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The Anti-Oprah
Which leads me to a rather rude question. Do I have permission to use the n-word in your presence?
Sure. Go ahead.
I was speaking with Iman recently and she said that she hated much of her modeling career because she felt like black people looked upon her as a “house n--gger,” that she was the white fashion world’s idea of beauty, and that black people resented her for it. Do you think that in the entertainment business, with its own white hierarchy, there is a danger for you of being perceived as that term?
No. Because thank God for Oprah! Oprah opened the door. You see, I grew up with Jayne Kennedy. You remember her? The lovely black sportscaster who was a white man’s idea of a beautiful black woman. High yellow with what we call “good hair.” But then Oprah came on the scene. She wasn’t beautiful. She wasn’t thin. And she wasn’t light-skinned. She was the opposite of white America’s view of what a black woman should look like in front of a camera. She was no Lena Horne. She was no Lola Falana. She definitely wasn’t a Jayne Kennedy. Who let this woman in the door? And she stormed the whole entire building and took over. And then other flawed beauties came along. Sally Jesse Raphael. Ricki Lake. I mean, who is a great beauty who ever had a talk show?
And besides you and Kelly Ripa, almost all women who have talk shows are single for whatever reason—going all the way back to Dinah Shore.
Which is something else that I am offering. But keep in mind what it takes to get a talk show. Many women abandoned their home life to chase after a career. I never wanted to be one of those girls. No matter what my public image is, I grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey where my mother baked apple pies. It was a two-parent household, which is odd in America, much less for black people. One brother and one sister and everybody from the loins of my mother and father
Do you think in the age of Obama and a dark-skinned first lady, which I love ...
Me too. And she’s got hips.
Do you think that because we have a black president that it puts a governor—to use a political pun—on the motor of your own outrageousness, that you have to now live up to the dignity that the Obamas now embody?
I’ve never even thought of that. But now that you’ve asked me, absolutely not. You know why? I am living up to the president. The core of his values is the family. I’ve got family. I’m not out there whoring. Michelle Obama and I are the same age and I think we both can hold our heads up equally high. She’s educated. I’m educated. She made time for her children while still being a hardnosed attorney and now first lady. And I made time for my child in my career also.
And she’s been able to masterfully transform her image from an ABW (Angry Black Woman) to the most admired woman in America.
And you know what else? She married a man who’s on her take-charge level, not some Walter Mitty character she can continue to be the boss of at home. A lot of bossy women choose Walter Mitty.
Did you have any qualms about taking this show being the mother of an 8-year-old?
First of all, I would have made it work with an 8-week-old. I love my career. Now I love my family—but be very clear—my son was in a nursery at three months. A lot of mothers hate me for that but I needed to get back to work. And I didn’t breastfeed. He was too ravenous and I couldn’t be there. In order to be a good mother, I think you have to be a good self. Without moms being sane and happy there’s hell to pay for everybody else.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Amateur Hour at the White House
Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
Carrie Fisher's Crowning Moment
Kevin Sessums is the author of the New York Times bestseller Mississippi Sissy, a memoir of his childhood. He was executive editor of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Allure. He is a contributing editor of Parade. His new memoir, I Left It on Mountain will be published by St. Martins Press.
Daniel Radcliffe: Dirty Harry
Kevin Sessums is the author of the New York Times bestseller Mississippi Sissy, a memoir of his childhood. He was executive editor of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Allure. He is a contributing editor of Parade. His new memoir, I Left It on Mountain will be published by St. Martins Press.
Daniel Radcliffe, Dark Prince
Kevin Sessums is the author of the New York Times bestseller Mississippi Sissy, a memoir of his childhood. He was executive editor of Andy Warhol's Interview magazine and a contributing editor of Vanity Fair and Allure. He is a contributing editor of Parade. His new memoir, I Left It on Mountain will be published by St. Martins Press.
If you need to tell people you are a MILF, you probably aren't one. Yuck.
I admit - I read the whole article. Wendy Williams is the type of person you love to hate. She is an embarrassing train wreck. Yet, I read the whole article. And, if I'm home I might watch the show.
I read the whole thing and started envisioning myself eating a cold chicken breast in my stained pink robe watching her show.
"She is an embarrassing train wreck." We have Palin for that already. We don't need a second one. Williams and Palin do harm to the image of women in our society. We need bright women on television -- oh, like Oprah.
What isn't bright about Wendy Williams? Wendy's self-aware; you're confusing her unapologetic outrageousness for idiocy. If you think she isn't clued-in on how vastly different from Oprah she is, your comprehension is the problem.
Williams doesn't bother trying to hide who she is, and believe it or not she's got a better handle on black America than Oprah does. Just because she offends your sensibilities doesn't mean she isn't insightful or that she isn't compelling.
Generalizing The Enemies of Feminism does just as much damage to the image of women as women like Palin. You may want to re-read the Iman question before you spit all over Williams again.
Williams represents the decline and fall of civilization. I have great respect for Oprah so when Williams thinks she is like Oprah because they both like lemon-drop martinis, she is big-time missing the irony of how dissimilar they are. It's a headline-maker to compare the two women; however one is class; the other is trash.
( Williams responded to the press coverage of Michael Jackson's death
as perhaps excessive ).
The hyper sensitive reaction to the media coverage of Jackson's death,
and the comparison some make to the attention Elvis' death garnered,
is a lousy barometer.
When Elvis died in the 1970's there were three
major channels that shut down after midnight.
Remember television channels signing off with the National Anthem,
followed by the appearance of the color bars ?
We all know if Elvis had died in this current 24/7 culture his death
would have been all over the cable networks 'round the clock.
Perhaps Nancy Grace could have turned Elvis' death into what might
be perceived as a mini-series, similar to what some might perceive to
be a mini-series about Caylee Anthony, with all the flashing
"Breaking News," and obnoxious scroll images.
Larry King would have a year of material to exploit Elvis' death.
If you want to see how untalented this clown is, search "Wendy Williams Omarossa" and watch a washed-up reality show guest who hasn't been famous in 5 years destroy Wendy Williams at her own game.
I am so sorry to be so out of the loop but what is a MILF?
It means a Mother I'd Like to Fuckin' throw up on.
that's funny....I thought she was a second rate looking Ru Paul....there are lots of gorgeous moms out there who I would ahhh, well, you know.....but SHE AIN'T ONE OF EM.....good lord no....same for Ru Paul for that matter. MILF? Uhhhhhhh......back to the drawing board, Wendy.
She made some incredibly disparaging remarks regarding NYC Transit Workers and their Union during their contract struggles with the infamous MTA. We didn't forget that. So if they want to bring that skank out in the open, fine. Transit Workers won't be watching.
I have been in her company ( I didn't even know who she was) and I felt as if she was sucking all the air out of the room, She has an exhausting personality and she is a bit of an attention wh**re
MILF...Uh, don't know about that one. Plus how can you go around calling yourself a MILF, when..."Williams suffered from a weight problem and had liposuction and breast implants surgery, augmenting her breasts from an A cup to a DD cup. "
Source=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Williams_(radio_host)
From an A cup to a DD cup? really! Think about how big she is....now take away the breasts....Ewwwww...
you guys calm down. don't you see this is all entertainment? why the f*k are you reading anything about my wendy anyway?you go girl.... saffonda b cox
Uh . . . as a guy who likes MILFs every bit as much as the next guy, I have to say that breast implants, Botox injections, liposuction, wigs, false eyelashes, and the like, add up not to a MILF but rather to some kind of anti-MILF from whom most males with even a minimal amount of taste or self-respect would flee as quickly as possible.
i don't mean to sound cruel, but when i first started to hear and see wendy williams i thought she was a man in drag. SERIOUSLY. it has taken me some mighty convincing, such as reading this article, to NOT continue to think that.
not that i didn't think she was funny - she was - and god knows, i've known my share of drag queens (hi, eddy!)....but, dang, wendy, you had me fooled for a long time.
(hmmm. i think.)
I though she was Rupaul's sister. LOL
She might be a tad deluded about the milf part ...
That's a man , Baby !
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Yeah, I had to google her just to find out what the fuss was about too. Just from what i read on the web it sounds like she's got all the class and ego of a Howard Stern. She kinda looks like him too, in certain photographs...
Not that it matters because I'm obviously not in the demographic she caters to. Thank god.
This is a train wreck waiting to happen, she is the what Perez Hilton would be if he were black and female.
I thought she was a guy-- she isn't a guy?
I think she's fantastic. At least she's honest about her contribution to culture, and I have a soft spot in my heart for anyone who cares about offending atheists.
Four pages and not one interesting thing said- the purpose of this interview was to encourage people to watch the show?
And can we please stop using people's skin color as a pejorative? "I'm too white and gay to understand that term." You dont know widely used slang, fine. But make it a reason to put down a race.
Milfs have a touching, vulnerable quality about them. This person is more like a sharkey TV person who makes my fillings itch and my stomach hurt just looking at her.
Before a TV talk show becomes reality, there has been research and development provided to determine if a market exists for this venue. If the numbers are right the show goes on. Therefore apparently whether Wendy is a tranny or not, spondsors are going to pay big money for this gig. And like all shows if it flops, losers will take their lumps and move on. Oprah offers something more sophisticated for her viewers, but there are those who are ready for something else, and that's where Wendy is. I think there's room @ the top for many talented people. Don't forget 'variety is the spice of life'.
Wendy Williams is 100% FEMALE! Men cannot give birth! Let me repeat that, MEN CAN NEVER GIVE BIRTH!! They don't have the internal generic makeup to do so. (And the man who gave birth recently, was born a woman first before changing into a man).
Wendy is in the right business for being a media-all-eyes-on-me person. She's brash, loud, funny, and she doesn't forget where she comes from and how far she's come from that and the ugliness in her life. Oprah would kill for a husband and a child, something Wendy has managed to have that Oprah doesn't.
Every dog has its day . . .
Thank you.
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