Oprah 'Pissed' at allegations she snubbed John H. Johnson funeral
By Sinclere Lee
CHICAGO, Illinois (BNW) – It’s just a case of one big-shot Nigger getting pissed at another big-shot Nigger over what we call Nigger shit in the Black community. That’s how it is with the spat between Oprah Winfrey and the family of John H. Johnson, the founder of Jet and Ebony.
Big-shot Oprah said she was "pissed" at allegations that her missing the recent funeral for Johnson was a snub to the so-called, pioneering Black publisher.
The fuss is about an article published last week in the Chicago Defender, a Black daily newspaper that questioned why Winfrey didn't attend Johnson's August 15 funeral in her hometown of Chicago. While former President Bill Clinton, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and many notable Black media personalities attended the service Oprah was a no show.
Chicago Defender Executive Editor Roland Martin wrote that many Black media figures have been lamenting Winfrey's "apparent snub of the man who single-handedly made it possible for people like Oprah to launch their own magazines and media companies."
In another article published Friday of last week, Martin recounted a tense phone conversation he had with Winfrey about the article.
"I am furious at the allegations because it's just not true," Martin quoted Winfrey as saying in his column. "It's not true and it's unfair."
Winfrey said she was in Hawaii when Johnson died and was unable to make it back for the services, according to Martin's column. Johnson died of heart failure August 8 at the age of 87.
She said she sent notes to both Johnson's widow, Eunice, and his daughter, Linda Johnson Rice -- even offering to provide Martin copies of the notes and a receipt of the flowers she sent to Johnson's downtown publishing company, according to the newspaper.
She also told Martin she plans to pay tribute to Johnson when she returns from her summer hiatus with a TV show dedicated to the man who built a media empire and became one of the nation's wealthiest black businessmen.