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DR. DREW

Newlywed Murder Trial; Death by Stiletto; Nick Cannon on "Whiteface"; New Ad Shows the Faces of Drug Arrests; Stephen Colbert Elicits Outrage

Aired March 31, 2014 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, a husband on trial for murdering his bride of three days. We`ve got the new developments in the newlywed murder trial and someone predicted it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to get away from this guy or he`s going to kill you.

PINSKY: Plus, death by stiletto. Was a high heel used to kill?

And selfies at a riot. Posing in the middle of mayhem. What is wrong with this picture?

Let`s get started.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: Good evening. My co-host is Sirius/XM Radio`s Jenny Hutt.

And coming up, here now is a face on drugs. This is a new video designed to scare people away from drugs, but I`m not sure that`s enough. Take a look at that.

JENNY HUTT, CO-HOST: It`s scary, Dr. Drew.

PINSKY: It is scary, and yet the people use right on through it. Look at that woman decaying right in front of our eyes. We`re going to get into a whole series of those.

But also, Ms. Ali will join us to react to what Nick Cannon said about white face and his white face stunt. He went on the record about that today.

But first, new developments in a trial of a man accused of drugging, choking and beating his wife to death after they`d been married, Jenny, three days. Three days.

HUTT: I know. It should at least take a week.

PINSKY: A week or so. Marriages are getting shorter these days. You know, you have fantasies about killing your wife after a couple of days.

HUTT: Dr. Drew!

PINSKY: Victim`s boss, actually, I think women have fantasized much more about killing their husbands.

HUTT: I`m sure we do.

PINSKY: The victim`s boss told her, the woman, that the victim, that she would die at the hands of her husband. He told the jury the same thing.

Now, remember this defendant, this guy that`s alleged to have killed his wife is acting as his own lawyer stumbling through cross-examination.

HUTT: Of course, he is. Mm-hmm.

PINSKY: Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHEL ESCOTO, HUSBAND: Sorry, I twisted my ankle, judge.

PINSKY: The husband is accused of murdering his wife of three days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Charges that he drugged his newlywed wife and choked her to death to collect on her $1 million life insurance.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s acting as his own lawyer and having a rough go at it.

ESCOTO: There`s no substance to this case. And what they`re doing, judge, is they`re really -- they`re piling up all this emotional stuff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s a fool. You never want to represent yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Innocent people do not represent themselves in murder trials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wendy Trapaga`s former employer took the stand and got into it with Escoto.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know what the cure is for spousal abuse? There isn`t any. You got to get away from this guy or he`s going to kill you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ex-girlfriend says she helped plan it and she`s getting immunity for this testimony.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt this because she took you from me, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PINSKY: Joining us Mike Catherwood. He is my co-host on "Loveline". And Loni Coombs, former prosecutor, author of "You`re Perfect and Other Lies Parents Tell", Vanessa Barnett, social commentator, host of HipHollywood.com.

Loni, what`s your assessment of this guy, his performance as his own lawyer so far?

LONI COOMBS, FORMER PROSECUTOR: You know, I have to say he`s probably crazy as a fox. He looks bumbling, he looks like he`s falling all over, but there`s a side to this representing your own self that sometimes the jurors fall for that. Sometimes they feel sorry for the defendants.

That`s one of the reasons why defendants defend themselves. They want to bond with the jury. They want them to see, here I am, I just want to save my own life. I really don`t know what I`m doing. And jurors sometimes fall for that.

It`s an interesting twisted effect on the jurors. Sometimes they get irritated with them, but more often than not we see him, he`s a normal guy sort of and maybe we feel sorry for him because he`s put in the situation. Now, he`s having to stand up against these attorneys.

PINSKY: Jenny, it seems to me he thinks he`s doing a good job.

HUTT: He thinks he`s doing a good job. How could possibly feel sorry to that guy, Dr. Drew? Do you have any feelings?

MIKE CATHERWOOD, LOVELINES: I do.

HUTT: Mike? Really?

CATHEROWOOD: I actually feel a little sorry for the guy for that sweater. That military-inspired tight-fitting thing? I mean, come on, it`s not 1998.

HUTT: All right.

PINSKY: Wendy, the victim, former boss took the stands. That`s where he had his work cut out for him. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, do you know what the cure is for spousal abuse? And she said no.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you say?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There isn`t any.

ESCOTO: Do you have any reason to believe that that was somehow inflated by myself or anyone else for that matter?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if it wasn`t you, it was the biggest herpe lesion I`ve ever saw.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: Mike, how about you?

CATHERWOOD: I`m more blown away by the fact that he convinced his ex- girlfriend to help out in the murder. I can`t even get my exes to give me back my iPod. And she got him to murder the wife three days in.

HUTT: She loved him.

VANESSA BARNETT, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR: You`re saying this like it`s fact.

PINSKY: Go ahead, Vanessa.

BARNETT: Just saying is like it`s fact. I mean, call me crazy and I`m going beyond the negative side here, but what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

HUTT: Oh, come on.

BARNETT: I know all the evidence is mounting up against him. I get this. But how many times do we have to do this? Casey Anthony, George Zimmerman --

PINSKY: What do you think? What do you think has really happened here?

BARNETT: I think he killed her, don`t get me wrong. But I think we have to be innocent until proven guilty. He`s a bumbling idiot.

You have all these people -- the boss is saying, you`re assaulting her at home. But he didn`t do anything. You have the ex-wife, I mean, ex- girlfriend saying, oh, I helped him, but she didn`t do anything. She didn`t call the authorities.

PINSKY: Maybe she did something. Because she waited something like three year, isn`t that right, Loni, before she turned over state`s evidence? Maybe that woman had something to do with the murder.

COOMBS: And that`s what he`s trying to argue. He`s saying you did this because you loved me and you didn`t want her around me but you wanted her dead. And so, that`s why you knew where the murder weapon was and that`s why you were able to make this deal with the prosecution because you knew all the information. They gave you immunity but you`re the real killer here. That`s the argument he`s going to be making.

PINSKY: All right. Let`s bring in the behavior bureau to look at that woman.

And later, who takes a selfie at a riot? We`ll talk to a young woman who says we got it all wrong. She wasn`t just taking a selfie at the riot, but there she is taking a selfie at the riot. She`s got some explaining to do.

Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt this way because she took you from me, yes.

ESCOTO: And did you hate her for it?

PROSECUTOR: Objection, judge. Asked and answered.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn`t stop how bad I feel. Nothing stops. Not being here, not testifying, nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: Jenny and I are back.

New developments in the case of the man accused of killing his wife three days into their marriage. His ex-girlfriend whom you just saw there, she says she helped him plan the murder because --

HUTT: Yes.

PINSKY: What`s not the love about this guy? She was still in love with him.

HUTT: Very lovable.

PINSKY: Bring in the behavior bureau. Judy Ho, clinical psychologist, Erica America, Z100 Radio personality, Samantha Schacher, social commentator, host of "Pop Trigger", with their new set on "Pop Trigger".

Sam, way to go.

SAMANTHA SCHACHER, POP TRIGGER: Thank you.

PINSKY: Erica, you first, ex-girlfriend helped him plan the murder. What do we make of her? And do we really think she only helped plan? Was she involved more than that?

ERICA AMERICA, Z100: Well, I`ll tell you -- she was very unlucky in love but very lucky in the courtroom. The fact that she`s immune by basically testifying here, because this was a woman that was very desperate. Yes, it`s sad and pathetic. She wanted him back. But she was methodical in planning a murder of a human being.

So, she really is accountable, but unfortunately in this case she`s not. Now, when it comes does she have mental illness or not, I don`t know her history, but it doesn`t seem like that.

It really seems like she was blinded by love and she would do whatever it took, even murdering someone, suspending all her morality and judgment to do so.

PINSKY: Here`s what we know about it for sure. She helped the husband plan the murder. She picked him up from the murder scene, hid the murder weapon, let him hold her. He actually held this woman under water to practice drowning the wife, so she says.

Prosecution gave her immunity, as Erica said, to testify against him.

Judy, what do you make of this? Even if, let`s say, she has no diagnosable condition, the fact that she could come under the sway of a horrible human, does that say something about her? Or is that still all on him?

JUDY HO, PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, diagnosable or not, Dr. Drew, I could definitely see that she has a lot of responsibility here. I see this as a planned out, slow-play crime of passion because it`s all about her being able to be with this man, because he promised her that once he got the insurance money, that they were going to live together happily ever after. So she really bought into that and she was very, very active in creating this fantasy for herself.

PINSKY: She also talked about his violent behavior. I want to show you that right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He grabbed me, he threw me on the bed and he started to choke me. So I thought I was going to die. I scratched him as hard as I could all over his face. I drew blood. I thought I was dead. And I didn`t want him to get away with my death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: And so, Sam, I should help him kill somebody else then, I guess?

SCHACHER: Exactly, Dr. Drew. I have empathy for her if she was in an abusive relationship, but it`s really hard to buy anything that he says on the stand because she`s changed her story multiple times.

Also, she lacks very little remorse. I don`t buy anything that she`s saying. This is somebody who, in my opinion, is just as callous as the husband and she should be locked up and put away for doing everything under the sun to conspiring to make sure that this murder happened.

PINSKY: You know what, Sam, I agree with you. Does everybody else agree with Sam on this? Show of hands. Put the panel up there. Raise your hands if you agree with Sam. This woman even though she might not have actually -- yes, I agree, too.

Jenny, what`s that?

HUTT: She assisted like the magician`s assistant. She`s a helper.

PINSKY: She`s an accomplice. She`s an accomplice. And yet, she -- I mean, this guy is clearly a perpetrator of domestic violence. That`s coming through over and over again in this case. We all agree with that, right? Everybody.

Nobody disagrees with that.

HUTT: The way, Dr. Drew, the way that he talks to his mother-in-law we saw the other day seems like he`s abusive.

PINSKY: Right. So we`ve seen evidence of abuse, we hear stories of abuse, then he takes it to the next level. Do you think -- does anybody think that it`s just a domestic violence episode that got out of hand or did he actually premeditate to kill her and work it out with the girlfriend?

HO: Absolutely. And, Dr. Drew, sometimes you see that these individuals who commit a crime together, they actually experience a time where they become very, very close afterwards because there`s this secret that they`re bounded to each other by. So you see a little bit of that in this aftermath that they become very, very close, but, of course, eventually it falls apart because he`s crazy and so is she.

PINSKY: So they`re bound in this idealized union where they`re doing these crazy things and they believe each other`s B.S. and that where it goes down. He`s still believing, it seems to me.

Thank you, panel.

Next up, we`ll go to something even more bizarre: a stiletto killing. Did a woman murder a man with her high heel or was she acting in self-defense, as she claims?

And later, from pretty to pretty awful. A look at how drug use can ravage users. Here`s somebody across time. Multiple mug shots. Of course, the legal system get theirs hands on them. And medically they fall apart.

Back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PINSKY: Back with Jenny, Judy, Erica and Loni.

A woman is accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death with the heel of her stiletto. We`re talking about one of these. One of my panelists donated this --

HUTT: Is that your size, dr. Drew?

PINSKY: -- device. I want you all to think about who it might be. We`ll find that out after the tape plays.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They`ve identified her at 45-year-old Ana Trujillo.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trujillo allegedly stabbed and killed University of Houston professor Stefan Andersson.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They found him in the hallway, with stiletto by his head, and --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stabbed him as many times as 30 times with her stiletto heel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, look at that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trujillo had blood on her clothes. She also allegedly applied pressure to his neck to keep him from breathing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I could see her doing it, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But her attorneys say it isn`t so clear-cut. They say there was a history of abuse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were at a nightclub drinking tequila. He got jealous.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A struggle followed. He comes at her and she has to fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

PINSKY: Erica, she claims self-defense but she stabbed 30 times with this thing. That`s crazy. It`s like -- remember the woman that stabbed her mom 30 times with a knife? I`m going to tell you something, I`m glad I have my hands on this thing. This is a sharp object.

AMERICA: Yes. I mean, this is overkill literally, not to make a joke, but this is insane. It seems something triggered her to hit this man over 30 times with such rage and such brutality that this seems like it was more than self-defense.

I mean, we don`t know what the exact background of abuse was, but, you know, this is the third case in the last couple weeks we`ve had of a spouse claiming abuse. We just have to be careful that we don`t use this kind of as a go-to excuse when that isn`t the case. That really needs to be investigated carefully.

PINSKY: Judy, why the knowing grin? Just because this is your shoe? You have something to tell us?

(LAUGHTER)

HO: It is my shoe. You know. You can see clearly how it can be a weapon. This is not a joke.

But this is my question. And you know I`m thinking about -- if we`re going to put out like some kind of a prevention template for how to not get together with somebody who might murder you in your sleep.

HUTT: Right.

HO: What do we put in it? Like what`s the difference between somebody who is just emotionally a little bit imbalanced, might get really mad at you when you`re fighting, versus somebody who might actually kill you with a stiletto or something else?

PINSKY: Well, hold on, I think Jenny thinks she knows.

HUTT: I do. Listen, I`m not a clinician, Dr. Drew, but I think it`s a very fine line that separates the really sick and deranged who do things like that and those who are just a little bit off and kooky.

PINSKY: Are you implying that an otherwise healthy person can be pushed over that line? Is what you`re implying?

HUTT: No. I think she was probably not all the way there. By the way, unless she was really being abused and if she was --

PINSKY: Loni.

COOMBS: Just because she did overkill doesn`t mean it`s not a claim of self-defense and that she wasn`t being battered in this relationship.

PINSKY: Loni, I`m going to interrupt you because there may be a problem with that. Here`s what she told a friend a year ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twice she told me that if anybody ever messed with her, she pulled her shoe off and said, I`ll get them with this. It was a big stiletto heel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: Loni, you`ve got some explaining to do.

COOMBS: Well, I`ll tell you, Dr. Drew. I was in a vulnerable situation at one time, and I looked around to think, do I have my weapon? And I looked at my shoe and thought, OK, if I have to, I`ll use this shoe. I don`t think that necessarily mean she planned on killing him with her shoe. We have her friends said she showed at work with bruises on her arms that she said were from this relationship.

So, if they can show that this was an abusive relationship. It was ongoing. And both sides say it was tumultuous. It was going back and forth. Sometimes, when you get to that point, when you really feel that your life is in danger, and you respond, you react and try to protect yourself, you feel like you poked the bear and you know what kind of anger is going to come back at you.

PINSKY: Everybody, everybody, get help. Erica, get help before -- as soon as -- if somebody pushes, if somebody shakes, if somebody grabs you aggressively, immediately get help. The shoes are coming off next.

No hyperbole, the knives are coming out. Who knows what it`s going to be. It always gets worse.

Erica, a hammer. Erica, you want to talk, go.

AMERICA: Yes, no. I was just saying that it`s a really sad situation. And you have to -- when you`re in an abusive situation, you have to walk away, but it`s not that easy. So, we also have to remember to be a little, you know, sensitive about the subject that, you know, women in abusive relationships sometimes can`t do that.

But the point that she did it 30 times, that`s just the thing that I`m a little concern about.

PINSKY: A little concerned. A little concerned. Then the cab driver, Judy, I`ll let you comment on this. The cab driver who took the couple home the night he was murdered testified the suspect was acting drunk, yelling. The cab driver actually warned the victim, quote, "You need to be careful. Your friend is not in her right mind", which I would say based on the 30 stab wounds, the cab driver had it right.

HO: Absolutely. The cab driver was a great observer in this case. That was going to be my point, which is, were there alcohol and/or drugs involved?

PINSKY: Over the edge.

HO: Over the edge, absolutely, 30 times.

PINSKY: Next up, thank you, panel.

Would you take a selfie in the middle of a riot or some other violent episode? You just hold up the camera for a -- well, those two did. They thought it was a good idea. They`re going to tell their side of the story.

And later, using drugs -- this can be what happens to you and anybody and, of course, much, much more. That`s just the surface aspects.

Be back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PINSKY: You are looking here at a second at more than meth, the faces of drug arrests. There we go. Here`s Cynthia after eight years of drug use. People, it`s hard to understand why someone would be able to put themself through something like this. We`ll be talking about that in just a few minutes.

Jenny and I are back with Sam, Mike and Vanessa.

So, here`s the deal. You`re in the middle of a riot and your first inclination, take a selfie, right? I mean --

HUTT: It might be.

PINSKY: You`re in the middle of the Academy Awards, you`re in the middle of the riot, whatever it is, the selfies, that`s how we do things these days. Look at these photos. They were snapped during the mayhem after the University of Arizona was bounced from the NCAA tournament.

(LAUGHTER)

PINSKY: Fifteen people -- Mike, are you laughing because you`re glad Arizona is out?

CATHERWOOD: No, this is all silly. This whole story is silly.

PINSKY: Well, the school called the whole scene disappointing. And I got by phone, I have Marisa Mendez. She`s actually one of the two girls who took the selfie.

So, Marisa, help us understand. You say people got it wrong. Help us understand what you were up to.

MARISA MENDEZ, TOO "SELFIE" DURING RIOT (via telephone): Well, actually, that was actually taken before all of the riot, as we`re saying, happened. I personally wouldn`t really call it a riot. The police were already blocking off the street before the game was already lost.

I had read a couple headlines and they said that the students rioted because we lost. But it was actually more of we walked into that situation.

PINSKY: Sam, go ahead, I`m a little confused by what Marisa is telling us. It was clearly a very volatile occasion. The question is why a selfie in the middle of something that`s potentially violent.

But, Sam, go ahead.

SCHACHER: OK. Hi, Marisa.

My question is it seems that selfies have gotten somewhat out of control. I don`t know if you`re familiar with like selfies at funeral, that hashtag, selfies with homeless people, after sex selfies has become really popular. So where yourself would you draw the line?

MENDEZ: Honestly, the ones you just named, I never even heard of.

SCHACHER: They were trendy.

MENDEZ: I think that`s pretty obnoxious to selfie yourself at a funeral.

SCHACHER: So there is a line.

CATHERWOOD: Can we all just cut the B.S. here?

BARNETT: Marisa, if you`re going to take a selfie, own it. I`m saying like we live in a world nowadays where if you didn`t take a picture, it didn`t happen. I can tell you I saw Beyonce, but if I get the selfie with Beyonce, it really happened.

I just want to know how many photos did you have to take to get the right one, because I can never get a selfie on the first shot.

HUTT: Right on.

PINSKY: No answer.

CATHERWOOD: Am I surrounded by insane people?

PINSKY: Mike, go ahead.

CATHERWOOD: She`s a hot chick at the University of Arizona. It`s her job to be hot and take pictures and put them on the Internet for middle aged guys like me to look at.

HUTT: Ew!

CATHERWOOD: No, no, stop it.

CATHERWOOD: She`s a hot chick at the university of Arizona. It`s her job to be hot and take pictures and put them on the Internet for middle aged guys like me to look at.

HUTT: Ew!

(CROSSTALK)

CATHERWOOD: No, no, stop it. Is this a riot? Was this a riot? No. This was a bunch of drunk college kids after a basketball game. Was this Birmingham `63? Was this the Watts riot? No, this is a bunch of frat guys trying to jump around with cops dressed up in riot gear.

BARNETT: And pepper spray.

PINSKY: But I think that`s what Marisa`s saying, it was just another Friday night. But Jenny, what do you say?

HUTT: I think it`s a little offensive that Mike`s only trolling for college aged kids, so let`s start with that.

(CROSSTALK)

PINSKY: Trust me.

HUTT: Mature ladies take selfies too. We all do it.

CATHERWOOD: I understand but what for? Maybe for other mature ladies to look at. But certainly not guys to beat off to.

(CROSSTALK)

BARNETT: Without her selfie, we don`t have those photos of the police in the background. We don`t have those photos of cars on fire. It`s borderline journalism at this point.

PINSKY: So here`s the deal. There`s something called a selfie syndrome. Sam, you must have heard of this. And the fact that plastic surgeons are actually seeing an uptick in facial surgeries that they equate to people seeing themselves in pictures the on selfies and finding imperfections that they`re not accustomed to looking at in the mirror. But, Sam, the selfie syndrome, the other thing about that is people who take lots of selfies are likely to rate higher on narcissistic inventory scales. Sam, what do you say?

SCHACHER: Well, not only that, Dr. Drew. We`re living in a culture -- and many people have called it the selfie generation where they think that, no matter what the picture they take, no matter how catastrophic the event, if they can take that photo, put it up on their Instagram, they`re going to get likes, they`re going to get comments and that gives them some sort of self-validation. And that`s both equally fascinating and really sad. I`m not speaking for everybody.

BARNETT: No.

PINSKY: I want to give Marisa last word. So Marisa, was that the deal to get the validation of saying -- having been there, having lots of likes?

MENDEZ: Actually I`m not the one who posted my personal selfie. A photographer caught us taking a selfie and he posted the photo. Our whole purpose was really -- our friends do it out of humor all the time. Do selfies not just for circumstances such as riots or any kind of --

PINSKY: Not just for riots, everybody. It`s not just for riots. But you`re trying to be funny, is that right?

MENDEZ: Yes, it was taken before everything and I understand people are thinking people got hurt at the riot. There was a few people that, you know, they decided to throw stuff at the police, the police reacted. I can`t really speak on because that`s not what we were trying to do. However, I don`t really see much violence until later on.

PINSKY: OK, Marisa, I thank you for joining us. Thank you, panel. Next up, this is your face on drugs. Will the new video have an impact? I certainly hope it does. But people that are already using, I`m not so sure.

And, later, Nick Cannon and Miss Ali. One explains so-called whiteface. The other has something to say about that. We are back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PINSKY: It`s really unreal what drugs will do to people. Back with Jenny, Judy, Erica and Mike. Tooth decay, sores, their bodies are just ravaged. Those are the faces of drug users. You just saw that new video. It`s called "More Than Meth: Faces of Drug Arrests." Here`s another addict featured in the video campaign from rehabs.com.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

PINSKY: -- phased by is that people just can`t see what`s happening.

HO: That`s right, Dr. Drew. What happens with addicts is a lot of people have this misconception that they should just be able to stop when they want to. That`s a really dangerous misconception because they can`t. There`s so many problems with that because there are physiological dependencies that develop. And then at that point that is all that`s on their minds no matter what they`re wrecking, whether it`s family relationships, their jobs, their own body. They can`t even think about that. The only thing they can concentrate on is when they`re going to get that next dose of the drug.

PINSKY: Erica, I`m sure you agree with what Judy is saying. Play another video of this because I think people look at this in disbelief. They literally, these people cannot see what`s happening to them. And even if they could, I`m not sure it would matter because all the usual priorities drop when someone`s addicted and the using becomes the sole priority.

AMERICA: I still think it`s a great idea. I`m very supportive of this campaign because even if it just kind of gets to one person that`s not quite there -- yes, I agree with you, the drug user who`s kind of way far gone, it might be a little too little too late. But I just think -- I`m not a smoker, but have you ever seen the smoking commercials with the people that have lost their voice or a part of their body had to be amputated? I find that horrifying. And if I was a smoker, I probably would never want to. So I think that this is only a positive thing.

I do have a question for you though. I notice a lot of types with drug users, many times meth, there`s a deterioration of the teeth.

PINSKY: Yes, that`s multifactorial. It`s due, as I understand it, what the -- the environment in the mouth has changed so much by the meth, particularly the smoke of meth, that they just start to break down. There`s also grinding of the teeth and various other things and people aren`t attending to their teeth on top of that.

Mike, you`re the only one amongst us that has been through this. And you`ve told me before, there`s never you ever found that you really love as much as drugs and alcohol. You`ve been there, you`ve nearly died. You`ve had seizures and still keep on going.

CATHERWOOD: Well, yes, I certainly applaud the people behind this campaign and I think it`s a worthy effort for someone who may be curious about using certain drugs to party. But for people who are -- suffer from the disease of addiction, to a appeal to their vanity, something as superficial as vanity, I think is going to be relatively inconsequential in the eyes of an addict. I understand that the transformation in these people is heartbreaking, but you have to understand that people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol have had their children away, have had their jobs removed from them, they`ve had limbs lost.

PINSKY: That`s right.

CATHERWOOD: And it has not slowed them down one bit. I was one of the people that knew my life was in the balance and continued to use and drink anyway. So, again, appeals to vanity I don`t think are going to stop anybody.

PINSKY: Jenny, you had a question.

CATHERWOOD: Go ahead, Jenny. I`m sorry.

HUTT: Oh, sorry, I was going to say, but maybe, Dr. Drew, this might help with teenagers. Because when they are super shallow, before they descend into this life of addiction, maybe this will stop them from trying a drug like that.

PINSKY: Well, we`re saying all the same thing, which is somebody who is way in the disease, this is not going to appeal to anything. They are going to keep right on; they may even laugh at it. Somebody who is contemplating using, hopefully this will have an impact.

On the phone I have Abhilash Patel, he`s co-founder of rehabs.com, the website that created this video campaign. Abhilash, nearly 400,000 views. Tell us why you think this is resonating so much.

ABHILASH PATEL, CO-FOUNDER, REHABS.COM (via telephone): Hi, thanks for having me on the show. I appreciate that. In about a week, you`re right, we`ve had about 400,000 views on YouTube, many more visitors to the website. And we`re not -- and we`re not terribly amazed because this is a follow-up to our late fall campaign about the horrors of amphetamines, which was also driven by faces. And that campaign, as well, in a shocking way, received millions and millions of views in the time that it was up and it still is.

What we believe is that, for some reason, the idea of faces seems to really resonate with the people watching this. And when people see faces for some reason, granted, these are shocking photos, but when people see faces, they see the faces of people they know. They see faces of perhaps their relatives or their kids or loved ones. Everyone knows somebody who is affected or driven down by this. And for that reason, the campaign`s really taken off.

PINSKY: And I think the face is a representation of the person, and so you`re seeing a real deterioration of the individual, which is exactly what addiction does. It takes down the soul, it takes down the psyche. It commands the brain, it deteriorates the brain in some conditions. Erica, last comment.

AMERICA: Yes, I just want to say, there`s nothing like a 12-step program admitting you`re powerless for the true addicts, but I think Jenny had a great point, and if this could somehow be incorporated into curriculum of high school or junior high, so where they`re at that point of experimenting, just starting to smoke cigarettes, saying, "Look, this is how bad it can really get," that would be a good point for this.

PINSKY: Next up, Nick Cannon explains his whiteface photo, kind of. And Miss Ali is back with her opinion of his explanation. And reminder, you can find us any time on Instagram @DrDrewHLN. We are back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAHRAZAD ALI, SOCIAL COMMENTATOR: Black people in secret want to be white.

PINSKY (voice-over): Nick Cannon in whiteface accompanied by these words, quote, "It`s official. I`m white."

ALI: He want to be white. He actually wants to look like them. He wants to be a part of that. And most black people do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: Back with Jenny, Judy, Erica and Mike and by phone our own Shahrazad Ali, author of "The Black Woman`s Guide to Understanding the Black Man." Nick Cannon using a controversial photo to get attention for his new album, it`s called "White People Party Music." That`s what it`s called, Mike. And Instagram went crazy when he posted a picture of himself dressed up as a white guy or what some people have called now whiteface.

Now Nick Cannon claims he doesn`t even know what whiteface is. Listen to what he told "Good Morning America" on ABC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK CANNON, SINGER: Everybody is really sensitive when it comes to race and that`s even one of the reasons why I did it But if we want to have --

REPORTER: That`s the reason you did it?

CANNON: Yes, of course. If you want to have that real conversation, it`s even funny like they`re using this term whiteface. I don`t really know what that is. I know blackface was a term that was created in 1869 to describe offensive minstrel shows. Whiteface, if you look it up and Google it, it`s a ski slope up in upstate New York. So this term that we created, I was doing a character impression. Blackface is about oppression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: So Miss Ali, what say you?

ALI (via telephone): I say that`s a bunch of nonsense and that he`s not thinking too fast on his feet. That`s foolishness, what he`s saying. He knows the difference between whiteface and blackface, which is why he didn`t promote that album using his own black face. He`s trying to make a point about white.

Plus the cracks he was making about he knows that he`s white and already he`s not being chased by the police and he`s freedom from police harassment and he`s got good credit, people are not afraid of him. That`s not funny. That`s not funny at all. Our relationship with the police is completely different than the relationship that white people have with the police.

PINSKY: Mike -- Miss Ali, hold on.

ALI: I want to back up. What I said last week when I said a lot of black people are secretly dreaming of and wanting to be white, I know that sounded kind of unique and strange to you all, but the three top things that are sold in the African-American, the American African communities, according to the manufacturers, are skin bleaching and skin whitening cream, blue and green contacts, and bleach for their -- to bleach their hair blond, blond weaves and wigs.

PINSKY: And Miss Ali --

ALI: Who are they trying to look like?

PINSKY: And hair straightener. But I would say equally as powerful, we`ve got a lot of white urban kids, like Nick is playing or portraying in his video, who are trying to be like black guys. Mike, you haven`t been on Miss Ali yet. Go ahead, I know you wanted to talk to her. Have at it.

CATHERWOOD: Well, if there`s so many black people that want to be white, I`ll let them take one look at my penis and they`ll change their minds pretty quickly.

PINSKY: Oh jeez.

ALI: You know what?

(CROSSTALK)

CATHERWOOD: No, no, we let you talk. We let you talk! Hold on. If "White People Party Music" is the name of his album ,and there`s no problem with it being called "White People Party Music," because that`s exactly what Nick Cannon is. Nobody, no self-respecting black persons a ever listened to Nick Cannon ever, or the Black-Eyed Peas, or any of the -- or Beyonce. Black people, when they party, listen to Teddy Pendergast and the Delfonics and hip-hop. This type of music, this kind of top 40 R&B, is made for girls like drunk college girls and (inaudible) moms.

PINSKY: Miss Ali -- Mike, hold on.

(CROSSTALK)

CATHERWOOD: This is my mom, this is my dad.

PINSKY: Hold on, buddy. Miss Ali.

ALI: Dr. Drew, Mike is lewd, crude and one dimensional. And I really don`t appreciate him being even allowed to speak --

CATHERWOOD: I`m one-dimensional. Who sits at home and thinks of ridiculous things to say so she can get a rise out of people?

PINSKY: Mike, Mike -- turn Mike`s mic off. Miss Ali, finish, please.

ALI: And that being lewd and crude just doesn`t get it for me. So I don`t really want to talk to anyone like him. But what I was saying to you is that also Nick has to be careful about how he flips off and talks a little cocky about the fact that he gets paid no matter which way it goes. He got paid on (inaudible).

PINSKY: Let me read that -- I`m going to read that Instagram for you. Here we go. It says, next one. Show it to me, guys. "I don`t owe anyone explanations for why I do what I do," he said. But the next one`s interesting. "One week they love you, next week they hate you, both weeks I got paid." That`s what you`re talking about, Miss Ali, right?

ALI: Right. And I think he has to be careful about saying things like that because we really like to think that our artists are in it for the creative expression and that money is not their driving force. Because, as I said, the consumer, when we hear things like that, sometime we decide well then I`m not going to give you any more of my money if you`re going to talk like that about me.

PINSKY: Well, then, Miss Ali, maybe that`s what you want from this. I want to hear from quickly Judy and Erica. Erica, you first, then Judy, and we got to get out.

AMERICA: Yes, I first want to say I like Nick Cannon. I`ve met him. He`s a nice guy. I think he came from a good place and to kind of shake things up. But I`m not a fan of him dressing in whiteface or dressing as a white person, because there`s such a history with the blackface and what it represents is about stereotyping.

PINSKY: It just conjures that all up.

AMERICA: It is bringing it up all over again. It`s not, it`s not --

PINSKY: Wrap it up, Judy, finish real fast.

HO: Well, what I want to say, Dr. Drew, is that I really believe that he is doing an impression. When this was happening on "Saturday Night Live" nobody would raise an issue about it. So I think we should leave him alone and let him express himself now.

PINSKY: That last tweet is what Mike was saying. The offensive part is the music, not the whiteface. But we`re going to have to come out. Miss Ali, please stay with me. Panel stay with me. There it is again, the new album -- put it up there. I`ll read it. No, let me read it; I`ll read what it says if they put it up there. Well, they`re not going to.

Here we go. "The thing about Nick Cannon being whiteface, most offensive thing to promote a new album is the fact he has a new album."

So there you go. Next up, stay with me, we`re going to talk about Stephen Colbert who seemed to have just been making a joke, but he ended up offending a lot of people and we`ll dig into that as well. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PINSKY: Back with Jenny, Judy, Mike, Sam and Miss Ali. And I wonder if anyone saw the so-called #cancelcolbert hashtag trending today. It started with a joke about the Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder who refuses to change the team`s name. Here`s how Stephen Colbert tackled the story on Comedy Central.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWS REPORTER: Snyder sent a letter to Redskins fans laying out a plan to start the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation.

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: That`s right. The Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation. Because Redskins is not offensive if you only use it once in your name.

Folks, this move by Dan Snyder inspires me. Because my show has frequently come under attack for having a so-called offensive mascot -- my beloved character, Ching Chong Ding Dong. Oh, I love tea. It`s so good for you.

I`m willing to show the Asian community that I care by introducing the Ching Chong Ding Dong Foundation for Sensitivity to Orientals or Whatever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PINSKY: Now, the Colbert Report quoted him and posted the joke it on Twitter. And, Sam, explain how that then translated into such high levels of outrage. And by the way, let`s everybody -- you can be outraged, do we have to then get people fired or ruin their lives or want to kill them? It`s bizarre how social media makes people want to actually do harm to somebody else as opposed to straightening them out.

SCHACHER: I agree, Dr. Drew, 100 percent. It`s quite scary how empowered people can be. But it can also be beneficial --

PINSKY: That`s more than empowered. That`s violent. It`s actually disgusting, if you ask me.

SCHACHER: I agree 100 percent. And what had happened, listen, the Colbert Report is strategic satirical comedy. He promotes equality. He is mocking racism. And what had happened was this promoted account from Comedy Central, not even Stephen Colbert, not even the producers behind the show, they tweeted out this one sentence from an entire bit that was televised and it was perceived to be racist and mocking Asians. But why can`t then people give him the benefit of the doubt and actually look into it and see where the actual context lay?

PINSKY: Judy, you and I talked before the show how hurtful, how offensive certain terms are to the Chinese Americans and he really struck a cord with this, right?

HO: That`s right, Dr. Drw. And as the token Asian, I think I can speak about this because the term -- I`ve actually been called Ching Chong Ding Dong before. And that happened just a few years ago in metropolitan San Diego. OK, so we`re really not that far from it. So the first reaction that people might have when they hear this, when they see this on tweet, is that visceral reaction of being attacked and stereotyped and discriminated.

But when you back up from that a little bit, you realize it`s satire. And how do people accomplish satire? They exaggerate. It`s to make a point about the fact that the Washington Redskins, that that is a derogative term. So I think you can see the big picture, but the first reaction of a lot of Asian people is going to be feeling offensive.

PINSKY: Jenny, you want to follow up on that?

HUTT: Right, because it was taken out of context in the tweet, Dr. Drew. When you watch it on TV, it makes -- I first read the tweet and went, oh my god, Stephen Colbert. And then I watched it and went, yay, Stephen Colbert, because he was right on point. Enough with the Washington Redskins, change the name.

PINSKY: He was making fun of racists. But, Mike, what are we to do here? Is comedy is no longer a viable form of satire?

CATHERWOOD: It doesn`t seem like it.

PINSKY: We`re so sensitive that we -- and by the way, if somebody steps on a land mine they have to be destroyed?

CATHERWOOD: No, and that`s the real problem is that I think people who normally don`t have a voice are using things like social media to then grasp at anything they can, and they want vengeance. They want to taste blood. People have to be fired, people have to be canceled. In reality, we have to examine what words are used for in this country and part of what America was based on in the beginning --

PINSKY: Freedom of expression.

CATHERWOOD: Exactly. And look, a lot of things are tasteless. A lot of things are offensive. Many things I`ve even said on your show can probably be taken as offensive.

PINSKY: You were -- just ten minutes ago this happened. But let me hear from Miss Ali, what does she say? What do you say, Miss Ali?

ALI: Well, I think that, first of all, funny doesn`t have to be true. It can be funny without being true. So I do think -- I have a great sense of humor. A lot of things are funny to me that may not be funny to other people.

But I think we have to look at the (inaudible) angle in this because, since we can`t treat each other with dignity, I think what we`re doing now to be politically correct is demanding that at least we talk about each other with dignity. And so we`re trying to control everybody`s language and what they say.

You know, I lived when Asians used to be called Orientals. That would be insulting to them now. Blacks used to be called colored. That would be insulting. Whites used to be called hunkies. That would be insulting to you all these days. So, you know, things have changed and it`s hard to keep up with it.

PINSKY: Miss Ali, I`ve got the leave it, my dear. I`ve got to leave it there. Thank you, panel. "FORENSIC FILES" is up next. Tonight, frozen assets. Clues from a frozen river reveal information about the identity of a woman`s killer. Thank you, panel. Thank you, Miss Ali. We`ll see you next time.

END