Oprah, H and M.

[lapisamethyst]

Are they considered close friends? And Gayle, Oprah's bestie, is she still on side H&M...she appears to have gone quiet.
Or has the now known lies from their Oprah interview changed their friendship I wonder?
It all seemed so pally but did it stand the test of time?

She was taking baskets of fruit round and befriending Meghan mother

It's being framed as Taylor did not want any association, when her team never put any such statement out. I think it was supposed to see if a war between the 2 large fanbases would cultural war. I think something similar was tried with Beyonce's Beehive. It never works, because I think the fanbases mostly overlap.

And you are correct, Oprah is as big is you go. She does not need any grooming.

When Harry came to join the interview, and contradicted Meghan about a very significant point, I was surprised that Oprah let this slide. Personally, I found it unprofessional. Others may disagree, of course.

Oprah didnt groom, she pursued. She wanted a big interview. That's her job. She got Harry on board with a series talking about his favourite topic. Himself. Gave him the opportunity to talk about his dead mother. Made a connection. She got her interview. I don't think she's nasty, she's just like any tv interviewer, she wants to be the one to get the interview the others want. And her technique has always been to be non-confrontational so that the interviewee gets comfortable rambling on and unwarily reveals all sorts of details.
I doubt that Oprah harbours any ill-feeling towards either of them and I'm sure she'd be friendly if she saw them. But at the moment what else have they to offer her?

@Gracewithoutend

Yeah, I think that’s fair.

Grooming has a specific use and meaning and I think its inappropriate to say Oprah groomed anyone.

I think it's fair to say she made a connection / cultivated trust?

I agree there was “pursuit” of and by H&M. I have read that overtures were made from the very beginning of the H&M association, with people from the company that represented Meghan. I don’t think Meghan was ever going to be subsumed into the monarchy and be a second-divisioner. Nor was she going to go and live in Botswana or even British Columbia.

I understand it was the opposite, it was harry and Meghan who wanted to do Oprah, they approached her, well before the wedding, they wanted to do an interview and the palace said no. She was then invited to the wedding by harry and Meghan and even given a pre interview at their cottage, where they showed her just how small it was.

oprah is a business woman first and foremost, of course she wanted to do it, what a coup. I think folks are forgetting the six part doc series they did next going even further, evidence of their desire tk do this.

it’s not like they did Oprah, expressed regret and got on with doing other stuff. They doubled down on it and did Netflix then a book and harry did multiple interviews to flog it. And Meghan even accepted an award for battling racism in the royal family, and that battle was in part cemented in the Oprah interview.

This is also my understanding of the timeline.

MM had 3 - 4 agents / lawyers / PR firm commissioned and with her working on deals from the off-set.

OW is a businesswoman and her own business comes first.

This was a transaction with mutual benefit at the time.

However OW then proactively chose to do a distancing interview with Gayle King on the death of HMTQ to ensure that her own brand was not tarnished by association with H&Ms sentiments as the situation evolved.

I don't think Oprah should have avoided the interview, but she ought to have challenged and clarified their assertions. It was a weak interview that none of them came out of looking their best.

I don’t agree, she let them have the platform to tell their story in their words , it wasn’t some investigative piece, it was literally they wished to tell their story, and it was a masterclass from Oprah, because they hoisted their selves with their own petard. It’s very easy to question, much more difficult to subtly lead, which is what she did.

An interviewer has a responsibility to try and verify if what is being claimed is accurate. Yes, they have to create an environment where the subject feels comfortable and allow them the freedom to say what they want (enough rope), but also challenge the holes in any given account because that's just good journalism.

Um did yoh make that rule up in your head? There is no such rule. Give over, Oprah is perfectly able to give them a platform and let them talk shite, Christ harrys done loads more where he was talking shite.

I actually wonder if Oprah would be miffed that she interviewed them and they lied to her. I also think Oprah's lack of digging down in the interview was poor and was commented on by others in the media too.
With this in mind I'd perhaps think she'd be more inclined to keep a wide berth

@Jazzyjezzabelle any idiot can let other idiots run their mouths off and film it. But interviewers are generally expected to be interested in truth as well as entertainment. Certainly someone with Oprahs's standing - H&M weren't on Loose Women! That was a long interview and there should have been some depth to it.

Oprah did a standard celebrity of the same kind she did with Sarah Ferguson when she was promoting her memoir and trying to make money in America after her divorce. I don't think there was anything wrong with the interview, she knows what her audience is interested in and what will result in maximum publicity and she achieved that. I have a lot of respect for Oprah and her business acumen. Of course, she was going to pursue an interview with them and flatter them into agreeing. She'd be foolish not to.

For me, the problem with the interview is that Harry and Meghan are willing to bend the truth to breaking point in order to claim perpetual victimhood. That's their selling point to America "Look at how mean the royal family were to us!". They have nothing else of interest to say and when some of it doesn't stand up to fact-checking, the whole thing starts to fall apart.

Yes. They did.

.

Oprah said they had a lot more footage from that interview and, if I remember correctly, at one point she hinted there would be a part 2, which seems to shelved now.

The daughter of Robbie Williams was a bridesmaid at Eugenies wedding not at Meghan’s. This is because Robbie and Ayda are friends of Eugenie and Sarah .

I understand it was the opposite, it was harry and Meghan who wanted to do Oprah, they approached her, well before the wedding, they wanted to do an interview and the palace said no. She was then invited to the wedding by harry and Meghan and even given a pre interview at their cottage, where they showed her just how small it was.

This is wrong, and has been contradicted at least twice, using direct words from all persons concerned. The only reason you know she visited their cottage is because you heard them say she did, so it is interesting that you chose not to believe the rest of what they, and Oprah, have put on record on this subject.

All three confirmed in the interview that yes, Oprah wanted to interview them. It was a huge story, an independent American mixed-race woman marrying into the very white royal family. For Oprah especially, it would have been a huge interview for the US market.

Harry and Meghan declined on palace advice, as they confirmed, and Oprah confirmed in the interview. But they established a warm relationship, with Oprah becoming close to Doria. Harry and Meghan then left and nothing prevented them from talking to a woman who, by this time was their neighbour, and their friend.

Oprah is really close to Tyler Perry, in fact, she is their link to TP. Black Twitter had much fun with memes around the fact that the grandson of the Queen had to be "rescued" by two black billionaires, who both grew up dirt poor but now "rescued" a prince and his wife.

oprah is a business woman first and foremost, of course she wanted to do it, what a coup. I think folks are forgetting the six part doc series they did next going even further, evidence of their desire tk do this.

Yes, Orah wanted to do it, which is why she approached them.

it’s not like they did Oprah, expressed regret and got on with doing other stuff. They doubled down on it and did Netflix then a book and harry did multiple interviews to flog it. And Meghan even accepted an award for battling racism in the royal family, and that battle was in part cemented in the Oprah interview.

Not sure why they should express regret? You forget that during the lockdown, the stories about them were absolutely crazy, even as they were doing nothing. You also forget that some in the press actually said "they can expect no mercy". They had every right to speak to counter the kind of disinformation you have given in this very post. It's curious that Jeremy Clarkson is defended for sharing his violent sexual fantasy about Meghan, but Meghan is excoriated for daring to speak about her own experiences. I guess free speech is not free to all!

Some more misinformation from you as Meghan did not accept an award for "batting racism in the royal family". That was the Daily Mail spin on it. You are welcome to read the actual citation yourself. It does not mention the Royal Family at all, in fact, the focus is less on racial justice than their work on mental health.

As for George and Amal Clooney, Amal threw Meghan a baby shower, with their other friend Serena Williams. The Clooneys invited Harry and Meghan to visit them in Lake Como. George has also publicly defended her against what he saw as unfair attacks when she was pregnant.

And this is what he has said about them both when asked about their friendship:

“We live not too far from one another and we have dinners and stuff and we’re friends with them for all the reasons that you’re friends with anybody. They’re just really nice, fun, kind people, they’re a very loving couple, and they’re going to be great parents.”

But let's assume that ALL their friendships, with the Clooneys, with Oprah, with Gayle, Tyler Perry. Serena Williams etc are transactional. So what? What has that to do with you?

The transactional friendships you should be worried about are between your King, a public servant, and his cash for access mates. You should be worried about the transactional relationships between members of the royal family and people like Piers Morgan, who is accused of hacking phones in the past and at the same time states that senior members the Royal Family reached out to thank him for his attacks against Meghan. And you should be concerned about the transactional relations between your Queen who talks performatively about violence against women while palling with a man willing to share with the nation his sexual fantasy about the violent humiliation of her husband's daughter-in-law.

So when it comes to Oprah, Tyler, the Clooneys etc, Meghan and Harry have chosen well, because the other Royals seem to prefer the company of unethical people like Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson, not to mention criminals like Jimmy Saville, Laurens Van Der Post and Jefferey Epstein.

I'll take the black self-made billionaires any day!

I can’t get excited about transactional relationships tbh. I’d say initially a lot of friendships may start off like this. School gate for example, one parent bonds with another helps out with pick up drop offs. Another is a Client business relationships that turn into friendships.

You meet like minded people in everyday life. Royals & celebrities are put in each others paths. They get on after a transactional meet. I don’t see a real difference.

A bit odd to invite people you don’t know to your wedding. But then several of my cousins had their wedding invitation placed in the newspaper in case people had been forgotten 🤷🏻‍♀️and that’s just as weird to my mind & I’ve grown up with that!

A bit odd to invite people you don’t know to your wedding.

Does this apply to William and Kate too, whose wedding was packed to the rafters with people they didn't know, or is it just Harry and Meghan who are odd?

Maybe they invited people whom they wanted to get to know? In the Clooneys case, it certainly worked as they seem to be friends now?