20 worst Oprah moments
With the recent announcement that Oprah will be retiring, we decided to celebrate by highlighting O's 20 worst moments. Feel free to add in any that we missed, and let's party like it's 2011 already. Click through the photos below for Oprah's most awful:
In this gallery
In 2004, School teacher and Airborne "inventor" , Victoria Knight McDowell, came on the Oprah Show to promote her product. Sales skyrocketed, but Airborne also faced a $23,000 class action law suit. Apparently, there was no clinical evidence to support the effectivness of the product.
Oprah called Herman Rosenblat's tale the "single greatest love story" she'd ever heard. Fact checking proved the details of Rosenblat's story were impossible. 
After encouraging viewers to light candles when they were feeling inspired or looking for a chance, Chicago newspapers published reports that an elderly woman lit her nursing home on fire as a result.
As a television personality, it's assumable that 'O' would support one's right to free speech. Not so fast, Winfrey is infamous for her employee confidentiality releases.
After being denied acces to the Hermes store in Paris, Oprah proclaimed she had experienced her "Crash" moment, refferring to the 2004 film addressing race relations. After an apology from Hermes upper level managment, it was revealed that 'O' had arrived at the store 15 after closing time, with no prior arrangments made.
Oprah jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, and was greeted with a surge of followers. However, those followers were left dissapointed when Oprah abandoned the page.
Both Suzanne Somers and Robin McGraw (wife of Dr. Phil), have given testimonials in support of hormone therapy for women on Oprah's show. The segments became controversial, when medical professionals protested the safety of hormone therapy.
Oprah often said she did not wish to use her show as a "political platform," her mind changed when Barack Obama came on the scene. She openly supported Obama all the way to his 2008 presidential victory.
The feud began after a failed joke at the Academy Awards in 1985. Oprah vowed to never appear on Letterman's show again. They "buried the hatchet," 16 years later.
In 2005, Oprah featured James Frey and his "memoir" on her show. Immediately following, the book shot to the top of the best seller list. When further research refuted Frey's story, Oprah reversed her endorsement and called the author out on Larry King. 
The school for underprivileged girls was plagued by allegations of abuse.
An admitted food addict, Oprah vowed to never diet again in 1988. However she spent the next two decades battling her weight via different trainers and diet plans.
The "free cars" for her 276 audience members that day were actually donated by Pontiac, and a taxable income. The $28,000 value of the "free" cars meant up to $7,000 in income taxes unless the cars were forfeited.
The talk show host used the communication tool for phone in interviews on her show, and then devoted an hour long show to promoting the product. Failure ensued when Skype's download rate neglected to increase. 
'O' whole- heartedly endorsed the spiritual book, which encourages practitioners to simply ask the universe for what they desire. When she heard from a women who was so inspired she had decided to forgo chemotherapy, Oprah invited the woman on her show and told her she had "misunderstood" the book's intentions.
McCarthy went on Oprah's show to promote her book, which argues Autism is caused by vaccinatons, a claim refuted by most health professionals. 
The announcement of a two-piece meal coupon on Oprah's show led to disaster when restaurants ran low on stock. Some news stations reported rioting, however that claim was denied by KFC.
After hosting a cattle rancher turned vegetarian on a segment, Oprah said she'd never eat another hamburger again. The Oprah effect took over, and beef sales declined, leading to a suit against Oprah, which she won.
Oprah was tricked into saying "9,000 penises" live on air after an anonymous contributor claimed to be from a network of pedophiles.
Winfrey aired a multi episode series in 2002 and 2003 exploring the negative consequences of the U.S's invasion into Iraq. Although revered by anit-war supporters, Time magazine reported speculation that the Bush Administration intentionally scheduled a press conference during Winfrey's broadcast.
Airborne endorsement
In 2004, School teacher and Airborne "inventor" , Victoria Knight McDowell, came on the Oprah Show to promote her product. Sales skyrocketed, but Airborne also faced a $23,000 class action law suit. Apparently, there was no clinical evidence to support the effectivness of the product.
11 Comments
EB said:
Thank you for this! I love this "real" perspective.
kell99 said:
This is the dumbest story I've ever seen. Obviously whoever was responsible for this was searching for news. Oprah's confidentiality contract scandalous? Who cares. She's a talk show host giving her opinion. This article gives journalists a bad name and is obviously aimed at unintelligent people looking for something to be negative about. Get over it.
EB said:
sorry, you're wrong. as a huge (ha!) public figure, oprah is open to this kind of scrutiny, and she's had her fair share of screwups, including endorsing (however implicitly) fraudlent products. This was an enjoyable feature.
jschaeff1985 said:
Plus anyone who promotes something as dumb as "The Secret" deserves all the derision they can get.
dude said:
Twenty reasons not to watch Oprah...I guess.
ChipSet said:
Ummm. "The feud began after a failed joke at the Academy Awards in 1995. Oprah vowed to never appear on Letterman's show again. They 'buried the hatchet,' 16 years later."
They buried the hatchet in 2011?
Conspiracy Man said:
No Jonathan Franzen?
Calvin Coolidge said:
It's true -- Oprah has stumbled a few times in 25 years, most often when she gets wrapped up in her (exaggerated) perception of her own significance or when she allows her credulity in the areas of spirituality/alternative medicine/etc. to cloud her judgment about what to present to her even more credulous audience. But if these really are her 20 "worst moments" over 25 years and who knows how many shows, I'd say she's done a pretty good job.
In fact, I'd argue that one of her so-called worst moments was, in fact, one of her best: when she took on the Texas cattlemen in that lawsuit. She was so in the right and they so in the wrong. Not only did she strike a legitimately righteous blow for free speech in the face of Texas's thuggish law allowing people to be sued for "food disparagement", she also turned it into a brilliant public relations coup for her and her show.
Say what you will about her but at the end of the day, she's a terrific entertainer.
wedding said:
I think these 'worst' Oprah moments just show that she's human. Yeh she's made some mistakes , yeh she's been misled by people she trusted, and yeh she's changed her opinions, but how many of us wouldn't do that over the course of 25 years? She brought more positivity to the world and that is what really matters.
IrishSweetness said:
Selling political lies wrapped in a black face to her dumb public was unforgivable. Watching all those Jay Zees and Oprahs selling 'Obamanomics' is just pitiful. Shame on them. The country has been bankrupt since 1933, we have our worst recession since then, and what does he do ? He prints $800 million to 'stimulate' the economy ... flying in the face of a couple of hundred years of economic thought. Getting further into debt to get out of debt? Sounds crazy, doesn't it ? Because it is ....
Sasha Davis said:
Don't forget about Tom Cruise jumping on the couch!
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