Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Howard Stern vs. Oprah

Howard Stern wins hands down

Gabourey Sidibe, the "star" of Precious, at the Oscars

The shock jock radio host Howard Stern recently focused on the star of the movie Precious, Gabourey Sidibe, who won a Best Actress nomination for her role as a sexually abused teenager. Stern talks about how Oprah heaped praises on Sidibe when she introduced her at the Oscars during the Best Actress nomination, saying that Sidibe has far to go, with great roles to play in the future.

Stern rips this completely apart. How is an extremely obese woman like Sidibe going to get any more roles in Hollywood? For all his harsh words, he is much kinder and much more empathetic than Oprah, who is encouraging Sidibe to pursue acting because the world certainly needs more black, morbidly obese actresses. Look at all the discrimination that is going on! Look at Hollywood. Oprah's praise has nothing really to do with Sidibe as a person who indeed achieved quite a remarkable feat, but is way of encouraging this young woman to fulfill Oprah's ideological agendas.

Stern calls Oprah "a filthy liar" for declaring that Sidibe will have a stellar life of an actress from now on. This is of course why he is a shock jock. But how far wrong is he? How often does Oprah go on about her own battles with weight loss on her program, and she the indestructible goddess of day time talk shows? Sidibe is a completely unseasoned actress who was chosen, I will dare to say, because she looked the part. I didn't think she was an exceptional actress, even factoring in her inexperience. Either Oprah is completely delusional, or she is indeed a liar.

The truth probably rests somewhere in the middle. But give me Howard Stern's brutal honesty any day.