CNN's Beck acknowledged being a "recovering scumbag"

Summary: During an interview on CNN Headline News' Nancy Grace, right-wing radio host and new Headline News hire Glenn Beck said of himself, "I like to say I'm a work in progress, a recovering scumbag."

During an interview on the May 5 edition of CNN Headline News' Nancy Grace, right-wing radio host and new Headline News hire Glenn Beck said of himself, "I like to say I'm a work in progress, a recovering scumbag."

Later in the interview, host Nancy Grace asked Beck about a benefit he had held for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Beck explained that he had raised money for those survivors "who were trying to be decent people and get back on their feet" -- not those who "were stealing televisions and shooting at helicopters."

But Grace neglected to question Beck about the comments he made during the September 9, 2005, edition of his radio show, which was broadcast from the fundraiser near Philadelphia. As Media Matters for America documented, Beck attacked the "scumbags" who "were left in New Orleans, or who decided to stay" after Hurricane Katrina. He likened those left in New Orleans after Katrina to 9-11 victims' families, who are "always complaining" and whom he admitted to "hating."

Earlier, during an interview on the May 5 edition of CNN's American Morning, co-host Soledad O'Brien asked Beck to explain these remarks. In response, Beck falsely claimed that the quote she displayed had been taken out of context and that he had been criticizing only the looters.

Beck's daily prime-time program is scheduled to debut May 8 at 7 p.m. ET. In anticipation, Media Matters has documented Beck's extensive history of outrageous statements.

From the May 5 edition of CNN Headline News' Nancy Grace:

GRACE: It's always like -- still, this many years later, it's like just cold water thrown on my face. But a lot of people don't realize where you're coming from with your life history, and I'm referring specifically to your mom and brother.

BECK: I mean, I've grown up -- I've had a lot of experiences in my life. My mom committed suicide when I was 13; my brother has committed suicide. I'm an alcoholic in recovery, did drugs every day of my life for many, many years. I like to say I'm a work in progress --

GRACE: Aren't we all?

BECK: -- a recovering scumbag.

BECK: Yeah, we are.

GRACE: I'd much rather have a sinner than a hypocrite any day.

[...]

GRACE: Question: Is it true you threw a benefit somehow for 9-11 -- Katrina victims?

BECK: Yeah -- no, I threw a benefit for Katrina survivors. I didn't like to call them victims as much as survivors. I think there were some victims out there. And then there were those who were capitalizing on the event, and they were stealing televisions and shooting at helicopters. You know, those people, I didn't raise money for them. And we raised -- I don't even remember what it was -- $150,000 in an afternoon for them to try to help those people who were trying to be decent people and get back on their feet.

—J.K.