Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [177]
Oprah gave her first deposition on June 14, 1997, and two days later she wrote that she was still “reeling” from what she felt was an indignity. “Crew cut. Southern, young snuff-spittin’ lawyer, asking me if I’d just use my ‘common sense.’ Humiliating. They loved it.… First time I ever felt pinned down, my back against the wall. Looking into the eyes of those lawyers, I felt like when those mossy-toothed boys had Sethe [from Beloved] pinned down in the barn.… I can’t shake the demeaning, gut-wrenching deposition.”
Q: What reasonable scientific basis do you have for saying that cows should not eat other cows?
A: No scientific basis. Common sense. I’ve never seen a cow eat meat.
Q: That’s the entire basis for the statement?
A: My common sense?
Q: Yes.
A: And knowledge that I’ve acquired over the years.
Q: What knowledge is that? That’s what I’m trying to get at.… What’s the basis for the statement that they shouldn’t be eating other cows?
A: Because that’s the way God created them, to eat grass and hay.
The attorney then asked about her professional credentials.
A: I’m the CEO of Harpo.
Q: You are also the host of The Oprah Winfrey Show?
A: Uh-huh.
Q: Are you an entertainer or a journalist?
A: I’m a communicator.
Q: Could you identify for me the awards that you have won?
A: Well, the award that means the most to me is being named one of the ten most admired women in the world, number three behind Mother Teresa.
He pressed her on the number of viewers she had, suggesting she did sensational shows like “Dangerous Foods” to draw more viewers, get higher ratings, and further enhance her business opportunities. She disagreed.
Q: So you don’t care what your viewership is.…
A: That’s not what I said.
Q: You do care?
A: I would like to have as many viewers as possible, but I don’t do shows just to get viewers. I do not. This isn’t Jerry Springer you’re talking to … okay?
Oprah said there had been some shows that she had taped but then decided not to air:
A: One was a serial killer, Mercer, Ohio, who had allegedly killed 80 different people and he spoke about how he did it. Another one was a show on kidnapping. Another one was a stalker.
Q: What was the show on kidnapping, what was wrong with that?
A: Well, I thought that the way the show was presented it would encourage or present the idea of kidnapping to somebody who didn’t have the idea. And since I’m a main target for kidnapping I thought it wouldn’t be a good idea.
Six months later, on December 19, 1997, she gave the second part of her deposition and became a little testy when the plaintiffs’ attorney suggested she did “sensationalist type of work.”
A: I object to the word sensational. I object to the word sensational. I don’t do sensational shows. Not from the beginning have I done sensational shows. My feeling is that life is sensational and if it exists in life and you can report it, tell about it, inform and make people more aware then so be it, but I object to the term sensational.
The day before the trial began (January 20, 1998), Oprah arrived in Amarillo on her Gulfstream jet accompanied by her two cocker spaniels, her trainer, her bodyguards, her hairdresser, her chef, and her makeup man. Prior to her arrival, the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce had issued a staff memo saying there would not be “any red carpet rollouts, key to the city [or] flowers” for her. Instead, she was welcomed to town (population 164,000) by bumper stickers that read, “The Only Mad Cow in America Is Oprah.” She headed for the Adaberry Inn, a ten-suite bed-and-breakfast that she had taken over for herself and her personal entourage, which came to be known as Camp Oprah. The rest of the Harpo staff and production crew moved into the five-star Ambassador Hotel. She also rented the Amarillo Little Theatre to tape her shows in the evening after she attended the trial during the day. Oprah told the reporters gathered from around