Simpson on BET

I am a big fan of Howard Rosenberg, but I was appalled at some of what he had to say in his piece on the Black Entertainment Television Simpson interview (“Risky Bet Pays Off for BET’s Interview,” Jan. 26). “Impressive,” “plenty effective” and “movingly persuasive” are not words I’d choose to describe a stone-cold, image-obsessed man whose ability to delude himself is exceeded only by his transparent efforts to delude his rapidly diminishing coterie of true believers. That the usually perceptive Rosenberg failed to see through this charade is shocking enough. That he also “felt a twinge” at the pinnacle of Simpsons’ deception--when his voice cracked as he “talked to us”--is simply astounding.

T. MURRAY

West L.A.