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A million little lies - The man who conned Oprah
The Smoking Gun ^ | January 8, 2006

Posted on 01/09/2006 4:16:46 AM PST by mal

JANUARY 8--Oprah Winfrey's been had.

Three months ago, in what the talk show host termed a "radical departure," Winfrey announced that "A Million Little Pieces," author James Frey's nonfiction memoir of his vomit-caked years as an alcoholic, drug addict, and criminal, was her latest selection for the world's most powerful book club.

In an October 26 show entitled "The Man Who Kept Oprah Awake At Night," Winfrey hailed Frey's graphic and coarse book as "like nothing you've ever read before. Everybody at Harpo is reading it. When we were staying up late at night reading it, we'd come in the next morning saying, 'What page are you on?'" In emotional filmed testimonials, employees of Winfrey's Harpo Productions lauded the book as revelatory, with some choking back tears. When the camera then returned to a damp-eyed Winfrey, she said, "I'm crying 'cause these are all my Harpo family so, and we all loved the book so much."

(Excerpt) Read more at thesmokinggun.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Miscellaneous; Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: jamesfrey; oprah
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1 posted on 01/09/2006 4:16:46 AM PST by mal
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To: mal

And when will the book be published titled, "How Oprah Conned America."


2 posted on 01/09/2006 4:23:23 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: mal
he's a writer, you know, they don't tell everything that's factual and true."

Gee, ya think?

3 posted on 01/09/2006 4:23:50 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: mal

Steadman?


4 posted on 01/09/2006 4:24:20 AM PST by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: mal

I read part of the Smoking Gun article--quite revealing. The guy is a con artist in the extreme. What will Oprah do with this information?


5 posted on 01/09/2006 4:27:44 AM PST by babaloo
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To: mal

A fool and her money, #114: saving the downtrodden from themselves.


6 posted on 01/09/2006 4:29:20 AM PST by Clioman
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To: Izzy Dunne

That excuse working well for Spielberg in Munich.


7 posted on 01/09/2006 4:30:08 AM PST by OldFriend (The Dems enABLEd DANGER and 3,000 Americans died.)
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To: mal
"Thass right, I'm bad...I'm bad, brother..."


8 posted on 01/09/2006 4:32:24 AM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: mal
Thanks for the post.

People generally forget the fact that Oprah made her first $Million airing scumbags, con men and Jerry Springer type guests before she re-invented herself. Looks like she's sliding back to her original sleazy success.

9 posted on 01/09/2006 4:35:01 AM PST by moonman
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To: mal

Oh, thought that would be Dr. Phil.


10 posted on 01/09/2006 4:35:46 AM PST by mtbopfuyn (Legality does not dictate morality... Lavin)
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To: mal

Oh, I thought they were talking about "Dr." Phil, one of the most obnoxious frauds on television.

Did you know he lost his license to practice psychology in the Dallas area for abusing female patients? I wonder if Ophra knows about that? You can read about it in an issue of the Dallas Observer several years ago. I wonder why the story went nowhere?


11 posted on 01/09/2006 4:35:51 AM PST by garyhope (Happy, healthy, prosperous New Year to all good Freepers and our brave military.)
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To: garyhope

To me there is something about Dr. Phil that just doesn't ring true. Do you have any links for the abusing patients story?


12 posted on 01/09/2006 4:38:57 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: moonman

Nope, SHE never changed; just the guests and decor.

Oprah always will be - Oprah.


13 posted on 01/09/2006 4:57:47 AM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: mal
I purchased a few books that Oprah was touting when she first started her book club several years ago.
Then I followed her advise and purchased the book called We Were The Mullvaneys. Worst book I ever read.
That cured me of Oprah, her show and thank God, her book club.
I take great pleasure in her being defrauded as she defrauded me!:)
14 posted on 01/09/2006 4:59:19 AM PST by JRochelle
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To: beaversmom

After much diligent searching, I think it's this article:

http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2000-04-13/news/feature.html


15 posted on 01/09/2006 5:11:24 AM PST by garyhope (Happy, healthy, prosperous New Year to all good Freepers and our brave military.)
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To: mal

Why isn't this article in the main forum anymore?


16 posted on 01/09/2006 5:12:12 AM PST by JRochelle
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To: mal

Ping to finish reading later.

So, another stinking liar on the best seller pages. Very sad. This reminds me of another publishing scandal I read about a few years ago involving a man who supposedly survived the holocaust as a child. I think it was more a European affair, but of course, I did read about it in an American publication. I can't remember where, but it was probably the NY Times or the New Yorker. The more people looked into his story, the more they doubted it was true. But he seemed to believe it so much, some thought he was delusional.

I'm sorry I can't remember his name, I feel like it started with a "G", Gabriel, something like that. Maybe someone else remembers this story.

And of course, the infamous Rigoberta Menchu, but you expect a stinking commie to lie, so to me that is really not news.

Good for the Smoking Gun for exposing this ego maniac, I guess he's had his parents wrapped around his little finger for quite a while, they must know if these things are true or not.


17 posted on 01/09/2006 5:17:29 AM PST by jocon307 (Still mourning the loss of CBS FM)
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To: jocon307

Norma Khouri I think was another one--didn't they expose her book about an honor killing in Jordan to be a lie.


18 posted on 01/09/2006 5:33:52 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: garyhope

Thank you for finding that article.


19 posted on 01/09/2006 5:34:20 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: mal

"Frey's tall tales would, of course, be pretty funny if so many people didn't actually believe them."


This is the saddest line in the whole Smoking Gun article. But these types of "tales" appeal to a certain demographic, as does the purveyor-in-chief, Oprah. (We have progressed in the last few millenia, from worshipping idols to worshipping icons.)

Modern thought, and even modern education, champion the idea that feelings are as important, perhaps more, than facts or reason. It seems that publishers are all to aware of this development.


20 posted on 01/09/2006 5:52:06 AM PST by David Isaac
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