I love Oprah but I think she exploited Meghan and Harry by encouraging them to give that infamous interview back in 2020.
Oprah probably had the best of intentions but this interview should never have happened
I don't think Oprah's intention was exploitation when she encouraged Meghan and Harry to sit for that sensational tell-all - as this is obviously a very dark intention - but I think the result was exploitative, so it almost does not even matter what her intentions were. There is no other way to describe what happened there but pure exploitation.
How did this interview come about in the first place?
I do not think Meghan and Harry approached Oprah and offered to spill all the details about their family life. I think it is the other way around. Oprah and her team approached Meghan and Harry and encouraged them to spill all the details of their family life.
Oprah did this as a businesswoman, and not as a "friend." Sure, she is friends with Meghan and Harry and she helps them a lot and she likely loves them in her own way. But that interview had nothing to do with any of that. That interview was pure business. It was one of the biggest scoops of Oprah's career and it was too juicy to pass up.
Oprah has admitted that she first approached Meghan in 2018 when Meghan first officially entered the royal family but Meghan did not give her an interview then. Of course, when things fell apart in the palace, Meghan and Harry needed all the help and friends they could get and Oprah was a well-placed friend in a high place, with friends who could offer the couple a home - Namely, Oprah's BFF Tyler Perry.
The couple was in no position to kick a gift horse in the mouth. They owed Oprah big time for her help with finding them temporary living quarters and so of course, when she asked again for the interview, how could they say no? But again, this is exploitation. It is the very definition of it.
The timing of the interview should have been a deterrent to the ask for the interview in the first place
The interview happened around the time of the global pandemic. The world was in chaos and Meghan and Harry's life was in turmoil as well. This is no time to pounce on someone when they are so vulnerable and when everything is so raw, and when there is such proximity in time to the pain and the cause of the pain. This is called "ambulance-chasing".
Oprah needed to wait for a few years post-Megxit (I hope it is okay to use this word, Meghan) and then let the Sussexes offer to do this interview rather than approach them in their time of weakness. This is why I think this interview was exploitative. Because the Sussexes obviously were in a weakened position. They needed their American rich friends to help them out of a jam. And they needed this help to be without strings attached so that they could clear their heads and then make a more informed decision about doing this interview.
There were some important truths that came out of the interview
Learning that it was Meghan who was reduced to tears by her sister-in-law Katherine Duchess of Cambridge now Princess of Wales, was stunning. It was good to know that Meghan was not a monster who had bullied her sister-in-law but shocking to know that her sister-in-law not only bullied Meghan but kept silent when others blamed Meghan for bullying her. This was awful and it was good to know that.
It was also good to know that the members of the royal family have such deep issues with race and color. Because people need to know these things and make their own decisions about whether to continue to support the commonwealth idea and other matters if they are not perceived as being equals in the relationship.
The title issue was also interesting, especially in light of the continued reluctance by Buckingham Palace to announce that indeed these children would be treated the same as all other similarly situated royal children.
But that said, the interview overall was very sensationalized and very ill-advised.
The Sussexes gained nothing from the interview
What was the net gain for the Sussexes as public figures, celebrities, and royals with this interview? There were certain clarifications as mentioned above that were good, but beyond that, they really gained very little from this interview because it appears they were not even paid. This interview seems like it was purely payback to Oprah for her help in getting Tyler Perry to house the Sussexes while they house-hunted. My hunch is that there must have been a little bit of help with the acquisition of the new house on the back end, so that even if they were not paid for the interview, Oprah could have helped them with the downpayment on their Montecito house, or maybe facilitated one or more of the lucrative deals that got them out of the financial hole they were in. But it is a question mark because Harry has said that he used the money he inherited from his mother Diana to make Montecito happen. So maybe Oprah did not pay them anything at all for this interview.
Meanwhile, Oprah's company made tons of money from it because it is highly unlikely that she distributed it for free. So what was the net gain in doing this interview for the Sussexes? They are business people as well as royals and celebrities. How do you put yourself out there to this extent for absolutely no positive gain? All they seem to have gained is a lot of bad publicity, and gossip mongers talking about them for years on end after. Which does not make sense.
The widening of the rift with the royal family and other fallouts
The interview also served to widen the rift in between Harry and Meghan and his family. The royal family obviously does not want people to know their secrets and they do not want too much exposure and they do not want to be seen as racists. The interview made them out to be a bunch of racists. They obviously have issues with race and always have. So it is hypocrisy to the hilt for them to pretend not to know what Meghan and Harry are talking about. At the same time, airing that out in the interview like that is a questionable strategy if the objective is to ameliorate the situation. Ok, one could argue that blasting the light on it in this public way will force change in the monarchy and in the royal family. And this could be true. If you embarrass them enough, they will be forced to change and after the interview, you saw them going to great lengths to say (not prove) that they are open-minded about race.
But there is no question that by putting them in the glare of the spotlight like that did not endear the family to Meghan. Because yes, they are going to blame Meghan, not Harry for this. And if Oprah wanted to help Meghan to be more accepted by her in-laws, encouraging her to do this interview was not the way to do it.
Meghan got the brunt of the criticism, hate, and fallout
It was Meghan who really got thrown under the bus by this interview because it was all about her. The interview was about her, and the fallout was about her. It was because of her that Harry was forced to leave his homeland and his family. It put Meghan in the hot seat even more and made her the heavy. Sure, one could argue that there was a bit of inertia there in the sense that it made her the heavy but it also propelled her more into the international spotlight. And all publicity is good publicity, so she became both famous and infamous but together, it will serve her in the end.
I just think that the move itself could have done the trick. Their leaving was sensational enough. They would have gotten enough publicity with that, to build their new lives without adding the infamy of that interview. Meghan's negative press really exploded after that interview and now it is to the point that she can barely breathe.
Time heals all wounds, thankfully
All of the above being said, this too, shall pass and the interview will eventually fade and Meghan and Harry will, and are, getting on with it. Hopefully, they will not be doing any more of these types of interviews for a very long while. And like I said in the beginning, I love Oprah. I criticize her with love on this one. I just think she should not have encouraged this young couple to expose themselves to this level of vitriol like she did because she is experienced and ought to have known better.
Check out my youtube channel where I discuss this topic here:
image credit flickr creative commons
NEXT: Why I am a Meghan Markle Fangirl Why I am a Meghan Markle Fangirl: Move Over Gwyneth Paltrow! (meghanandharryadvisors.blogspot.com)
Comments
Post a Comment