Katie Couric recently opened up about an uncomfortable exchange with Denzel Washington during a 2004 interview she conducted with the famed actor and his The Manchurian Candidate co-stars.
Katie explained the situation on Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino, telling the host that she asked Denzel if "Hollywood folks should just stick to acting." She said Denzel responded by saying, "I don’t know what Hollywood folks are, first of all. ... Hollywood is a town that has some stars on the sidewalk. I don’t know anybody from there … That’s like calling you a ‘type’ of folks. I’m not a Hollywood folk. I don’t know who they are."
Katie says she tried to rephrase her question by asking, "Are you one of those people that," before Denzel cut her off and said, "Ah, there you go. ‘Am I one of those people?’ Hm, isn’t that interesting? No, don’t stop. I heard what you just said. ‘Am I one of those people?’ No, I’m not." Denzel then added, "I’m a human being. My job is acting."
The former Today Show anchor reacted to the interview, stating, "I just remember leaving it and thinking, 'God, I must have ... I don't think I said anything wrong, I don't know what happened.' Anyway, he must have been having a really bad day, because he later wrote a really big check to my colon cancer organization, which I thought was super sweet."
