Dr. Jan Adams Walks Off ‘Larry King Live’

November 21, 2007

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE: November 21, 2007

Dr. Jan Adams, the man at the center of the controversy surrounding Donda West’s death walked off “Larry King Live,” Tuesday night.

Adams was on the CNN program for just a short time before exiting the live taping.

“What I really want to say is I want to thank you for this opportunity. Basically I had come here to [address] things in the press that aren’t accurate about me, but I have a tremendous respect for the West family. They don’t want me to go on. I have a side, they have a side and I am going to respect their wishes … I will not be on the show and address any of that. I am gonna honor their wishes,” Adams told Larry King.

“Where does this go?” Larry then asked the doctor.

“Well, I will talk with them. When they’re comfortable, then I will be comfortable. If they’re never comfortable, then I will never be comfortable,” he said. “They are what’s important to me, I’ve said that from the start.”

“Don’t you want to speak out?” Larry asked the doctor.

“No I don’t want to,” Adams said as he removed his earpiece. “I am going to honor their wishes.”

Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson was a guest on the program alongside others including People’s Galina Espinoza. Shaun said that behind the scenes at CNN, Adams’ appearance was on shaky ground before “Larry King Live” hit the airwaves.

“We were scheduled to be on for the first segment of the show because Jan Adams was running late,” she recounted.

Shaun said that after Adams joined the program, the panelists were told they could wait in the wings, but they were not expected to be needed for the remainder of the show. It was shortly thereafter that Adams walked out.

“When he started saying ‘I’m not gonna talk,’ we thought it meant he was going to talk about other cases, not Donda West, other cases. Then when he started taking his mic off, and he’s standing up, all of us were in shock. We were completely in shock,” Shaun recounted. “Larry said his goodbyes basically and we were told to stick around because there was a whole show to fill at that point, so our role became even more important on the show. They told us we were needed to give our perspective.”

Donda West, 58, died Saturday November 10, as the result of possible complications from a cosmetic surgical procedure.

Espinoza said she thought Adams’ decision to leave the show was a good one.

“I think he made the right decision. There are things that may come back to haunt him in the end,” she told Larry.

“Won’t you want to say you got that wrong?” Larry asked Galina to speculate.

“He has done that to an extent,” she said.

Espinoza suggested that Adams chose to leave the show out of respect for the family.

“If the family reaches out to you about it you got to listen to that,” she said.

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