No One Is Late For Oprah!

[jaxsue]

Oprah is also the person who cried racism when she got to a store after closing time and they declined to open back up for her.  I think this situation has more to do with Oprah's entitlement complex than the faux pas of being late due to circumstances beyond one's control.

This has definitely colored my opinion of Oprah. I've been shut out of venues many times in the past due to private parties using them. I somehow lived with it without crying discrimination!

Edited to add: I'm undecided about the J. Hudson issue. I see both sides.

[hyzenthlay]

Edited to add: I'm undecided about the J. Hudson issue. I see both sides.

I mean flying is always full of delays. Are celebs who travel expected to eat those delays and leave themselves 24 hours to make it to scheduled venues?

If the industry think she was in the wrong, then I'll assume they know better then me. But If she left herself a lot of leeway, well I think it's her right to travel out of state. Oprah doesn't have the authority to issue warrants after all . . . yet 

[guihong]

You do realize this is Oprah's job and like every other job there are juicier projects than others. 

Exactly. It's her job to be engaged. If she's not interested, it's her job to fake it. If someone went to a restaurant and had a waitress who was doing her job halfway, we'd tell that person to contact management. Just because you get extremely wealthy and famous doesn't mean you get a pass to not do your job. It's not fair to the people who are taking time to appear on your show or to the people in the audience.

That's a big juicy POD.  I might have a splitting headache, have cramps, had a fight with my husband, but when the schoolbell rings, it's showtime!  Like Oprah, my job is to make students feel welcome.  If I don't do that much, and put them off somehow, that's not doing my job.  Sometimes I think Oprah has been so successful for so long that she's become a little complacent.  She's also one of the most polarizing personalities today (obviously).  Ellen doesn't have the same controversy.

[KenveeB]

Edited to add: I'm undecided about the J. Hudson issue. I see both sides.

I mean flying is always full of delays. Are celebs who travel expected to eat those delays and leave themselves 24 hours to make it to scheduled venues?

If the industry think she was in the wrong, then I'll assume they know better then me. But If she left herself a lot of leeway, well I think it's her right to travel out of state. Oprah doesn't have the authority to issue warrants after all . . . yet 

A PP mentioned that this wasn't a delay on the Chicago side, it was on the Dallas side.  Which makes it even more understandable.  Dallas never has snow delays.  Dallas doesn't do snow.  Snow in Dallas is a light dusting once or twice a year at most.  ...Except for this winter, when we had completely unexpected snow storms that shut the entire area down for days.  I don't think anyone could've predicted that.  Even when we were hearing "snow is expected", everyone was picturing the same light dusting, maybe a little heavier than usual, but not to the point of shutting everyone down. (We were off work for 4 days!)

[PaddedPaws]

I am undecided on Jennifer Hudson's behaviour. Even if snow in Dallas this time of year is very unlikely, it should occur to her that there are all kinds of reasons that a flight might get delayed.

As for Oprah, I do have a problem with her filming the dressing down. That was all kinds of inappropriate.

I really don't think either party was correct.

[Bijou]

In all this, I wonder if there were a plan B in place in the event something went awry (which it did) and if not, why. 

[oogyda]

I think the ONLY way Ms. Hudson could be called rude is if she or her "people" did not make an effort in any way to inform the Oprah Winfrey Show of her predicament. 

[LovesWater]

In all this, I wonder if there were a plan B in place in the event something went awry (which it did) and if not, why. 

This is what I was thinking, too.

I am just now reading this thread and this is the first I have heard of this issue.

It seems to me that after a certain point - 1 hour? 2 hours? - you move ahead with Plan B:
--Tape without JH.
--Move the JH taping to the next day so that the following day is doubled up on tapings instead.
--Search your Rolodex for the equivalent of the "extra man" i.e., a good friend who would do you the favor of being on your show on short notice.

Whatever it takes! There's no business like show business! The show must go on! etc.

[Bijou]

In all this, I wonder if there were a plan B in place in the event something went awry (which it did) and if not, why. 

This is what I was thinking, too.

I am just now reading this thread and this is the first I have heard of this issue.

It seems to me that after a certain point - 1 hour? 2 hours? - you move ahead with Plan B:
--Tape without JH.
--Move the JH taping to the next day so that the following day is doubled up on tapings instead.
--Search your Rolodex for the equivalent of the "extra man" i.e., a good friend who would do you the favor of being on your show on short notice.

Whatever it takes! There's no business like show business! The show must go on! etc.

Exactly! 

[jimithing]

I just read in US Weekly, that Natalie Portman cancelled on Oprah completely, the night before she was supposed to tape with her. I wonder if O gave her a dressing down too?

[guihong]

Natalie Portman is hugely pregnant, unless this was way before.  I think she has an out.

[ydpubs]

Like I've said many, many times in the past, if Oprah were standing in a forest and there were no cameras around to tape her, would she do anything nice for anyone?

Definitive answer. NO.

I worked for Lettuce Entertain You and she used to be part owner of a restaurant called The Eccentric. I assure you she was NO fun at all to work with or for.  She was routinely rude and imperious to her "underlings." As people from the Chicagoland area well know, most anything connected with Rich Melman does very well for a good long time. The Eccentric did not last long at all.

This and the many people I knew who had the misfortune to bump in to Oprah around town as fans werent' her fans any longer after meeting her.

I'm not at all suprised she is being so obnoxious about Jennifer Hudson. It's Oprah's World, we're just living in it.

[immadz]

Natalie Portman is hugely pregnant, unless this was way before.  I think she has an out.

Well shouldn't Natalie Portman have known about the pregnancy with more time to spare. At least there was more notice of that than a freak snowstorm and a flight cancellation.

[gollymolly2]

Jumping in late here but I think the difference between the Natalie Portman situation and the Jennifer Hudson situation is that Jennifer Hudson should have given them notice.  That Natalie is pregnant and could go into birth at any time was no surprise to anyone.  Maybe it's inappropriate in industry practice to book a gig in Texas the night before a gig in Chicago, maybe it's just fine,  I don't know.  I can think of how it would be inappropriate for a lot of other professions - I can't imagine if I were in court on Tuesday, took a quick flight Tuesday night without telling anyone, and then showed up late to court on Wednesday.  Actually I can imagine - I'd be fired. 

But to me the real issue is the lack of notice. JH is a native Chicagoan, and that week of blizzards was insane.  A prior poster said it snows in Chicago, but not everyday.  Well, yes, but we do have weather that interferes with travel pretty darn close to everyday in the winter, particularly in the Dec - Feb stretch.  I think it's extremely irresponsible to travel in or out of Chicago in the winter for business and not allow for the very likely possibility that your flight will at least be delayed.  So given that, and given that JH is from here, I think the least she could have done is mentioned to at least one staffer - Hey, I'm going out of town tonight.  The weather reports are good so it shouldn't be a problem but I just thought I'd put you on notice.  I realize that her flight was actually affected by surprising Texas weather, not routine Chicago weather, but my thought is that the Chicago weather is what makes it unreasonable for her to plan this trip without even giving anyone a heads up.


As far as Oprah's actions - I don't blame her for being upset at all.  However, I do think the "chastising" is a bit much, particularly on camera.

[ydpubs]

Being upset is fine. But to go on and on and on about it is very immature and very Oprah.