Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [228]
The White House leaked the story to the press on March 29, 2002, that Oprah had said no to the president and, as a consequence, the trip, designed to dampen images of global violence, had to be postponed. A controversy ensued over Oprah’s rejection after her publicist told the Chicago Tribune, “Given her responsibility to the show, she isn’t adding anything to her calendar. She was invited, but she respectfully declined.”
The headlines kicked up a media storm:
“Winfrey Won’t Tour for Bush” (New York Times)
“Envoy Oprah a No-Go: Talk Queen Declines Bush Invite to Tour Afghanistan Schools” (New York Post)
“No Oprah, No Afghan Trip” (Washington Post)
“Winfrey Declines Bush Invite to Afghan Trip; US Hoped to Show Its Help for Women” (Chicago Tribune)
“Oprah Balks; Talk Show Diva Refuses Afghanistan Invitation” (Daily News [Los Angeles])
A columnist from the Chicago Tribune wrote: “It’s great to live in a country in which a black woman finally has the power and the self-esteem to say no to the man in charge.”
That triggered a letter to the editor about what looked like a blatant snub:
I lost a lot of respect for Oprah when she declined our president’s invitation to join the U.S. delegation to tour Afghanistan’s schools. What a wonderful opportunity she had to spread good will around the world on behalf of America.
I’m sure she could have worked around her “busy schedule” as payback for all the opportunities and good fortune she has been given in our land of the free. Has she forgotten where she came from? Shame on her!
In a swivet over the negative publicity, Oprah called her friend Star Jones, then appearing on The View, to say the White House story was untrue. Jones went on the air moments later to share Oprah’s call:
[S]he had some fund-raisers that she had committed to and anybody knows when you do these things … people sell tickets expecting you to be there. So she couldn’t get out of doing [them] and she didn’t want to because she had made the commitment.
She said the White House told her they were going anyway. Then she said, “So imagine my surprise, I wake up and read in the newspaper that I’m being cavalier, I’m too busy.” She said it didn’t happen that way and it really wasn’t fair. We all know what kinds of philanthropic things that Oprah does across the country and across the world so that wasn’t fair.
She did say, “Star, I felt extremely used by the Bush administration.”
Yet within six months Oprah appeared to be helping the president in his lead-up to the invasion of Iraq. On October 9, 2002, she presented a show to “help you decide if you think we should attack Iraq.” Although she featured speakers on both sides of the issue, she gave more time and weight to those who supported going to war. At one point a member of the studio audience stood to question the existence of weapons of mass destruction, and Oprah cut her off, saying the weapons were “just a fact,” not something up for debate. “We’re not trying to propaganda—show you propaganda—we’re just showing you what is,” Oprah said.
Immediately after the show, the antiwar website Educate-yourself.org published a letter to Oprah, saying:
A talk show host and idol to many, you usually present an open exchange of opinions. How could you allow such an unbalanced show like that to air, when the future of the entire planet is at stake?
The Swedish Broadcasting Commission also pounced, saying Oprah’s show, one of Sweden’s most popular daytime programs, betrayed bias toward a U.S. attack on Iraq. “Different views were expressed, but all longer remarks gave voice to the opinion that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States and should be the target of attack,” stated the commission. The Swedish government strongly opposed the invasion, saying