Oprah Winfrey has come under fire for her interview with Bobbi Kristina Brown and family members of the late Whitney Houston.
The interview aired last Sunday on Oprah Winfrey’s struggling OWN network and was its biggest ratings getter since the network started. More than 8 million people tuned in, hoping to find some answers that could explain tragic end of one of America’s most-love music icons.
There have also been numerous questions about Bobbi Kristina Brown’s own rebellious behavior, her use of drugs and her relationship to ostensible “brother” Nick Gordon.
Whitney Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, claims the two are engaged in an “incestuous” relationship.
But none of that was forthcoming. The interview was rambling and dwelt mainly with feel-good questions about how Bobbi Kristina Brown was coping following her mother’s death.
Oprah Winfrey it appeared was too close to the subject to maintain her journalistic standards, or any standards for that matter.
Some critics charged that Oprah Winfrey was exploiting the tragedy for ratings to bolster her beleaguered network. But most of the criticism focused on her failure to ask relevant questions.
Oprah Winfrey was accused of “letting the family off the hook… especially when Whitney’s sister-in-law suggested the singer was murdered.”
Surprisingly, Oprah Winfrey seemed oblivious to how bad her interview was. Gossip Web site TMZ caught up with her and asked her for her thoughts. “I think it went really well,” she said.
“I think people really responded and I think the whole country now got to see how [Bobbi Kristina] feels and what she’s going through.”
“Really, I didn’t know,” Oprah Winfrey said about the criticism.
“I don’t look at the criticism. I just move through life doing what I do. I do it with the best intentions,” she said.
“I do it with the intention to be a force for something that’s good, for something that’s right, for something that’s inspirational. And if people don’t like it that’s okay.”
“I really just trying to do what I do best, and I’m always trying to have the best and the good in mind. I didn’t even know people were upset until you told me.”
