Oprah Winfrey is running a contest called "My Own Show Contest," which helps Oprah-wannabes compete for a chance to have their own show on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). The contest is a great promotional tool for the new network, built on the problematic use of the hopes and dreams of those who may not understand how the entertainment industry actually works.
Personally, I admit that I never believe these contests to be truly fair, since some of them are decided before they even begin. I am not saying that this is the case with Oprah, but it happens more often than you think. Oprah was recently accused of rigging her contest in favor of an African American teacher.
Zach Anner, a disabled comedian, was a strong favorite in the contest until June 22, 2010, when the second place candidate,
Dr. Phyllis, received over 300,000 votes in just one hour. Geekosystem reported that there were irregularities in the voting, since she was getting multiple votes for every one vote she actually received. Dr. Phyllis is also black, which makes the controversy that much more troubling for Oprah and her audience.
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Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
Twenty Years of Beautiful at Any Size
Consistently ranked as one of the richest and most powerful women in the world -- even credited with giving President-elect Obama over one million votes -- Oprah Winfrey has indeed risen to heights heretofore thought unimaginable. As with all of humanity, though, Oprah has had one very persistent and public struggle, and that is with her weight, which has fluctuated through the years, unlike her meteoric star. As we chronicle her looks over a 20-year period, you'll see that Winfrey remains smart about choosing styles that compliment her figure at any size. There should be NO shame in her game!
Text by Hayat Mohamed, Photo editor, Denyse Clarke
AP, Getty Images
AP
BlackVoices.com
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
Twenty Years of Beautiful at Any Size
Consistently ranked as one of the richest and most powerful women in the world -- even credited with giving President-elect Obama over one million votes -- Oprah Winfrey has indeed risen to heights heretofore thought unimaginable. As with all of humanity, though, Oprah has had one very persistent and public struggle, and that is with her weight, which has fluctuated through the years, unlike her meteoric star. As we chronicle her looks over a 20-year period, you'll see that Winfrey remains smart about choosing styles that compliment her figure at any size. There should be NO shame in her game!
Text by Hayat Mohamed, Photo editor, Denyse Clarke
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
November 1988
In 1988, two years after the debut of her highly successful talk show, Oprah was at her lowest weight ever, dropping an astounding 68 pounds. Who could forget the day she unveiled her new figure on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' along with a wagon carrying 68-pounds of fat?
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
January 1991
Three years after her amazing weight loss, Oprah fell off track and packed on some extra pounds. Her petite figure was history at in 1991 at the Daytime Emmy Awards, of which the undisputed talk show queen has won many.
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
May 1994
"Three" seems to be the magic word for Oprah -- or maybe "corsets"... At the 1994 Emmy Awards, the media mogul showed off a tiny waist and sculpted arms in a form-fitting dress.
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
May 1995
A failed diet regimen or a poorly-cut dress? Whatever the reason, it appeared that Ms. Winfrey's Emmy count wasn't the only thing climbing that year. When she received her award at the Daytime Emmy Awards her hips appear to have widened noticeably from the year before. She still stands triumphant.
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
February 1996
Ms. O's waistline was looking rather slim at the 68th Academy Awards in a navy blue fitted satin gown in 1996. Eleven years prior, Winfrey was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Sophia in 'The Color Purple.' Since then, she has starred in and produced several films.
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
September 2003
Oprah arrived to the 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in 2002 in a mellow yellow dress and her constant companion Stedman Graham, her man since 1986. Despite the added weight she was simply radiant on the red carpet. There goes that corset again!
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
January 2003
In 2003, Oprah managed to stabilize her weight. Maybe it's the slimming choice of black but she looked as if she had dropped a few pounds when she was spotted attending the American Auction at the Metropolitan in NYC.
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
February 2003
A month later, Ms. Winfrey was looking pretty fierce on the red carpet of the Association of American Publishers Honors Awards in a clingy red dress. By the looks of it, O was definitely hitting the gym.
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
August 2004
The year 2004 rang in a new do and a new waist for Oprah. She had no problem strutting her stuff at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Gala. Forget the color black, we give props to Oprah's diet and fitness plan.
Oprah Winfrey Fashion Transformation
Apparently, there were some who investigated the vote button codes for Dr. Phyllis and Zach Anner, finding that the term "EID" was used. It was initially believed that "EID" stood for "Employee Identification." But it later turned out that it stood for "Entity Identification." So, the theory that Oprah's employees were the ones driving the vote change was nixed pretty quickly.
Another reason that it doesn't appear that Oprah cheated anyone is that the contest rules don't automatically allow the winner to be the person with the highest number of votes. Actually, the top five finalists are evaluated by a panel of judges, who make the final decision.
The obvious financial benefit of having a contest to get a show on a network is that it is a natural and easy viral promotional tool: each participant, thinking they have a chance to be the next Oprah Winfrey, sends their application out to all their friends, so you have a few million new people hearing about the Oprah Winfrey Network. The other benefit is that the viewers actually feel that they have a chance at fame and fortune.
The downside of having a contest like this one is that allegations of cheating can undermine your brand (some members of Oprah's audience may not be happy to believe that she was biased in favor of a black person. She already lost viewers after backing Barack Obama), and there are quite a few tech-savvy people out there who know how to give you 100,000 votes with the push of a button.
Personally, I've seen enough behind-the-scenes corruption to have very little faith in contests like this one. Again, this is not to say that Oprah is a cheater, but I believe that the way to obtain fame and fortune is through consistent, hard work. It doesn't usually happen overnight when you are discovered by Oprah and made into an instant celebrity. The road to success is not paved with fairytales.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the new book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
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Comments: (32)
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By: mike on 6/27/2010 8:39AM
Slow work day hey Boyceman.
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By: lyn on 6/27/2010 11:54AM
So little time, so many haters. Keep doing what you do Boyce.
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By: robert mc cants on 6/27/2010 9:04PM
Dr. I totally agree with you,nothing is free,but the gift of salvation
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By: David1 on 6/27/2010 9:14AM
If she did show favoritism it's about time. I'm NO Oprah fan. Oprah has spent her career showing nothing but open contempt for black men and keeping black women at arms length. Her bread and butter has been WHITE WOMEN and I understand that. That was her bottom line. That's how she made her billions crossing over to whites. But there is a price to pay for showing that sort of favoritism to whites. She brought this criticism down on herself for showing that sort of favoritism all these years because now whites arrogantly expect it. I would too if I were white. Notice how there has NEVER been any criticism by white critics about all the talks shows Oprah produced for whites??
I beleive the contest was rigged for a black woman to win. I'm sure Oprah is more than aware of criticism by some black women about favoritism to white women not only by her but in our society. Oprah is in the latter years of her show and I guess she figures she has nothing to lose by offending her white audience and white critics by allowing a black woman to win. Where-as this white favoritism didn't seem to bother Oprah early in her career, I'm sure she doesn't want to be remembered by black women as someone who gave all these high profile opportunities to whites while being perceived to shun black women.
Most of the opportunities she's given have been to white people whether they were writers, talk show host, investments, employees in her company etc. Sure she give charitable handouts to black causes but that's called a tax write off. Contrary to popular belief giving money to charity like Oprah does is no financial sacrifice. Name one rich person white or black who doesn't give money to charity, it's used as a tax shelter. Many wealthy blacks like her used charity as a excuse for not doing more for their own race. Black people get the charity but the opportunities go to whites.
I'm sure some Oprah fans will say she can't win no matter what she does. You are probably right. But she brought this criticism of rigging her contest in favor of an African American teacher to win on herself due to all the favoritism she showed whites.
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By: Robert on 6/27/2010 12:18PM
Goodmorning David, I just wanted you to know that someone else sees exactly what you see when it comes to this subject. I have always felt sorry for anyone who had to give up who they were to earn a living or acquire status in America. There is no road back. For a woman to never know marriage or child bearing is a terrible loss that wealth will never replace. Political correctness will not change what God has written as truth.
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By: karen on 6/27/2010 10:37PM
women love Oprah! Black, white or indifferent--sorry.
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By: Porta Berrea on 7/06/2010 2:48PM
I agree with you David1, 1000% I am a Black woman, 60 yrs. old, and I have never been an Oprah fan, I wanted to be when she first came into the MidWest market with her teeny-weeny afro hair do, and she ran Phil Donahue outta town. But I peeped early on that sista-gurl was gonna make the white women her target market and I lost interest in her show. I watch Oprah selectively, if someone tells me she's going to have someone or somthing on that may be of an interest to me, otherwise...I don't watch her. Thank you again David1...you said it all.
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By: deb on 6/27/2010 11:17AM
I very rarely watch her show. I feel that her show always catered to a white audience too. And they became boring. I would rather watch Judge Judy. She came on at the same time as Oprah. I'm pretty sure her OWN will go in the same direction.
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By: Sus7637 on 6/27/2010 12:14PM
KEEPING THE HATE WILL GET PPL LIKE YOU AND DAVID KNOW WHERE BUT A SEAT AROUND FIRE WITH NO COLD LEMONADE.
TO EACH IS OWN IN REFERENCE TO WHAT COLOR OPRAH'S AUDIENCE IS.... WHEN ITS NOT ABOUT HAND PICKING BUT THE PPL WHO BUY TICKETS... WHO WANNA COME SEE THE SHOW STUPID!
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By: claudia on 6/27/2010 12:53PM
I don't know who would ever say Oprah is rigging her show for a black person. You really need to look at the statistics and who she has picked for her shows. They are all white people. Oprah wasn't called a White Nigger for nothing, (Excuse my expression) Oprah is not good to her own race. As a matter of fact she ignores her own black race more than any talk show host I know. I understand why, she cannot allow to be considered a racist. She picked that sorry Dr. Phil who I hate watching on T.V. She picked a white guy who gave a story which was all lies. But never have I seen Oprah pick a black person besides Gayle her friend for any host jobs on her show. Now that they feel that a black person might get picked to host her show, its now rigging of her votes. If you really want to know the facts, they already have picked who they wanted to host the show Way before the voting was over. I guarantee you it might not be neither one of these contestants. This is all media catch gimmicks.
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