Last night, after doing some pre-Grammy coverage for CBS, John Norris told us his thoughts about Whitney Houston's death. For those who grew up with MTV, there's just something more comforting about hearing John Norris or Kurt Loder's voice break news like this (you can also watch a statement that Norris filmed for CBS last night here). Norris, as an MTV veejay, met Houston and interviewed her for the network's Rockumentary in 1993 (you can watch that below). Here's what he told us last night:

I guess I would just say that in any case like this (Michael for instance) my first thought is with someone's kids. In 1993 Whitney and Bobby took me into the nursery of their Miami condo to see a sleeping Bobbi Kristina in her crib. They could not have been happier.

I lost my mom when she was only a little older than Whitney, and I was only a little older than Bobbi Kristina. So yeah, that's really really hard, and I hope Bobbi Kristina is okay.

Whitney? A lovely, funny, fragile and insanely gifted woman.


Meanwhile, MTV was receiving some criticism last night on Twitter for not immediately airing the news or a tribute to the singer, instead, they kept with their normal line of programming. Bill Simmons wrote, "Can't believe MTV refuses to bump the reprehensible Teen Mom for all-night Whitney coverage. That channel has lost its way." NPR wrote, "Whitney Houston's death is a time when it would be great if MTV still existed." Finally, at 11:30 p.m., almost four hours after the news broke, MTV acknowledged the singer's death on air, announcing on Twitter that they would play an hour long music video tribute.

Some background on Houston and the network: In 1985, just four years after launching, MTV was criticized for not playing enough videos by racial minorities. That year, Houston released the video for her single "How Will I Know," which ended up introducing her to the MTV audience. She was the first African-American female artist to receive consistent heavy rotation on MTV. Sadly, by 2001, when Houston was just 37, MTV had started collecting B-roll for her obit, "an honor normally reserved for geriatrics."

Below is the 1993 interview Norris did with Houston, and here is another one from 1999.