Oprah Honors...well, Oprah!
This evening I watched the Legends Ball, where Oprah opens up her giant estate to super-accomplished black women and the people who love them. And while I was impressed by the line-up, which included Cicely Tyson, Coretta Scott-King and Chaka Khan, to name a few names, I kept feeling like this was a little phony. Like the Oprah magazine and the Oprah show, this event really just showed us the best sides of Oprah. There were portions of it set up to seem like interviews, but who really has the balls to interview her? Barbara Walters, I think, and that's it. What I kept thinking throughout was that this was going to be a great tax write-off for her.
The show, and apparently the weekend, wrapped up with a great Sunday church service, which as a non-religious person made me feel a little weird. What I recognized is that in order to be successful as a black woman in the US, maybe even as a black man, but definitely as a black woman, with very few exceptions, you have to accept Jesus as your personal savior and wear a ridiculous hat to church. All the singers sang gospel at some point. (Conspicuously absent from the service were Diana Ross and Tina Turner.) A few people looked as uncomfortable as I thought I might have been, like Tyra Banks, for instance, who tries to put on that "girlfriend" thing but it seems totally awkward. I actually think I could hang with Tyra, given the chance. But I mean as a nerdy girl from the Bronx, I would have not done well in that audience. Oprah even went as far as to say that all the white people felt uncomfortable. Which I know had to be untrue. Diane Sawyer, for instance, can rock as hard as anyone. She never feels out of place.
While I appreciate Oprah for being a true striver, I can't believe the hype of all the public hero worship. She gives back to the community and things like that, but let's face it, she always turns a profit. Since I don't watch a lot of TV I feel like I can kind of see the forest for the trees. But for people that hang on every word, I worry a little.
The show, and apparently the weekend, wrapped up with a great Sunday church service, which as a non-religious person made me feel a little weird. What I recognized is that in order to be successful as a black woman in the US, maybe even as a black man, but definitely as a black woman, with very few exceptions, you have to accept Jesus as your personal savior and wear a ridiculous hat to church. All the singers sang gospel at some point. (Conspicuously absent from the service were Diana Ross and Tina Turner.) A few people looked as uncomfortable as I thought I might have been, like Tyra Banks, for instance, who tries to put on that "girlfriend" thing but it seems totally awkward. I actually think I could hang with Tyra, given the chance. But I mean as a nerdy girl from the Bronx, I would have not done well in that audience. Oprah even went as far as to say that all the white people felt uncomfortable. Which I know had to be untrue. Diane Sawyer, for instance, can rock as hard as anyone. She never feels out of place.
While I appreciate Oprah for being a true striver, I can't believe the hype of all the public hero worship. She gives back to the community and things like that, but let's face it, she always turns a profit. Since I don't watch a lot of TV I feel like I can kind of see the forest for the trees. But for people that hang on every word, I worry a little.
posted by Dunia at
10:53 PM
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