James Frey And Nan Talese: Oprah Duped Us!

Amid the Miley Cyrus hoopla, it's easy to forget that there's a whole issue of Vanity Fair that comes out today. And one article in the magazine that is a must-read is Evgenia Peretz' interview with James Frey (supposedly the last interview he will ever give).

The article attempts to be the definitive account of how Frey went from addict to screenwriter to best selling author to public enemy, and how he picked up his million little pieces to write another novel, Bright Shiny Morning.

As Peretz details in the following excerpt, Frey and his publisher Nan Talese claim that Oprah — who went from champion to critic in a matter of weeks — duped them, tricking them to get on her show under false pretense and then attacking them as soon as the cameras began to roll:

As Talese recounted at a televised publishing conference last July, the show invited her and Frey together. Talese initially resisted. Then they were approached with a new pitch. The topic was going to be "Truth in America," and they wanted Talese on a panel with columnists Frank Rich, of The New York Times, and Richard Cohen, from The Washington Post. Given this scenario, Talese agreed. But when she and Frey arrived at Harpo Studios, in Chicago, they were told that the program was not, in fact, about Truth in America; it was about the James Frey controversy. Winfrey told Frey it would be rough, but said there would be redemption in the end. There was no redemption. From beginning to end, it was, according to Talese, "a public scourge."

Oprah, who just two weeks before had stood by the "essential truth" of Frey's story, now pounced on his every other word, while the audience booed him.

"I've struggled with the idea of it and ... " began Frey, in a typical exchange.

"No, the lie of it," snapped Oprah. "That's a lie. It's not an idea, James. That's a lie."

"I feel like I came here, and I have been honest with you," he said at the end of the hour. "I have, you know, essentially admitted to ... " "Lying," Oprah broke in....

"He felt trapped and cornered," recalls Talese today. A spokesperson for Oprah claims that "Truth in America" was always the topic for the show and that Talese had been informed of the full range of questions in the pre-interview. Talese maintained (as she still does) that memoirs have always been personal impressions, and didn't seem to realize that, for better or for worse, the game was now up. She was disgusted at the spectacle Oprah was making, appalled at her manners and at what she allegedly told Frey after the show was over: "I know it was rough, but it's just business." Winfrey denies ever making such a comment. "Once again, the truth is not being served here," she says in a statement to Vanity Fair. "In 22 years of doing this show, I have never said to anyone, 'I know it was rough, but it's just business.' This was beyond business. This was about the trust I share with the audience who faithfully supports the Book Club and buys the books I recommend; and based on that trust, I thought we were owed an explanation about the truth of this memoir."

Read the entire article online here or pick up this month's copy of Vanity Fair.

Alternatively, watch the video of the controversial Oprah appearance at Oprah's website.

Comments

[Denni]

Gee... who to believe... who? Who? WHO? Gotta' go with Oprah. I believe her side WHATEVER it is. Mr. Frey's credibility is shot. If she did it, eh, at least she got him to face the public HE deceived, so it's hard to pity him, right now.

[Glowcy]

Frey got paid and can hate on O all the way to the bank. Other O haters can share a drink of what Frey and nem are sipping.

[caseyblab]

Must be slow sales in the ole publishing industry for James- time to do a little shit-stirring to see if things pick up in the fake memoir market.

[swingerofbirches]

Oprah does good things, but her shows sometimes become so negative. I like what she does in her podcast with Eckhart Tolle, but some of her TV shows are so hyperbolic and meant to entice people with fear. And of course the celebrity things are worthless.

I guess she wouldn't have the "platform" to do the good without the bad?

[NicoleAnonymous]

And what exactly does Eckhart Tolle tell people that is so important? Doesn't he have a degree in "self-enli­ghtenment" studies at some obscure place like University of Translyvania or something? I think these self-help gurus just want people to buy their books and they don't really say much of anything.

The most ironic thing about her and the reason I actually feel sorry for her is that she once told everyone how it hurt her when she went to the Hermes store in Paris and they wouldn't let her in the door because she was black and they didn't recognize her yet she doesn't realize that people like Jessica Seinfeld and other celebrities who want to be on her show wouldn't even bother giving her the time of day if she wasn't famous and she didn't help sell their books or make people go to their movies.

[msjentay]

Well, he lied and made millions from it. So someone lied to him to get him to publicly admit his lies. Sounds like justice to me.

[Tropiholic]

I still really enjoyed the book, fact or fiction, or a little of both!

[JamieJay]

James Frey brought this upon himself. He deceived people with his book, for months. Oprah, doesn't owe him a thing. James Frey and Nan Talese, needs to realize that James' credibility went out the door when he was exposed as the fraud that he is.

[LRM216]

Deceived the whole world??? You are kidding me. Just HOW did he 'deceive" the WHOLE world????The man was a troubled alcoholic - a known fact. He wrote his memoir. He embellished his record of facts in a few places, NONE of which matters a twit to the countless alcoholics and drug addicts his book has helped. He did not plagiarize another's work, he did not commit murder or anything as morbid, yet she had to have her pound of flesh as she verbally castrated the man in front of millions. I lost a great deal of respect - not for Frey, but for Oprah Winfrey, at her rabid and public skinning of Mr. Frey.

[MissTerry]

Yes, Ms. Talese, you've already made your feelings known.

[NicoleAnonymous]

I've noticed something about many of the "memoirs" being published that are allegedly about the author's life. They often seem to blur the line bewteen truth and fiction in order to get published and get attention and although that isn't immoral - it is the difference between fiction and non-fiction.

If you're trying to provide hope and inspiration to addicts, is it really good to lie to them in order to get them to trust you or buy your book? That just seems wrong. And also this is slightly off-topic but I've just about had it with "memoirs" that are really nothing but self-absorbed narcissists using books to get "revenge" on their parents and family by telling the world everything they did wrong during their childhood. The latest example is Susan Sonnenberg's book where she writes about all the horrible abusive things her mother did and then at the end of the book says "some of these incidents might not have happened the way I wrote."

[beekeeper]

You are so missing the point LRM. Either you are not a drug addict/alcoholic or you are just a 'normie' who does not have a clue. We live our lives by rigorous honestly when we are in a program of recovery.

RIGOROUS HONESTY.

Give me a break. The point is not that he didnt plagiarize anyone or harm anyone... it just lends truth to the belief out there by others that alcoholics and drug addicts are cheats, liars and thieves.

[Nikelaus]

He did deceive the whole world. Here's why: as a novel, that book was drivel. If it were a memoir, you would excuse the poor writing and cliches, etc. Because it was sold as a memoir, compassion came into the scenario. Had it been a novel, he'd never have had his fifteen minutes.

[atombee]

He didn't help anybody, only his and the publisher's bank accounts.
The reality is simple: true recovery for the alcoholic/addict is such an unlikely miracle in itself that it does not need any embellishment. Anyone who has made it out of the drunk world knows this (me seventeen years - not bragging, just grateful). Frey is a lying little weasel.
His memoir, such as it was, was so filled with anger and self-pity that I knew, reading one page of it in the bookstore, that he was lying. He offered nothing to anybody.
The funny thing is, when I saw Frey on Oprah, he reminded me, in speech and mannerisms, exactly, and I mean exactly, of another guy I used to know who published a totally fictitious memoir, Jimmy Lerner.
Lerner wrote "You Got Nothing Coming," his tale of prison survival after murdering his friend in cold blood, whom I did not know, but used to see around. The New York Times Sunday Magazine finally did a feature story on Lerner's deceits.
Frey brought everything on himself. Oprah did the world a favor by exposing him as the fraud he is.

[SILVANUS]

Well, big showbiz surprise: the whores hate the whores.

What can else to be said. He made his millions being a fraud.
She makes hers being a focus for people with nothing to do but watch inane television.

So inky dinky wang dang do.

[raker]

I watched the day Oprah announced the "memoir" as a book choice, and it was obvious that a life-long (from childhood!) drug addict and alcoholic and occasional convict does not learn to write well and does not look as healthy as James Frey does. Frey was lying and so was Oprah, obvious from the very beginning.

I also watched the day Frey and Talese were fried by Herself. It was obvious that Talese was thrown by the tenor of the conversation and was making up her story as she went along. It seemed that Frey had written a novel and Talese thought it could be better marketed as a memoir, so memoir it was - but of course it really wasn't. Oprah's a savvy businesswoman; she knew. Talese and Oprah were being dishonest.

[seakiev]

I feel zero sympathy for Frey or Talese. They duped the American public and then hid behind a conveniently conjured definition of 'memoir'.

It speaks volumes about Frey's (and Talese's) integrity that they felt uncomfortable when they had to sit through Oprah's confrontation of their lies.....b­ut apparently felt little or no discomfort in earlier shows when Oprah showered Frey with accolades for the 'searing honesty' of his 'memoir' (now novel).

I'm guessing the millions Frey made in royalties, thanks to Oprah's readers, is a pretty nice elixir to his hurt feelings.

[S1m0n]

Oh Noes! Someone conned the conman?

Yeah, we're all bleeding for ya, pal.

[realpolitic]

Oprah is all about Oprah anyway. She is totally consumed with herself.

[wutzhappn]

Which goes to prove why you can't always trust who Oprah endorses.

[deedrdo]

the most uncomfortable part about this whole thing for me was how oprah felt entitled to her pound of flesh, in live living color. regardless of the ethical issues surrounding the publishing of this book, oprah was at her ugliest that day. i used to think of her as this kind of annoying egomaniac that, for the most part, was actually doing some good in the world. now i view her as just plain mean and nasty.

honestly, i don't know how gail puts up with her.

[BronxBorn]

Who gives a FF?

Have a little perspective people.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/24/hubble-galaxies.html