OPRAH TO GO OFF AIR

Tim Bennett, the president of Harpo, Oprah's production company, has announced that the show will go off the air.



"Tomorrow, Oprah will announce live on The Oprah Winfrey Show that she has decided to end what is arguably one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history," the statement read. "The sun will set on the Oprah show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011."

The Oprah Winfrey Show is currently the longest-running daytime television talk show in the United States, having run nationally since September 8, 1986.

HOV GRACES O!

Oprah.com has just posted Lady O's interview with Hov:

At 13 he was selling crack. By 30 he was a hip-hop legend—having gone, in his words, “from grams to Grammys.” Now Jay-Z charts his escape from the hard-knock life, describes the reunion that healed the wounds of his childhood—and even reveals the standing Sunday date he has with what’s her name.

The complete interview will be available in the October 2009 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, on newsstands September 15th. Get a first look right here.

Oprah: So tell me how you got into the drug dealing.

Jay-Z: It was natural.…

Oprah: Because drug dealers were your role models. There wasn’t a teacher or a lawyer or a nurse or a doctor or an accountant in the neighborhood?

Jay-Z: Well, we were living in Marcy by then, so, no. And if anyone did become something like that, they moved out. They never came back to share the wisdom of how they made it. If anyone made it, you never knew it. That’s why I’ve always said that if I became successful, I’d come back here, grab somebody, and show him how it can be done.

Oprah: So by the time you were 13, this was a way of life. Did the lifestyle frighten you?

Jay-Z: No. It was normal. And at some point, you become addicted to the feeling. The uncertainty and adrenaline and danger of that lifestyle.

Oprah: This is where we differ. This is where we differ. Because I’d be very scared! Weren’t you shot at three times—within six feet—and you lived to talk about it?

Jay-Z: That was divine intervention. Divine intervention, and nobody knowing how to shoot.

Oprah: What happened in each situation?

Jay-Z: It was one situation, three shots.

Oprah: So he was a bad shot.

Jay-Z: Well, no one really practices shooting a TEC-9 machine gun, right? And when you’re a kid, with little bony arms—no wonder nobody could aim.

Oprah: Many of the little boys who grew up in the Marcy projects are either in jail or dead. Why do you think you got to grow up and buy your mom a house?

Jay-Z: There’s the gift, there’s the spirit, and there’s the work—all three have to come together. If one of those things is off, it can stop you from becoming who you were meant to be.

Oprah: When I met you a few years ago, we discussed our disagreement over the use of the N word and misogynist lyrics in rap music. Do you believe that using the N word is necessary?

Jay-Z: Nothing is necessary. It’s just become part of the way we communicate. My generation hasn’t had the same experience with that word that generations of people before us had. We weren’t so close to the pain. So in our way, we disarmed the word. We took the fire pin out of the grenade.

Jay talking about his wedding when you read the rest…

Jay-Z on the wedding

Oprah: Do you and Beyoncé have a pact that you just won’t talk about each other?

Jay-Z: Yeah. When you’re a public person, you have to keep some things to yourself, or else people will just—

Oprah: Eat it up. I know. But can I ask how in the world you kept your wedding a secret?

Jay-Z: Late planning!

Oprah: How many people knew?

Jay-Z: Very few. The sad part is that we offended some. But people who love you understand. Because at the end of the day, it’s your day.

Oprah: So here we are, talking on a Sunday afternoon. If you weren’t sitting here with me, what would you be doing?

Jay-Z: I’m gonna get killed for this, but I’ll tell you anyway. There’s a great pizza spot we go to every Sunday. It’s our tradition. It’s a small place in Brooklyn, you can bring your own wine, and there are candles there. It’s a nice date.

OPRAH CHILLS WITH JAY-Z

Who knew Oprah was down? The queen of talk shows was spotted in Marcy Projects with Hov yesterday.

OPRAH WARNS RIHANNA

You know you're bad off when Oprah has words for you...SMH at RiRi

Friday, the talk show host told her audience "Love doesn't hurt,"while announcing she will dedicate a program this week to discussing domestic violence.

"I want to do a show about it, dedicated to all the Rihannas of the world."

Speaking directly into the camera, Winfrey said, "If a man hits you once, he will hit you again. He will hit you again."

TYLER PERRY OPENS NEW FILM STUDIO

Tyler Perry unveiled his new multi-million dollar TV and film studio in Atlanta this Saturday among friends.


Tyler and his date for the evening actress Gelila Bekele

Other celebs for the night included Sidney Poitier


The occassion brought Oprah to tears

Will Smith

Nicole Ari Parker and Boris Kodjoe....talk about a handsome couple

Doesn't Tasha Smith look fab!

Patti Patti in her usual over-done look


Star

Terri Vaughn...I really like this mix of casual meets formal.

Holly Robinson Peete

ANTM Eva (Pigford) and her man Lance

Tracey Edmonds


The sprawling complex includes more than 200,000 square feet of studio and office space and sits on 30 acres that once housed Delta Air Lines' finance, reservation and computer center. Perry will shoot his TBS sitcoms "House of Payne" and "Meet the Browns" along with other film projects at the studio, reports the Associated Press.

Perry, 39, said the studio features five sound stages that will be named after Quincy Jones, Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee and Cicely Tyson — with one still unnamed.

Still, while celebs were celebrating, protesters from the Writers Guild picketed outside against his firing of four writers on his series "House of Payne." The Writers Guild of America West filed an unfair-labor-practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Perry after his studio fired four writers for the TBS comedy “House of Payne” who were seeking union representation.

Jeff Hermanson, an assistant executive director for the Writers Guild, said the four writers — Kellie Griffin, Christopher Moore, Teri Brown-Jackson and Lamont Ferrell — had sought a union contract because they felt they were underpaid and lacked benefits.

Perry maintains the writers were let go because of the quality of their work.

CELEBS HIT UP THE EMMYS

Little color invaded the Primetime Emmy Awards...but here the few that hobnobbed w/ the best of.

Yes...that's Janice Combs looking elegant! I can't believe it either. She traded in that hood look. Let's hope this lasts.


Actress Taraji Henson. This dress is certainly a throwback, but it works.

Tracey Morgan and date....I guess there's someone for everyone. This guy has had quite a few run ins with the law lately.

Tichina Arnold....no maam.

Alfre Woodard

Oprah opened in true Oprah style.

Eva Longoria-Parker and hubby Tony hit the red carpet as well. That big bow is effectively distracting from her tummy....I'm just saying. Looks good on her though.

And Vanessa always looks great.

70% OF BLACK WOMEN ARE SINGLE

According to a startling statistic, 70% of black women are single. What are you thoughts? LET US KNOW

OPRAH DIPPED IN BRONZE

Artist Daniel Edwards has created a bronze sculpture of a curvaceous and robust Oprah Winfrey, called, "The Oprah Sarcophagus".....WTF?

OPRAH GETS HER OWN NETWORK

Oprah Winfrey is getting her own cable channel, called OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.



A deal announced Tuesday with Discovery Communications will create a 50-50 cable and Web venture.

In the cashless transaction, Discovery will contribute its Discovery Health Channel, to be converted to OWN in late 2009 and simulcast in HD. Launched in 1999, the channel reaches more than 70 million cable and satellite homes.

Winfrey will be chairman and wield editorial control. The partners will pick a CEO to handle day-to-day operations.

Her goal is a network "that will inspire and entertain people around issues of money, weight, health, relationships, spirit, helping people to raise their children and give back, teaching people to be all that they can be in the world," said Winfrey, whose empire includes her TV show, Harpo Films and Oprah's Books.

Oprah is a beast!!!!

JENNIFER HUDSON & OPRAH APPEAR AT GREAT DEBATERS

Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Hudson appear at the Los Angeles premiere of "The Great Debaters" featuring Denzel Washington.



Of course Gayle wasn't too far behind.

OPRAH'S DAD TO PEN BOOK

With family like this who needs enemies.....

The talk queen tells us she's "shocked" and "disappointed" that she had to hear it from the Daily News that her 74-year-old pop, Vernon, is writing a book about her.
Winfrey said she laughed recently when "one of my assistants said, 'The Daily News is calling. They say they heard your father is writing a book about you.' I said, 'That's impossible. I can assure them it's not true.'

"But then my sister said, 'I think you should call your father.' I called him and it turned out he is writing a book. The worst part of it was him saying, 'I meant to tell you I've been working on it.'"

Winfrey, 53, confided, "I was upset. I won't say 'devastated,' but I was stunned."
"The last person in the world to be doing a book about me is Vernon Winfrey," she added. "The last person."

Oprah was 14 and pregnant when she left her mother's home in Milwaukee to live with her father in Nashville. Her baby died weeks after he was born. She has said before that she's grateful to her father for helping her go on, for teaching her discipline and the importance of education.

Nevertheless, Vernon, who plans to call his book, "Things Unspoken," was quoted as saying he should have been tougher on her, because Oprah was "out of hand and an unruly child."

"I have a good relationship with him," Oprah told the NY Daily News, when she received the Elie Wiesel Foundation Humanitarian Award at the Waldorf. Though she hasn't seen Vernon since he accompanied her on a trip to Africa a few months ago,she said, "We talk, we talk, we talk."

OPRAH APPEARS ON LARRY KING

Oprah joined Larry King for his 50th anniversary in broadcasting. The interview airs Monday, April 16 at 9 pm EST on CNN.