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Rupert Murdoch Speaks Out, Gets Pied

David McAlpine |
July 19, 2011 | 12:55 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

A rogue protestor hit media mogul Rupert Murdoch with a white foam pie Tuesday afternoon during a parliamentary hearing in London where Murdoch was denying all allegations of telephone hacking by companies under his control.

Murdoch appeared before Parliament with his son James where he spoke sharply and tersely about the phone hacking scandal, answering any and all questions in a concise manner.

From USA Today:

Murdoch, 80, said he was "shocked, appalled and ashamed" at the hacking of the phone of a murdered schoolgirl by his now-shuttered News of the World tabloid.

But he quibbled with a suggestion that criminality had been endemic at the tabloid and said he had seen no evidence that victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attack and their relatives were targeted by any of his papers.

"Endemic is a very hard, a very wide ranging word," Murdoch said. "I also have to be very careful not to prejudice the course of justice that is taking place now."

Murdoch said he was not responsible for the hacking scandal, and denied his company was guilty of willful blindness over hacking.

Murdoch said it was the people he trusted in his media empire that perhaps betrayed him in previous years by doing questionably ethical things.

Well into the proceedings, a spectator jumped up and attacked Murdoch with a shaving cream pie, spewing white foam over himself and the media baron, delaying the hearing for approximately 10 minutes.

POLITICO reports:

Murdoch’s wife, Wendi, who had been sitting in the first row behind her husband, could be seen rushing and flailing her arms at someone who approached the 80-year-old Murdoch while he was sitting at the witness table as he son, James, testified.

The man in a plaid shirt suddenly appeared beside Murdoch with a tin filled with what appeared to be shaving cream — known in Britain as a “custard pie” - and attempted to hit Murdoch with it.

Some of the substance got on Murdoch’s coat and when the hearing resumed the News Corp chief was not wearing his suit coat.
The man was detained by police officers. His own face appeared to be covered with shaving cream.

“Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook,” a member of Parliament told Murdoch after the hearing had resumed.

Though the Murdoch scandal has left several in its wake, including the head of Scotland Yard and one of News Corporation's top executives, others who worked for Murdoch defended him Tuesday while he was grilled by British legislators.

Piers Morgan, who now hosts "Piers Morgan Tonight" on CNN, was the editor of News of the World during the 1990s and tweeted words of support for Murdoch.

"Strong finish by Rupert," Morgan tweeted Tuesday. "Love him or hate him, does anyone genuinely think he's a crook or condoned crime? Because I don't. #Murdoch"

Video via POLITICO:



 

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