Oprah Challenges Author of Disputed Memoir

yahoo ^ | 1-26-06

[LouAvul]

CHICAGO - Oprah Winfrey challenged author James Frey over his disputed memoir, asking him on a live telecast of her show Thursday to explain why he "felt the need to lie."

"It is difficult for me to talk to you because I really feel duped ... but more importantly I feel that you betrayed millions of readers," Winfrey said to Frey, who wrote the hugely popular "A Million Little Pieces."

Frey's story of substance abuse and recovery became one of the best-selling books of 2005 after Winfrey named it to her book club last fall, with countless addicts citing it as inspiration. It was originally published in 2003.

The memoir began to unravel earlier this month when an investigative piece on The Smoking Gun Web site (http://www.thesmokinggun.com) challenged some of the facts in the book, including Frey's assertion that he once spent three months in prison.

Frey, 36, appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" show after The Smoking Gun story appeared, and Winfrey phoned in her support for him and for the book, calling the allegations against Frey "much ado about nothing."

"What is relevant is that he was a drug addict ... and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves," Winfrey said in the surprise call two weeks ago.

But Winfrey, who has been widely criticized, even by e-mailers on her Web site, for her apparent indifference to the controversy, said Thursday that she regretted making that call.

"I left the impression that the truth is not important," she said.

Frey acknowledged to King that he had embellished parts of the book, and he told Winfrey Thursday that the same demons that fueled his addictions caused him to mischaracterize himself.

"I made a mistake," Frey told Winfrey on Thursday.

Frey's acknowledgments have not hurt sales so far, with both "A Million Little Pieces" and its sequel, "My Friend Leonard," high on best seller lists. His publisher, Doubleday, said last week that Frey was writing a brief author's note for future editions of "A Million Little Pieces."

[RexBeach]

The man lied...he admitted lying...and he's still profiting from his lies. God, what a travesty.

Oprah? Well, she sure has made a ton of money, but she's as big a bonehead in some ways as is this Frey fellow.

[Madeleine Ward]

Seems like the only ones who get a raw deal out of this are legitimate writers of non-fiction.

[sarasota]

Oprah did the traditional flip-flop based on media and web feedback.

[skaterboy]

We found out she knew before hand there might be lies and she still went ahead so now its CYA time

[Woman on Caroline Street]

Unfortunately in this world, we are constantly barraged by the notion that "facts don't matter". To quote Forrest Gump: "And that's all I have to say about that."

[ClearCase_guy]

Oprah did the traditional flip-flop based on media and web feedback.

Isn't that amazing?

She is very popular.
She is very powerful.
She is very rich.

She said what she thought two weeks ago. But when the feedback came in, she scurried like a mouse will now say whatever it takes to make people like her.

That's pitiful. Reminds me of Lawrence Summers, President of Harvard. State your opinion, stand by it, and tell people they are free to disagree. How hard is that? For some, it appears to be impossible.

[A Citizen Reporter]

""I left the impression that the truth is not important," she said.

Sure you did, Oprah. You are a democrat, aren't you?

I'm glad I've got another piece of evidence to throw in the face of some of these mind-numbed Oprah addicts. I'm really sick of hearing how wonderful Oprah is.

[geezerwheezer]

I have the exact same feelings! She is totally weird to me.

[Callahan]

Oprah is probably the most powerful person in the media. Her audience laps up whatever she says. She may be a Dem, but we should be thankful she's not even more hostile to conservative causes. She treated Bush pretty well during the campaign.

[sarasota]

John Kerry set the standard for flip-flops. And the liberals are falling all over themselves to follow the playbook.

[sarasota]

As an aside, a friend of mine got into the Oprah show when Bush was on during his first campaign by saying that she was "undecided" about whom to vote for. When she was on the show, she led the cheers from the audience, perhaps to Oprah's dismay.

[A Citizen Reporter]

"She may be a Dem, but we should be thankful she's not even more hostile to conservative causes."

No, she's one of those insidious forces in the culture, that constantly undermines conservative causes.

She is a big fake, who has scored the "naptime" time slot, so stay-at-home moms watch her.

But her book club, and the choices she makes for it, really are what steam me. Am so glad to see her hoisted on her own petard with the book club.

[bikepacker67]

Is it just me, or is James Frey a bit light in the loafers?

[summer]

Re your post #4 - That was my impression, too.

Oprah was being very honest when she said she now thought this:

"I left the impression that the truth is not important," she said.

Because that's what one of her guests, Frank Rich, had written about in a recent column, which he practically took down Oprah by maing fun of her version of truth.

But I thought Oprah should have stuck to what she said on larry King, because at that time, she said the book was the "essential" truth of this person's life -- and, in a way, it is, since he made the journey from addict to recovery. Yes, he fudged the truth, and no, he probably shouldn't have done so if he didn't have some sort of disclaimer on the book saying some events have been fictionalized or whatever.

Yet, because of Frank Rich and other media, Oprah perceived her clout was now at issue. So, she invites on this Frey guy again, who clearly had no clue he was about to be attacked, and she attacks him, to preserve her clout.

Meanwhile, I am thinking: this Frey guy is probably so humiliated by all this he may return to being an addict.

In short, Oprah's decision seemed to me to be a bit cruel here, since she decided her clout was more important than anything else, including this guy's recovery from drugs. I would disagree with her on that. It is a miracle for someone to have made the journey from addict to recovery, however he makes it. Oprah should not pay so much attention to Frank Rich. She already said it was the "essential" truth of the book she was defending, and therein, already admitted she knew some of it was fiction.

Finally, the publisher in this matter was a real jerk for not stepping up to the plate at the very beginning and being more open with potential buyers of the book as to the truthfulness of every detail in the story.

Oh, and one more thing -- other than Frank Rich's column and the negative feedback Oprah received from some, what else made her suddenly turn? Nothing, since she was alread told by people at that clinic, LONG AGO, that details in Frey's story were false. It was obvious Oprah was allowing Frank Rich and others to manipulate her, and as a result, she lost some real clout in my eyes today.

[summer]

maing = making

[summer]

I see from today's NYT editorial that Oprah is now back in the good graces of the NYT. But I still believe it was not Oprah who needed to redeem herself, nor the author in this case. The publisher, I am sure, had made a marketing decision about this book. I don't believe for a minute that this publisher was ever deceived; this publisher was greedy and wanted the most money. And, believed semi-truth was a package that would sell more than fiction.

NYT Editorial: On Oprah's Couch

Published: January 27, 2006

No debate about the meaning of memoirs and memory will clear the air around James Frey, the author of "A Million Little Pieces," and his publisher, Nan Talese of Doubleday. But what happened yesterday on Oprah Winfrey's couch came close. In a remarkable moment of television, Ms. Winfrey did what we have so often waited for public figures to do: she admitted openly that she had made a mistake in supporting Mr. Frey. Then she did her best to force him, and Ms. Talese, to admit the extent of his deception and the publisher's failure.

As Mr. Frey, looking suitably confused and miserable, responded to Ms. Winfrey's cross-examination, it became clear that he'd consistently thought of the people in his book as characters and altered the lives of almost every one. It also became clear that the written account of his sufferings had a clarity that his actual memories — as he tried to recreate them under the serenely furious eye of Ms. Winfrey — did not. Now he has a story of true suffering to tell.

Ms. Talese was speaking, in a sense, for all of publishing, and her defense revealed the enormous gap in the editing of nonfiction books. She spoke as a reader might — about the effect the book had on her, and about how true it seemed. She did not sound like an editor who was willing to stand behind the accuracy of a manuscript she had marketed as fact.

One expects the language of soft psychology from Ms. Winfrey. That is what we got, instead, from Ms. Talese. Ms. Winfrey gave the audience, including us, what it was hoping for: a demand to hear the truth.

[sarasota]

You nailed it. It was all about her image and I'm reading that she was crushed that her reputation was torn down. Hey, once in how many years that she's been on tv? Shows you the power the consumer and the media have on getting "celebrities" to flip flop. Sounds like a page from the Kerry playbook.

[summer]

Yes, and I realize: this had a political overtone to it, because Oprah's real "mistake" was to not tow the Dem Party line on this matter, as espoused by Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich. That was very disappointing to me, that she felt she had to flip-flop a la Kerry to get back in line with them.

I happen to sympathetic to those who worked at that clinic and had concerns about how their clinic was portrayed, but, again, surely the publisher had an obligation to do some investigating prior to publishing that book, and surely the publisher could have decided to market the book as fiction or with a disclaimer.

When Oprah previously said she relied on the publisher, wrongly as it turned out, I thought she had a much stronger case. Unfortunately, no one in the NYT really went after that publisher.

The writer wrote the best story he could, and he is at the mercy of the publisher's marketing plans. So, he was a pawn in a sense, but as Oprah and the NYT showed us, it's easier to dump on a pawn than on a powerful publisher.