Oprah Fails The “Loyalty” Test

Duane Brayboy discusses Roland S. Martin's (of "America's Black Forum" fame and now the executive editor for the Chicago Defender) comments about his chase after media mogul Oprah Winfrey to see if she would (1) attend the recent funeral of black media pioneer John Johnson and (2) make a statement for the newspaper's commemorative edition on the businessman. The conservative blogger slams Mr. Martin's comments: "How many non-black publications would take the time to cover funeral absenteeism anyway? We are the only ones that will tie a fellow black person’s success to the fate of the entire race. Although Johnson did in fact give Oprah some publicity in his magazines, Johnson was not the only contributer to Oprah’s success. Martin does acknowledge in the excerpt above that Oprah did attend Ebony’s 50th anniversary celebration 10 years ago. But for some reason, this was not good enough for him. The funeral was the benchmark. Also according to Martin, Oprah had already made plans to commemorate both Johnson and Luther Vandross on an upcoming show next month. Instead of just moving on to more important issues in the world, he still continues spinning this story for what its worth depicting Oprah as the rich booshie billionaire who has become too uppity to give Johnson his props."

I agree with Mr. Martin on this one, given Ms. Winfrey's public comments about why more black celebrities didn't show up at Ebony's 50th anniversary event last decade. It is not as though she didn't know Mr. Johnson, especially given that they lived here in Chicago. She should've at least gone to the funeral.