Kitty Kelley's Oprah bio: setting the record straight
If you're excited -- or disgusted -- by Kitty Kelley's new unauthorized bio of Oprah Winfrey, here's your chance to hear her discuss it. Kelley is scheduled to appear at the Ellicott City Barnes & Noble, 4300 Montgomery Road, this evening from 7 to 9 p.m.
Some fans of the talk show superstar are angry about Kelley's "Oprah." And today on WJZ, Richard Sher, who co-hosted a Baltimore talk show with Winfrey early in her career, took issue with a racially charged anecdote in the book. While interviewing Kelley, Sher set the record straight on a conversation that involved Winfrey and chicken magnate Frank Perdue, as Sun TV blogger David Zurawik notes. An excerpt from the blog: [H]ere's how Sher described what Perdue is quoted as saying in the book versus what he actually said:
And he [Perdue] supposedly said, according to everyone who saw this, "I know I look like a chicken, but did anyone ever tell you that you look like a gorilla?" ...But that's not what happened. I was there.She said, "Do you know you look like a chicken? And he said, "Well you know what, Oprah? I sell 4 million of these a week, and I don't mind looking like a chicken," and that's the way it was. That's all that happened.
Changing one word makes a huge difference in that exchange. I'm glad Sher set the record straight. For more, see the ZonTV blog.
Comments
Ktty Kelley's book is filled with inaccurate information and lots of her sources are backing away from the project. Keifer Bonvillain wrote a book, "Ruthless" about Oprah and based it on audio taped conversations he had with her employees. The book didn't get much media attention, but he was able to sell it by posting audio clips on the website www.ruthlessbiz.com.
Posted by: Mdavis | April 27, 2010 1:12 PM
Kitty Kelley is an airhead whose idea of journalism is reporting rumours and urban legends. Bill O'reilly also nailed her for falsely claiming that he phoned Oprah to lecture her for being too liberal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etAAPeWeE4E
Posted by: Jantina | April 27, 2010 1:26 PM
3 days of reading to find out nothing new Any Opraholic already knows everything in this recycled book including the gossip, facts, speculations and inuendos. Save you money and buy Oprahs 20th Anniversay DVD instead.
Posted by: ed | April 27, 2010 5:24 PM