iran is denying any involvement today in the stabbing friday of author salomon rushdie. a foreign minister saying rushdie and his supporters were themselves to blame for the attack. because of his writings. rushdie was stabbed all over his body, including neck, chest, stomach, while at a speaking engagement in up state new york with severe injuries. the satanic verses author has been the target of threats since 1989. there was liver damage, he may lose an eye, nerve damage in his arm. joining me now, nbc s ron allen from new york, excuse me, from 30 rock. hey, ron. do we have any information now on the attackers motivation? we know he expressed sympathy
for people who don t remember? sure. the leader of iran at the time you said it was a sacrilegious prescription and he issued this edict calling for rushdie to be killed. and there was a reward for that. iran sort of backed off of that after the death of ayatollah khomeini and i d say for the a least the last several years, maybe decade, rushdie has been out in public giving talks without, you know, large amounts of security around him. i don t blame him. he literally lived in hiding under a pseudnym for a decade.
amphitheater. there are many, many entrances and what surprises me is that no one was up to the blocking stage. the assailant was able to just run up on to the stage. especially for someone like rushdie. he s endured threats for decades now and only recently did he start living a more public life. yeah. there was a state trooper there, he ap mended the suspect. there was a young person who was interviewed about this, who said the assailant was 15 feet and ran by dressed in black. can you explain the 1989fatwa
thenewworker.com. it s not a place you would think you need security. what do you make of this? it s chilling, intimidating and it s terror. you don t know the motive. the attacker as far as i know hasn t been identified. i ll be honest, i ve given talks from that same stage. it s a beautiful spot on a lake in western new york. people come to that amphitheater, it s enormous, beautiful amphitheater and people come into it and there are conversations. and rushdie was giving talks about authors and freedom of speech when he was attacked. so i m horrified by this. and i think there was a security lapse. again, i ve been in that
meta portal with smart sound. helps reduce your background noise. bring that sense of calm, really. so you come through, loud and clear. meta portal. the smart video calling device that makes work from home work for you. new york state police are investigating an attack on author salomon rushdie. police say a man rushed the stage as the author was being introduced to give a lecture in western new york. he suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was taken by helicopter to a local hospital. his condition is not known. his work has sparked protests in the muslim world throughout his career. he spent years in hiding and under police protection after death threats from iran in the 1980s. joining me right now is david rhode, executive editor of