Did anyone watch Madonna on Oprah?
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Did any of you see yesterday’s episode of Oprah, where she interviewed Madonna about the recent adoption controversy? I only had time to watch half of it on the old Tivo, but I plan on posting my thoughts tomorrow after finishing the show tonight. In the meantime, here’s a very critical take on it from The New York Post.
If you saw it, what did you think?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Kenda wrote:
I have a love/hate relationship with Oprah and today I’m definately leaning toward the hate. That interview was HORRIBLE! As the article said, Oprah did not ask any tough questions. She just went along with everything Madonna said and then actually congratulated her! I admire Oprah for her charity work, but after seeing yesterday’s episode my opinion of her is very low. Madonna was arrogant and acted as if she were Mother Theresa and Oprah did not even challenge her. How pathetic is that?
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 2:08 pm ¶
Adele wrote:
I watched the episode and while I was highly critical of Madonna’s sudden interest in Africa and its orphans (before the media’s junk reporting), I will also say that I agree with her when she stated how much the media likes to dilute and create “facts”.
The fact of the matter is, Madonna has adopted this little baby boy from Malawi and I believe her when she says that she was given her full blessing by David’s father. I also believe her when she stated that the media is responsible for his sudden turn around. My question is where was the “angry media” when Angelina Jolie was shopping around for a baby in Africa? How about Meg Ryan’s adoption of a little Chinese girl? No angry media there.
It makes me sick that Africa has become this new hot trend in Hollyweird. Out of nowhere Africa has suddenly become all the rage in celeb adoptions and photo ops. I just saw Vanessa Marcil (Las Vegas, General Hospital) “smiling with the natives” in the current issue of InStyle. Pretty soon, airheads Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan will be down there cluelessly “smiling for the camera” as well. Like any trend in Hollywood, the trend to “save Africa” will slowly die down and will no longer be on the radar of these celebs who will eventually jump to the next trend as directed by their PR firms and stylists while Africa will become more poverty stricken and AIDS infected. The only celeb out there right now who seems 100% sincere is Bono.
Having said that, I have to question the agenda of the media when it comes to their criticising of these adoptions. The great majority of them seem to imply not having a problem with the celeb adoptions per se, but with the fact that they are cross cultural adoptions. Articles (like the one posted from the New York Times) keep throwing around how much better it is for these children to “be with their own people”. If people are going to dog Madonna for this adoption, then they should dog Angelina Jolie for hers. In the span of a few years, Angelina Jolie has turned from this strange blood vile wearing, brother kissing, home wrecking weirdo into this woman who wants the United Nations up in her house. Her adoptions seem to me as a way to repair her off-beat reputation. The journalist of that New York Times article seems just as misguided and eager to join the Madonna bashing bandwagon. It’s sad that the media only wants to hear what they want to hear and instead of finding out all the facts, chooses to create some of them in order to sell a story.
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 2:43 pm ¶
sarahkim wrote:
I didn’t see the interview, but I was cheering at this article. Finally! The media is taking a critical look at international adoption, whereas the usual perspective they take is to paint the adoptive parents as saints (e.g. in Oprah’s interview).
(Btw, Carmen, it was great meeting you in NYC two weeks ago! [thanks for the chai latte] I’ve been meaning to post something about the conference there, but it’s been hard getting back into the swing of things in Seattle.)
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 4:08 pm ¶
yori kim wrote:
I’m totally disgusted, both with Oprah AND Maddona, i actually cried while reading this………for the child of course……..you realize he sent his son away for a better life, and when he got his life back in order, he’d take his son back(of course, i would NEVER abandon my child to a stupid celebrity.), i am also grossly disgusted that she DARED to say that he was better off with her than with “his village people”- how DARE she..how dare she say that………yes the environment was a bad place for a child, but i would have helped the father AND the son with a better life either here or in mawali…….by the way he DID sign the contract BUT he cannot read. she used him……….and just to get fame…….disgusting……..disgusting!!! this is my own opinion and if you don’t like it, i’m sorry but I can’t change the way I think. if i was in her place(which i’m glad I’m not.) i would help ALL of mawali, not JUST one kid,
thousands of people have adopted kids that needed help, yet celebrity’s are being cheered on one adopting a kid for attention(but there is the case when the person ACTUALLY CARES for the child.) and besides i know one child makes a difference but it’s only one child it’s not like there saving a country or thousands of family’s it’s shameful to hear that from Oprah’s mouth i’m disgusted with the both of them,how shameful. Heres the article again, may i remind you it disgusts me……….and i’m sorry if you don’t like my opinion-that’s just the way i think and i can’t change that.
ONE BOOB CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS ANOTHER
By ANDREA PEYSER
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October 26, 2006 — SHE’S never giving that kid back.
Speaking in a weird half-British accent, Madonna told a burbling Oprah Winfrey that the child she manipulated away from his dirt poor African dad is better off with the sluttish superstar than with his own people.
“And I say: God bless you for that!” clueless Oprah cheered, as she failed to ask a single tough question.
For half an hour, one know-nothing celeb egged on another to spin a tale of saving the African continent. Disgusting.
Oprah: “With all the other real atrocities going on in the world, all this attention is focused on you. When did you realize this had become this big of a deal?”
Madonna blamed the media, naturally, for screwing up her adoption of David Banda. She admitted she determined he was HIV-negative before taking him home.
She was severely patronizing to David’s dad, Yohane - who has said he didn’t realize he was giving up David “for good.”
“This is a simple man who comes from a village who has nothing,” she snipped.
“Suddenly he is besieged by the media of the world” - implying Yohane was too dumb to deal with reporters, but smart enough to understand he was giving Madonna his kid.
Madonna offered: “I was told [in Malawi]: ‘There is a possibility you won’t be able to adopt him.’ I was told to look around at all the orphanages and I had to come up with other candidates.”
Good God, girl. Did officials try to steer you away from David because this boy had a family?
Oprah never asked.
She also failed to challenge Madonna’s assertion that Yohane never visited David at the orphanage where he was placed after his mother died. Some reports said Yohane walked 25 miles a week to see his son.
“He looked into my eyes and said to me he was grateful I was going to give his son a life and, had he kept him in the village, he would have buried him. I didn’t really need any more confirmation,” Madonna sniffed.
So she secured Yohane’s permission to take his flesh - in writing.
Oprah didn’t mention he could not read.
Don’t trust these women with innocents.
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 6:09 pm ¶
yori kim wrote:
oh and by the way maddona there CHILDREN not candidates, and both you and Oprah(i sometimes like/hate Oprah.) a big dissapointment and i thought you guys had a heart…….oh how wrong was i, how wrong was i……..
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 6:12 pm ¶
Sandra wrote:
I can’t believe she called them “candidates.” ugh.
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 7:19 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Well to be fair, she said that “candidates” was the term used by the orphanages, not her.
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 9:54 pm ¶
Selina wrote:
I think one of the reasons why the media is focusing on this angle because of the fact that Madonna really by passed the law. Also, a group in Malawi was openly critical of the adoption process, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6054236.stm . I think we should give some credit to the people living there.
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 10:19 pm ¶
jb wrote:
I’m curuoius to hear what people who have gone through an adoption process, both as the parents or as the child, think about this. If you take away the celebrity aspect, I can’t imagine adoption is ever an easy “process” and it probably feels very contrived at some points (doesn’t everybody have to narrow it down to one choice out of many…). I mean, what are the reasons that ANYBODY adopts….I don’t think Madonna’s were that far fetched. And the reaction by the media seems par for the course with her.
Of course, when she said in the interview that the other children didn’t even notice his color difference, my alarms went off.
Posted 26 Oct 2006 at 11:07 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
“Of course, when she said in the interview that the other children didn’t even notice his color difference, my alarms went off.”
Same here. She said something along the lines of “I was surprised that they never asked ‘what is he doing here?’ or why the color of his skin was different from theirs.”
Uh…why the surprise? Did Madonna not bother discussing the adoption with her children before the fact? I thought it was a bit bizarre.
Posted 27 Oct 2006 at 12:07 am ¶
Meg wrote:
I was starting to feel bad about my madonna/angelina hate cos ppl would say “would you rather they left the kids at the orphanage” - so i was softening, but now:
Why the hell did she make sure he was HIV negative????????? Of all the ppl in the world who would have resources to help - wtf? If she was genuine open her heart to a kid who would have little to no chance in africa (where i think hiv status is not looked on kindly?). Doctors, medication would be no issue. She may even have helped how ppl perceive those with HIV, show it’s not a death sentence with the proper care. But no - cherry pick out the kid in that cute little kids’r'us orphanage. How many millions of aids orphans are there? she couldn’t find a kid without any parents? couldn’t donate some of her vast fortune to help the “village people” he comes from? It really pisses me off that african kids are the latest accessories. If you want to effect change do something real, otherwise shut up. As my mum would say, so much money, so little sense.
but i wonder - would the media have gone feral if oprah had adopted a child from africa? cos then there wouldn’t be the inter-racial adoption part to this story.
down the track (assuming the adoption becomes permanent) there’ll be a bunch of “how lucky is he” stories, he’ll spend the rest of his life thanking madonna for rescuing him. So that should provide more media stories to help this blog keep ticking over
Posted 27 Oct 2006 at 8:19 am ¶
yori kim wrote:
you guys should check out the article, with “angie” adopting ANOTHER kid-this time from india, and she’s naming the kid-(oblivious to the gender.) INDIA to honor the kid’s country, why can’t they just pick kids they CARE bout-i mean come on how many people have adopted all over the world ALREADY(note that non-celebrity’s adopt too.) if the want to help they can donate some of their large fortune to help country’s in need, but no we have to adopt because that makes them super man and superwoman, i once i went to British Colombia and this and made friends with a chinese girl who was adopted by a red-headed white man, he adopted because he wanted a better life for her(she was forced out of china and separated from her real folks.) so why can’t celebrity’s help EVERYONE who is in dire need(i have no problem with interracial adopting.) but no their treating kids like their objects or prizes
“oh look guys i now have a chinese boy and ethiopian girl AND to add to THAT i have twins from INDIA”(what is this a contest to get the most mixed kids!?!?) why do we praise them on when their doing an ordinary thing(the only reason i dislike adopting is because i don’t like to choose kids.) but when people like unicef and world vision are helping(note: yes, yes unicef and world vision really should work harder-even though their already working hard enough.)
so i just hope their is nothing but equality in world-peace out,
Yori Kim
“We don’t live to exist, we exist to live.”
Posted 28 Oct 2006 at 10:25 am ¶
florence wrote:
huh i’m so not following this uhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu whaaaaaat is uo with adopyion thing we all just gotta chill
Posted 31 Dec 2006 at 6:20 pm ¶
esther wrote:
I really don’t like celebrities adopting children from Africa 4 fame and not considering that they have families even if they are poor.family is very important in Africa.children need love and care what maddona did is very bad i also condemn Oprah 4 not asking important questions. am from Africa and i really don’t like these guys.I like Bono though he is doing a great job.God is watching these guys and will punish them 4 taking away children from Africa forcibly or manipulating the parents I know my prayers are always answered.
Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 1:46 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
Esther,
It’s not the people like Oprah or Madonna who’re taking kids away (and since when was Oprah taking children away from Africa? All she’s doing is giving them a good education in a good environment. I come from a culture that is very big on family too, yet it’s common (at least in my circle) for kids to go away to school. In fact, over half of the kids who were boarders at my alma mater and schools like my alma mater were of Chinese descent)) but people in social services, many of whom are from the same or similar cultures.
Posted 14 Feb 2008 at 9:46 am ¶