This is an evolving kind of situation, and what might have been appropriate a week ago might not be appropriate this week. Having Ellen DeGeneres as the host, who is from New Orleans, sets the tone right away that there will be a balance. One of the first things Ellen said to me after Katrina hit was that we still need to make people laugh without forgetting about what's going on and not in any way taking away from its meaning.

Ken Ehrlich