It was in March when Oprah held a talk show. The topic was ‘Domestic Violence’ and the sufferer was ‘Umbrella singer Rihanna’.
Rihanna had been heavily beaten up by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown. Oprah took up this topic for her talk show. On hearing Rihanna’s woes she heavily criticized Brown for his act.
“Love doesn’t hurt. If a man hits you once, he will hit you again,” she said.
Brown who shared a good rapport with Oprah, as he was an occasional performer at her ‘Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa, was annoyed with her comments..
He retaliated by saying, “I commend Oprah on being like, ‘This is a problem,’ but it was a slap in my face. She could have been more helpful, like, ‘Okay, I’m going to help both of these people out.”
Winfrey who stood strongly by her comments said, “Domestic violence is something that I wouldn’t tolerate.”
Winfrey than invited BeBe Winans on her talk show. It was a new ‘American Idol’ styled Karaoke Challenge in which the 47 year old CeCe Winans, (BeBe’s sister), the Grammy Award winner was the judge.
Bebe Winnans had been charged for domestic violence against his wife Debra Winans, this February. He had been arrested in March after his wife lodged a complaint that he had pushed her on the ground in front of her kids.
It was clearly a domestic assault. Then why was he being treated like a celebrity by Oprah who had condemned domestic violence in that very show.
Was it because Winnans was a friend, and she supported his music endeavors, whose song ‘Thank You’ had become the anthem for the show?
After Rihanna’s incident of domestic violence, Oprah had refused Brown on her show. But in Winnan’s case it was different. In her own words, Mrs. Winnan was “hurt by Oprah’s decision to take BeBe on the Show.”
So I suppose you know what the controversy is…