Mixed in with discussion about her broadcast career and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, CBS News anchor Katie Couric dished about something people really care about: Glee.
At an event at the New York Times Arts and Leisure weekend last night, Couric spoke with Times writer Gail Collins about her upcoming guest appearance on the TV show.
“Don’t worry, I don’t sing and I don’t dance. I’m no Gwyneth Paltrow,” she said.
A “big fan” of the show, Couric said she jumped at the chance to appear on it.
“It raises a lot of issues that are facing adolescents in a really brave way,” she said. “I think it really does teach a lot about tolerance, and I applaud the message it sends.”
“And I need to go to Glee-hab, because I’m really into this show,” she added.
In a similarly light-hearted moment, Couric teased an upcoming interview that she is particularly excited about.
“I’m going to be interviewing Lil Wayne soon, which is so funny,” she said. “I interviewed Drake, and he said, ‘Yeah, you and Weezy are tight.’ And I said, ‘That’s right, Weezy and I are like this!’”
That segment will air as part of the web show that Couric hosts in addition to her duties as an evening news anchor. She said she has "a lot of fun" doing the show because she enjoys its “more relaxed setting.”
“It’s nice, because I have a real mix of very serious subjects and more lighter fare, and it kind of satisfies my curiosity about the world and what’s going on,” she said.
Of course, Couric discussed the more serious topics, too, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, her visits to Haiti after last year’s earthquake, and the millions of dollars she has raised for colon cancer research.
Toward the end of the evening, Couric reflected on the criticism she faced when she left NBC’s Today Show for her current job at CBS—and she hinted that sexism may have been at play.
“People who weren’t familiar with my more serious work on The Today Show sort of saw me as an interloper, as not having gravitas—which I always say is Latin for testicles,” she said.
“It was difficult, I have to say, it really did test me as a person,” she added. “But I got through it. And it was definitely character building, for sure.
