Celebrity Mound

Last month, as part of her recent “Women Around the World” series, the talk show queen conducted an interview via Skype with Dr. Lamees Hamdan, a Dubai mother of four who owns Shiffa, a line of high-end skin-care products.

In the online introduction to the segment, Oprah’s team writes of the United Arab Emirates: “Thanks to this country’s rich oil supplies, the government provides its citizens with free water, electricity and health care. The best part? No income tax!”

Although Dubai residents aren’t subject to income tax, there is no support for the other claims. Reaction on the Internet was immediate — and harsh. “Free water, electricity, and health care — eh, not quite!,” the blog Transracial wrote. A commenter on the UAE-based paper 7Days added: “Had a chuckle watching Oprah last night — good to see the world’s most highly paid TV star does her research properly . . . not!”

Many Arab-world viewers also objected to the outfit Hamdan wore on the air — a tunic, but not a sheila, the national headdress. Hamdan referred to her decision to forego the sheila as a “cultural” and not a “religious” one, upsetting some viewers, according to Gulfnews.com.

Another issue was that the interview was conducted via Skype: The Web-based phone system is banned in the UAE, though the rule was waived for Oprah’s segment.

A spokesman for Harpo, Oprah’s production company said, “It was never the intention of the ‘Oprah’ show to misrepresent the people of Dubai. Dr. Hamdan appeared live on our program to speak about her personal life experience as a citizen of Dubai. We apologize if any of our viewers were offended.”

(source)

Mutual of Omaha may have had its own “aha moment.” The insurance company has decided to settle its lawsuit against Oprah Winfrey’s production company over rights to the phrase.

Jim Nolan, a spokesman for Mutual, and Angela DePaul, a spokeswoman for Winfrey’s Chicago-based Harpo Productions Inc., would only say Monday that the case was resolved amicably. Documents filed last month in U.S. District Court in Omaha do not outline details of the settlement.

Mutual and Harpo began sparring earlier this year after Mutual starting using the slogan “official sponsor of the aha moment” in a national advertising campaign.

Harpo asked Mutual in a letter to stop using “aha moment” to promote its insurance and financial products because it didn’t want confusion about whether there was a relationship between Mutual and Winfrey. Winfrey’s representatives argued in April that the phrase was synonymous with Winfrey and her show. Winfrey often discusses “aha moments” – described on her magazine’s Web site as “those flashes of understanding” – with guests on her show.

Mutual responded with the lawsuit and documents showing it had obtained preliminary approval of a federal trademark.

The insurance company said it conceived its slogan in February 2008 and unveiled the Web site http://www.ahamoment.com a year later. It began researching trademark rights to “aha moment” in July 2008 and filed an application with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office that August. Mutual said no opposition was made to its trademark application, and preliminary approval was granted in April.

Mutual originally asked the court for a legal declaration allowing it to use the slogan and pronouncing that Mutual has not infringed on Harpo’s or Winfrey’s rights. Harpo never filed a formal response to Mutual’s lawsuit.

Mutual asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed last month, and the judge entered his ruling Oct. 22.

As part of its ad campaign, Mutual sent a crew on a 25-city tour to collect video stories of people describing a turning point in their lives when they realized something important. Visitors to Mutual’s Web site helped the insurance company pick ten of the “aha” stories to appear in television commercials starting next year.

Mutual’s aha moment site:
http://www.ahamoment.com

Oprah Winfrey is removing gospel singer BeBe Winans from her show’s “karaoke challenge” until charges against him for allegedly pushing his ex-wife to the ground are resolved.

Winans appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” last week and was seen in promos for future appearances. Now he’ll be cut out of the segment, said Winfrey spokesman Don Halcombe on Thursday.

Winfrey was criticized by some bloggers this week for including Winans after she had taken a strong stand against domestic violence earlier this year. She did a show on the topic when singer Chris Brown assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

The daytime TV leader said at the time: “Domestic violence is something that I wouldn’t tolerate. Period.”

Halcombe would only say that the decision to eliminate Winans was made this week. It was not clear if Winfrey had been aware that Winans was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault in the Feb. 13 incident, where Winans and his ex-wife Debra were allegedly arguing about their children. Winans has a court date set for Jan. 20.

Winans’ manager did not immediately return a telephone call for comment.

“Let’s just not have a double standard on domestic violence or even accusations of domestic violence,” said Joni Reynolds, a woman from the Baltimore area and author of a blog called Ebony Mom Politics.

She had called attention to Winans’ participation and wondered if Winfrey had overlooked the charges because the Winans were friends or because there were no photos that had become public as in Rihanna’s case.

Reynolds commended Winfrey for deciding to take Winans off the show.

Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey

Forest Whitaker

Gayle King

Macy Gray

Mary J. Blige

Mo’Nique

Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry

Gabourey Sidibe

No punches were thrown. And neither bit off the other’s ear.

Mutual praise and admiration dominated during a face-to-face meeting Friday between former world champion boxers Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield on a live episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

On June 28, 1997, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Tyson was disqualified after biting off part of Holyfield’s right ear during their WBA heavyweight title fight.

A respectful Tyson shook hands with his former rival several times during their encounter Friday – which he said was his first chance to speak at length with Holyfield since the ear chomp that made worldwide headlines. Tyson later met with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

Tyson told Winfrey earlier that an initial apology after the incident was insincere. But when she asked what he wanted to say to Holyfield, Tyson stopped short of apologizing again. He instead poured on the praise.

“This is a beautiful guy,” he said, holding Holyfield’s arm affectionately for several seconds. “I just want you to know it’s just been a pleasure … being acquainted with you.”

Asked by Winfrey if he was still missing part of his ear, Holyfield pointed to it and said, “Just a little bit.”

Holyfield also had a confession of sorts to make: He himself has bitten others, during childhood roughhousing with his siblings as a way to get out of headlocks.

“You talk about biting,” he said. “I’m the person that bit every brother in my family.”

Holyfield said one reason he wanted to appear with Tyson on television was to demonstrate to youth caught up in violence that reconciliation is always possible.

“We can come together,” he said. “We know you can come together.”

After sitting down with Winfrey, Tyson spent about 25 minutes meeting with Daley at his City Hall office.

Tyson had asked for the meet-and-greet with Daley and a spokeswoman said the mayor was interested in the chance to talk to the boxer about the problem of youth violence.

Chicago has been in the national spotlight since a cell phone video captured the fatal beating of a high school honors student last month.

Tyson said he understands the pain some young people feel.

“I was one of them. I’m that guy,” he said.

Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is being sued more than $316,000 by a former flight attendant on her private jet.

Corrine Gehrls, 39, claims she was fired after false allegations that she had sex on board with chief pilot Terry Pansing, 57, back in June while the star and other passengers slept, reports London’s Daily Mail.

The recently-filed lawsuit alleges that Myron Gooch, a flight attendant, and Kirby Bumpus, the daughter of Winfrey’s friend, Gayle King, and the billionaire’s goddaughter, made the accusation that led to their firing in July.

Both Gehrls and Pansing passed lie detector tests after the accusation, but were not rehired, dailymail.co.uk reports.

Gehrls claims the billionaire knew the “mile high” sex allegations were “obviously false” since the $42 million plane was on the ground refueling when the event was said to have occurred.

Winfrey’s former employee is seeking more than $75,000 in damages from Gooch, Bumpus and Harpo Inc., Winfrey’s Chicago-based production company.

A spokesman for Harpo Inc. refused to comment.

(source)

Move over, Shakespeare – it was Oprah in the park causing all the commotion Friday.

Stars, sunshine and long lines of fans welcomed the queen of talk to Central Park, where she taped her television show.

Crowds began massing before dawn to get good seats and a good look at guests like “Wolverine” hunk Hugh Jackman and James Bond actor Daniel Craig.

The two leading men made a surprise appearance, welcoming Oprah Winfrey to the city while plugging their new show.

“Daniel and I are doing a play on Broadway,” Jackman told the swooning audience.

“We were just going for our morning jog around Central Park and we just wanted to come and say, ‘Hi.’”

They were followed by Mariah Carey, who sang a ballad from her new album and chatted about her upcoming movie, “Precious,” next to her husband, Nick Cannon.

Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa dashed across town after hosting “Live with Regis and Kelly” to sit beside Winfrey, and even Mayor Bloomberg showed up.

Winfrey, who chatted to fans during commercial breaks, revealed the latest entry in her wildly popular book club: a collection of short stories by Nigerian-born Jesuit priest Uwem Akpan, “Say You’re One of Them.” Free copies were given to the audience.

“It was wonderful. It makes me feel special she thought of doing her show in New York,” said MTA bus operator Dominique Turner, 43, of East New York, Brooklyn.

Turner finished work at 2 a.m. and was in line at the park’s SummerStage at 4 a.m. “It was better than I imagined,” she said.

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Oprah Winfrey has blessed the book world’s eternal underdog: the short story.

Publishing’s surest hitmaker announced Friday that her latest pick was Uwem Akpan’s debut collection “Say You’re One Of Them,” practically guaranteeing hundreds of thousands of sales, numbers generally unthinkable for short stories beyond works by Ernest Hemingway, John Cheever and other giants of the art form.

By Friday night, “Say You’re One Of Them” was in the top 5 on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.

In making her 63rd book selection on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” the queen of talk said she never before had given a book of short stories the nod because, she explained, “usually short stories leave you wanting something and you’re like, `Huh, what happened?”

Akpan’s book, she went on, was an exception.

“This is a first for me because each one of these five stories really just left me gasping,” she said in brief remarks toward the end of her show. “Just an incredible book.”

Akpan, 38, is a native of Nigeria and an ordained Jesuit priest who in 2006 received a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Michigan. His work is set in Nigeria, Rwanda and other African countries and often centers on children in distress. In 2005, The New Yorker featured him in its debut fiction issue.

Winfrey did not interview him during her show Friday, though Akpan was in the audience, and he stood up and waved.

Each of the separate stories in “Say You’re One Of Them” is told from the perspective of an African child, the narratives touching on the hardships and joys of growing up in Africa.

The audience applauded enthusiastically and cheered when Winfrey concluded by saying everyone would leave with a free copy of the book.

Until now, Akpan had endured the common fate of short story writers: well-liked by reviewers and little known to general readers. Combined hardcover and paperback sales for his book, first published in 2008 by Little, Brown and Company, were 32,000 before Friday, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks around 75 percent of sales.

Winfrey’s previous selection came a year ago, when she chose another first-time author, David Wroblewski, for the novel “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.”

Friday’s announcement caps one of publishing’s most memorable weeks, beginning with the release of the late Ted Kennedy’s “True Compass” and continuing with Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” and Jon Krakauer’s “Where Men Will Win Glory.”