Oprah is my new hero

I haven't seen the show. But from all accounts I've read, Oprah Winfrey apparently made like an Abu Ghraib interrogator on James Frey and got the little bitch to confess to lying, straight up. Not only that, he admitted that The Smoking Gun report on his "memoir" was accurate and that the reporters "did a good job." This, after his lawyer had threatened to sue them.

(Aside: Remember what I said about threats to sue. Next time you see anything like it in any news story, assume that the party "threatening to sue" is guilty of whatever they're alleged to have done.)

My favorite graf from the AP account:

Winfrey, whose apparent indifference to the memoir’s accuracy led to intense criticism, including angry e-mails on her Web site, subjected Frey to a virtual page-by-page interrogation. No longer, as she did last week, was she saying that emotional truth mattered more than the facts. “Mr. Bravado Tough Guy,” she mockingly called the author whose book she had enshrined last fall and whose reputation she had saved last week.

You go, Ms. Winfrey.

Maybe I should give Frey some credit for finally fessing up, and on national television, no less. But I don't think so. This comes only after weeks of either silence or utter bullshit from him and his publisher. Only when Oprah finally dragged him back onto her show -- probably by threatening to revoke her endorsement of his book otherwise -- did he give it up.

(Aside: Frey's site, bigjimindustries.com, wasn't password-protected as of a couple weeks ago, when I went looking to see what he had to say. Interesting.)

Oprah, on the other hand ... wow. It's not a small thing to weigh the evidence, consider the facts and decide that your earlier position on an issue was incorrect -- and then publicly admit that you were wrong. That takes a big person. Just consider how often it happens in Washington.

Really a stunning turn of events. I saw a promo last night for Oprah's show today where she said she'd be talking to James Frey and his publisher again. I figured, more apologists massaging the fuckhead's ego. I wonder if he was as surprised as I was to find out exactly how the conversation would go.

And from what I've read, Oprah asked really good questions. I mean, if this whole talk-show thing doesn't work out for her, I think she has a future in investigative reporting:

"We asked if you, your company, stood behind James's book as a work of nonfiction at the time, and they said absolutely," Ms. Winfrey said (to Nan Talese, Frey's publisher). "And they were also asked if their legal department had checked out the book, and they said yes. So in a press release sent out for the book in 2004 by your company, the book was described as brutally honest and an altering look at — at addiction. So how can you say that if you haven't checked it to be sure?"

Ms. Talese replied (according to the New York Times) that while the Random House legal department checks nonfiction books to make sure that no one is defamed or libeled, it does not check the truth of the assertions made in a book.

Ms. Winfrey replied, "Well, that needs to change."

So that's a nice denouement for this whole sorry episode. Unfortunately, I suspect this will only result in more book sales for Frey, and more fabricated "memoirs" from the publishing world.

Although the AP reports that Frey's publisher is now hanging him out to dry...

Frey’s career will likely never recover, although so far he has not suffered for sales. His book, a million seller thanks to Winfrey, remained in the top 5 Thursday on Amazon.com. A second memoir, “My Friend Leonard,” was in the top 20.

He must still answer to his current publisher, Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA. In a statement Thursday, the publisher said there “very serious issues” with “My Friend Leonard,” which refers to the jail term he never served, and “we are treating them that way.” Regarding his recent two-book deal, Riverhead said, “The ground has shifted. It’s under discussion.” A novel is scheduled to come out in 2007.