I used to love Oprah. I always took her little packages as gospel. I never even thought to question whether Oprah might be intentionally misleading me. And then I watched her town hall with Kamala Harris last night and it dawned on me: She is not a reporter. She is a propagandist trying to shove messaging down my throat about whatever she believes, not what is real.
Recent Work
Let’s just take a look back at the last few years. Remember when she did that ‘factual’ interview back in 2019 after the HBO ‘documentary’ of Michael Jackson that was so dishonest? She did not raise any of the serious and compromising facts with those accusers when she had them right there. Maybe they were telling the truth, maybe they were not. But as a journalist, you have to at least ask.
She then sat down with Meghan Markle in 2021, and that was another propaganda fest where she didn’t even try to pretend to be a journalist. She did not press any of her claims of racism in the Royal Family.
That all led to the debacle last night, which was the ultimate culmination of her journalistic fails. She had the potential next president of the United States in front of her and not only did she not ask her hard questions but the whole thing was an attempt to rehab and repackage her.
Out of the Loop?
What was clear from the way she handled Kamala Harris and the questions is that Oprah is no longer in the business of staying up on the news. I bet she didn’t even watch the ABC News debate. If she had, she would have known she was not making any news prodding Harris to answer the question about the border bill. She has already said she would sign it.
Instead, Oprah was undoubtedly reading from the blue cards her staff gave her. That is how The Oprah Winfrey Show was shot. Oprah didn’t have to think of her own questions. I have spoken with her executive producers over the years and there was no ad lib. It was all in the teleprompter or on blue cards for Oprah.
‘It’s So Over’
The ‘Oprah effect’ is done. It’s so over. It worked when it was genuine. When she first hit the scene in the 1980s with the launch of her national talk show, she was electric, interesting, and authentic. I miss that Oprah. She was genuine.
What we are getting these days is this cleansed, elite billionaire version who wants to scrub the record of facts. It used to work for her to go out there and holler and force enthusiasm.
Television was different. You could take that kind of behavior in your living room. It wasn’t quite as jarring.
I had such a different experience watching her last night. I was like, what is she doing? This feels affected and forced, and it is making me uncomfortable. It felt off given the way we talk to one another and present the news in 2024 America. We do it via podcasts and in more intimate settings where we have long-form discussions and we give people time to talk.
The days of Oprah are over.
You can check out Megyn’s full analysis by tuning in to episode 895 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.