Last week, after being named to GQ magazine’s “25 Least Influential People Alive” list, MSNBC anchor Ed Schultz took to the airwaves telling GQ to kiss his ass and in a bizarre twist blamed CNN’s Anderson Cooper for his inclusion on the list.

Cooper, however, may have had the last laugh with the inclusion of Schultz on his RidiCulist.

Cooper: Tonight I’m sorry, but I’ve got to do it. Tonight I got to add a guy named Ed Schultz.  Before I begin let me just say a few things. I think cable news feuds are stupid.  And I think when TV anchors try to start feuds with other TV anchors it’s usually a sign they’re worried about their own ratings, and they are trying everything they possibly can to get attention and boost said ratings.  So I wasn’t really surprised to hear this guy Ed Schultz decided to suddenly take a shot at me the other day.  Now let me be honest. I don’t really know who Ed Schultz is.  I think I met him once in passing years ago, but I’ve never actually seen his show. I’m told he yells a lot, and I know he works at MSNBC and I know he’s moved around a lot in various time slots.  That is it.  I, okay also learned in writing this today, I also found out that he makes a lot of inappropriate comments about other people, that he then has to apologize for, and or get suspended for. Like this one from his radio show…

Cooper then cut to a recording of Schultz berating conservative radio talk-show host Laura Ingraham, calling her a “slut.”

Cooper: Yeah, nice. So anyway, GQ magazine apparently has written a satirical list of  the “25 Least Influential People Alive”, and Mr. Schultz made the list. GQ writes about him in part, “Do you watch The Ed Show on MSNBC? Of course you don’t. No one does. The only reason people watch The Ed Show is they’re working out in a hotel gym and they can’t find a staff member to change the channel to ESPN”.

Alright, pretty snappy writing. If someone wrote that about me, I’d chuckle, I’d go back to watching Breaking Bad on Netflix. But that’s just me. Why anyone– anyone– would care what someone writes about them in a humor column in GQ I cannot even begin to understand. But apparently Mr. Schultz has a pretty thin skin for someone who goes around calling people “sluts”.  Because he thinks his inclusion on the list has to be some kind of conspiracy… a conspiracy between GQ and me.

Cooper then cut to Schultz saying that Cooper “floats around in that GQ crowd,” and wondered if he (Cooper) or his CNN publicists are behind it, and noted that he is “kicking his ass.”

Cooper: What? Here I am just living my life, doing my thing, and this person I don’t even know says this! Now as for the kicking my ass part I assume he is talking about ratings, and his statement on that can be easily debated. I’m going to spare you the minutiae of ratings statistics with their demos, and households and total viewers and what advertisers pay for.  Trust me nothing will make your eyes glaze over faster. But I do take issue with the contention that I “float around in the GQ crowd’. Frankly I don’t know where the GQ crowd is. As for the idea that I somehow influence their editorial decisions on satirical end of the year lists, well that’s just silly. Well everyone knows that I’m far too busy getting Gary Tuchman named next year’s sexiest man alive in People magazine.  And do you think that Golf Digest 2011 best putters article is just going to write itself?  The point is my schedule is full.

Just for reference let’s take a look at some of the other people who made GQ’s “25 Least Influential List”.  There’s Paul Resier, Princess Beatrice, that guy who predicted The Rapture was going to happen this year, and Tila Tequila.

Now I wasn’t going to say anything about Mr. Schultz odd outburst about me because this is probably exactly the kind of thing Ed Schultz lives for. But when you have less of a sense of humor than the end of the world guy, or show less logic or restraint than Tila Tequila, you just leave us no choice.

Schultz is one of those loudmouth liberals who lacks a sense of humor, as Cooper noted, and thinks that he is so important than no one would dare question his influence. He obviously thinks very highly of himself even if others don’t.

Besides, if Schultz really read the GQ description of why he was named to the list he would have realized the piece was satirical. Plus, the list was labeled Humor. I guess that wasn’t obvious enough for Schultz.

If Schultz is smart he’ll just let sleeping dogs lie and not try to engage Cooper in a battle of wits, because Cooper clearly has more than Schultz.

This was one of the best take-downs that I can recall seeing.

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About the author

Don Irvine
Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.

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1 Comment for Anderson Cooper Gives MSNBC’s Schultz a Beatdown Over GQ Tirade

Sam Luis Obispo

Ed Schultz is a POS, why would anyone watch a no nothing liberal pus bag like that.