IS OPRAH A HYPOCRITE?
THE FACTS
After Oprah Winfrey allowed BeBe Winans onto her program, his alleged victim accuses the talk show host of setting a double standard.
THE SPIN
When Chris Brown beat Rihanna, Oprah made it clear on her domestic violence themed episode about the ordeal whose side she was on.
This spawned an outcry from Chris Brown, who claimed Oprah “could’ve done more for him” and pushed for both he and Rihanna to seek help.
Some dismissed Brown’s claims given he in fact is not a victim. However, now that Oprah has allowed BeBe Winans onto her show recently, his alleged victim has joined Chris Brown in feeling betrayed.
Debra Winans accused her ex-husband of shoving her to the ground in front of their children back in February – right around the time of Chris Brown’s incident with Rihanna.
Yet on Friday, BeBe appeared on Oprah to promote his new gospel album.
As a result, Debra Winans told TMZ that she’s “hurt by Oprah’s decision to have Bebe on the show” — especially after she refused to have Chris Brown on her show.
YOUR SPIN: Is Oprah being a hypocrite? Tell us here.
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(*The views contained herein are solely the views of their respective authors, and do not express the views of TV One. TV One does not take responsibility for their content.)
WOW! I didn’t know that about BeBe! Hope he got some help for his issues if that’s true.
As for Oprah, it is rather hypocrite that she wouldn’t have Chris Brown on her show yet allows BeBe Winans on the show.
While I do conceed that its her show and she can do what she wants, it does send a bad message! Perhaps there is more to the story than we know. I hope so because otherwise it would be hypocritcal of her.
Yeah alot of people did not hear about this one cause they was busy harping all over chris.Listen this whole domestic abuse is serious & Oprah should have used her show to show all ages of abuse.No she shold have not let him on her show but since she is best freinds with the family it’s no surprise.
Oprah at times seem to feel she is the voice for Black People. She could have used the Chris Brown situation to help a lot of people, but as always she pick and choose who she help. I am really getting tired of Oprah.
She had Mike Tyson on her show and not Chris Brown?
I do like Oprah. But she and no one has the right to down or belittle anyone. Chris is young. A whole lot of people have troubles and that’s life. We can’t judge people by our experiences in life because we all have different situations. I was not there nor Oprah with Chris and Rihanna. Be sides Oprah is not GOD. He has the last say so. He forgives us all.
I don’t think Oprah is being hypocrite by having Bebe Winans on the show. I think she’s staying out of grown folks business i.e. a divorced couple with children as opposed to a young dating couple.
Of course, she is a A-1 hypocrite. She’s having BeBe on and she recently had Mike Tyson on her show. Chris B called her on this bs a while back and many sites, like TV One, responded as if Oprah is above and beyond reproach.
Like CB said, Oprah could have produced a show about the issues of DV without making he and Rihanna the headline/poster boy and girl. Adding insult to injury, she then interviewed 3 serial abusers as if they were somehow similar in comparison.
I remember this happening around the same time as the CB/RiRi incident and wondering, “Where is all the outcry?”
Oprah is definetely a hypocrite, the abuse has been happening for a while to Debra Winans and she has spoken out about it in the past, and she also had Mike Tyson on the show recently, while it is her show, I think she jumped on the bandwagon with the CB and Rihanna thing, I agree she could have used that as an opportunity but instead she chose to capitalize on it since she knew her audience would want to see that. She really needs to check herself sometimes and she does not speak for all Black people, in fact she holds back alot of views that Black people hold because she is afraid to lose her audience, she is playing the game just like the rest of em!
If Oprah kept off of her show everyone who had a questionable incident in their past she hardly have any guest.
Now I do agree that there has been a double standard in the way Bebe Winans incident has been covered by the media. Not just Oprah. Now when a so called man of faith commits crime I think they are the ones who are hypocrites.
Personally I think we have put too much on Oprah. She has an audience to cater to. Which ain’t necessarily Black folks. I think we as black men need someone who will cover issues from our perspective. Someone who would interview Chris Brown and Bebe Winanns. That ain’t gonna happen on daytime network TV.
Sure Oprah showed her loyality side, and that wasn’t just to her audience, it was to her friend BeBe Winans…I don’t think all the nastyness given to Chris Brown is necessary, while, I would never approve of what he did, I ask myself as a woman and mother, “What happen?” because my mother always told me “do hit unless your prepared to be hit”. I await to hear the otherside before depriving a young man of a career; there are far to many others, such as BeBe and Mike, whom seem to move on with the careers without such an outcry for their head.
Sorry typing error: what my mother said was “don’t hit until your prepared to be hit”
shockazulu,YOU ARE ONE OF THE MAIN STUPID HYPOCRITE.
I don’t know if Oprah’s being a hyprocrite, I find her to be looking for what will bring more to her ratings. Hearing about a man that is suppose to be a Godly man beating his wife or a rap star beating his girlfriend?
Mar,
I agree completely. Couldn’t have said it better.
BTW, abuse is abuse whether it’s “grown folks” or if it’s “a young dating couple.” If you’re against domestic violence, it needs to be in all it’s forms, irrespective of age, relationship status, or gender.
AP
CHAZ,
Thanks for your insight. BTW, you never answered my question of what’s the date that you snagged Prince to sing at your and Daniel’s wedding?
AP
Hi Karen C. How are you?
I, too, am not sure about Oprah being a hypocrite either. Still, I do find it funny that she condemns Chris Brown yet has BeBe Winans on her show who, from everything I’ve read, has an even longer history of domestic violence.
And I agree with AP, domestic violence should never be tolerated regardless of age, status or even gender.
I am not going to say she is a hypocrite because I’m not a perfect person.
I can say that what she is doing by being selctive is about keeping her audience intact and her relationships in the “inner circle” fully intact.
Let’’s see the forest for the trees folks…this is Oprah and her business and like Bobby Brown would say, “it’s her perogative!”
Someone needs to check both her and Gayle for pretending to be down with Blackness…when what they are really promoting is a “universal twisted view of what their world involves….it’s their reality and it just happens to connect with her viewership!
I stop watching Oprah a long time ago, back when she said whe wasn’t doing any more stories involving ‘drama’ (baby momma, he slept around) now I don’t care for that nonsense either, but the last show I watched and it was something like that, she then got audience questions and this white woman stood up and said, “I thought you weren’t doing shows like this anymore”. Instead of her announcing that the show is called Oprah and it was her show to do what she wanted….she just kissed her butt with, “well I know what I said, but this is the last show like this”. From then on, Oprah stands for white women only. When she feels as if she has abandon us, black folk, she does a movie without makeup and speaks “like a slave from the plantation”. So I am happy she made her money, but do not like the sellout material she has become.
To Themisses, I completely agree with you! we are definetely not the audience that she is in touch with, while I know she has to reach a wider audience her subjects are not intersting to me at all but Monique! now thats a whole different talk show! love it, very thoughtful fun to watch! check it out sometime!
Never really been an Oprah fan…I like Tyra better.
Oprah and a whole lot of us that come into loot come to loving white only,because our own start to hate on us and turn away from us when we become successful. It is what it is about Blacks/African Americans.
I heard Christopher (from Kid/Play) say that “beige is the new Black” I was so offended by that, because black is beautiful regardless to what flavor we come in.
For us ( Black/African Americans) to be attacking Oprah on her Blackness to me is nonsense. We are to love our African in us for better or worse regardless of what status where at. Not saying that we should hate others that are non African.
I was talking to a young brother about traveling and seeing other places in the world and experiencing different cultures and one of the places he mentioned he wanted to go outside of America was Japan. That bothered me. I ask him why not Africa? We have this negative and ugly outlook of who we are that we rather worship and glorify others and except their cultures as being more superior then our own. We have so much more to know about where we came from first before we are able to deal with the rest of the world. Until we get there we can be more respected and look at more in a positive light.
I don’t want to learn spanish or french or any language foreign language from the European culture. I’m more interested in learning Arabic, Swahili and Yoruba those are the languages and tongues of the motherland, and I would love for my children as well to learn them. We as Black/African American got a long long way to go.
What I’m saying is that we should support Oprah Show regardless, if she is selective of who she has as a guest on her show. More blacks should be a part of her audience and instead of us straying away we should stay in tune and we can all rise together as a people.
I love Oprah and support her in every way and I’m a poor struggling black woman. My answer is “NO” Oprah is not a hypocrite.
P.S.
Forgive my grammer and spelling I was very tired and too lazy to use spell check.
OPRAH DID NOT GET THE FACTS BEFORE SHE DID THE SHOW, I FEEL SHE COULD HAVE BEEN A MENTOR FOR CHRIS AND RIRI!!! SOME OF OPRAH’S SHOWS HAVE A PERSON THINKING DUH, DUH DUH!!!!!
Karen C., this is probably the first thing we disagree on. I do think Oprah is being two-faced in having BeBe Winans (and worse Mike Tyson) on her show yet refused to have Chris Brown. I also think she does cater to a white audience (particularly white women). That one that asked “I thought you wasn’t doing this type of show anymore?”, she should’ve told her that its her show and she can do what she wants.
Still, you do have a point about blacks in America. Despite having African roots, some of us will deny them quicker than anything. I know some that if you even say they are African, they’ll be ready to fight you and even say “I ain’t from no Africa!”
It is sad indeed. Furthermore, as you said, if we want things on shows like Oprah to change, then we have to be more involved and more vocal.
Agreed Lynette and if she was truely a “friend” as he was under the impression she was, O could have spoken to him and Ri like a grown woman. At least talk to the people involved before plastering a half-assed story seeing as it was a on-going case, all over her show. Basically he called her on being a gossiping old hag instead of acting like a grown mature journalist. I expect crap like that from TMZ, Perez Hilton, media takeout, Gail King etc…not from O. What she did was exploit these young people for ratings.
I find that a little disappointing in O she is to report issue and not have the double standard and isn’t it a little odd now that CB is trying to get his life back together on Rhianna want to speak out. I think Jay Z is just as guilty (if true) for threathening to pull out of show if CB performs. He has cheated on different women and that is abuse just a different form EMOTIONALLY.
Oprah damn sure is a hypocrite. She jumped on white America’s bandwagon and judged Chris Brown before he was formally charged, which wasn’t until a little over a month later. She could of at least let him have his day in court. If she is so against domestic violence then why have the other ones on her show? Something that I never hear anybody talk about is where was Oprah, and all of white america, the radio stations, and everybody who pointed judgement at Chris when Tommy Lee beat the hell out of Pamela Anderson. When it happens in their community its like we don’t care but if it’s us we join in and judge and point fingers and make jokes about something so serious, instead of banning together and trying to figure out how to solve the problem from its core so we can recede those statistic numbers instead of adding on. For Oprah to be a woman born and raised in the church it seems so funny to me that she tells Chris that he can’t change when we all know that god changes everything. We praise the word of Oprah who is nothing but man on earth. Her word means nothing over god’s words. She needs to realize all those young kids that watched her show that day and was listening , when she was pointing her finger at Chris telling him that he would never change, that she was talking to them as well. The ones just like Chris or even worse the ones who will pick up a gun and shoot for anything. That’s why they’re so violent, people telling them exactly as she did that they can’t change or they are not nothing. People praise God but when something like this happens we forget about him and join in with everybody else. Tommy Lee gets to live his life as he always did and he was way older than Chris. Domestic violence is of all ages not just the young. That is where the young see it most, in the older ones. I’m pretty sure murder is as worse in the black community than that and I never see her going down to the hoods of America and interviewing some of those hurt and devastated families of all the black men(young mostly)who are dying way too soon. It seem like there is no voice for young black men. Where are all the beatened and battered shelters for them, like there are everywhere for women. They are beatened and battered also. They say every 30 seconds in the world a man is being beat by his woman. Tyra did a show on it a couple of weeks ago(finally). They need somewhere to go to see that people do care, and not just domestic violence for anything they are going through, it always seems like a one sided situation. We don’t have the black leaders of today like we did of yesterday. Martin Luther King Jr. would of prayed over Chris and Rihanna and walked hand in hand with them along side of all those beautiful black people that followed him and marched with him for miles and miles and stood up to white America instead of joining with them to pull a young man down who is trying to move on with his life. It seems like the more he tries us blacks and whites pull him back. I pray for the both of them and wished them nothing but blessings, in which we all are supposed to do, to send blessings not judgement and hate.
Hey Ree, I saw that eppy where Tyra talked about men being abused by women instead of the usual! I was like “FINALLY, SOMEBODY IS ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT THIS!”
Oprah is a grown woman and the show is called Oprah which means she can do whatever the heck she wants. Did Chris ask to be back on Oprah or did he say she could have supported him more? Oprah and BeBe are friends. She is a human being. Who crowned her the queen of all things fair and equal? She is not GOD…that’s the problem…people seem to think that she is. Oprah is a power player and at the end of the day it’s about business. She would probably get more flack for supporting Chris because he didn’t just push someone to the ground. There were pictures of Chris’ victim black and blue posted everywhere. I still like Chris because I understand that young people make mistakes but let’s keep it real.
I feel that oprah should have addressed the issue regarding the domestic violence since she is so adamantly against it. Also, It isn’t right that she would let him come onto her show knowing the situation to promote a of all things.. a Gospel album!!! If that isn’t a double standard, then i don’t know what is.
I guess Oprah listens to the critics, she has now pulled BeBe from her show based on all of the negative blogging about this matter. Hypocritically indeed, it shouldn’t matter who the abusee is- wrong is wrong. Oprah should of known better, but that’s Oprah for ya!!
Oprah kiss white folks “rear-end” too much for me.Be black or get off the pot.
for the record Oprah did after the outcry from the ex wife etc.. did remove BeBe from the show… However this is not a case of practicing a double standard and I’ll tell you why. Chris blatently beat Rihanna’s ass, flat out no doubt about it. BeBe has allegedly done this act of spousal abuse but it has not be proven and or disproven at this point. Alleged being the key word. People lie every day, it wouldn’t be the first nor the last
I think that Oprah has selective
memory when it comes to abuse. Bebe
was not covicted yet.
i think oprah is becoming a hypocrite not only with the domestic violence thing but also how she said she would never have luda on her show because of the ehings he says in his raps but yet she is all up in jigga’s face and going to the projects and he calls females out their names too. I just wish she would think about things a lil more b4 she says them because people are listening and watching black and white people.
One of the reason that Oprah as a show, is so that she can show the things that she wants to show. I don’t see anything wrong with her response to Chris Brown, or her choice to allow Bebe on her show. Oprah does not claim to be judge and jury. She is like any other human being. She has her own opinion. Bebe will face his sins. Karma is a #iotch!
Anyone who thinks that Oprah is the voice of/for our people is wrong. She hasn’t been black for years. When she first started her show years ago I like most blacks thought that we would have someone with our agenda at heart and like the rest I was fooled. To think that Oprah is not a hypocrite would be like saying water is not wet. She picks her subjects based on ratings and wanting to continue being the queen of talk shows. Oprah is the perfect example of what fame & money has done to alot of our people. Besides she only bring black men on her show to help out the negative stereotype in which all other races see us as. My one comment for her would be to remember what happens to our people when we get to big and to white(OJ Simpson, Michael Jackson etc…)!
SO, kevin f IF IT WAS YOU kevin AND YOU WAS IN OPRAH SHOES,I BET THAT YOU WOULD LOVE TO HAVE ALL OF OPRAH’S MONEY.kevin YOU ARE ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A PUNK THAT PUTS DOWN GOOD BLACK WOMEN LIKE OPRAH,TYRA,AND MONIQUE ALL PUT TOGETHER.kevin I’M PRETTY SURE YOU DON’T AND NEVER HAVE DONE ANYTHING IN A POSITIVE LIGHT TO PUT SMILES ON ANY BLACK WOMEN YOU EVER MET IN YOUR LIFE TIME.kevin YOU MIGHT HAVE 5 OR 6 KIDS BY DIFFERENT WOMEN,PLUS THESE WOMEN ARE BRINGING CHILD SUPPORT AGAINST YOU PUNK kevin.YEA,THIS IS A REAL MAN TYPING I’M DANIEL YEA, kevin YOU KNOW THAT I’M MEXICAN GUY.SO kevin YOU NEED TO GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.NUMBER 1 MICHAEL JACKSON DIDN’T TURN WHITE,MICHAEL HAD THAT SKIN PROBLEM. NUMBER 2 kevin YOU WOULD CHANGE TO IF YOU GOT RICH,SO YOU NEED TO GET OFF OF OPRAH’S CASE.NUMBER 3 THERE IS A POOR,PATHETIC,BLACK WOMEN ON HERE NAMED karen c. kevin karen c. HAS SAID THAT SHE IS A POOR WOMEN.A SORRY PUNK LIKE YOU kevin SHOULD DO SOMETHING TO GET karen c. SOME COUNSLING CAUSE karen c. IS A EVIL MONSTER,YEA, kevin YOU FIT IN WITH THE REST OF THE EVIL,JEALOUS,MONSTERS THAT ATTACKS GOOD WOMEN LIKE OPRAH AND MONIQUE.kevin YOU ARE MAD CAUSE YOU ARE NOT A REAL MAN.NUMBER 2 kevin YOU ARE MAD CAUSE OPRAH,MONQUE,TYRA,PLUS US MEXICANS HAVE OUT DONE YOU PATHETIC kevin AND PATHETIC karen c. JEALOUSY IS REAL BAD FOR ALOT OF YA’LL SILLY MONSTERS.