James Frey, Dr. Jan, Leadership Academy Scandal - Is Oprah Losing Her Credibility?
November 15, 2007 – 11:51 amPosted Under: life
They’re calling it a curse. Everything she used to touch turned to gold or platinum bling. Now? It’s like an Easy Bake Oven cake–not completely done on the inside.
A Million Little Pieces has made James Frey infamous. He’ll forever be known as the man who conned Oprah. This wasn’t her fault. I mean, if someone says they wrote a book and that it’s a memoir how is she supposed to know. But her credibility did take a nose dive after it was released that his story was fabricated—at least with me because as an author I know that she has an iron clad grip on anything that can or can’t get through her studio doors—including guests. Yes of course she tried to come back by inviting him to return on her show seemingly so she could give him a piece of her mind and beat him down a little bit. Okay, well, I guess he warranted that.
Her leadership academy for girls. What can I say about this? As an advocate against domestic violence I am floored at how the screening wasn’t as tight for potential abusers especially when you’re going to have a school full of girls, whose parents can’t visit on a whim and the school itself secludes girls away from the rest of the world. I mean, what are we asking these girls to sacrifice? Their bodies for a top notch education? There is no apology that will ever suffice for that. Yes, I get that she can’t be everywhere all the time, but your name is on it. Make it a point to know everything! It’s just like Diddy putting dog fur on his Sean Jean jackets and Kathy Lee’s sweatshop scandal. You don’t get off the hook just because you say you didn’t know or that you are sorry. That’s a peeve of mine so I’m not trying to hear anything else.
Now we have Dr. Jan. She was on her show peddling him to the audience and now it seems that he’s a wife-battering drunk and an unlicensed hack with a scalpel. 13 malpractice suits? I mean, be serious. I always say that when something seems too good to be true, guess what? You know the rest. I can’t blame just Oprah for this one. He had his own tv show on the Discovery channel and he was a guest of a hand full of other shows, and when I saw him I was so proud at first thinking, okay, a black surgeon—go Oprah! Now look at the bum.
I always thought Oprah had too much power. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that if she works hard she shouldn’t have millions. I just think that with the stroke of a pen or magic wand that nobody should be able to make or break a person, place or thing. I mean she had beef cattlemen all up in arms when she made the comment about never eating beef again and now everybody is thinking, I need to get on Oprah if my talent, product, book, business, campaign or cause is going to survive. Oprah isn’t God! I hope I said that loud enough because she’s not. The sad thing is that the average person doesn’t realize when they are borderline worshipping something. I’m not blaming her for the death of Kanye’s mom, but so many people go running after stuff once Oprah endorses it. Think for yourself. We aren’t mindless sheep. Hmph! I’m not. My thing is just because you don’t hand Kanye’s mom Dr. Jan’s business card does that mean you didn’t refer him? She must not realize that her show has a voice and is an extension of her own voice. If it appears on the show it’s just as if she called up all of her friends and say, “he’s good, use him.” I mean, you don’t get top notch advertisers to fund your show for nothing.
Here is what Oprah’s people said about the accusation that Dr. Jan and Kanye’s mom:
“The reports are absolutely untrue. Oprah Winfrey did not personally introduce nor recommend Dr. Jan Adams to Donda West. Dr. Adams taped a segment of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ on October 28, 2003. Donda West appeared with her son during a taping of ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ on April 27, 2005. Oprah Winfrey has not been in touch with either Dr. Adams or Donda West since their respective appearances.”
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2 Responses to “James Frey, Dr. Jan, Leadership Academy Scandal - Is Oprah Losing Her Credibility?”
She needs better researchers who will find out everything about her guest. I mean, NO she could not have found out Frey was such a liar, but about the Dr. who performed the surgery, yes, a quick call to the different agencies that Dr.’s join to see if he was indeed a member and if there were any serious issues could have solved that problem and her embarassment. Also she could have ran his name through a case database to be sure that he did not have any serious cases that would rule him out as a reliable specialist. Some cases are expected because of the field he is in, however the ones about abuse….. Big. Red. Flag. that there could be a problem.
I am not clear about the ability to really research people in Africa. I am sure that there are some databases and she could have run some searches but beyond that I am not sure what else she could have done beyond hiring a PI. I am sure that there was some kind of research done on the people she hired, and there may have even been references from previous jobs, but just like the Catholic priest, you really do NOT know what people will do behind closed doors. Heck that includes some parents of kids too, you really do not know what people will do these days. From what I understand it is NOT uncommon for boarding schools not to allow the parents to come on campus at will to visit the kids. I think Oprah would find it in her best interest to look into ways to effectively and thoroughly research people, orgs. etc.
I would also like to point out, that after so many years on the screen this is the first time she has ever had such serious issues. I am hoping that she is cleaning house or sending her researchers to classes or finding other ways of making sure her info is reliable.
By Nikita on Nov 27, 2007
I don’t think Oprah should be blamed for any of these situations. But I would definitely research the guests backgrounds even more with a more heavy hand now. What is going to happen, she is going to be quite leary about her guests now and simple people will not have the opportunity to use her show as a stepping stone.
By rose on Nov 29, 2007