Seven straight Tour de France titles, countless magazine covers, millions in endorsements, hundreds of millions raised to fight cancer and now this? After a decade of denial and months of speculation, cyclist Lance Armstrong finally came clean last night. In part one of an interview with Oprah Winfrey on OWN, Armstrong simply said “yes” when asked if he had used performance enhancing drugs during his incredible Tour run. He called the period “one big lie” and reaffirmed what many already suspect: that doping was pervasive in cycling during that time. Armstrong also told Oprah in the 90 minute broadcast, that he rationalized his use of PEDs as a way to stay competitive with others who doped. The second part of the interview airs tonight on OWN at 9pm ET. But in the meantime, there’s another potential interview America wants to see: Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o. There are still many unanswered questions about the hoax surrounding the dead girlfriend who never existed. People want to know what Te’o knew and when. And the other question is, who will get the first interview with the Heisman trophy finalist in the wake of the controversy? Fans and onlookers are also asking themselves, ‘why do we keep getting fooled by stars like this’? We’ll try to separate the facts from the lies and look at the ongoing breakdown of trust between the public and public figures when we see you at noon ET on msnbc.
PANEL
Sam Stein, Political Editor and White House Correspondent, The Huffington Post/ msnbc contributor (@samsteinhp)
Harold Ford Jr., msnbc Political Analyst/Visiting professor at NYC
Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief, BuzzFeed (@buzzfeedben)
GUESTS
Michael Beschloss, NBC News Presidential Historian (@beschlossdc)
Selena Roberts, CEO, Roopstigo Mobile Sports Network (@selenaroopstigo)
Star Jones, TODAY show legal contributor (@starjonesEsq)
Robert Gifford