Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [218]
With Harpo’s lawyer sitting in the corner, Oprah stood at her big desk and proceeded to bring the two families together. “A true apology had never been given before, so this was a very moving experience for all of us,” said Nate’s lawyer. “It’s a good thing it was not on-camera. It would’ve been too exploitive. The two mothers—Nate’s and Mrs. Greene—hugged and kissed. Both are churchgoing ladies, so they talked about God and his forgiveness.”
Once Oprah realized she was not going to get the gripping television show she wanted, she could easily have sent the Abrahams and the Greenes back to Pontiac, Michigan. But to her credit she chose to complete the stated purpose of the show: to give a young killer the chance to express remorse for his crime by apologizing to his victim’s family, which gave everyone a measure of peace. “Oprah really went out of her way with Nate,” said his attorney. “She gave him lots of advice and took a special interest in him during those couple of days.”
Not all scrapped shows brought out Oprah’s magnanimity, however, particularly if money was involved. When she got a chance to interview Monica Lewinsky, she said she was thrilled to land the young intern’s first interview about her sexual relationship with President Clinton, which eventually led to his impeachment. Lewinsky, too, was excited, especially when told that Oprah was going to embrace her in front of her studio audience. But when the former White House aide insisted on keeping the foreign distribution rights to that interview after it aired in the United States, Oprah balked. At issue were world licensing fees in excess of $1 million, which Lewinsky said she needed to pay her mounting legal fees. Being one of the world’s most sought-after interviewees then, she was of immense international interest, because no one had ever heard her voice or her side of the story that nearly toppled a president. Oprah insisted on keeping the foreign rights to the interview; Monica said she could not afford to give them up. The next day on her talk show, Oprah announced, “I did have the interview with Monica Lewinsky, and then the conversation moved in a direction that I did not want to go. I don’t pay for interviews, no matter how it’s couched. I’ve taken myself out of the running. I don’t even want the interview now. Whoever gets the interview, God help you in your struggle.”
The two-hour interview went to Barbara Walters, for a special edition of 20/20 on ABC, and drew forty-five million viewers in the United States, with Lewinsky retaining world rights. Later, in a story titled “How Oprah Dumped Monica,” George magazine recounted that Oprah had “trashed” the former intern when she refused to sign an agreement with Harpo. “[I]n Lewinsky’s eyes, Winfrey proved to be … heartless, treacherous, and disloyal.”
None of that would be believed by any of Oprah’s adoring fans or the studio audiences, who wait months, sometimes years, for tickets to her show and then stand in line for hours to be admitted. “Everything about The Oprah Winfrey Show is orchestrated right down to the last squeal of the studio audience,” said a publishing executive who has escorted many authors to Chicago over the years. “The drill goes something like this: Once you get through security and get seated, four or five producers—not just one—warm up the audience for about forty-five minutes. We are all given directions on how to act. We’re told to jump and scream. When Oprah says something funny, we’re supposed to laugh and clap. Then we are rehearsed. ‘Now let’s try it. If Oprah is shocked, you are shocked. C’mon. Act horrified. Show it. Let’s do it again. The more you react, the better chance you’ll have to be shown on television. This is important. You are Oprah’s audience. You are her portal to the world. So you must respond.’ These producers are trained to work everyone into a frenzy so the audience is hysterical by the time Oprah comes out of the tunnel. The minute she appears, everyone jumps up and begins cheering and weeping and screaming and stomping.”
Oprah became so accustomed