Letters to the Editor
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Snake oil
What's all the outrage and indignation about?
Isn't selling snake oil an American cultural tradition?
Oprah should concentrate on what she's good at. Adding and then dropping weight and then adding it again.
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Watched the "Interview" Through My Fingers
Wow - I could barely watch yesterday and I confess I had to turn the channel to the more upbeat "Ellen" a few times to shake off the horrible feeling I had seeing James Frey's traumatized face and hearing his shaky voice.
I felt genuinely bad for the guy. I'm not saying that what he did was right, but it appears to me like he did what the publishers told him to do. He was a recovering addict who brought the book to them as fiction and they told him it would sell better as a memoir. I'm sure they told him exactly how to go about it and could have easily checked into those glaring "red light" issues that everyone is now talking about if they had wanted to do so. They saw a weak person, still recovering from his past and told him how to wipe his conscience clean. I can imagine the publishers saying things like, "Think about all the people you can help. Think about what you can do with the money for other addicts. All memoirs are embellished a bit."
Even though he fictionalized some major stuff in this book, he is obviously a troubled man with a troubled past. The publishers took advantage of him in my view, and Oprah could have "apologized" to her audience without humiliating this guy the way she did. It literally made my stomach turn. The man needs help, and I agree with the earlier letter that states if he had used AA or NA, he probably would not have thought it was okay to embellish his memoir. He'd have had a more solid recovery of both mind and body. I hope he doesn't backslide - I do hope he gets some help to deal with this situation.
Yes, he's made a lot of money and will continue to do so, but anyone who saw him yesterday must agree that the money isn't making him feel better. Oprah just didn't like being "duped" and she didn't want to lose her loyal minions, so she had to change her stance. Everyone's motives here are sickening, but in the end the person who looks the most sympathetic (to me) is Frey.
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Oprah's Revenge
No matter what you think of Oprah's show or her literary picks, the fact remains that by naming Frey's 'memoir' an Oprah Book Club pick, she did this guy a huge favor and thrust the book and Frey into the public's attention.
Frey had numerous chances to set the record straight and/or even apologize for 'tweaking' the truth. The fact is Frey is a liar who got caught. He should just be thankful that in his case, his lying resulted in him making a ton of money.
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Hillary Frey's response to Oprah and James Frey controversy
Now this is one reason I read Salon. Bravo!
It's hard not to like Oprah (she's now on a first name bases), but there's some element to her "cult" that really makes my skin crawl. The first indicaion I received was Oprah's response to Jonathan Franzen's thumbing his nose at her. Heh,heh - in retrospect, it certainly looks like Mr. Franzen was right to to so.
Thanks Salon
Thank you Hillary Frey
Conor Ryan
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Oprah for President!
What a ridiculous analysis: blaming Oprah for poor Jim Frey's public humiliation. She did not force him to appear on her show. She just - like me - wanted desperately to be able to believe somebody, ANYBODY is telling the truth in this surreal time in history. Especially when this guy (isn't he known as Big Jim on the internet??)is all over the media preaching that the only thing that matters in recovery is the truth!! What a fraud. I loved the book - and in hindsight wonder how I, too, could possibly have believed this was a true story. But I did - because he kept on extolling its truthfulness. He had COUNTLESS opportunities to explain the liberties he took in writing his "memoir" before he was exposed. Maybe I would have loved the book even had I known it was fiction - who knows. I, for one, feel betrayed and will join in whatever class action gets certified to hold Frey accountable.
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Does anyone ever tell Oprah--You're an ass!
I've had a big problem with Oprah since she went to Africa with diamonds the size of saucers in her ears and told the little kids who were playing in the dirt, I was JUST like you and look what I've become--you can do the same. Growing up poor in the south is a little different from growing up in TOTAL povery in AIDS stricken Africa.
Then she invited rapper Ludacris on her show along with the rest of the cast of, "Crash," and started to berate him for using the N-word in his lyrics. When he put rational arguments forward (as did Don Cheadle) about the power of transforming hateful language w/in one's vernacular, she silenced him. She would hear none of it and kept insisting he make a promise to stop using the N-word. He was her guest and she patronized him like a child. He stood his ground--good for him. I don't think anyone has stood up to Oprah in at least a decade.
Then this thing with Frey. Have you ever seen more of a narcissist--and I mean Oprah! You embrassed ME, you conned ME. Frey wasn't writing a news report for CNN. He's not Stephen Glass. He wrote a book, a memoir. Show me a memoir that is a good read that ISNT filled w/ hyperbole. Frey has no obligation to represent his life factually to anyone. It's HIS recollection--HIS version. It's evidence that he still has a lot of problems--in terms of self esteem that he took the public flogging from, Oprah. He didn't deserve it. If he wrote a book that resonated w/ people, but didn't really have that experience, it just means he's a more talented writer. Writing is an art--it's about how you connect with the words on the page, not the person.
Will Oprah's empire ever crumble? B/c I'm so SICK of her.