Rob Reiner’s impact on American politics and culture
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Good morning. It's Tuesday, December 16th. I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the conviction of a major figure in Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. Why dollar store prices aren't always what they seem. And victims at Brown University are remembered and mourned.
But first, to the deaths of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer Michelle Singer Reiner. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Police Department said they made an arrest in the case, one of Reiner's sons. Here's LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
We have our Robbery Homicide Division handling the investigation. They worked throughout the night on this case and were able to take into custody Nick Reiner, a suspect in this case. He was subsequently booked for murder and is being held on $4 million bail. Pretty much that's what I can share at this point, but again, a very, very tragic incident.
The case now goes to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office today. While many details remain unconfirmed or unaddressed by authorities, tributes poured in for Reiner yesterday, including everyone from former President Obama to Stephen King. The range of voices highlighted Reiner's iconic standing in American culture. He was an actor on the sitcom All in the Family and the director of movies like The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, and When Harry Met Sally. But also, Reiner's years supporting progressive politics and the Democratic Party. The Los Angeles Times notes that Reiner was a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which successfully mounted the effort to overturn Proposition 8, a ballot measure in California that banned same-sex marriage.
In an interview with the outlet Midas Touch on Monday, California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom reflected on his relationship with Reiner, who he said supported him during his time as mayor of San Francisco.
I was out there feeling a little alone doing same-sex marriage in 2004. It was Rob who reached out. That's how I got to know him, saying he had my back at a time when a lot of members of my own party, the Democratic Party, didn't. And so he's been a friend for decades. He actually was co-host on an event that I'm doing later this week.
So it just breaks my heart. Newsom is referring to the time when he defied California state law to allow for same-sex marriages. In recent years, Reiner was an extremely harsh critic of President Trump, calling him, quote, mentally unfit at one point and saying that the atmosphere under the administration's leadership is, quote, beyond McCarthy-era-esque. President Trump initially reacted to Reiner's death by suggesting that it had something to do with his, quote, obsession with the president. His statement on Truth Social was condemned by a number of conservatives and Republican members of Congress. Later on Monday, Trump was asked about that social media post by reporters at the White House.
A number of Republicans have denounced your statement on True Social after the murder of Rob Reiner.
What happened to filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife?
Do you stand by that post?
Well, I wasn't a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned.
Yesterday, fans laid flowers at Reiner's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. One note read, RIP Meathead, referencing Reiner's role as Michael Stivic, the liberal student and Archie Bunker's son-in-law on All in the Family. In a 60 Minutes interview earlier this year, Reiner talked about landing that role for Norman Lear's show and his dad's reaction to it.
Norman Lear was the first person that got me. I mean, I was playing Jax with his daughter. Norman says to my dad, you know, this kid is really funny. My dad said, well, that kid, that kid, he's sullen. He sits quiet. He doesn't, you know, he's not funny. He didn't think I was anyway.
Many would come to disagree with that.
Yesterday, one of the leaders of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement was convicted on charges of sedition and collusion under the country's national security laws. The trial was described as a, quote, cruel judicial farce by Human Rights Watch.
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