Katie Couric admits to editing Ruth Bader Ginsburg interview to 'protect' the ...

Katie Couric admits to editing Ruth Bader Ginsburg interview to 'protect' the ...
Katie Couric admits to editing Ruth Bader Ginsburg interview to 'protect' the ...

Katie Couric has admitted to 'protecting' Ruth Bader Ginsburg from public backlash by cutting out negative comments she made about people who kneel during the national anthem. 

The former Today show host reveals in her new book that she let her personal political views influence her editing decisions during her 2016 interview with the late Supreme Court justice.

In new memoir, Going There, Couric writes that she edited out a part where Ginsburg said that those who kneel during the national anthem are showing 'contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life.' 

The published story, which Couric wrote for Yahoo! News in 2016, did include quotes from Ginsburg saying refusing to stand for the anthem was 'dumb and disrespectful', but omitted more problematic remarks. 

In her new memoir, Katie Couric admits to editing out Ruth Bader Ginsburg's controversial comments from their 2016 interview (pictured) to 'protect' the late Supreme Court Justice

In her new memoir, Katie Couric admits to editing out Ruth Bader Ginsburg's controversial comments from their 2016 interview (pictured) to 'protect' the late Supreme Court Justice

But Couric writes in her memoir that she thought the justice, who was 83 at the time, was 'elderly and probably didn't fully understand the question.'

The anecdote is the latest controversial revelation to emerge from Couric's book, which is set to be released October 26. 

DailyMail.com previously revealed how the veteran news anchor brutally rips into her former colleagues, ex-boyfriends, and celebrities in the score-settling tome, which runs to 500 pages.

Couric, 64, writes that she always tried to keep her 'personal politics' out of her reporting throughout her career. 

Going There will be available on October 26

Going There will be available on October 26

But she faced a 'conundrum' when Ginsburg made comments about Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL player who became the controversial figurehead behind the national anthem protest against racial injustice. 

Couric felt that when Ginsburg said that people like Kaepernick were 'dumb and disrespectful' they were comments that were 'unworthy of a crusader for equality' like the liberal Supreme Court justice. 

The day after the sit-down, the head of public affairs for the Supreme Court emailed Couric to say the late justice had 'misspoken' and asked that it be removed from the story.

Couric writes that she was 'conflicted' because she was a 'big RBG fan', referring to Ginsburg's moniker.

Couric called a friend, David Brooks, a New York Times journalist, who advised her that Ginsburg probably didn't understand the question, even though she was still serving on the Supreme Court at the time.

However David Westin, the former head of ABC News, advised Couric to keep it in. 

'She's on the Supreme Court. People should hear what she thinks,' he said, according to Couric. 

The final version of the story, which meant to promote a compilation of Ginsburg's writings called, My Own Words, included her criticism of 'stupid' and 'arrogant' protesters. 

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