Home Celebrity Woody Allen: MSNBC Does Ronan Farrow’s Dirty Work via Morning Joe

Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough and their gang should be ashamed of themselves. They spent over 8 minutes convicting and hanging Woody Allen this morning on “Morning Joe.” It was a beautiful way for MSNBC to carry the water of Ronan Farrow, their latest hire and soon to be daily talk show host. Farrow, of course, comes to MSNBC with no credentials as a broadcaster at age 25. But his path to celebrity at MSNBC and rise to fame in general has been tied to his mother, Mia Farrow, first suggesting that he was Frank Sinatra’s son and then going on the attack against Woody.

In the eight minute segment, Mika made a serious mistake. She continually called Soon Yi Previn the “adoptive daughter” of Woody Allen. She is wrong. Soon Yi’s last name is Previn, not Allen. She was adopted by Mia Farrow only. Farrow’s husband, Andre Previn, was considered her “father.” Allen had no legal or moral connection to her. He didn’t even live in the same household. Mika and MSNBC should make a very public correction immediately.

The Morning Joe segment starts badly and goes downhill. Mika leads the group at the table, who have no business commenting on something they know nothing about, to the conclusion that “where there’s smoke there’s fire” and that Dylan Farrow is obviously telling the truth in her ‘open letter’ posted on Nick– not Nicholas– Kristof’s blog. (They all call Kristof ‘Nick’, like he’s their best friend.)

There’s nothing like a public hanging on a so called news network that should be called the Apology Channel. From Alec Baldwin to Mitt Romney’s black grandchild to the anti-Republic Tweet of last week, MSNBC had better watch it if they’re really planning to be Ronan Farrow’s spokespeople. On the plus side, their ratings are almost nil.

This is fair and balanced?

 

 

 

 

Share and Enjoy !

Author
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
10 replies to this post
  1. Mia Farrow is using Dylan to promote Rowan.

    I hope you all understand that the ONLY reason we are hearing about any of this is because the pretty blonde boy has a show coming up. No MSNBC show coming soon? No decades later hissy fit from any Farrow or Previn Or Allen or Sinatra or whoever…(Mia Farrow bedded the rich and talented all the time for a while there…)

    I don’t have any idea what happened with Allen and Dylan Farrow. But I do know this: P.R. is the coldest, cruelest business out there right now. The celebrity culture version of seal clubbing. The Golden Globe tweet, the out of the blue piece by Dylan Farrow years later, the revisiting of something long…long past that exactly NO ONE was asking about. (Allen makes a movie a year – many go up for awards this time of year, no Farrow/Previn has ever come back to this until Rowan’s coming out year.. 20 years later, that’s 20 Allen films) It is happening now BECAUSE SHE IS PROMOTING HER SON’S NEW SHOW. It is that simple. Gross, but simple. Pay attention to any of the latest “big” scandals. Many times a new show is right around the corner for someone connected. Or a book. Something. The Kardashians are merely transparent about this process.

    Farrow got the show on MSNBC for no reason other than he’s pretty and his father is one 60’s icon or another – and MSNBC is desperate since approx 15 people in 3 states are watching at any given moment.

    Don’t say I’m cynical. It’s a simple fact. It’s done all the time. Got a product? Find an angle. Any angle. Get your brand out there. Push Push Push your brand brand brand. Any way you can. MSNBC loves this story because they get to say “Farrow” 60 times in 2 minutes. Pretty, victim-y, possibly Sinatra-y Ronan is perrrrect for what MSNBC thinks MSNBC is . And lord knows that channel needs a star.

    I repeat: if that show was not coming up – Mia would not have set the stage on GG night and trotted all this out. She is one smart person. Nobody with her then flat choir boy looks lands the men she landed early on without some stunning skills. Esp in that era. Add in the obvious control issues with the mass adoptions and is it really THAT hard to “get” that she’s currently using Dylan to promote Rowan. It’s sort of working too. I kinda of admire Mia Farrow. She’s stuck the landing on this life like few others. She gets it. She plays hard and subtly and she often wins.

  2. Feb 7. Hello. I have learned criminal and civil trials in America are meaningless. In real life you are not innocent until proven guilty. In real life you did it, or you did not do it. Woody Allen did it. That is so much worse than guilty. He did it. Dylan was harmed and injured – Harmed and injured like millions of young boys and girls all over the world, and wonderful adult sisters, and daughters and moms and astonishing and quiet and powerful woman.

  3. No, it’s not fair nor balanced, and yet watching MSNBC is still WAY more palatable than sitting through either the crazed paranoia of Fox News or the gimmickry of CNN.

    And you misreported Ronan’s age. Perhaps an apology of your own is in order?

  4. Farrow is getting too overexposed. I thought he was a Rhodes scholar yet he tweets dirty laundry to the masses and has a big interview with Miley Cyrus of all people in “W” magazine.

    No thanks – I will pass. Too much Farrow goings on right now.

  5. I believe Dylan Farrow!

    Also, I don’t find fault with Mika’s assertion that Sun Yi was Allen’s adopted daughter – stop splitting hairs! The bottomline, Allen was Mia Farrow’s long-time partner who knew Sun Yi as a child, and this grown man was lusting after this underage girl of his long-time partner. It is reprehensible and rather disturbing behavior at the very least – so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this man who lusted after the underage daughter of his partner would be a child molester.

    Allen has received numerous awards, even an Oscar after all this, and Dylan Farrow has remained quiet. So, to assert that she’s (or Farrow) is angry over some award by the Golden Globes is laughable. Dylan Farrow is an adult, who still vividly describes what happened to her, down to minute details that happens with most abusers. Ronan Farrow is essentially a genius and is more than equipped to avert some sort of brainwashing by his mother.

    You, and the people who defend Allen, are no different than Penn State and Joe Paterno. You people should be ashamed of yourselves attacking a victim. Disgusting!

  6. “who have no business commenting on something they know nothing about”

    Have you seen the show? Thats par for the course.

    I think this timing may have more to do with raising the Q score of the aging boy genius than Mia being miffed about the GG award for Allen.

  7. this is kind of ridiculous. how can you say soon yi was not his daughter? no moral connection? he dated her mother seriously for 12 years. she sat on his LAP and they attended family dinners. they may have got the wording wrong, woody allen may not have adopted soon yi, but it was a correct sentiment. and I don’t find it hard to believe that a man that would bang his daughter would bang his other daughter.

  8. The same thing happened on The View… They kept referring to Soon-yi as 17 etc. I think it’s time for Soon-yi to speak out in some form. She’s not a victim – she’s his wife. Also, that was creepy how the letter had that twisted plot device – Woody married Soon-yi to cover up his molestation of Dylan – that was either 10 minutes in 1992 or five years of regular abuse carried out without the knowledge of Mia – right? Mia has her hand in her children’s lives far more than is healthy – look at her with Ronan – Moses has spoken out. I don’t believe it – it wreaks of falsehoods! It’s time for someone close to say or do something… It’s very frustrating as a fan to see this misuse of victim’s rights…

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.