Talk:Montel Williams

Hey thanks for wiki!!

Somebody put an advertising link on this page... Reference #12. Should be deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.111.6.64 (talk) 17:02, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

PPA Issues

PPA is portrayed almost as an altruistic endeavor. In point of fact, PPA is a project of Big Pharma. It has two goals: 1) Positive PR and; 2) A means of deflecting calls for greater regulation and negotiated prices for seniors. This should be incorporated into the bio by someone less biased than I. DCaryHart (talk) 01:04, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Questioning the tears section

1) Fox News has a horrendous record of being an accurate news outlet and it was on Bill O'Reilly's show, which isn't even a news program, it's an opinion program. Bill O'Reilly's program has repeatedly gotten facts wrong, or purposely skewed things.

2) Williams used to cry ALL THE TIME on his show. I specifically recall him crying when he discussed his MS on the show. So how could he have cried for the first time in his life while hawking coins? To me, I think this is just some conservative on here throwing something up on an obscure person's page because they don't like him or Barack Obama. I think this is ridiculous.

I hope someone will please consider providing more information or deleting that section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.165.105.147 (talk) 02:52, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Sexual harrasment accusations

Why is there no talk of his sexual harrasment accusations? 70.174.69.151 22:01, March 15, 2006 (UTC)

Don't know anything about it myself, but anyone taking upon themselves to add something on this topic to the article should be sure to read, understand, and adhere to the policies in Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons and Wikipedia:Libel. --Kbh3^rdtalk 03:32, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Here is an entry about one such case, on the TvTalkshows.com board. I cannot vouch for its accuracy, but it contains the text from a legal filing.

http://www.tvtalkshows.com/montel-williams/Montel-Williams-Sexual-Harrassment.html

--71.109.57.208 (talk) 01:14, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

Timeline discrepancy

This article says that Williams entered the Navy in 1974, retired after 22 years of service, but began hosting his own talk show in 1991. That doesn't add up: 1974 + 22 years = 1996. SmartGuy 15:21, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

He was a reservist for most of the time. He most likely got off of active duty in '84 or '85 and spent the rest of the time in the Active/Drilling Reserves. --ProdigySportsman 02:13, 13 December 2006 (UTC) USNA '08

Williams' academics/degree at the U.S. Naval Academy

Note:This applies to the way things were in 1980, when Mr. Williams graduated from the US Naval Academy:

While the US Naval Academy does have a major in "General Engineering", it does not have a degree system which allows one to "Minor" in a subject other than a language. (In fact, due to the high course load required of engineering majors (20+ hrs/semester), if one were to "minor" in another subject, it would almost have to be somehow related to one's engineering major. For instance, if a student (midshipman) were to be in the Mechanical Engineering program and fail a course in his or her senior year with no time to re-take the course, the degree awarded would be General Engineering, but one could make the argument that one had a "minor in Mechanical Engineering", however, nothing in your records would state such in 1980.)

As I stated above, there is no "minor in International Security Affairs" at USNA as claimed in this document. There is a Political Science Department, and one can major in "Political Science".

At USNA General Engineering is the fall-back major for midshipmen who miss the required number of credits within their chosen engineering major (you can't start out in a GE track).

(Similarly, the "General Science" major is the degree awarded for someone who tried to major in the non-engineering fields whether Oceanography or Poli-Sci. One only need have the minimum number of credits to graduate in that case. Again, you can’t start out in the GS track.)

This stated, I suggest that "... and a minor in International Security Affairs." be deleted. v/r

CT USNA '84

USNA Academics

Crystaltoe 16:47, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

I do agree with all of CT comments above. However, not knowing enough about Mr Montel Williams, may I suggest perhaps Mr Montel Williams actually majored in "Political Science", to others his academics - especially to a Political Science major at any other university, his required academics included enough courses such that he may legitimately claim to have minored in General Engineering.

Also above, not General Sciences, but Physical Sciences.

I have not checked the links, could he have choosen within Political Science a speciality of International Security Affairs?

WFOj2 01:00, 14 December 2006 (UTC) '83

– — … ° ≈ ≠ ± − × ÷ ← → · § LCDR (Lieutennant Commander) Montel Williams, U.S. Naval Reserve, Retired, was a drilling member of a U.S. Naval Security Group reserve unit, as an officer specialist in "cryptology". I had known about the Mandarin Chinese linguistic skills, but not about the Russian qualification. Yes, indeed, he would have had restrictions on what he could say for a period of five years beyond his last access to sensitive compartmented information. Following that, he would be limited only to non-disclosure of currently classified material.

A fellow, retired Naval cryptologic officer 66.82.9.55 13:57, 20 December 2006 (UTC) w4crypto

russian

i dont have a citation for this, but he also speaks russian. he is prohibited from speaking about anything he did while in the service due to security clearance restrictions. i dont have a citation for that either. maybe someone can add. Keltik31 23:20, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

He's not prohibited from talking about "anything" he did in the military. He did an interview in Muscle and Fitness magazine (to be fair, it may have been Flex) where he talked about an assignment aboard a submarine with a group of SEALS (and NO, he did NOT claim to be a SEAL) as an intelligence officer where he wrangled a rubbery floor covering so his group could work out without generating excess noise from dropping weights and such. He learned Chinese at the Naval Academy and Russian afterwords. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.163.65.143 (talk) 14:15, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

I was stationed with him twice. Yes he learned Russian. He wasn't an intelligence officer, but a cryptology officer, there's difference. Why is there no section on his military career? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 214.3.138.230 (talk) 14:19, 18 July 2019 (UTC)

Military discharge

What are the details surrounding his military discharge and the involvement of the courts? This should either be specified and cited, or deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.241.198.109 (talk) 14:50, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Transition from navy to talk show host

I'm curious to know how exactly Montel went from serving in the navy to hosting his own talk show. If anyone has this information, please add it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.107.90.135 (talk) 23:31, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

michelle williams' paternity

montel williams did not father michelle williams of destiny's child. silly claim. please provide FACTS! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.202.152.59 (talk) 04:27, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

petition of note

ipetitions dot com/petition/Keep-Montel-on-the-air/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.241.245.33 (talk) 06:29, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

rodeo clown and throat singing

The morning of 5/14/08 Montel has denied (on the Tom Joyner Morning Show) ever being a rodeo clown and his supposed throat singing lessons that were found on Wikipedia. If anyone wants to dispute his own words please provide evidence next time. TigerIze (talk) 15:21, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Did he know he was taking part in a fraud?

When he promoted the worthless 'Obama' coins? I assume he is not dumb enough to think the US mint can issue coins with a living person's likeness on them (tho some of the victims seem to). So, the question is, did he know these were just regular coins with poorly-printed stickers on them? Or did he assume they were a private, Franklin-mint style commemorative token and endorse them without checking? A properly sourced statement of the truth about this should be placed in the article. 65.89.68.24 (talk) 15:13, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Joined military in 1970?

He was born in 1956, and therefore would've only been 14 years old in 1970. The enlistment dated most definitely has to be wrong. At fourteen, he'd barely be old enough to join even a JROTC. --71.214.245.4 (talk) 07:15, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

MS

There definitely needs to be more information about his MS than just a single sentence in the introduction. I added a little bit more information extrapolated from the first reference but Montel Williams has been fairly open I believe about dealing with MS so there should be plenty of other sources that can be found. 24.177.8.105 (talk) 17:49, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Net Worth and Salary

This numbers seem to be unverified and seem seriously inflated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.0.210.209 (talk) 13:39, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

I agree. It's stated, without citation, that his net worth is 5-10 billion?? OPRAH's net worth is $2.3 billion (Oprah_Winfrey#Personal_wealth). So if Montel had 2-5 times Oprah's money, I think we'd be hearing about Montel all the time instead of Oprah, no? I think it just makes sense to omit his net worth for now. --Petzl (talk) 00:52, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Youth motivational speaker career

Montel Williams came to my junior high school in the late '80s and gave a series of motivational messages in full Naval officer uniform. His catch-phrase was "MOUN-TAIN! Get outta my way!" All the honor society geeks got T-shirts, while we average kids were singled out -- Montel asking us to look around at the students in T-shirts and to follow them as our leaders. *sigh* Anyway, does anyone have information about his brief career as a motivational speaker? (Hint: His production company's name, Mountain Movers, may have some connection). 207.238.52.162 (talk) 21:33, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

The peacekeeper movie acting added

He acted in a movie the Peacekeeper, i put it in. Megatonman (talk) 16:16, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

I wonder...

How much interest is Money Mutual charging people for the services Montel is hocking on TV? I thought He had some integrity, but I am not sure now... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.246.235.134 (talk) 01:39, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

Captain or lieutenant?

In his infobox, it states he was a lieutenant, but it shows the rank for captain. Lieutenant is O-2, not O-3.--50.73.235.132 (talk) 23:04, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Never mind. The Navy just has to be individual, I forgot.--50.73.235.132 (talk) 23:07, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Updates

I added a few updates:

• tried to clarify his military career a little. I wikilinked a few items like ranks and pulled out his time in the USNA specifically, because I had found it a bit confusing before
• I added a section on his work on #VASURGE, I think this is a big deal to him and has got him into a high profile political debate
• I mentioned some controversies he's involved in, adverse reaction to Sylvia Browne being on his shows and his parting of ways with Fox
• A bit about his religious background and linked an interview where he talked about it.

The main thing I think needs fixing though is still the Education and Military Service section, this has no citations at all and still reads a lot like this page. It's still not that easy to follow for a civilian in my opinion. Behind The Wall Of Sleep (talk) 08:53, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

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Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Montel Williams/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Just interested: The article states that Montel has an identical twin. Does the twin have MS or signs of it? I just happen to see him on the news advocating marijuana use for medicinal use. 207.69.137.24 22:53, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Last edited at 22:58, 25 March 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 00:23, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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Removal of Military Rank and Awards

@Binksternet What's your reasoning for removing this person's military rank and awards from their profile page? I would love to hear your justifiable reasons. 2600:1012:B1C9:3623:D47B:FE07:1C83:4B09 (talk) 04:17, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

None of his fame came before or during his military service. All of his fame came afterward. At Template:Infobox military person, there are examples of people who have the military infobox embedded, and those people include Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and James Stewart who were both famous as film actors before they served in the military. Montell Williams gained his fame only from his TV show The Montel Williams Show. Before that he was unknown.

A discussion about this issue took place in 2016 at Talk:Mel Brooks/Archive 1#RfC: Is a military infobox appropriate?, and the consensus was to exclude the embedded military infobox because the military service did not contribute to fame. Binksternet (talk) 04:32, 26 January 2024 (UTC)