Kathy Griffin Recalls Her ‘Clay-Mate’ Experience
Kathy Griffin was on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ on Tuesday night where she talked about presenting an award at the American Music Awards with ‘American Idol’ Clay Aiken and paying tribute to him on the red carpet. “I wore this crazy outfit with this giant rhinestone necklace that said ‘Clay-Mate’ because that’s what the Clay Aiken fans are called,” she said. “‘Cause I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Clay Aiken’s fans, but they’re very specific, and female, which is weird. [Laughter] And great and wonderful. And so — I’m in trouble, right?”
Griffin then moved on to presenting an award with the singer. “So here’s the thing. I presented with Clay Aiken, who I like to make fun of, yet I’m a fan of,” she explained. “I’m obsessed with him, but I also think he’s kind of funny. And so I did a bit with him where I proposed to him, and he turned me down for some reason. And so the thing that’s great about Clay Aiken which you may not know, he’s a a wonderful singer, very sweet guy. But he has like a team of people around him. So like I had to call literally, there’s something called Team Clay. Yeah, team Clay and they’re bad-ass. Like it’s hard to get to Clay. They treat him like Tyson, like he’s this loose cannon where anything can happen. Protect Clay. So I had to run the bit by Clay and Clay is telling me what beats he likes and doesn’t like. It was ridiculous. He’s very protected for obvious reasons, and he was very, very sweet.”
Clay Aiken Blasts Raunchy Celeb Peers At AMAs
November 22, 2004 - The New York Daily News reports Clay says that he probably shouldn’t have taken his mother to the American Music Awards in 2003. “The show was crass,” he said. “Dave Grohl made vulgar jokes. Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie said the F-word. Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson alluded to their sex life any chance they could. My mother… was not enjoying what she would later call a ‘smutty little program.’ … If I could have left, grabbed my mom, and hightailed it to a Cracker Barrel, I probably would have.”
Clay Aiken Chats With Larry King
November 20, 2004 - Clay discussed his music style with talk show host Larry King on the CNN program ‘Larry King Live’ at the CNN studios in Los Angeles on Monday (November 15). Aiken announced that he has been named UNICEF Ambassador for Education for All Children and will begin a tour in that role early next year. Aiken also discussed his work on his seasonal album ‘Merry Christmas with Love’ which hit stores on Tuesday (November 16), as did his first book ‘Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life’. Read the interview transcript at CNN.com.
Clay Aiken Films AMA Promos With Jimmy Kimmel
October 27, 2004 - ‘Entertainment Tonight’ caught up with Clay as he and Jimmy Kimmel shot promotional spots for the upcoming American Music Awards airing live on November 14th. “This will be my first time presenting, I just want to hold the envelope and know just a second before everybody else does (who the winner is),” he said.
