Frey on Oprah

Oprah's show today with James Frey was quite interesting.  It was clear that she was angry at him.

She started out by stating that she regrets her phone call to the Larry King Show, and apologized for making it seem that the truth didn't matter.

Oprah and Frey were sitting on the couch, face to face.  He admitted that the Smoking Gun report was accurate. He also admitted that he only ever spent a few hours in jail, not 87 days.  Oprah looked really angry at that revelation.

She asked why he lied, and he claimed that, as a coping mechanism, he had created a distorted image of himself. He explained "I thought of myself as being tougher than I was, badder than I was...  It helped me cope and when I was writing the book, instead of being as introspective as I should have been, I clung to that image."

Oprah looked teary-eyed when Frey admitted that he lied about the way a character committed suicide. She asked him if he did it because the method he wrote about was more 'dramatic'.  Words came out of his mouth, but he never gave a real answer.

She went on to ask "Why didn't you just write a novel?", to which he responded "I don't think it is a novel...I don't think it's a novel.  I think, I still think it's a memoir."  No mention about him originally shopping around the book as a work of fiction.

Oprah explained that she's embarrassed and feels that she was conned.  Frey once again denied conning anyone, and stated that the majority of the book (including the message of recovery) is still real.

When asked about the experience with the dentist he wrote about (having two procedures without novocaine or anesthesia ), he said "I wrote it from memory."  The audience groaned.  He went on to say now that he has no idea what really happened.  Oprah got tough on this issue.  Frey said "Since that time I've struggled with the idea of it, and..." but Oprah cut him off, saying "No, the lie of it.  That's a lie. It's not an idea James, that's a lie."  She didn't let him off easy about anything.

A few journalists (Joel Stein, Stanley Crouch, Maureen Dowd) weighed in with their thoughts - none favourable to Frey.  Next up was Nan Talese, publisher and editor-in-chief of Frey's book, as well as being the senior vice-president of Doubleday. She explained that she had a root canal without novocaine, so that section was not a red flag for her. She claimed that she only learned about the lies when everyone else did, as a result of the Smoking Gun report.  When asked what she did to make sure that what she was printing was true, she replied "As publisher of the book, I read the manuscript. I thought this was an absolutely ahh...and I would say there was an authenticity in the voice and that experience that I responded to."

Oprah seemed to get a bit frustrated with Nan and the publishing issue.  She said "But if you're publishing it as a memoir, I think the publisher has a responsibility because as the consumer, the reader, I'm trusting you...I'm trusting you the publisher to categorize this book where as fiction, or autobiographical, or memoir."   Her response, in part, was "People do not remember the same way, and I thought as a publisher this is James' memory of the hell he went through, and I believed it."

Richard Cohen, Washington Post columnist, was on next.  He wrote an article about James Frey, which included "Oprah is not only wrong but deluded."  Oprah thanked him for that, saying that she was impressed with that.  He in turn applauded her for standing up and admitting that she was wrong.  Cohen brought up the issue of fact checkers, and how any fact checker would have found out about at least some of the lies within just half an hour.

Frank Rich, New York Times columnist and Roy Peter Clark, Senior Scholar from the Poynter Institute, joined the panel and discussed the importance of truth.  Apparently there will be a disclaimer (an author's note) in future printings of the book that will clarify the issue of truthfulness of the story.

Show's over. I'm actually surprised that I felt a little badly for James.  He screwed up, like many of us do, but we don't have to explain ourselves in front of millions of people. That being said, I'm sure his massive earnings from the book will help comfort him.  We should all be so lucky when we screw up.

Comments

[Jim Winter]

I'll ask once again, esp. since I'm still not hearing a good answer from Frey:

Why not just call it a novel?

[Amelia]

I understand that he lied. He was wrong. But for Oprah to spend an hour crucifying him for it??!! It's like she sat in judgment of him. Yes, he apologized. The whole world now knows that he royally f**cked up. And yes, the guy will always be recognized and I am sure that he's going to have more than enough hecklers in his time. Most likely, he'll probably lose out on the money he made as well.
I just think it's getting out of control. There are far worse things going on in the world than this. Oprah now truly believes that she is the most powerful woman (as so many publications like to note).
I actually felt sorry for him as well. The guy looks like he's going to take his life! I could not watch the show - I saw enough to be disgusted by her almighty stone-throwing.

On a better note - I love your blog! Mysteries are my new favorite genre - particularly cozies :)

[Gerald So]

Oprah loses a ton of credibility (however much she had to begin with) to have defended Frey to Larry King only to do an about-face now.

I don't feel sorry for anyone in this situation. Frey lied, Oprah jumped the gun, and whoever bought the book freely chose to do so,

Jim wrote:

"Why not just call it a novel?"

I hear Frey first shopped the book as fiction and, finding no takers, repackaged it as a memoir.

[Amelia]

Well said, George.