About (Late) Last Night: Anderson Cooper begs, 'Stop paying Snooki to be Snooki'

 

Based on the evidence, it appears that Anderson Cooper has a higher tolerance for trashy reality TV than the average hardened news vet: He's tight with Atlanta "Housewife" NeNe Leakes; he's hosted New Year's Eve celebrations with Kathy Griffin; and he even admitted to watching the utterly terrible "Living Lohan." 

But the news this week that Snooki and the rest of her "Jersey Shore" housemates would be making a reported $100,000 per episode -- on top of club-appearance fees exceeding $25,000 -- was too much for Cooper.

On Wednesday night, he drew a line in the sand. He declared that anyone willing to pay Snooki "to be, well, Snooki" would be added to his "RidicuList" compendium (sort of like Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the World," or Bill O'Reilly's "Pinheads and Patriots," only Cooper doesn't take himself so seriously).

Cooper's anti-Snooki tirade was provoked by the reported salaries for Ms. Polizzi and her "Jersey Shore" castmates for the show's upcoming fourth season. Pondering the absurdity of the numbers, Cooper unleashed a torrent of adjectives: "Snooki is one impossibly lucky, unusually spunky, freakishly tan, beer-guzzling, juicehead-hugging, muscle-loving, Botero-bodied, pint-sized money-making machine."

Making matters worse is the fact that Snooki, who aspired to be a veterinary technician before gaining international fame for her daytime drinking binges, now garners bigger speaking fees than Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.

"If you listen closely, you can hear schoolteachers around the country weeping right now,” he said.

I'm pretty sure I hear them too.

-- Meredith Blake
Twitter.com/MeredithBlake

Comments

[lisa lopez]

I have to agree with you Mr.Cooper!I think that this show is disgusting and to pay them so much for being low class drunks and bimbos.All they do is drink,fight,sleep around and act like idiots!!They get paid tens of thousands of dollars for this?I mean really,come on!!!And to the people that watch this crap,are you serious guys?Geez!!!!=/

[Bob]

What a slob! I can't even stand to look at her picture. She reminds me of a tick. Blood sucking, fat, little tick. How can anyone have respect for a person like that when she has no respect for herself?

[Chris Griffis]

What a sad commentary on these United States that some airhead from a television show would command more $ than an intelligent Nobel prize winning author!

[Doug]

Anderson is absolutely right! It's a sad day in America when we reward idiots like her and the rest of her idiot cast for being exactly that-Idiots!!!! Someone needs to explain to me why anyone would want to pay someone that much money and watch them make complete asses out of themself. If I wanted to watch a bunch of drunks all I have to do is go into the city and I can watch them all day long. What kind of message does this send to our young people when we reward people for having no talent and become alcoholics? As far as speaking fees are concerned, what could she possibly talk about with any intelligence?

[Jerry]

Completely agree with Anderson! I love trashy reality tv as much as the next dude, but this is just getting ridiculous. Snooki makes more money to talk to college students than a Pulitzer Prize winning author? What the hell has happened to our country? We're basically telling the youth of America that the best way to succeed in life is to be a drunken whore who looks like an oompa loompa and hope to God someone has a camera turned on. Forget college or actually earning your fame and money. If the herpes covered cast of Jersey Shore are making 100 grand an episode then every kid watching that show will start wondering how to go about getting on a reality show to do the same.

[Denay]

Bottom line is MTV is making millions off these people then they
should be making major money off of MTV

[Tito]

It doesn't matter, all of them will be broke and looking for jobs in 10 years anyway. It's just a phase. Btw, they pay them that much because America watches. Solution: Stop watching.

[Kats]

Snooki is laughing all the way to the bank, so who is having the last laugh?

[boo]

Your value on the market is what people are willing to pay for you. If people are ok with paying her obsene sums of money to be herself, i cant knock her hustle and why should you.

[TexasMom]

We are closing schools in Texas left and right due to funding issues, the "no kid left behind" state. Yet these trashy pieces of garbage are receiveing this much money for being low lives. And we wonder why todays youth is vulger, selfish, trashy, crass and ruthless. With role models like the ones MTV portrays such as Teen Mom, Jersey SHore and the ever infamous Kardashin for her sex video, why are we questioning the morals of our own teens. We need to stop the senseless garbage that is put on tv and use that money for funding education, sports scholarships and allowing those less fortunate to attend school and become the american dream not the american nightmare.

[Peg]

Anderson, Anderson, surely you have better things to do than comment on this non-person. There is a lot of this garbage on TV but we must just not watch it -- even you!! If we don't watch, it will go away.

[Sue]

I have to agree, It's so sick watching them. I can't believe MTV got to this level.

[Sue]

Anderson Cooper, you are the best ! professionals like you are hard to find. And besides, you're a such handsome man.

[Avatar_Jack]

Unfortunately for us all, Snooki gets the last laugh— all the way to the bank. We’re sure, even in the bedroom, that no one else has ever made Anderson Cooper quote the diminishing size of some dude’s balls with such passion as our dear Snooki.

http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2011/04/anderson-cooper-is-appalled-with-snooki/