Bobby Powell

Bobby Powell was a highly sought-after interviewee after he allegedly had an affair with the married vice presidential candidate Gwen Lansing. Murphy Brown interviewed him after Miles Silverberg helped to secure the interview in the first place, but under the stipulation of not asking Bobby whether he had the affair or not. Murphy found out from Miles that if she refused to do the interview, Bobby would have asked Jane Pauley to do it. Bobby confessed he was offered significant amounts of money from various people to do the interview with them, but he turned it down, saying that he just wanted the story told straight. As a result of the publicity the alleged affair brought, he lost his job, and his friends quit talking to him. He also said he was recognised on the street from the publicity. According to Jim Dial's introduction to Murphy’s interview, the entire affair blew up in a month after a specific photograph depicting Bobby and Gwen Lansing together in tennis clothes surfaced. Despite the stipulations, Murphy ultimately asked him the question about the affair live on air, after becoming suspicious of the motives of Bobby and his agent. Murphy told Eldin Bernecky later that night that the interview was watched by 30 million people.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 **"Above that! “'First order of business, land Bobby Powell.' 60 Minutes, 20/20, the Today Show- they’re *all* trying to snag this guy! How did you do it?!" (Murphy, Respect 4:28-29)**
2. ↑ "**Did you sleep with Gwen Lansing?" (Murphy, Respect 6:37)**
3. ↑ **"You promised Bobby Powell I wouldn’t ask him if he had an affair with a married woman who happens to be running for VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?!" (Murphy, Respect 4:38)**
4. ↑ **"I just spoke with Bobby Powell. He’d really like you to do the interview, but if not, he’s gonna give it to Jane Pauley." (Miles, Respect 5:22)**
5. ↑ **"Y’know, Ms. Brown, a lot of people are offering me a lot of money to tell my story. Y’know, I don’t know if this’ll make any sense to you, but I’m not interested in the money; I just want the story told straight." (Bobby Powell, Respect 6:24-25)**
6. ↑ **"Pretty far…? Y’know what happened to me this morning? I got let go from my job." (Bobby Powell, Respect 6:28)**
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 **"My friends don’t call me anymore; I can’t walk out into the street without everybody staring at me." (Bobby Powell, Respect 6:31)**
8. ↑ **"Until a month ago, no one knew his name. This photograph changed his life, and perhaps the direction of a presidential campaign" (Jim, Respect 8:41)**
9. ↑ **"Let’s start with the question everyone’s asking. Did you sleep with Gwen Lansing or not?" (Murphy, Respect 8:44)**
10. ↑ **"I think you’ve both got to expect a little publicity! And frankly, Mr. Powell, I think publicity’s exactly what you’re after." (Murphy, Respect 6:34)**
11. ↑ **"Ok, remember what I told you- don’t divert your eyes too much, it makes you look dishonest. Let the camera pick up your natural charisma. Everything goes well tonight, tomorrow we make that major deal with the-" (Jerry Weiss, Respect 8:27-28)**
12. ↑ **"Y’know, 30 million people watched me on television tonight!" (Murphy, Respect 9:17)**