PHIL SPECTOR - SPECTOR HITS OUT AT TURNER'S CRITICS

SPECTOR HITS OUT AT TURNER'S CRITICS

Music mogul PHIL SPECTOR has hit out at OPRAH WINFREY and WHOOPI GOLDBERG for "demonising" his friend IKE TURNER on their talkshows. Spector used the musician's funeral on Friday (21Dec07) to voice his anger at the U.S. TV stars - as well as others who have criticised him over the years. He went on to say that Ike - whose musical career was overshadowed by his image as the drug-addicted, brutally abusive former husband of Tina Turner - was "demonised and vilified" by his ex-wife. And he inspired applause from some mourners when he deemed the 1993 film What's Love Got To Do With It, based on Tina's autobiography, a "piece of trash movie". Spector told the crowd at the three-hour ceremony in Gardia, California, "Ike made Tina the jewel she was." And Spector also addressed Turner's 1989 conviction for drug possession - for which he spent 17 months in jail - saying, "He was sent to prison for no other reason than he was a black man in America." Spector, who produced Turner's song River Deep, Mountain High, himself stood trial for murder earlier this year (07) for the fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson. A judge declared a mistrial in September (07) after jurors failed to reach a verdict. Unsurprisingly, Tina Turner did not attend the funeral.