Kathie Lee Fights Back On Sweatshops

NEW YORK - A visibly upset Kathie Lee Gifford said she does not condone the fact that her Wal-Mart clothing line was made in a Honduran sweatshop.

"There is a man who stood up in Congress yesterday who basically said that I have been personally responsible for the exploitation of child labor . . . in Honduras," she said on "Live With Regis and Kathie Lee" on ABC. "I'm supposed to be personally responsible for everything that happens around the world?"

She said that when she got a letter from labor-rights activist Charles Kernaghan saying children were making the Kathie Lee line, she "immediately called Wal-Mart and said this is obscene if this is happening. They said, `That happened months ago; we found out about it and took care of it.' "

Kernaghan told a congressional committee Monday that women and children at the Global Fashion Plant in Choloma, Honduras, were sewing garments for the Kathie Lee Gifford Collection. He said underage and pregnant women worked 20-hour days in extreme heat, sewing garments for the line for 31 cents an hour, and were forbidden to speak in the factory.

The next day, Gifford announced that Wal-Mart had severed the relationship. Kernaghan again spoke out. "Exploiting these women and then just pulling out, that's no answer," he said, adding that she should speak out against the conditions.

Gifford said Kernaghan had learned of the garment shop's conditions last fall but didn't write her until March 15.

"I started my clothing line to benefit children. Millions of dollars have gone to help children, and I truly resent this man impugning my integrity," a livid Gifford said.

"You can say I'm ugly, you can say I'm not talented, but when you say that I don't care about children . . . How dare you?" she said.