S arah Palin's fledgling television career has hit an early controversy after it emerged that celebrities supposedly interviewed for her new show had never even met her.

The former Republican vice-presidential contender has been hired as host of Real American Stories, a series for the Fox News channel about "real-life tales of overcoming adversity throughout the American landscape." However, excitement about her latest on-camera foray swiftly turned into embarrassment as guests on the inaugural show, which was broadcast Thursday, expressed surprise about their involvement.

LL Cool J, a rapper and actor who was to have provided his heartwarming story in the show's In Their Own Words segment, said Fox had "lifted" an interview he gave to "someone else" in 2008 and were "misrepresenting to the public in order to promote Sarah Palin's show".

Hours later, it emerged that the country singer Toby Keith -- billed to "explain the inspiration behind his song Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" on the program, had never met Palin either. The singer's publicist said the interview was conducted in January, 2009, in Las Vegas, adding that Fox had never contacted them about including it in the Palin show.

Fox News responded to the criticism by removing the segment featuring LL Cool J-- whose real name is James Todd Smith -- from the program.

In a waspish statement, it said that "as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career."

Fox News had described Palin as "hosting the show" in its publicity announcements, but some media outlets had interpreted that as involving actual conversations with her guests.