The Inquisitr » oprah

Oprah Quits Show 9000 Penises Later

Duncan Riley — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:40:25 +0000

Oprah will announced on air Friday that she will be leaving her daytime talk show in September 2011 after 25 years on the air.

The show, which turned Oprah from a Chicago small time host to an international superstar, has seen a variety of stars appear on it over the years, while at the same time offering up a veritable freak show of guests, sort of Jerry Springer but more up market.

A spokesman for Oprah’s production company Harpo declined to say whether Oprah would be retiring completely, or appearing on air in new show. Speculation this year has suggested that she might appear on the Oprah network.

To many online, Oprah will be most fondly remembered for the lulz she provided after being trolled by claims that over 9000 penises were targeting children in the United States. “Over 9000″ is an old meme that is commonly used for trolling. Here’s that classic moment again:

New Moon Volvo Contest: What drives Edward, phase 4

Kim LaCapria — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:23:14 +0000

Volvo launched a contest tie-in with the second Twilight movie New Moon, “What drives Edward?”

Twilight fans who participate in the contest can win premiere tickets and a new Volvo. A lot of fans are having trouble with “What drives Edward, phase 4,” and a question on Yahoo Answers points to a video that seemingly helps. (Die hard fans: Stephenie Meyer is appearing on Oprah today to promote New Moon.)

Below, a video of the “what drives Edward, phase 4″ part of the challenge. I’m not playing, so tell me in the comments, does it work?

Oprah Chimp Victim Video

Duncan Riley — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:55:56 +0000

We covered on Tuesday the horrific Oprah chimp victim story that has made international headlines, and not finally for those who missed it, the video of the segment has appeared online.

For those who missed the story, Charla Nash went to help a friend retrieve a set of keys from a chimpanzee who didn’t appreciate the attention. The chimpanzee named Travis ripped off Nash’s eyes, lips, nose, various parts of her scalp and parts of her jawbone.

Nash tells Oprah the pain she has suffered, and shows her face on television, to which I’ll repeat what I said Tuesday: holy mother of god.

A both inspiring and horrifying story at the same time. The Oprah chimp victim video as follows:

Pictures: Charla Nash Chimp Attack Victim on Oprah

Duncan Riley — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:11:57 +0000

If a murderer begging for forgiveness yesterday was difficult enough to watch, today’s Oprah featured chimp attack victim Charla Nash who…well….holy mother of god.

Earlier this year Charla Nash went to help a friend retrieve a set of keys from a chimpanzee who didn’t appreciate the attention. The chimpanzee named Travis ripped off Nash’s eyes, lips, nose, various parts of her scalp and parts of her jawbone.

Travis, who had appeared on television shows, was apparently suffering from Lyme Disease, well before Charla Nash’s friend killed him with a butchers knife to stop him attacking her.

Charla Nash appeared on Oprah wearing a hat with a veil across her face, and there’s a reason why: there’s not much left of it at all. In fact, she’s fortunate to be alive at all.

The Charla Nash picture after attack as follows. You’ll have to scroll down to see it, and we’ve put the gap in for a reason: it’s safe for work but not safe with food…or for anyone with a weak volition.

Update: see also Oprah chimp victim video.

Convicted Killer Eric Wrinkles Apologizes on Oprah

Duncan Riley — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:46:53 +0000

Convicted killer and death row inmate Eric Wrinkles made an appearance on Oprah today to apologize for what he had done.

Eric Wrinkles was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of his estranged wife, his brother in law, and his brother in law’s wife in 1994. Wrinkles claims that he was a meth addict and never intended to kill anyone, but now understands that what he did was wrong.

Eric Wrinkles’ nieces and nephew said on the show that they forgave him and didn’t want him to die, but other relatives appearing on the show naturally aren’t naturally quite as supportive of Wrinkles decision to publicly apologize.

Wrinkles is scheduled to be executed December 11, and has exhausted all grounds for appeal except seeking clemency from the State Governor.

The video isn’t available online yet, we’ll add it when we can.

Oprah Payless Coupon

Duncan Riley — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:01:21 +0000

Want some cheap shoes? well thanks to the Queen of daytime television, you can get 50% of with the Oprah Payless Coupon.

The coupon was presented on Oprah today during a session with Project Runway winner Christian Siriano. If you’re wondering why Siriano is relevant to the Oprah Payless Coupon, it turns out that Siriano has a new collection of shoes at Payless.

The coupon offers a neat 50% off Payless shoes at any Payless in the United States or Canada, and can be used up until the end of business Friday (October 30.)

To get your coupon, visit oprah.com/payless or text OPRAHSHOW to 242424 to receive your coupon by phone.

Corrine Gehrls Sues Oprah For Unfair Dismissal

Duncan Riley — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:28:07 +0000

Corrine Gehrls, a former flight attendant on Oprah’s private plane is suing the talkshow queen for unfair dismissal.

Gehris claims in her suit that she was dismissed from her role after she was accused of having sex with the plane’s pilot….while it was in flight. Gehris also claims that Oprah and the rest of her support crew were passed out at the time “following their ingestion of sleeping pills.”

Corrine Gehris doesn’t denying having sex with the pilot, only that she didn’t have sex with the pilot while the plane was in the air, but instead when it was on the ground. She notes that even if the allegation were true, no one was awake to witness it. She has also taken a polygraph test to support her claim.

Gehris also names fellow flight attendants Myron Gooch and Kirby Bumpus (goddaughter of Oprah) in the suit, and is seeking $75,000 in compensation

Jay-Z on Oprah (video)

Duncan Riley — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:32:37 +0000

Jay-Z was today’s guest on Oprah, and he wasn’t shy in offering an opinion or two on matters past and present.

Oprah asked (among other things) about Jay-Z’s drug-dealing past, his marriage to Beyonce and his relationship with his father. The bigger takeaway conversation though came around to matters Rihanna.

“It’s one of those situations where she’s young, they’re both young,” he said. ” … There’s a contention of young people who are going through the same things, and no one hears their voice. She can be their hero. Or she can choose not to grow from this.”

Jay-Z on Oprah video as follows:

Oprah, Free KFC….. Guess what happened next

Duncan Riley — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:13:40 +0000

As we reported yesterday, Oprah and KFC teamed up to promote KFC’s new “Kentucky Grilled Chicken” product with a free coupon offering “two pieces of grilled chicken, two individual sides and a biscuit.” Offering free food at any time is going to be popular, but during a recession you know that demand will be even higher again. So you can probably take a guess at what happened next.

The difficulty is to know where to start. The short version: riots, racial abuse, pandemonium, a near complete breakdown of KFC’s entire supply chain, and some KFC stores simply refusing to honor the coupons.

The reports of a riot (or small riot or near riot depending on the report) come from New York, where customers where told that one KFC outlet in Manhattan would not accept the coupon, despite many customers having queued for hours. Another Manhattan KFC store ran out of chicken, resulting in reports of racial abuse and police being called. Other stores in the area had “sit-ins” with customers refusing to leave until they had received their free chicken.

According to a report at Business Insider, the entire supply chain for KFC is on the verge of breaking down, with the company scrambling to find more chicken. The report claims that KFC will run out of chicken by Saturday.

Other reports from across the United States say that a significant number of KFC stores are refusing to accept the coupon. KFC stores are primarily franchise operations, so although head office has a strong say in promotions, local owners operate each store.

And of course, we can’t finish without mentioning the “Oprah backlash” from vegetarians and animal rights groups. According to the LA Times, “they” are saying that Oprah is hypocritical, particularly since Oprah has tried to shed a spotlight on farm animal cruelty — a spotlight that helped lead PETA to award her its “Person of the Year” honors.

A spokeswoman said that Oprah’s intent with the promotion was to give families a financial break during these tough economic times.

What value do famous names bring to Twitter?

Steven Hodson — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:42:49 +0000

Even though it wasn’t really that long ago the recent race between Aston Kutcher and CNN for the first million followers has pretty much passed on to being nothing more than Twitter lore now. From Twitter’s point of view though it could do with as many of those kind of stories as possible. That is because Twitter needs to keep itself out there in front of the mainstream folks.

They need the Oprah’s and Ellen’s joining and pushing their fans to join. For Twitter numbers are their lifeblood and the only thing that adds any value to the company. For the users though one has to really wonder what value all these famous names are really adding to the service.

Whether or not Twitter likes to admit it or not it is still part of the larger Web ecosphere and because of that it still needs to rely on the link economy that drives other things like blogs and makes them popular, and in some cases profitable. The link economy is an integral part of the Web. It is in many ways the lifeblood that keeps the Web growing.

As much as Twitter might like the press that people like Kutcher, Oprah, and other ‘famous’ people bring to the service does their link juice have the same traffic promotion as people who have worked to build up real communities on Twitter?

This was a question that Chris Pirillo asked in a post yesterday and the answer may surprise you

You know we had to discuss Twitter, and the whole Ashton Kutcher trying to get to one million. He didn’t send as much flow as I thought he would have with as many followers as he has. Ashton linked to a video of mine, and I was shocked to find out that I didn’t get much flowback from that. I see people who have a large amount of followers, but have no flow like that. They don’t get clicks, or re-tweets. But with our community, they’re just crazy about sending things out, clicking on links I share, and re-tweeting things they find impressive or interesting.

Now there isn’t anyone out there in the tech ecosphere who works harder at community building than Chris. He is always trying new and interesting things which only seems to increase the community that has developed around him. So if he finds that these so-called famous people aren’t adding anything of real value to his community I would suggest that this could pretty well apply to all of us.

Famous people aren’t going to make your community any better than what it is and time spent trying to curry their attention would be better spent on building what you already. As Chris says

This goes to show that it’s not about the number of followers you have. It has to do with your gravitational pull, so to speak. It has to do with how much weight you pull. I work very hard to make sure that what I say has relevance (for the most part), and that I post something that is valid and interesting that will add value to my Twitter stream… and to my follower’s streams, as well.

Consider it this way – you are already famous. You are famous to the people who make up your community so make them feel like their efforts are worth something. Let them know they are important to you. don’t worry about the famous people they’ll fade away when this stuff isn’t fun any more but your community will always be there.

Oprah offers free KFC meal, not long now until PETA goes mental

Duncan Riley — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:55:46 +0000

Oprah is about to become PETA public enemy number one, with a promotion on her show today for free food from KFC.

The offer, open to Oprah viewers in the United States, offers “two pieces of grilled chicken, two individual sides and a biscuit” at any KFC store on presentation of a voucher available via www.oprah.com/kfc. KFC has is promoting its new “Kentucky Grilled Chicken” product, which is claimed to be healthier than normal KFC chicken

To obtain a free meal, coupons must printed today before 11:00 PM US Eastern Time. Users can print a maximum of three coupons that must be used before May 19, however the rules say one coupon per person only (so go to three outlets, or share among family members.)

Any promotion of KFC always has one given: PETA will go mental. There’s nothing on PETA’s website yet, but you can already guess what the formal response will be.

Oprah, Insurance Company in battle over use of the term “Aha Moment”

Duncan Riley — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:42:44 +0000

Oprah and a Nebraska Insurance company have become embroiled in a legal dispute over the use of the term “Aha Monent.”

After receiving a cease and desist over its “official sponsors of the Aha Moment” campaign, Mutual of Omaha has filed a lawsuit against Harpo Productions (Oprah’s production company) to protect its right to use the terms in advertising. This is where it gets strange: Harpo claims to own a trademark on “AHA! Moment,” yet Mutual of Omaha successfully registered the full slogan “official sponsors of the Aha Moment” as a trademark in February. Mutual of Omaha claims that because no one opposed their trademark application, they now have the rights to use the term.

Lawyers representing Oprah claim that the Mutual of Omaha campaign may lead fans to be misled into thinking Oprah was affiliated with the company, which is not an unreasonable contention, after all, “official sponsors of the Aha Moment” would suggests just that. Besides: why use the phrase at all if it wasn’t an attempt to cash in on Oprah; sure, Aha Moment might be common use, but “official sponsor of?” That’s trademark trolling at its worst.

Harpo said in a statment that they hope to reach an amicable resolution on this issue.

Oprah on Twitter: This Is What We Were Waiting For?

JR — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:58:28 +0000

The blogosphere was a-buzzin’ all day yesterday about Twitter’s mysterious “big news,” cryptically mentioned in a tweet by founder Evan Williams. “Tomorrow just became a very big day,” Williams wrote. What could it be? What was this monumental occurrence? WE MUST KNOW!

The shocker, it turns out, was just as a certain Robert Scoble suspected: Oprah was sending her first tweet. Holy. F’n. Crap. It’s even more exciting than we could ever have imagined.

Oprah on Twitter: The Cult of Caps Lock

Just to be clear, yes, I was being completely sarcastic there. I realize that Oprah has a cult-like following of devoted fans, and that’s fine — but, as my cohort Steven Hodson pointed out a few days ago, numbers do not always equal quality when it comes to the world of social media. In fact, they often seem to equal just the opposite.

Not to take anything away from Oprah — her work clearly strikes a chord with plenty of people, and that’s great. But I think the debut of her account on Twitter can reaffirm something I hope we can now all admit: Being a celebrity does not automatically make you an interesting Twitter user.

Take, for example, Oprah’s magical moment, which tens of thousands of Twitterers had signed up and eagerly waited to see:

HI TWITTERS . THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY .

Riveting.

The Social Media Hierarchy

The “queen of all media” isn’t the only royalty to just discover social media. Howard Stern, the self-declared “king of all media” made the leap himself earlier this month. Stern’s Twitter presence has proven to be equally compelling, with updates such as “Robin is doing the news” and “I’m just staring at the back of Ronnie’s head.”

Then you’ve got Mister One Million himself, the great Ashton Kutcher (or, as he’s known on Twitter, aplusk). Kutcher may have reached a million followers this week, but come on — is his stream of updates really that interesting? If he weren’t Ashton Kutcher, would anyone care? (See CNET’s post: “How to Unfollow Ashton Kutcher“)

Look, I’m not out to knock these people’s thoughts or their takes on what Twitter’s all about. All I’m saying is that having a famous face and a famous name doesn’t necessarily mean your every thought is earth-shattering. I’ve looked at Ashton Kutcher. I’ve looked at Howard Stern. And in the end, I’ve found far more interesting and engaging interactions with users whose names and faces few people know — and, most magical of all, those people actually interact back with me, too.

Social media as a two-way road. How novel.

I better go tell my Twitter friend MC Hammer.

Star Jones talks weight loss with Oprah

Duncan Riley — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:11:45 +0000

Former The View co-host Star Jones sat down with Oprah today to talk about her weight loss.

Jones’ weight loss previously gained widespread attention after she led people to believe that she had achieved weight loss success
on her own, where as she had actually undergone gastric banding surgery. The deceit ultimately culminated with her losing her job on The View.

“I was ashamed…That’s the word that is actually the real word. I was ashamed that I couldn’t control my weight, that I was an addict for all practical purposes, that I had never stuck to a real diet, that I had never stuck to a real exercise program” Jones told Oprah.

She also disclosed for the first time that her Doctor had told her she would die if she didn’t lose the weight.

Despite losing 160 pounds (73kg), Jones says that she still feels like a 300 pound (136kg) woman, and that the surgery was the hardest experience of her entire life.

The showed aired earlier today. Here’s the teaser trailer:

Oprah warns Rihanna: Chris Brown will hit you again

Duncan Riley — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:56:39 +0000

Oprah Winfrey chimed in Friday on the Chris Brown/ Rihanna beating scandal, warning Rihanna that “he will hit you again.”
.
“Love doesn’t hurt,” Winfrey said on the show, while announcing she would dedicate a program next week to discussing domestic violence. “I want to do a show about it, dedicated to all the Rihannas of the world.”

Winfrey continued: “If a man hits you once, he will hit you again. He will hit you again.”

Here’s the full panel discussion video:

Jill Biden Oprah Video

Duncan Riley — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 03:24:02 +0000

Jill Biden, wife of soon to be sworn in Vice President Joe Biden let a little secret out of the bag on Oprah earlier today: Joe was offered Secretary of State along with his Vice Presidential position.

“Joe had the choice to be secretary of state or vice president,” she said. Her husband turned to his wife with his finger to his lips and a “Shhhh!” that sent the audience into laughter. “OK, he did,” Jill Biden said in her defense.

The vice president-elect blushed, grimaced and gave his wife a hug while the audience continued to erupt in laughter. “That’s right,” he finally said to his wife. “Go ahead.”

Mrs. Biden said she told him vice president would be better for the family.

“If you’re secretary of state, you’ll be away, we’ll never see you, you know,” she said. “I’ll see you at a state dinner once in a while.”

Here’s the Jill Biden Oprah video:

Oprah was a Crack Fiend: Dying Ex

Duncan Riley — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 12:00:09 +0000

Talk show queen Oprah has confessed previously to taking cocaine when she was younger, but an allegation from her ex claims she was a crack fiend who got him hooked.

The National Enquirer reports on a new book from Oprah’s ex-lover Randolph Cook titled The Wizard of O: My Life With Oprah

” … the talk queen resumed her cocaine habit during their secret affair which began in 1984. Cook, 51, also claims the media mogul taught him how to smoke crack cocaine, and the two “freebased” the drug regularly during their passionate six-month romance and the talk show titan “was still under the influence while doing her show.”

Cook recently has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and with only two years to live he blames Oprah for his problems and wants his story told. And court papers back up Cook’s shocking drug allegations about Oprah!”

Still, on the bright said she’s prove evident that you can recover.

Oprah Thinks That Kate Winslet’s Breasts Are A-OK

Meieli Sawyer — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:32:29 +0000

Oprah Winfrey talked allll about breasts yesterday when Kate Winslet was a guest on her show, spurred on by Winslet’s, shall we say, “natural appeal.” Winslet, fresh from winning two Golden Globes, made an appearance on Tuesday afternoon, where Oprah quickly addressed what we really wanted to talked about: The Reader’s many love scenes, and a certain someone’s breasts in said scenes.

“You went farther than my imagination,” Oprah commented. “I love that you have real breasts. Your breasts do what real breasts do!” This finished up with the usual real vs. fake comparison and a high five, as well as Oprah’s final comment of “God bless your real breasts!”

Suze Orman’s 2009 Financial Action Plan Free Download at Oprah.com

Duncan Riley — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:29:27 +0000

We’re usually not ones to promote America’s best known talk show host, but we also like free stuff.

Oprah.com is offering Suze Orman’s 2009 Financial Action Plan as a free download; the printed version sells on Amazon for $9.99.

Here’s the spiel on the book, and you can get your copy at www.oprah.com/download

“2009: The Year You Can’t Afford to Make Any Mistakes with Your Money. The credit crunch, the stock market freefall, the staggering toll of home foreclosures and job losses: The economic crisis that struck in 2008 has left no one untouched and everybody reeling. Seemingly overnight, the financial landscape has undergone seismic changes that suddenly have you asking all kinds of questions: Are your savings safe? Should you continue to invest in your retirement account? Should you keep your home if it-s worth less than what you owe or should you sell it? How do you pay your bills if you-ve just been laid off? The nation-s go-to expert on financial matters, Suze Orman, believes that 2009 is a critical year for your money. There are safeguards to put in place, actions to take, costly mistakes to avoid, and even opportunities to be had, so that you are protected during the bad times and prepared to prosper when things take a turn for the better. No matter what situation you-re in, you will find a plan of action and the answers to your questions about: * Credit * Retirement *Savings and Spending*Real Estate *Paying for College* Protecting Your Family

Brad Pitt on Oprah: Shiloh wants to be called John

Duncan Riley — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:51:48 +0000

Brad Pitt will appear in a pre-recorded interview on Oprah tomorrow (November 19) and some of the interview has been released.

On the fun side Pitt tells Oprah that his daughter Shiloh wants to change her name to ‘John.’

“She only wants to be called John. John or Peter. So it’s a Peter Pan thing. So we’ve got to call her John. ‘Shi, do you want …’ – ‘John. I’m John.’ And then I’ll say, ‘John, would you like some orange juice?’ And she goes, ‘No!’ So, you know, it’s just that kind of stuff that’s cute to parents, and it’s probably really obnoxious to other people.”

On child raising, Pitt praises partner Angelina Jolie for keeping the kids in check: “Angie’s militant about it. She’s right on top of it. Thank God, because I’m always forgetting something.”

Video from part of the interview as follows:

(image Harpo Productions via The Insider)