Defamer
We've still got about an hour before Oprah Winfrey's televised caning of Million Little Pieces embellisher James Frey airs on the West Coast. Winfrey, you may remember, recently threw herself between Frey and CNN's Larry King, defending her disgraced book club author from further brutalization at the hands of the skeletal softballer. Since then, the Big O's had a change of heart, and on today's show she finally gives Frey the what-for:
In a live broadcast of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" from her studios in Chicago in which she interviewed Mr. Frey, Ms. Winfrey apologized to her audience for her call to "Larry King Live" earlier this month defending the author. Today she berated Mr. Frey for duping her and her audience.
"I gave the impression that the truth does not matter," Ms. Winfrey said. "I made a mistake." To all of the viewers who called and wrote to her telling her she was wrong to allow Mr. Frey to maintain that his book reflected the "essential truth" of his life even though substantial details were falsified, Ms. Winfrey said, "You are right.""I feel duped," she said. "I don't know what is true and I don't know what isn't," she said...
Those of you who don't wish to know what will happen on the 3pm show should stop reading here. After speaking the quoted words, a profoundly shaken Winfrey muttered something about how in a world where the truth cannot be discerned from fiction, she might as well believe that her hand is a ham sandwich, and as a demonstration of the futility of making such distinctions, the host attempted to chew off her balled-up fist. Consumed with rage that their icon could be so damaged by Frey's dissembling, Winfrey's audience rose as one, stormed the stage, and proceeded to tear him limb from limb. Thanks to the work of a quick-thinking producer, the graphic mauling was concealed by a still photo of Winfrey hugging Gwyneth Paltrow on a previous show.
Also: Gawker got a look at the live feed of the show this morning and liveblogged the whole event.
[Photo: AP]
- Oprah Calls Defense of Author 'a Mistake' [NYTimes via AOL]
- James Frey on Oprah: Live-Blogging the Live Feed [Gawker]
- Previously: Defamer Casting: A Million Little Fatones [Defamer]
- James Frey: Hollywood’s Favorite New Liar [Defamer]
Comments
This is an incredible case of why the word schadenfreude is such a delightful addition to our language. I don't know what's more funny: seeing Frey jump like a frozen fillet in a hot skillet as Oprah does her best to seem like this was her opinion all along or noting the way Oprah is trying to clean this whole situation up without looking like a backpeddler.
I effing love how this went down and yet, I'm so jaded I believe he will still sell MORE books and Aniston will STILL produce his movie. However, this guy is still responsible for the David Schwimmer-Jason Lee romantic comedy "Kissing a Fool". For that, and that reason only, he should be frey'd. TEE-HEE. barf.
The whole show feels exactly like a session of my high school honor court.
Maybe Oprah can dig up Lillian Helman from her grave and yell at HER next. Your life's a book - do it proud! Dramatic license allowed!!
Didn't Oprah used to be on at 4? WTF!? I was able to catch the end of the show, however, where some professer dude compared Frey's lying to those people who deny the Holocaust. Harsh.
Also, what's the over/under on when Frey starts drinking again?
Three weeks ago.
48 hours, Malis. I'll take the under.
Oh he's going back to the pipe!!! No qwershton. By the way, I'm sure now, that my life story will be far more interesting. I actually went to jail longer than he did! And all I did was slap a cop!
just got done watching this - i'm guessing frey went back to the pipe the second after he got off of larry king live by the way he was sweatin' balls, wiping at his nose & struggling to get anything out of his mouth that formed a word - true or BS. he knew the jig was up and by oprah's carefully worded statement on LKL you knew the oprah firestorm was a'comin' as soon as gayle got the REAL scoop from smokinggun.com. i only wish she would have contained her anger less and freaked out a little bit more.
fyi for those who missed it: 7 repeats la winfrey at 1am after kimmell. if he's even still on.
I'm looking forward to the book on how he duped Oprah and the rest of the world, including the untold story of how he mowed Larry King down in a crack-enduced rage after the shit hit the fan and magically rebuilt him with a home surgery kit before his next show so nary a scar appeared... save for the psychological ones. What a page turner!
I was disappointed. I heard Chris Rock and LeBron James were supposed to be on, and they happened to be people I like.
It's kind of hard to believe her response was genuine after that crap phone call to King. I don't buy a second of it. If I knew the book was fake 20 pages into reading it, how's it possible no one at Harpo got the vibe? She took a chance (the King phone call) hoping to salvage her name and the BC's reputation but after the NY Times writes opinion pieces against it and the public bitches, it's kind of amazing how quickly the tide turns.
In regard to Frey going back to the pipe... It'll happen. It may not REALLY happen, but he'll definitely "remember" it happening so he can write another book about it. Piece of shit.
Never fear. Oprah will use any opportunity to grab the ratings. This non-event was almost as sleep-inducing as her Hermes show. The headlines are screaming, OPRAH APOLOGIZES!!! to the point where you can almost hear the symphony crashing in the background. Can you tell I don't watch Oprah anymore?
I think it's cute that people still think Frey was ever "on the pipe" in the first place.
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