MSNBC: Commencement Snub Leaves Gore 'Upset'

Al Gore '69 is "upset" at being "passed over" this year as speaker at Harvard's commencement, according to a report by gossip columnist Jeannette Walls in "The Scoop" for the network MSNBC.

But sources from Harvard and a Gore spokeperson both say the charge is unfounded.

"I don't know anything about this," said Kiki Moore McLean, Gore's spokesperson, in an interview yesterday.

"I'm sure it isn't true because he was the Commencement speaker in 1994," said University Marshal Richard M. Hunt, who is charged with coordinating all VIP visits and helping to organize commencement. "It was a great occasion."

Hunt said he believed Gore would want to preserve June 7 for his daughter, Sarah Gore `01.

"If I know Al Gore--and I taught him when he was here--he has been a model of respect for the son or daughter that is graduating," said Hunt.

However, Walls' anonymous source--someone "close to Gore," according to Walls--claimed "[Gore's] really pretty bummed about [not speaking]."

Walls stands by her reporting and her source, she said on Wednesday.

"I write a gossip column," Walls said. "I wouldn't print something unless I had a reliable source."

Walls's piece centered around the fact that Gore spoke at his daughter Karenna's graduation in 1994 but will not be speaking again at his youngest daughter Sarah's graduation this year.

"If Harvard really wanted to, they could break their own rules," said Walls, implying that Gore might be allowed to speak at Commencement twice.

Walls' Gore piece ran beneath an item entitled "PamWatch: Actress Out of Control" about Pamela Anderson Lee's behavior at a Kentucky Derby party.

MSNBC has not had a stellar track record in reporting on Harvard so far this year.

"That's the same organization that announced that Hillary Clinton was a candidate for Harvard's presidency,” said Joe Wrinn, University spokesperson.

--Staff Writer Lauren E. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvard.edu.