Sarah Burge, a.k.a “Human Barbie,” who actually contains more plastic than Plastic Barbie, who, come to think of it, is quite possibly a better human being than “Human Barbie.” It’s complicated.
One of the wonderful things about the Internet is that somewhere out there is always someone who has seen through the fog of lies, spin, misrepresentations and conventional wisdom, and is writing about it. The first trick, of course, is finding such individuals, who may be part of the spin and confusion the very next day. The next one is getting the truth to as many people as possible.
When I heard that Anderson Cooper had kicked the plastic-surgery mutant named Sarah Burge off his show on the air, I was ready to give him an Ethics Hero award. Not only has Burge, who is known as “Human Barbie”, * indulged her pathological obsession with plastic surgery to spend almost a half-million dollars making herself look like the iconic Mattel doll, she is trying to make sure her daughters are similarly afflicted. She told Cooper she wants to botox her 15-year-old daughter, and she is setting up a trust for her 7-year-old so she can start mutilating herself when she turns 18.
Suddenly Cooper stopped the interview, saying, “I gotta be honest, I gotta just stop. I’m sorry. I try to be really polite to all my guests, but I just think you’re dreadful. I honestly don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
Integrity! A blow for cultural standards! A stand against narcissistic, child-abusing fools getting national exposure and tickets to reality show stardom by appearing on network talk show for cheap rating points! Anderson Cooper was cheered in blogs and in e-mails to his show’s website, and I was ready to jump on the band-wagon.
Then, by pure chance, I stumbled upon Hyper Vocal, a website I had never heard of, and a perceptive post by its creator, Slade Sohmer. He wrote,
“I’m all for showering Anderson Cooper with love…but does he really deserve credit for kicking this truly dreadful woman off his show?
…Here are the hurdles Cooper and his staff jumped through to have this woman on the show: several production meetings in which guest ideas were floated, a full online vetting by booking assistants, a pre-interview screening to make sure she’s not mental, another round of meetings to confirm her booking, a pre-interview that results in those ubiquitous blue note cards, logistics conversations with the now-confirmed guest and a (likely) in-person green room introduction. At no point in that process did Anderson Cooper, or apparently the producers he trusts, spike the idea of having Burge on as a guest. At no point in that process did Anderson Cooper say, ‘Ya know, I really don’t want to give this crazy lady a platform to spew her nonsense.’
“Why? To paraphrase Col. Nathan R. Jessup, ‘You want me on that couch, you NEED me on that couch.’ This made for good television. This made for good press. He needed her to be her dreadful self, all so he could swoop in and play the role of Awesome Dude Who Says What People Are Thinking. The truly praiseworthy action would be not booking her in the first place. But you can’t be a hero if you don’t bring Burge on and berate her for all the world to see.”
Exactly! Why couldn’t I see that before? It should have been obvious: this wasn’t principled, ethical conduct by Cooper. It was a cynical ambush, a double-cross, just as Oprah Winfrey ambushed James Frey, the fake memoir writer, when she lured him on her show after promoting his phony book and defending him when it was exposed as lies, so she could humiliate him on national TV. Treating horrible people unethically is popular and fun, but it still isn’t fair or right. Cooper invited Burge to be his guest. He could challenge her, criticize her, and ask her tough questions—she should have expected that—but could not ethically mistreat her, abuse her, or use her as a prop to make himself appear principled. If Anderson Cooper were principled, he wouldn’t have agreed to have her as a guest at all. Inviting her on his program and then kicking her off for exactly the reasons she was invited was unprofessional and unethical conduct no matter how despicable she is.
It is comforting to know that if our ethics alarms malfunction, there is a good one ringing out loudly somewhere, if only we can get in a position to hear it.
* Though there is another…
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Spark and Source: Hyper Vocal
Facts: TMZ
Graphic: Sip With Socialites
Ethics Alarms attempts to give proper attribution and credit to all sources of facts, analysis and other assistance that go into its blog posts. If you are aware of one I missed, or believe your own work was used in any way without proper attribution, please contact me, Jack Marshall, at jamproethics@verizon.net.
Ethics Alarms 
So that’s what happened! Isn’t it marvelous how these walking teleprompters can actually manage to ratchet themselves a level lower than the creeps they lure on their shows?
Here’s some “inside scoop” on how some of these things work, and I am getting this very second hand. I have many pals who are “in the industry” out in Hollywood. One particular pal, who will remain nameless, kind of hit it big out there. While they were an “up and comer”, their publicist would call all the tabloid rags and tell them this particular star’s agenda for the evening, or whatever. The Paparazzi would then show up and on que, this person would show up.
But how would they react? They’d act like they were trying to avoid the attention, and be all elusive and “run” from the press, even though it was their own publicist who alerted the media..! This is a very old story in my mind – I’ve known this for 10+ years about this person – it’s image vs what is real. Complete BS.
So it happens on both sides – and I wouldn’t be surprised if ACooper discussed with “barbiemom” exactly how the interview was going to go. The television is a “hypnobox” that completely distorts what we think reality is. Nothing is left to chance. Surprises are really not a part of the equation… the most scripted programming on TV are these supposed “reality” shows… it’s all pre-scripted, canned and contained.
And this is one arena where your conspiratorial mindset serves you very, very well. Thanks for the intel, BBA!
I’m more skeptical about this interpretation of Cooper’s show with Barbie. Present me some evidence that supports your position and I’m all for it. But you begin writing that he was deserving of an Ethic’s Hero acknowledgment but one blogger changed your mind.
Let’s assume that all of the research that you propose occurred prior to the show. Cooper could have even possessed a list of questions to discuss. But isn’t it possible that Barbie strayed from the ‘rehearsed’ conversation to discuss her daughters and her plans for cosmetic surgery for them? Doing so could fulfill a personal agenda of her own–rather disgusting and not worth of promoting on Cooper’s show. This differs from the Oprah/Frey episode from year’s back. Frey would have been the one who should/could have walked off the set rather than being the recipient of the ambush.
If reality television is so scripted ahead of time, than what happened with Kathy Lee/Martin Short must have been planned in advance as well.
Cooper isn’t running a reality show; he’s a news anchor, and that’s an interview show. “Barbie’s” plans with her children were well-publicized, and the fact that she’s s revolting individual was obvious years ago…that’s why she was booked. So what is she strayed from what had been discussed? She didn’t curse at Anderson of pee on the floor; she didn’t start screaming racial epithets of baring her breasts. She talked, and talked about the disgusting values that anyone who spends an obscene amount of money to look like a plastic doll is bound to have. If she had planned to be thrown off the show, then Cooper is worse than I thought. If he was surprised at what she said, then he was unprepared and unprofessional, and it he wasn’t and threw her off as a cheap stunt to look noble, as it appears that he did, then he an Ethics Dunce. Easily.
A guest walking off is never a viable option, for Frey or anyone else. It looks cowardly and guilty. Oprah trapped Frey, and used him as a prop—especially bad, because she had aided and abetted his fraud even after he was discovered.
Jack, we disagree most often on matters of perception. I am more willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt until I can be convinced otherwise (this requires evidence). My interpretation of you is that it doesn’t take much to swing you the other way. We differ in that accord.
There are a lot of “IFs” in your response. That is exactly what I am referring to. In my eyes, it doesn’t appear that he did anything like the cheap stunt that you allude to. Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? Still can’t get there. Maybe if this was Geraldo or someone else but not Cooper.
As for the booking of Barbie, this was done because she is interesting. You can disagree with the personal choices she has made to alter her appearance but others may think otherwise. And it’s also the same reason that traffic slows down in the opposite direction of an accident–most people feel compelled to stare.
As BBA says, that’s virtual Publicity 101. As I often told people, everytime you go into a movie theater, you essentially suspend reality and enter into a universe of the director’s creation. The trouble often starts with those unable or unwilling to re-emerge into reality… which includes an awful lot of Hollywood people themselves! But television and the so-called investigative journalists have their own little Q-Continuum along the same lines. The difference is that the A-Coops of the world try to push as “real world” what ain’t. In that, they are little different from the studio publicists. And professional publicists today are the most shameless and manipulative propagandists the world has ever known.
BRAVO Anderson Cooper.. this epidemic is SICK.