See, Michael? Inflammatory headlines drive traffic and they’re fun!
Following up on Rick Warren’s cancellation of an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Dan Gilgoff learns that while the pastor was indeed exhausted from the marathon schedule of services Saddleback Church runs during Holy Week, there was something else that left him feeling under the weather this weekend:
[Warren] was also a little nauseous. That’s because Fox News Channel, which carried a couple of Warren’s Easter services, insisted that his Saddleback Church apply a fresh coat of varnish to the pulpit lectern before broadcast. The varnish was still drying when it was time for Warren to preach his next service, and the fumes got to him.
One of Warren’s advisors tells me that this combination of fatigue and FOX-induced nausea prevented Pastor Rick not only from filming his interview with Stephanopoulos, but also from preaching six of the twelve sermons he was scheduled to give on Saturday and Sunday.
I’m glad to hear Warren wasn’t ducking a tough interview and wish him a speedy recovery. And since this was all on the up-and-up, I definitely look forward to a rescheduled television appearance in the near future to resolve some of those lingering contradictory statements. Just, please, stay away from the FOX News, Pastor Rick.