Oprah Defends Book in Surprise Call

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | January 12, 2005 | Hillel Italie

[BlessedBeGod]

Oprah Winfrey broke her silence about James Frey's disputed memoir of addiction, "A Million Little Pieces," dismissing allegations of falsehoods as "much ado about nothing" and urging readers who have been inspired by the book to "Keep holding on."

"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 Wednesday night in a surprise phone call to CNN's Larry King, who was interviewing Frey on his live television program.

Frey has been under intense scrutiny since The Smoking Gun, an investigative Web site, posted a story last Sunday alleging the author had substantially fabricated his criminal record and other aspects of his past.

Publishers, writers and readers have offered their opinions, but none mattered so much as Winfrey's. Her selection last fall of "A Million Little Pieces" for her book club made the memoir a million seller and she might have fatally ruined Frey's reputation by condemning him.

Frey, in his first interview since The Smoking Gun story came out, acknowledged he had embellished parts of the book but said that was common for memoirs and defended "the essential truth" of "A Million Little Pieces."

"The book is about drug addiction and alcoholism," he said. "The emotional truth is there."

Frey received another endorsement Wednesday night, from his mother, Lynne, who appeared with him during the latter part of the program. ''I believe in James,'' she said. ''The book stands on its own.''

Frey's book was first published in 2003. He has been challenged before about passages describing such things as his receiving root canal surgery without anesthesia and boarding a commercial plane covered in blood and vomit.

But the Smoking Gun's story was by far the most thorough. Relying on extensive documentation, the Smoking Gun disputed everything from Frey's claim to having served three months in jail to being blamed for a car crash that killed two students while in high school.

''Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey's book,'' according to the article that appeared on www.thesmokinggun.com.

Winfrey herself acknowledged the vagaries of memoirs, saying Wednesday night she knows that maybe ''the names and the dates and times have been compressed.'' She said she hoped the controversy would inspire further debate.

''I rely on the publishers to define the category that a book falls within, and also [for] the authenticity of the work,'' she said.

[Dr. Thorne]

The "Queen of Sanctimony" burbles that lying is OK as long as it makes you feel good (and supports her empire). Those who view her as a paragon of virtue are both blind and stupid. She is a self-aggrandizing, smarmy peacock who has parlayed the gullibility of million of simpletons into a vast fortune.

[AppyPappy]

"It's not the weight of the evidence that is important; It's the seriousness of the charges"

[LS]

You guys and gals are missing something really big here: if this guy could "come out" of a DISEASE that is GENETICALLY LINKED like alcoholism, then I guess homosexuals can also shake their addiction, no?

A sensible interviewer would have ignored the "facts" issue and bored in on the fact that Oprah just made a case for overcoming homosexuality.

On the other hand, if it's a choice, then, one can choose not to sin, no?

[Sthitch]

What was in the Smoking Gun story is that he admitted to shopping the story as a work of fiction, when he found his ultimate publisher he said to change it to a memoir and he would buy it. There is plenty of blame and guilt to go around. Mr Frey is not absolved of any blame simply because he had enablers, and Oprah was key amongst them.

I have read excerpts from this book and found the prose to be weak, and rather bombastic. For some reason people seem to think that "edgy" junior high school writing is worth reading. If I want edgy I will just reread Dante' Divine Comedy.

[TChris]

According to his book, he used to be a compulsive liar. Now he's a... Oh, never mind.

[TChris]

"The emotional truth is there."

No, Oprah, the fabricated, emotion-filled portions of the book are most certainly not true. That's the point. The truth of his life is decidedly not very emotional. It wouldn't have sold books.

[CaptainK]

She was had by the mayor and police commissioner of New Orleans. They had her sobbing about the rapes and murders that didn't happen. The lies in this book are small potatoes compared to the whoppers told by Nagin. Has she address that issue yet? Of course not, because she is OPRAH.

[HamiltonJay]

Ahh the typical liberal argument.. the guy lied out his but, but his overarching story is accurate.... what nonsense.

I commend anyone who's overcome an addiction and gotten their life on track.. but I wouldn't give them a million dollars of free endorcments and publicity for a book they wrote about it, that is fictional that they claim to be reality.

[Fintan]

---

Another opinion...

---

Communist Goals 1963 Congressional Record

[IGOTMINE]

Rigoberta Menchu, call your answering service.

[arkady_renko]

...and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people...

No, Oprah, he has not stepped outside any history. He is still what he claims he was - a USER. He has used broken people to build a comfy life for himself and I hope he repents before judgment day. He has used the sympathy of a million little broken people to build a self-help empire for himself.

Addiction devastates families. How many people bought this book for their addicted loved ones hoping against hope that the message would get through? I did. I did! I'm an idiot. We find out, contrary to what Queen Oprah says, that the story is not substantially true. He obviously didn't feel the real facts of his life would impress or shock enough, so, he manipulated and abused even more people. Dead people. People clinging to any hope they could find.

This guy has less courage than the simple alcoholic struggling at local AA meetings to stay clean. Struggling to keep his or her job. Struggling to keep his or her family together. There is a hero - not Oprah's lying 'wonder boy'.

Frey is pathetic and, as I have said elsewhere, he is indeed a Criminal.

A_R

[jiggyboy]

That's become one of the standards. To them, truth is now "truth", something that is dependent on the speaker and appropriate for qualifiers. Fake but accurate.

[Howlin]

but he said only 5 % was not true........is that not what you think?

[cyn]

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/jamesfrey/0104061jamesfrey3.html

has photo: 'Frey's parents, Robert and Lynne, in the audience of "Oprah" '

I want to know about their part in this. Surely at some point his mother was asked in all the small talk, "So, what was it like to have such a hellion in your home?"

[Peach]

According to the very lengthy expose I read, way more than 5% of the book is an absolute lie. And most of the lies pertained to some of the more explosive information in the book regarding his criminal activities.

[arkady_renko]

but he said only 5 % was not true........is that not what you think?

5% of the text, or 5% of the 'truth' in his essentially true memoir is false? Would be a little like saying that only 5% of the words in the sentence: "George Bush is the President, the father of two and the biggest terrorist in the world." are false. What's the big deal about that? Two out of three claims are true. Sort of like Dan Brown claims for his fiction -- some is 'true' and some isn't. You figure out what is what.

A_R

[HHFi]

What was in the Smoking Gun story is that he admitted to shopping the story as a work of fiction, when he found his ultimate publisher he said to change it to a memoir and he would buy it.

Thanks, I knew I'd read that somewhere, but I've read so much coverage on this, I couldn't remember where. Leave it to the Smoking Gun to be the ones to uncover it. Wonder how long it sat on the New York Times bestseller list before the "bloggers in pajamas" on the Internet did the "real journalists" job for them?

[Sthitch]

What I found interesting is the story behind why the Smoking Gun went after the book. They simply started out trying to find a mug shot for their rogues gallery, and could not find what should have been an easy picture to locate. It was also interesting to read that this would not have surfaced if it had not been for the hysterics of the author and his attorneys. They posted an off the record correspondence between TSG and Frey on his website. This breech released TSG from its off the record obligation, so they published what they knew, including his own admissions of guilt. The most glaring of which was that the 3 months in Jail was actually only a few hours he spent waiting for bail.
The man is simply a liar, he has been caught, and is making excuses. If the media had any spine they would not only go after him a little harder, but also cast a critical eye to his sugar momma Oprah. I cannot see that happening, but one can always dream.
I believe that the author of TSG story is a journalist, not simply a pajama clad blogger.

[Texas2step]

but he said only 5 % was not true........is that not what you think?

Who really knows? He tried to pass the whole book off as "non-fiction", ie, the truth. What was able to be documented has now been proven fiction, false. What was not able to be documented cannot be proven one way or the other, but why should we believe anything he wrote to be "true"?

[Texas2step]

I believe that the author of TSG story is a journalist, not simply a pajama clad blogger.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, eh? :-)

Although, I gotta say, there's been several additional articles since TSG article, and they are finding the same thing. This "journalist" actually appears to have done a very good job of research, and is closer to what a journalist is supposed to do.