by Lisa M. Chmiola
Managing Editor
Covering everything from the Clintons to homosexuality, CNN talk-show host Larry King offered his raw opinions May 20 to an audience of about 40 in the University of Houston's Cullen Performance Hall.
Sponsored by the Student Program Board, the free event gave members of the UH community the opportunity to ask the host of Larry King Live! a few questions of their own.
"I was wondering who the hell would come here when school was out," King said before opening the floor to questions.
When asked what he thought would happen to the Clintons in the Whitewater investigation, King said the president would probably escape indictment, but Hillary Clinton probably would not.
"That is a funny White House," King said. "I think that people just look at (President Clinton) sort of like a rogue uncle."
King added that he felt the public will become bored with the Clintons soon, since not much controversy is usually stirred up during a president's second term.
"There's something wrong in a two-term, eight-year president," King said, adding that he likes the idea of a one-term, six-year president better, even though the person would become an automatic "lame duck" since he or she would be ineligible for re-election.
King, born Nov. 19, said he felt that Scorpios are some of the most dedicated people he knows - himself included. "I'm not a halfway person. That might be a Scorpio trait," he said.
King started a minor controversy with some audience members when he said, "One thing you know about Scorpios is there are no gay Scorpios."
An audience member then asked King what he had against gays. He answered by saying he had no problems with people who are gay.
"I have a lot of friends who are gay," King explained.
King also dismissed the belief that homosexuals choose their sexual orientation, saying, "We didn't choose our color, we didn't choose our faith, we didn't choose our parents - it's all baloney."
As for the interview technique he employs during his television show, King said, "I don't plan questions. Many times I'll be driving in (to the studio), and I don't know who the guest is that night."
King said he picked up this interview style while he was doing a radio show from a restaurant in Miami Beach, Fla. "Whoever showed up, showed up," King said. "I would interview waitresses, conventioneers. And one day Bobby Darin came in. He was the first famous person I interviewed."
Of all those he interviewed, King said the most interesting was Frank Sinatra, since he possessed the four essential qualities he wants in a guest - passion, an ability to explain what he or she does, a little bit of anger and a sense of humor, especially about him or herself.
"(If) you have those four things, you can't miss," King said. "It doesn't matter if you're a ballerina, singer or president."
Senior applied music and vocal performance major Suzanne Stokes said she enjoyed King's honest talk and the humor he added into it.
"He was very easy to listen to," Stokes said. "He was very knowledgeable about his topics."
Stokes's mother, Elizabeth Soyal, agreed, saying, "I think he's very down to earth and entertaining."