Oprah criticized for India special

[summer]

BBC


Oprah Winfrey has been criticised after the broadcast of a two-part TV special about her trip to India in January.

The Oprah's Next Chapter special was called "myopic, unaware, ignorant and gauche" by one Indian commentator and "snobbish" and "snooty" by another.

The Daily Bhaskar website said the "ill picturized and badly scripted show" portrayed India "in poor light".

Winfrey, 58, drew particular criticism for remarking on the Indian tradition of eating with one's hands.

"I heard some Indian people eat with their hands still?" she is seen asking a Mumbai family she joins for dinner.

"Using our hands to eat is a well-established tradition and a fact none of us are ashamed of," blogged Rituparna Chatterjee of the CNN-IBN news channel.

"As a responsible public figure about to air a show that will be beamed across the world, you should have done your homework."

Winfrey's week in India saw her rub shoulders with Bollywood royalty, attend a literary festival in Jaipur and visit the Taj Majal in Agra.

The result, according to the Wall Street Journal's India Real Time blog, typified "India as Westerners imagine it, one stereotype at a time".

The programme was originally shown in the US this April, but premiered in India over the weekend.

[Deleted]

Were we expecting deep cultural awareness in an Oprah episode? LOL

[Deleted]

I still love Oprah

[marie427]

I love eating with my hands.

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2012 7:22:56 GMT -5 summer said:

The Oprah's Next Chapter special was called "myopic, unaware, ignorant and gauche" by one Indian commentator and "snobbish" and "snooty" by another.

This sounds like a good description of Oprah just in general.

[2curlydogs]

Oprah? Myopic, unaware, snobbish, snooty, ignorant and gauche? Say it ain't so!

[starlily]

I can't even .....

[Deleted]

my secret fear is that i'm actually like oprah all the time. that i think that i'm trying to learn and be respectful of other people's experiences/cultures/lives/jobs/whatever, but actually i'm just a self-important douche who projects what she already thinks onto everything.

[bqbride]

Jul 25, 2012 11:22:56 GMT -5 @habbsies said:

Jul 25, 2012 7:22:56 GMT -5 summer said:

The Oprah's Next Chapter special was called "myopic, unaware, ignorant and gauche" by one Indian commentator and "snobbish" and "snooty" by another.

This sounds like a good description of Oprah just in general.

Seriously. She should have stopped years ago. Did anyone see her interview with Paris Jackson a little while back? It was so painfully awkward and uncomfortable, I was embarrassed for her. Plus, Oprah showed up in a track suit and ponytail, while Mrs. Jackson opened the door in a nice dress and pearls. Even Paris was better dressed than her. Soooo bad!

ETA: How can someone as well-traveled as Oprah not know that a lot of people in the world eat with their hands? Hell, I was getting read to dig into my lunch in my truck the other day (as I often do), and realized that I didn't have any silverware. I said, "WTH? Lots of people around the world eat with their fingers" and dug right in. If I know that, how can Oprah Fucking Winfrey not know that?

[heyjude]

Meh.

Oprah is partially to blame for the whooping cough outbreak right now for heavily pimping Jenny McCarthy. So I'm not feeling any Oprah love right now.

[Deleted]

Jul 25, 2012 11:29:53 GMT -5 cville said:

my secret fear is that i'm actually like oprah all the time. that i think that i'm trying to learn and be respectful of other people's experiences/cultures/lives/jobs/whatever, but actually i'm just a self-important douche who projects what she already thinks onto everything.

I got such a chuckle out of that
I would say I'm the same way.

[copzgirl1171]

Jul 25, 2012 11:35:22 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Meh.

Oprah is partially to blame for the whooping cough outbreak right now for heavily pimping Jenny McCarthy. So I'm not feeling any Oprah love right now.

KEVIN BACON

I am no Oprah lover, at all

[Deleted]

Now I want Vindaloo.

And I pretty much always expect Oprah to be ridiculous

[Deleted]

I'm surprised that someone wouldn't know people still eat with their hands, obviously never eaten lunch in a work canteen in Auckland...(and they weren't all Indian)