New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - Stanley Crouch: Oprah revenge served warm

New York Daily News - Ideas & Opinions - Stanley Crouch: Oprah revenge served warmOprah revenge served warm

Oprah Winfrey, American queen of goodwill, had a barbecue for millions on her show last week. She was not serving sausage, chicken or beef; the meat on the pit was our most famous recent con man and liar, the author James Frey. He had become a millionaire because Winfrey's book club had chosen his book, which immediately shot to the top of the nonfiction charts. But it was not what it was supposed to be and neither was the man himself.

Frey presented himself in what was supposed to be a memoir as a roughneck who had been addicted to drugs and alcohol and had terrible experiences, including time in jail. His lies were exposed by thesmokinggun.com and Winfrey defended Frey when he appeared on "The Larry King Show."

But as the stack of evidence and the criticism began to become more impressive, Winfrey called him out when she could have easily stonewalled.

Winfrey is the most powerful woman in the U.S., but she also is one of the most responsible. Her admission that she was duped and that she made a mistake defending a pack of lies is further proof of why she remains so highly respected. One does not expect her level of integrity from your average billionaire.

So it was surprising to see that Winfrey was so hurt by Frey and so disappointed in herself that she had to make him heel on her show. Some said that we saw a host far different from what her audience is accustomed to viewing. Her reputation comes from being an enthusiast and an empathizer. But she was on the attack and James Frey felt it.

Or did he? All Frey had to do was sit there for an hour and be called a liar and listen to his publisher, Nan Talese, pretend - against all documentation - that everyone was confused and unaware that Frey was a lying sack of dung. After those minor embarrassments, our millionaire author could count on what amounted to everyone's goodwill toward him. All of the invited commentators agreed, finally, that this admission of monumental fudging of the facts was the first step in his coming to terms with the truth.

Ever a con man, Frey had told Winfrey during a break that if there was a gun backstage he would end it all! Yikes. He was just fishing; she took the bait and said that it wasn't worth all of that. Of course, it wasn't. It was worth a very large fraud to the tune of a few million dollars.

If she were a little more angry about making a liar a rich man, Winfrey could have rhetorically squashed his head. But if she was that rough and tumble, she wouldn't be Oprah Winfrey, which is part of her appeal and part of her strength. She was hurt, she was mad, but she couldn't even be reasonably cruel. That's our queen of goodwill. Yes, she had a barbecue, but the meat, in the final analysis, wasn't as well cooked as it could have been.

Originally published on February 2, 2006