at least the emphasis of the program.
I will view the show when it airs and I suppose we'll see who is right, you or airforcewife. I have to say your tone is abrasive and unattracative, which may be why you find no fault in Montel's conduct.
I would advise you to go to the comment section at SpouseBUZZ and talk with airforcewife directly. Her blog entry can be found HERE.
3-22-07
Today I watched the Montel show and the subject was Race. I was about how badly the black people are treated by the white people and that white people are so racist. He tried to add the Latino’s and the Asians in with the blacks. Well, Latino’s and Asian’s aren’t the same as black people and they don’t want to be considered as such. ( I know because my wife is Latino) We associate with whites, Latino’s Asian’s but we don’t hang out with any blacks, even though there are some in our area. We go out to a club every so often, and we always see these black guys trying to hit on white women and not even talk to a black women. (what kind of crap is that)
All of the people that were talking about the white racist were black.
What he didn’t say is that Louis Faracon the black panther leader is a huge black racist, who preaches to millions of blacks, that white people are devils.
He had a black women on that said she was attacked by a white man but he didn’t tell you that 9 out 10 rapes are done by black men on white women. One of the latest rapes in our area was done by a black man on a 13 year old white girl and 75% of violent crime in our area is done by black men on white or Latino’s. Recently, I had my car broken into by two black men.
Also, he didn’t tell you that it was ok to have all black movies like Dream Girls but it was that a white movie had to have black people in it. Also that most of the commercials on television have black actors.
I agree that Montel has gotten so one sided in his views that he should not be on television. He has no objectivity.
Allen
Allen, thank you for the comment. Very interesting indeed....
Amy,
You tried, and it's a shame that he was indeed an Officer once. What can you say about a man who is trying to get Pot legalized??? Keep up the great work on your blog!!
Semper Fi,
Taco