O Oprah, why did you cave to Dave…?

A week ago yesterday, the talk in Hollywood (and all over America) was about the scheduled appearance that night of mega-celebrity and life guru Oprah Winfrey on “Late Night with David Letterman”. Of course, Oprah has appeared on many TV shows to flak her projects. But what fueled the hype on this occasion was the alleged feud between the serene Oprah and funnyman Dave that began when Oprah declared – after her last appearance on his show almost 20 years ago – that:

“I was sort of like the butt of his jokes. I felt completely uncomfortable sitting in that chair, and I vowed I would not ever put myself in that position again.”

So, naturally, everyone wanted to see how this mother superior of life-affirming television would chastise (and then promptly forgive) her insensitive and rascally colleague. Therefore, imagine the national shock and dismay when, after cooing Dave like one of her puppy-mill puppies, the first words out of Oprah’s mouth were:

“Could you please tell me what has transpired? I have never for a moment had a feud with you.”

So much for “finding your authentic self [and] being your best you….”

Let me hasten to disclose that I have tremendous admiration for Oprah. And, even though I have little regard for the self-improvement séances she moderates on her daily talk show, I appreciate that this show is the cash cow that enables her to build schools in Africa, present provocative movies on prime-time television and fund culturally diverse productions on Broadway.

Nonetheless, there’s no denying that Oprah, the woman, is greater than the sum of all of her many business and charitable projects. Moreover, if nothing else, Oprah has cultivated the impression that she is immune to the vain, capricious, and kiss-ass traits that characterize so many Hollywood personalities. Indeed, this is why her devoted followers had to have been stupefied by her disingenuous deference to Dave.

Not a word about how painful (psychologically abusive) it was to have been ridiculed by his crass and juvenile jokes for so many years!? Puhleeese!

This occasion clearly called for her to either counsel Dave to discover his comedic genius within so that it could bring forth jokes that do not demean people who are obviously suffering under weighty issues; or bound onto his stage, announce her triumph over the emotional insecurities that kept her away for 2 decades and laugh-off her hibernation like anyone – who’s not a holier-than-thou sourpuss – would.

As it happened, the biggest joke of the night came from the mockery Oprah made of her “standing your ground [and] confronting your fears” life-affirming mantra.

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