Something Wasn’t Wright

[Little Star]

Why Oprah Winfrey left Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church.

By Allison Samuels | NEWSWEEK
May 12, 2008 Issue

Pray Tell: Winfrey left the church for good in the '90s
<snip>
According to two sources, Winfrey was never comfortable with the tone of Wright's more incendiary sermons, which she knew had the power to damage her standing as America's favorite daytime talk-show host. "Oprah is a businesswoman, first and foremost," said one longtime friend, who requested anonymity when discussing Winfrey's personal sentiments. "She's always been aware that her audience is very mainstream, and doing anything to offend them just wouldn't be smart. She's been around black churches all her life, so Reverend Wright's anger-filled message didn't surprise her. But it just wasn't what she was looking for in a church." Oprah's decision to distance herself came as a surprise to Wright, who told Christianity Today in 2002 that when he would "run into her socially … she would say, 'Here's my pastor!' " (Winfrey declined to comment. A Harpo Productions spokesperson would not confirm her reasons for leaving the church.)
<snip>
http://www.newsweek.com/id/135392

[MercutioATC]

1. O.K....so Oprah based her choice of spritual leader on marketing.

This means exactly what?

[genna]

2. What is the writer's point?

Bill Clinton made a reference to his boxers during the 1992 campaign and was labeled unseemly because of it. Trite but true.

Journalists as a whole characterize Wright as a hate monger of sorts as offensive as David Duke. They also separate the body politic of Trinity UCC from other black churches of the same stripe. They trot out black ministers who may disagree with Wright and get offended when most black ministers won't.

Their litmus test is do you or do you not agree that Wright is a hate monger. When they hear no, they stop listening.

Now they go to Oprah and ask her about it.

If they don't like the answer they are getting, why don't they try to find out what is going on in black church at large?

This feels alot like OJ. If they can't explain the result, they just say something weak like these people are x, y, or z. Since they like polls so much, why don't they poll churches and congregations in their own cities to find out the context they are missing.

Either they do the work and have hard news to report, OR we have to try to sort through tripe like boxes or brief controversies.

[susankh4]

3. She knew Wright could damage her image, eh?

Interesting.....

[nichomachus]

4. Rev. Wright has done a lot of good for people -- Oprah is a

self-promoting marketing whore.

[struggle4progress]

5. Unnamed sources say. Oprah declines to comment. Yada yada yada

This kind of drivel pretty much explains why I stopped reading Newsweek decades ago