Kim Delaney gets booted for awkward speech: drunk and cant read the teleprompter?

Publish date: 2024-05-13


I barely know who this actress is, but this story is worth repeating just for the point and laugh factor alone. Army Wives actress Kim Delaney, 49, gave a halting speech in Philadelphia on Thursday at the National Constitution Center. It was so bad that someone came on stage and escorted her off before she was finished. The occasion was for the Liberty Medal Award presentation to former defense secretary Robert Gates. In the video above, you can see Delaney smiling and struggling to read a teleprompter off to the side, but in the video below (which was posted at People.com) it’s not as clear that she’s trying to read a script. I saw that version below at first and it looked like she could have been pulling that weird speech out of her drunken ass. It’s more likely that she had to give a speech that someone else wrote for her, that she didn’t prepare and had a bunch of cocktails to bolster to confidence. The result is a viral video and a tie-in to her DUI and multiple rehab stays. Here’s more:

What’s wrong with Kim Delaney?

The star of Lifetime’s “Army Wives” was kicked off stage at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center Thursday night after delivering an inappropriate and at times incomprehensible speech at the Liberty Medal Award presentation to former defense secretary Robert Gates.

Delaney stumbled to the podium and twisted her hands as she talked about having “served in active military duty family for five years.” “I’ve seen soldiers come home with painful life altering injuries borne of their time and service,” she said, slurring at times. “I’ve attended numerous military funerals, including that of my best friend’s son.”
Except, she hasn’t.

“It’s all make believe. I do that as a job. It’s make believe,” she said nearly two minutes into her speech. “I have the luxury to do all of this on a television show.”

Video from ABC affiliate WPVI shows the crowd growing uncomfortable as Delaney rambles on. She was escorted off stage before finishing her remarks.

CBS’ Philadelphia affiliate reported that Delaney was supposed to read her speech off a teleprompter, but technical difficulties forced her to wing it. Representatives for the National Constitution Center did not immediately respond to ABCNews.com’s requests for comment.

Delaney, 49, has had issues with substance abuse — in 2002, she was arrested for suspicion of drunk driving after she refused to take a breathalyzer test. She’s sought rehab for alcohol addiction twice.

Delaney’s rep did not immediately respond to ABCNews.com’s requests for comment.

[From ABCNews via People]

I’m kind of torn as to whether I should feel sorry for her. I know I should be making fun of her for being a drunken fool at a prestigious event like this, but maybe she was really nervous about speaking at this event she was in no way qualified to speak at and got wasted to cope. Given her record of rehab stays and a DUI, it’s probably just another Thursday night for her though. Delaney got fired from CSI Miami in 2002, and rumor has it that her alcoholism was to blame.

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