Oprah was wrong about Frey!

[Tigger_Magic]

On today's Oprah Winfrey show, which is just now in its first commercial break in the Chicago feed, Ms. Winfrey apologized to her audience and to readers of her book club.

"I apologize, I was wrong," Ms. Winfrey said, about her support of author James Frey. She also said, "I regret my phone call to Larry King," referring to her live phone call to the talk show host, in which she blamed the publishing industry for not disclaiming the memoir. "The truth matters," Ms. Winfrey said, and: "My judgement was clouded."

After the commercial break, Mr. Frey will appear.
--Choire Sicha

 

[cruiserkaren]

I agree. It was wrong. You can't have it both ways. It's either fiction or non-fiction.

 

[Chicago526]

It's good that she was willing and able to admit that she was hoodwinked along with everyone else. And to do it on national tv!

I don't fault her for the call to Larry King, the story had just broke and she felt she was defending someone that she believed in. Loyalty is not a character flaw.

 

[SillyMe]

Can you let us know what she says?

 

[Briarmom]

Yes, please let us know what Frey says as well. Oprah is on during school pick-up time and then it is mass chaos at my house...
I am very dissapointed. I just bought his latest book, too.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Loyalty is definitely not a character flaw, but blind or uninformed loyalty is. JMO but Oprah's call to King was more a defense for her Book Club and a huge CYA for her. It was everyone else's fault. I would have more respect if she'd just admitted she didn't do her homework on this one and got bit. I suppose better late than never.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Yes, please let us know what Frey says as well. Oprah is on during school pick-up time and then it is mass chaos at my house...
I am very dissapointed. I just bought his latest book, too.

Maybe someone who sees the whole thing can... ABC broke into the broadcast to air the presidential news conference.

I did find this posted online at the NYT:

Oprah Winfrey Calls Defense of Author 'a Mistake'
By EDWARD WYATT
In an extraordinary reversal of her strident and angry defense of the author whose book she catapulted to the top of the best-seller list, Oprah Winfrey said today she believed that the author James Frey "betrayed millions of people" by making up elements of his life in his best-selling memoir, "A Million Little Pieces."

She added that she believed "I made a mistake" when she said that the truth of the book mattered less then its story of redemption.

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, before addressing Mr. Frey with the question, "Why did you lie?"

Ms. Winfrey chose "A Million Little Pieces" in September for her popular television book club, and it sold more than two million copies within the next three months, making it the fastest-selling pick ever for her book club.

But questions about the truth of Mr. Frey's memoir began to arise almost immediately, as they had since its publication in 2003. The memoir tells the harrowing story of Mr. Frey's arrival at a Minnesota rehabilitation center, which has since been identified as Hazelden, after years of alcohol and drug addiction.

In early January, The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, reported that Mr. Frey's claim to have spent nearly three months in jail was false. Actually, he spent only a few hours in jail.

On Thursday, Mr. Frey said of the Smoking Gun report, "Most of what they wrote is pretty accurate."

Mr. Frey said he had made up many of the details of his life and had created a bad-guy portrayal of himself as a "coping mechanism."

"I thought of myself as tougher than I was and badder than I was," Mr. Frey said.

Ms. Winfrey asked if he made up the material because it helped him cope or because he thought it would help sell books. Mr. Frey responded, "Probably both."

Ms. Winfrey was about 20 minutes into her show when ABC News interrupted the broadcast to televise President Bush's news conference. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" is televised in Chicago in the morning but in the afternoon in most major television markets.

 

[Briarmom]

He makes me very sad. It would have been a great book billed as a work of fiction. No need to say it is true. His poor mother.

 

[Disney Ella]

I'll have to watch. It's not on until 4 today. That "the truth can be stretched in memoirs for dramatic purpose" excuse was always weak. So when you go on a talk show and they ask how you felt about being in jail (when you really weren't) and you make something up, is that still not lying? Or is it "dramatic?" I don't understand why he didn't choose fiction too.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

More from the Chicago Tribune

The truth of Frey's book initially came under question after the online publication thesmokinggun.com published a lengthy article detailing how Frey had "wholly fabricated or wildly embellished" key portions of the book.

Oprah, who had helped the book reach 3.5 million in sales by choosing it for her book club in September, defended Frey during his Jan. 11 appearance on the Larry King Show on CNN. Today, she opened her show by saying, "I regret that phone call."

William Bastone, the editor of The Smoking Gun, said he and his colleagues were stunned by Winfrey's reversal. "We were sitting here with our jaws dropping," he said.

Bastone said, "That opening statement was remarkable. That was an unbelievable piece of television."

The Smoking Gun were able to watch the entire show in their New York office, and Bastone said Winfrey's battering of Frey didn't let up. "It was brutal," he said. So brutal, in fact, that, "at the end, you felt bad for Frey."

Bastone was filled with praise for Winfrey: "For someone like her to acknowledge she made a mistake like that speaks really well of her. You don't often see someone of her stature admit a major mistake and apologize to her audience.

 

[swilphil]

Newsweek reported last week that Frey originally tried to sell his book as a novel. No one wanted to publish it until he peddled it as a memoir. I do think the publisher is somewhat at fault here. Whatever happened to fact checkers?

 

[LauraR]

Newsweek reported last week that Frey originally tried to sell his book as a novel. No one wanted to publish it until he peddled it as a memoir. I do think the publisher is somewhat at fault here. Whatever happened to fact checkers?

I find it hard to believe that someone as successful as he already was would not have been published. I think they thought it would sell more copies as non-fiction and he acceded to their wishes. It was still his call and the bulk of the responsibility lies with him. And I do mean, "lies".

 

[swilphil]

I find it hard to believe that someone as successful as he already was would not have been published.

The book was published in 2003, and it really wasn't considered a "success" until Oprah picked it for her book club a few months ago. The only noteworthy moment in his career before that was as a screenwriter. I believe it was for a tv show that wasn't on for very long. Do you know something else about his career that makes you call him "someone as sucessful as he already was"? If so, please share.

 

[crs7568]

Loyalty is definitely not a character flaw, but blind or uninformed loyalty is. JMO but Oprah's call to King was more a defense for her Book Club and a huge CYA for her. It was everyone else's fault. I would have more respect if she'd just admitted she didn't do her homework on this one and got bit. I suppose better late than never.

Well said, I could not agree more! If Oprah is going to tout books and skyrocket people to fame, she needs to do research. It is especially important to do research when the book discounts many of the supports that can help addicts. I think that she found it incredibly unpalatable for her to acknowledge her mistake and lose some credibility. Of course, I find Oprah to be a self-important bore so I am not exactly unbiased.

 

[Ever_After]

Well said, I could not agree more! If Oprah is going to tout books and skyrocket people to fame, she needs to do research. It is especially important to do research when the book discounts many of the supports that can help addicts. I think that she found it incredibly unpalatable for her to acknowledge her mistake and lose some credibility. Of course, I find Oprah to be a self-important bore so I am not exactly unbiased.

Shouldn't this be the Publisher of the book company's responsibility??

 

[Briarmom]

Well, I just watched the show. I have to say, it left me with more questions than I had before. I love Oprah. I have lived most of my life watching her. That said, I really wish they'd have gone over WHAT parts exactly are lies. OK, yes, Lily didn't kill herself in the manner described, I guess that doesn't bother me soooo much, because I always assumed that SOMEWHERE authors try to protect real people. Her name is probably Susan or something. She existed, she killed herself. OK. But what about the rest of her life story?
I wanted to know EXACT LIES and all Oprah did was sit and talk to the other people there. The whole show I couldn't get over James' body language. If ever a man needed to be on a watch, it is him, today. My heart aches. Partially from being lied to (although I still don't know what was lies and what wasn't) and partially from watching him today.
As for the publishing fact-checkers, I don't know how much of the book could've been checked. It has been MONTHS since I read this book, but I am thinking his rehab stay could have been (and was). The jail term (which obviously wasn't...now I have his latest book sitting here and the whole thing is a lie? Why wasn't the next book brought up?), and his friends death (again wasn't checked). But all the barfing/pain/revelations that one goes through in rehab are all memories. Was the Paris thing true?

I just hope he is ok.

 

[Christine]

Well, I just watched the show. I have to say, it left me with more questions than I had before. I love Oprah. I have lived most of my life watching her. That said, I really wish they'd have gone over WHAT parts exactly are lies. OK, yes, Lily didn't kill herself in the manner described, I guess that doesn't bother me soooo much, because I always assumed that SOMEWHERE authors try to protect real people. Her name is probably Susan or something. She existed, she killed herself. OK. But what about the rest of her life story?
I wanted to know EXACT LIES and all Oprah did was sit and talk to the other people there. The whole show I couldn't get over James' body language. If ever a man needed to be on a watch, it is him, today. My heart aches. Partially from being lied to (although I still don't know what was lies and what wasn't) and partially from watching him today.
As for the publishing fact-checkers, I don't know how much of the book could've been checked. It has been MONTHS since I read this book, but I am thinking his rehab stay could have been (and was). The jail term (which obviously wasn't...now I have his latest book sitting here and the whole thing is a lie? Why wasn't the next book brought up?), and his friends death (again wasn't checked). But all the barfing/pain/revelations that one goes through in rehab are all memories. Was the Paris thing true?

I just hope he is ok.

I feel exactly the same way about the Oprah show as you do. It seemed to me that Oprah was intent on bashing him, shaming him. Now, I do agree that he deserves to be "called on the carpet" for this, but I wish they had gone through parts of the book and clarified the "lies." The Lilly thing, once explained, really didn't bother me at all. So, he changed the method of suicide.

I would have liked to know if the whole "crack house" thing happened where he had to go rescue her. Was "Leonard" real? What was his condition on the plane?

 

[crs7568]

Yes, I totally agree that it is the publisher's responsibility to verify the genre of a book. However, Oprah is extremely influential and she has a responsibility to her audience to make sure that when she is recommending a "memoir" there are no blatant lies. I can honestly say that I saw many holes in Frey's story before the story broke about all of his embellishments. Too much of the story was obviously fabricated, or at best, exaggerated. In fact, Oprah acknowledges that she was informed of possible discrepancies in his book yet she never mentioned that when she was fawning all over him. I am sorry, but many of those discrepancies were obvious. As Spiderman's uncle says, "With great power comes great responsibility."

At the very least, she should not have been so quick to defend him once the scandal broke. It would have been classier to apologize to her audience for having made a mistake and not argued over silly things like "emotional truth" being equally important to facts. Wrong. She used poor judgment and she should just 'fess up.

 

[Briarmom]

I feel exactly the same way about the Oprah show as you do. It seemed to me that Oprah was intent on bashing him, shaming him. Now, I do agree that he deserves to be "called on the carpet" for this, but I wish they had gone through parts of the book and clarified the "lies." The Lilly thing, once explained, really didn't bother me at all. So, he changed the method of suicide.

I would have liked to know if the whole "crack house" thing happened where he had to go rescue her. Was "Leonard" real? What was his condition on the plane?

He said the airplane thing was exactly as he had written it. I guess that part didn't 'stink' to me of lies like it did the journalists. I realize that THAT occurred a looooong time ago. Back when airport security was much more relaxed.
Yes, I have the same questions. I have 'My Friend Leonard' sitting here on my coffee table. I guess I will read it, but I think it is about his jail stay, which did not occur. That bothers me. The jail stay thing.
I thought Oprah was all about herself. SHE was embarrassed, SHE made a mistake. I think she meant about calling in to Larry King. I missed the first 10 min and I didn't see Larry King, as I was on vacation.
I'd really have liked Oprah to have a list of things and have him say 'true' or 'false'. And I almost understand that he didn't know if he'd had novicaine. Sometimes it doesn't take. Been there, done that. He said there was papers to proove that it'd happened. I just want an exact list of what is true. The very end of the book, for instance, WHO is dead? What happened to those people? Are they real?

 

[Geoff_M]

The book was published in 2003, and it really wasn't considered a "success" until Oprah picked it for her book club a few months ago.

On that note, does anyone else find surreal the sway and influence that Oprah Winfrey has on the entire US publishing industry?