Insensitive Remarks?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Insensitive Remarks?

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of actor and musician Will Smith, has been named "Artist of the Year" by Harvard's Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations and she was honored at the foundation's 20th Annual Cultural Rhythms show over the weekend.

Speaking at the event, Pinkett Smith urged students to break barriers, and told of overcoming her own obstacles, saying, "Women, you can have it all — a loving man, devoted husband, loving children, a fabulous career ... You can do whatever it is you want." But the school's Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance insists those remarks were insensitive and made its members feel "uncomfortable." Specifically, the group says, the remarks were "heteronormative." It's now demanding an apology.

Ads Pulled

A cable system in Louisiana, Lifewise Cable Media, has agreed to pull ads by the liberal group Campaign for America's future that say Louisiana Republican Congressman Jim McCrery "wants to privatize social security and cut our guaranteed benefits after taking campaign money from the very Wall Street firms that would profit from privatization." The ad calls that a "typical Washington snow job."

McCrery, however, says the ad is "patently false," insisting he, like President Bush, doesn't want to privatize Social Security, he wants to set up private investment accounts within the system. McCrery says he's "grateful" that Lifewise decided to pull the ads, saying, "It is gratifying when the truth prevails."

BBC Backing Away From Own Report

The BBC has aired a report so one-sided that even the BBC itself is now issuing an apology. The BBC began a story on Friday's deadly suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv nightclub with footage of the suicide bomber's family in mourning. The victims' families were never shown. The BBC received dozens of complaints, and now says, "it was inappropriate to begin the report with [that] footage ... It was also inappropriate to include this footage without coverage of the suffering of the victims' families. Using this picture sequence in this way was a mistake."

Not So Picture Perfect?

With Martha Stewart set to be released from prison at the end of the week, Newsweek magazine has put her on its cover, saying, "She's thinner, wealthier and ready for prime time." The picture on the front shows Stewart smiling, and noticeably thinner. There's only one problem: It isn't real. Newsweek superimposed Stewart's head onto a model's body. In very small letters inside, the magazine calls its cover a "photo illustration." And editors insist they did nothing wrong.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report