MONTEL WILLIAMS - CHATSHOW HOST WILLIAMS APOLOGISES FOR 'THREATENING' OUTBURST

CHATSHOW HOST WILLIAMS APOLOGISES FOR 'THREATENING' OUTBURST

American talkshow host MONTEL WILLIAMS has issued an apology to a group of reporters in Savannah, Georgia, after allegedly threatening to "blow them up". Williams was promoting a programme giving free medical prescriptions to people with low incomes on Friday (30Nov07) when he objected to a journalist's question and abruptly terminated the interview. But he decided to confront a member of the reporter's team when they later returned to the hotel for another assignment, approaching student intern Courtney Scott. Scott's colleague, Joseph Cosey, recalls, "As we were preparing to film, Montel walked up with his bodyguard and got in Courtney Scott's face pointing his finger and telling her, 'Don't look at me like that. Do you know who I am? I'm a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up.' "At this time he was randomly pointing at all of us." Scott adds, "I'm not sure if he meant 'blow me up' and ruin my career or really blow us up, but it was threatening." But Williams has now apologised to Scott and her fellow journalists for "overreacting". In a statement released on Saturday (01Dec07), Williams says, "I mistakenly thought the reporter and photographer in question were at the hotel to confront me about some earlier comments. I was wrong, and I apologize for my overreaction." The Montel Williams Show star became a patient advocate after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999.