Controversy

• Claims of her giving - when the corporate sponsors are actually incurring the expenses

According to The Wall Street Journal, Pontiac G6 automobiles were given to each of the 276 audience members for the 2004 season opener of The Oprah Winfrey Show at a price of $28,500 each. In this episode, Winfrey throws her arms in the air and exclaims, "Everybody gets a car!" When asked by People magazine why she decided to donate a car to everyone in the audience, she replied, "Just because we can," implying she personally incurred the $7.8 million expense. However, according to Advertising Age, the cars were donated by Pontiac as part of a deal that would earn Pontiac an estimated $20 million in free publicity. The G6 was the only corporate sponsor on Oprah's official Web site, www.oprah.com for 90 days. From comScore data, over 600,000 Americans visited Oprah.com on Tuesday, September 14 alone, representing an increase of more than 800 percent versus the prior four Tuesdays. Pontiac.com saw an increase in website visits of more than 600 percent compared to the daily average, drawing more than 140,000 visitors on Tuesday, September 14.

• There was controversy on the taxes required of the recipients of the Pontiac G6 cars given to the 276 audience members for the 2004 season opener.

• Oprah showcased Dr Adams, the doctor who operated on Kanye West's mom the day before she died. Some have questioned the producers about whether they checked his credentials and background
• Accusations of racial remarks from Oprah on both her Oprah & Friends broadcast and the commencement she delivered to a crowd of 30,000 at Howard University. She stated that it was grandmother's wish was for her to get "some good white folks" to work for. "I regret that she didn't live past 1963 and see that I did get some really good white folks," the talk show queen said, "working for me."
• The feud with David Letterman
• New Age focus and spiritualism
• Her Oprah YouTube channel disabling comments from the YouTube community

Scandals

• James Frey's inaccuracies in his memoir A Million Little Pieces and Oprah Winfrey's remarks. "I made a mistake and I left the impression that the truth does not matter and I am deeply sorry about that," Oprah said during her syndicated show about her Larry King interview. "That is not what I believe." She added: "To everyone who has challenged me on this issue of truth, you are absolutely right."
• Abuse scandal at Oprah's leadership academy
  

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