I'm certain that the only thing louder than the sound of Miss Williams' chin dropping to the floor on that recent afternoon was that of Oprah's foot landing squarely on Wendy's ass.
For those who don't know, Wendy Williams is a highly popular, nationally syndicated DJ, based in New York City at flagship station WBLS-FM. She specializes in gossip, most of it concerning rappers and other entertainers familiar to young (18-34) largely African-American listeners. She tends to dig deep for the dirt, much of it however, appears to be second hand information or innuendo. The radio ratings war in New York has become an especially intense, often mean-spirited battle for listeners in the Big Apple with stations swapping leads as often as the Yankees and Red Sox do in September. So it a huge deal when one of the top DJs lands a big fish for an exclusive interview.
Here it was on that Wednesday afternoon -- more than an exclusive -- a miracle by radio standards. The self appointed, "Queen of Media," was not only scooped by her direct competition -- Ed Lover from Power 105 FM -- but more so pimp slapped by Oprah (with an assist from her assistant Gayle King) when she "spontaneously" appeared on his show opposite Wendy's.
Imagine, here in this often grimy world of "rap radio," was the truely stately Oprah holding court with the Power 105 audience live and unscripted while Ed Lover (no choirboy himself) asks questions worthy of a true journalist (at least by today's standards.) He was respectful, informed and asked relevant questions.
Oprah told the story of going to meet with none other than Nelson Mandela. Upon arrival, one of his secruity guards greeted her group with the expression, "What's up N___s?" believing this was an appropriate greeting to American Blacks arriving for a meeting. She made the point that the "N" word is not harmless slang. But rather it has lead to, among other things, people around the planet (including many of those who should know better) thinking of it a benign term of endearment. Lover was obviously affected by this story and even said he would reconsider his own use of not only the "N" word, but the "B" word as well.
I wondered how she would be received. This is after all not the audience of the third party in this time slot, Michael Baisden of nationally syndicated "Love, Lust and Lies" fame on WBLS-FM, which skews to a bit more, how should I put it -- enlightened audience -- than Wendy's or Lover's. But they loved her. And more than that, they were honored by her presence. Oprah never talked down to the callers or to Lover. Equally important, she didn't try to be hip (jiggy with it!). She was just pure Oprah, talking about her favs among rap music and putting to rest the myth that she hates it or that she has "beef" with rapper/actor Ludicious. She also confessed that "Mary J. Blige is a friend." Imagine that.
This could not have happened at a better time for Power 105. Just one day before it had to fire its top DJ, known as Star, for vile comments and threats against a competitor's 5-year-old child, even offering listeners a $500 bounty for her whereabouts so he could do an "R Kelly on her," a reference to the rapper accused of several underage sexual activities. Not only that, the station has been under fire for being well -- under fire. It seems that when many rappers and their posses show up for radio interviews, they get into shoot outs instead of shout outs. One of which occured a few days before, causing the NYPD to investigate and and the landlord to seek Power 105's eviction from the tony Soho nabe where it resides.
Back to Wendy Williams. For some time now, over a year, the "Queen" has referred to Oprah as a "friend in my head," and made it clear she wanted to interview her on the show. Then Gayle King, Oprah's assistant and real-life friend, did a Wendy interview. It was all very cordial, with Wendy asking polite questions about Orpah, her mate Stedman, etc., never really going over the top.
Wendy is no fool; you don't piss off Tom Hagen if you want an audience with Don Coleone. Gayle too, put to rest rumors that Oprah hated rap, Ludicious, etc. But it had not yet come from Oprah's lips. I'm certain that Wendy felt assured that, having treated the boss' assistant well, she would in turn be granted the interview she had been breathing heavy for. But it was not to be.
If I had to guess (in my own sick mind) I would say that Gayle was sent to set up Wendy. To ask her to get the proverbial cannolis over in Jersey. "I'll drive, hon." And Wendy took the bait, never pausing to think that there are perfectly good cannolis in Manhattan.
Why would Oprah/Gayle do such a thing? My intuition is that they were good and sick of Wendy's innuendos about them being a couple and wondering aloud (on nationally syndicated radio) if Stedman is gay, etc.
Should Oprah, media icon, global philantropist and legitimate power broker, appear on that nasty little show? A show where she might be asked about all of the above items and also such ditties as, "Are you a third input girl?" one of Wendy's favorite questions.
So instead, Oprah baits Wendy and Wendy swallows it whole. And Oprah shows class by being who she is and, for at least a segment, turns Ed Lover into Edward R. Murrow.
Well, almost.
The next day,while making no direct mention of the Lover interview while I was listening, Wendy did make some snipping remarks about Oprah and Gayle. She included a particularly tastelss remark (even by Wendy standards) about meeting Oprah years ago at a book signing. When the then pregnant Wendy asked Oprah to autograph her copy, she said that Oprah rubbed Wendy's pregnant stomach which in turn caused her to miscarry. "Oprah killed my baby!" Wendy laughed. Sad, because Wendy did in fact miscarry.
Wendy appeared to laugh it all off with her upbeat, self-assured style. But it sounded lke a boxer getting off the canvas after being knocked on his butt, rising and smiling as if to say, "Nah, you didn't hurt me," only to be put premanently on his ass seconds later.
But all isn't lost, Wendy. At least no one is shooting outside of your office -- yet.
