Let the bashing begin!
Posted on February 29th, 2008 – 12:32 PMBy Neal Justin
This Sunday, I’m taking on Oprah Winfrey. Before you start throwing tomatoes at my car, note that I’m a big fan of the Queen and kneel at her feet. It’s just that my knees are getting tired. I think Oprah needs to step away from the spotlight just a wee bit so that we can fully appreciate her royal greatness.
OK, have at me…
37 Responses to "Let the bashing begin!"
Tomatoes? More like flowers. Bash away.
After reading your “It’s Oprah’s World” commentary, I must say, I could not have said it better and I am in full agreement with you. All that fog horn yelling, is like she says - “IIIIIIII’m so narcissistic. I cannot watch the show any more, it has gotten on my last nerve. More power to her philanthropic endeavors. It’s the very rich who are in a position to give money away.
I could not have said it better and I am in full agreement with you. All that fog horn yelling, is like she says - “IIIIIIII’m so narcissistic.
I’m not afraid to say Oprah is arrogant… after all, Rachel Ray sold her soul to Oprah.
I totally agree. Oprah is so full of herself I can’t stand. Finally someone said it. Thank you! I will never watch anything that starts with “Oprah Presents”.
I totally agree with you. Oprah used to have some humility, but those days now are few and far between. Her shows have become more of a celebrity exchange of “let’s sit and chat about how great we are.” I too have enjoyed many of her shows but I’ve been tuning out more than tuning in.
I agree and think your observations and suggestions are overdue. Let’s up Oprah realizes it before she losses her influence…and I donot even watch her TV show or listen to her radio show.
Thanks for having the huevos to suggest that the Big ‘O’ put her ego in check! AMEN - no tomatoes for you! Bravo!
Finally someone who agrees with me. I’m really sick of all Oprah all the time. I do subscribe to her magazine, and I love it, but the first thing to go is the cover, who needs it.
I hate to say it but I agree with you.. I love her show and her guests like Dr. Oz, very informative BUT…I’m tired of her always interupting her guests to interject her own opinions when I would really to hear what they have to say. Also, my respect for her slipped a little the other day when, as she told us again to read the latest book-A new earth-log on to her website this Monday, 3/3/08 and that “she is going to change the world” She has so much influence and i think its getting out of hand. Next she will be Obamas running mate.
Oprah was such a delightful young woman, but, these days, she acts as though she is the “wise woman of the world.”
This from a gal who hasn’t even rasied a child or kept a marriage together.
THANK YOU! It’s about time SOMEBODY said it!
I think sh’e wonderful. If it wasn’t for her, a no talent idiot like me would be a vagrant.
Hi Neal! It’s been ages since I last wrote to you but I read you faithfully and whether I agree with you or not (usually do), you never fail to entertain with your writing style. As a typical ’strib reader and a winter escapee, imagine my surprise to find you in today’s issue of the San Diego Union Tribune! It was like finding an old friend on my doorstep! (Of course, I tried closing the door, but you managed to get in anyway.) I was tickled by your Oprah article - and all I can say is kudos to you and… it’s about time! You are my hero for taking aim at Oprah in print! She lost me a couple of years ago when she allowed ‘us’ a peek into her Chicago condo. During the tour, she feigned (?) surprise in her own kitchen at the dishware and appliances she owned AND admonished viewers to ‘always make sure you have separate male and female bathrooms for your houseguests, even if they’re married’. Right. Which one of us doesn’t have two bathrooms languishing in our house in anticipation of our immoderately modest married houseguests??? And then, this week, when a (surely now unemployed) cameraman caught her trying to slip her chubby heels into her Christian Laboutins immediately before ascending to her TV dais, and, being unsuccessful, having TWO (yep!) assistants try to wrestle her Oprah-sized feet into shoes ONLY an anorexic (or social X-ray) can wear, while on-screen maintaining the fiction that she prances about all day in these millennial torture devices… well, that was the final straw. Or the final stilleto. Oprah crows endlessly about being the best you can be, having the best life, etc. etc. while continuing her on-air/off-air struggle with weight and NEVER once admitting that maybe she (and 60% of America) should just get over it and try to be happy with their bodies as they are! What a radical message to deliver to her audience. There’s empowerment! I could go on and on, but you’ve already made the best points! She’s already overexposed and overindulged in my view. You’re a brave man, Mr. Justin. Know that there are legions of us ready to walk your pit bull so you can continue writing the truth.
Thank you for openly discussing what many people have thought privately for a long time. Perhaps articles of this sort will encourage her to step back and examine her true motives.
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for saying, in a public forum, what I’ve been saying to friends for years: Oprah Winfrey
needs to go away. Okay, maybe you weren’t saying exactly that, but it’s
clear we share similar sentiments about The Queen of All Ego…..er,
Media.
Thank you for making the purchase price of my Star Tribune worth it!
I’m suffering from Oprah fatigue. After I read the article on Sunday, I went to Oprah’s website. Her mug is pictured seven times on the homepage, and that is before you even click a single link!
From the business world, I’ve met so many humble people who gives tens of millions away and nobody outside of close confidants ever find out. Oprah could use a touch of that humility, and I think she’d start to get a broader fan base.
I admire that she has used her fame for good things, but Geez am I getting sick of seeing and hearing her.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! I have been so sick of Oprah for so many years, it’s wonderful to finally have it out there!! I can’t stand her, and have little if anything to do with anything her name is on. In fact, if I were going to vote for Obama, I would have changed my mind when she jumped on his bandwagon.
I loved this column on Oprah. I found myself nodding my head and rolling my eyes [at “Op”] while reading it. She’s really become too big… “queen” is a good description. I’m glad she seems to do positive things with her money and influence, but yeah, get out of the spotlight and let the ego cool off every once in a while.
Thank you Neal! Oprah has become a huge bore. She almost ruined Obama for me when she signed on with him. She couldn’t be more disinterested in what most of her guests have to say. I have the most fun watching her switch her entire speech pattern when she has a black guest on. Give me a break.
It needed to be said. She’s an amazing woman, but her ego is ridiculous and she seems oblivious to it. She is so powerful and focused on doing good works, that no one is willing to point this out. But, her utter lack of humility is getting hard to take. She basks in the glory of being her. I would appreciate and respect all of her good work so much more if she weren’t so appreciative of it herself.
Good article. I’m always amused, when I happen to pass by her show when I’m surfing, at how I see her guests and audience behaving.
If you want to be on her show, suck up to her. Whether it’s some ditz who got into debt to the tune of $100K while denying her kids health insurance, or Dr. Oz, who has his nose so far up her butt he can’t see straight, or ditto on Suze Orman, or any of the other obsequious sycophants who worship at her Manolos, the key seems to be to say ‘how high’ when Oprah says ‘jump’.
It was interesting to see the contestants in her new, nauseating ‘reality’ show, they practically wet themselves on being introduced to the audience. She also has a new scheme with one of her favored book suckups, changing the way a person thinks of themselves. But not just ANY old change, oh no, she’s going to take it GLOBAL via an interactive chest beating, soul baring series of shows.
The woman is amazing, that’s for sure. But I am surprised she can still get her head through her studio door, with her ego.
Oh, and as to all her AMAZING advice and counsel? It’s all common sense, only her guests and audience (who also worship her) can’t see that. I’d like to see someone, anyone, at some point during her show, raise their hand and say, ‘Um, Oprah, I already knew that, you’re just stating the obvious’. They probably wouldn’t make it home.
Thank you..thank you..thank you! Finally some one said it. Oprah is way too self-absorbed!! Just last week, at a church gathering no less, I came out of the closet and announced to several people who were saying “nice” things about Oprah that “I don’t like Oprah!!” After a hushed moment I said that I was probably the only person in the world who felt that way. Thanks to you, I no longer feel alone!! What this country needs is Oprah anonymous groups!
Once again, thank you!
Hooray! I have long thought that Oprah’s ego was the biggest thing on TV. I swear I saw her on a trip to the Black Hills last summer with a crew of workmen, trying to replace Teddy’s head with hers.
How does she get so much publicity as a philanthropist? SHE didn’t give the cars away - GM did - and got precious little publicity for it.
And then she built the $10 million Tribute to Oprah School in Africa, when 20 $500,000 schools with African names would have educated many more children.
A little healthy criticism of Her Ego-Ship is way overdue!
Your commentary on Oprah was in my local newspaper, The Times Union in Jacksonville, Florida.
I agree with your comments wholeheartedly. Years ago when she first started on television, I thought I could not live in the afternoon unless I saw her show. Well, that’s past and I very seldom have her show on anymore. I am a mature adult and I have decided life is too short to spend time watching someone continually pat themselves on their back!
Neal, I justed cracked up at your article, and couldn’t agree more with
how much “Oprah” the public is getting. I used to watch her show a few
times a week, but once the “giving away free stuff” started, it just
changed the way I thought of her. It’s great she wants to give things
away to make people happy, but it seems she’s been “buying” the public.
It started to nauseate me long ago. It also occurred to me months ago
that Oprah is always her magazine covers * weird. The first one, cool,
like an intro to the mag, but then EVERY month… Like me. Like me.
Look at me. Look at me. Yeah, we know you’re Oprah already! I would
have bought one if ANYONE else was on the cover * perhaps someone other
than a celebrity, like a real woman, a mother, a sister, a policewoman,
a nurse, a counselor, a teacher * someone whom Oprah claims she can
relate to. You see, there’s the dilemma…back when Oprah started, she
WAS amazing, and did see things as a normal person, but her celeb has
outgrown that image, and now it’s just UN-believable. I’m not a celeb.
I can’t relate to her. She’s not an at home mother. She can’t relate to
me. I don’t dislike her, but the show and her ego are too much. She may
be valuable, but Op-rah-rah-land just isn’t for me. I’m with you, Neal,
on this one. I hope I don’t need to change my locks either. That’s
exactly how it feels to bad mouth her, like it’s a sin. Keep being
daring!!! OOOOOOOOhhhhhhh! I hope my line’s not tapped. Thanks for the
laugh!
Cindy, wife, and mother of two
You couldn’t have hit that nail on the head in a more precise manor.
Thank god someone else out there actually feels the same way I do, it is
like the sky just cleared on a rainy day, I finally feel validated!
What is funny to me is after talking to colleagues about your article and reading here I
have, in fact, found other people with the same opinion and who think
that Ms. Thing needs to take that ego down about a thousand notches. I’ve always kept my Oprah comments to a minimum because people (especially women) can’t seem to take anyone (especially another woman) having anything but pukey “Oprah is so awesome” things to say about her.
Bravo!
the “great” website show tonight regarding the book-a new earth- is based on ego and how our ego’s are what is ruining this world, and oprah is hosting this..says she is going to change the world with this book and its message.. I think she better look at her own ego and start reeling it in before its too late. you would think she would recognize herself in the book.
Kudos to you, Neal, for your article about Oprah. The word that comes to mind whenever I hear her name is “megalomaniac.” You didn’t mention in your article anything about her self-referencing behavior at the rally for Obama some time back. Can you imagine Oprah in the White House? Scary. . . . Thanks.
Sad to say, I also agree. I have subscribed to her magazine for many years and still value it, but it drives me crazy that she always has her picture on the cover! She has done wonderful things and I’m sure they make her feel good. I think one of the reasons to talk about giving is to let others know they too will feel good if they give back.It’s a good message. But compared to her wealth and power, anything most of the rest of us can do seems like a pittance.I also feel that giving in a quiet, unassuming manner lends a deeper value to the gift. She is surrounded by psychologists who seem to value truth and candor. Perhaps a few of them need to get together and have an intervention with her.
Oprah is one of the biggest reasons I do not watch television anymore. Why does she even have guests on her show? She does not let them talk anyway. I keep waiting for her head to explode and record an 8.0 on the earthquake monitors.
Bravo, indeed, Mr. Justin! I am, of course, referring to your Oprah column
in the Sunday Trib. It’s time people are made aware of just how huge her ego
is. This woman has got a whole lot of power and I’m not so sure she’s using it in the most prudent manner. She actually frightens me.
Further, it’s my understanding that her first “give away” forced on her
studio audience was courtesy of Visa, although Ms. Winfrey took full credit.
I wonder who is bankrolling this one while she, again, basks in the limelight. Perhaps her 15 minutes of fame has overextended itself.
Thank you for having the “courage” to write what you did! And to all of you posting your comments!!! And here I thought I was a mere voice in ye ol’ wilderness!!
I used to think I was the only one who detested that arrogant, egotistical woman. But I see I am not the only one. Your thoughts were right on. One can see why see never got married. She is too much on a control freak.
I enjoyed your Sunday column on Oprah. I am tired of everything Oprah.
When I express this to friends they try to convince me how wrong I am
and I hear even more about her. I once enjoyed her show when she let the
guests speak or allowed them to express their views or thoughts. Now
Oprah owns all thoughts expressed on her show and no one else can do
good deeds without being tied to her. I do think she has enlightened and
helped many people and I try to admire that part of her, but her ego and
having to own every thought and idea sometimes get in the way of my
admiration. Again, thank you for the article.
Neal I commend your guts writing about the “Queen”.
Actually, the real Queen does not begin to have the POWER of oprah. Interesting.
She is all about oprah and NOTHING more. Appears to me her generosity is a great TAX SHELTER and EGO BUILDER. Not that she hasn’t helped others, but who has she helped the most? Right, you guessed it…oprah!
In my opinion, her endorsement of Obama is an abuse of power and influence. She has more power and influence over the American public then any other single individual. A very sad statement, I must add, about our society. Other endorsements do not begin to carry the weight of oprah’s.
Yes, she has opened eyes to many good things. However, even the news broadcasters mostly keep their political choice to themselves. Far more fitting and professional in my opinion.
I have a question. Seeing oprah owns (controls) a large piece of everything and everyone she has “discovered” and promoted, What will her influence on Obama be in the future? I for one think that question is very interesting and frightening to say the least.
FYI. For the record, I love Nate Berkus whom I have known since he was a baby, and I like Obama!
Something else to chew on….
After reading the column, I still tuned in for Oprah’s Big Give (much like the rest of the free world, it
seems) and I feel like I’m the only person asking the question: Why are
these teams (or individuals) being criticized for their efforts to do
good? Isn’t the goal supposed to be finding the person in need, finding a
way to raise money and finding a way to make that person’s life better? In
my opinion, combining a reality show with philanthropic efforts seems like
a recipe for disaster. How about rewarding those who excel, instead of
punishing (or kicking off) those who don’t set the bar high enough? I
think setting an example of “how to give back in our own community” is
wonderful. I’m all for it….but the competitive nature and criticism
seem unnecessary and may steer viewers away from what is truly important:
GIVING BACK.
Great Article!!!
I almost got sick when Oprah said she and an author of a book were going on line to “teach” it chapter by chapter to us idiots. WOW! What, now she has degrees in Philosophy, Psychology and Theology. If Dr. Oz makes a few more appearances, she’ll have a degree in medicine. She vomits up what the experts say and takes credit for it. It scares me how many people buy into the, “Oh Mighty Oprah, our spiritual advisor.” As you know, Ellen Degeneres hosted the Academy Awards last year. So, Oprah had her first ever Academy Awards Special. She’s so competitive, she tries to “one ups” everyone else. She can’t sit back and let anyone else have a moment. Oprah should take a lesson from Barbara Walters. She’s been around a heck of a lot longer. God bless the naive Oprah worshipers. Thanks
