Oprah Winfrey’s company has filed a lawsuit against the creators of the “Oprahdemics” podcast, claiming that this system misleads listeners into considering she sponsored or permitted it.
In a grievance filed late Tuesday in Manhattan federal Court, Winfrey’s Harpo Inc mentioned it’s neither in search of earnings or damages from “Oprahdemics” creators Kellie Carter Jackson and Leah Wright Rigueur, nor making an attempt to cease the podcast.
Instead, it needs a reputation change, saying the podcast and associated stay occasions dilute Harpo’s “Oprah” and “O” logos, and wrongly capitalize on the goodwill that Winfrey has spent a long time constructing.
Harpo, which is Oprah spelled backward, mentioned merely being related to the “Oprah” model typically causes an “exponential” soar in gross sales, often known as “The Oprah Effect” or “The O Factor.”
The “Oprahdemics” web site describes Jackson and Rigueur as historians and mates who break down iconic episodes of Winfrey’s speak present and focus on the cultural influence of the “Queen of Talk.”
In a press release, co-producer Jody Avirgan, whose company Roulette Productions can also be a defendant, referred to as “Oprahdemics” a “journalistic exploration by history professors and sincere, longtime fans of Oprah Winfrey.”
He mentioned Roulette “has been engaged with the team at Harpo for some time–while genuinely surprised by this, we hope to resolve it.”
In an April interview with NPR, Rigueur referred to as Winfrey an establishment.
“This is a woman, a Black woman, who has dominated multiple spaces and arenas” for the reason that Nineteen Eighties, she mentioned. “I say that in a way that doesn’t absolve her of … constructive criticism or feedback or anything like that, but instead as recognition of … the institution of Oprah Winfrey and the Oprah Winfrey brand.”
Winfrey, 68, can also be an actress and philanthropist who parlayed her namesake Chicago tv speak present, which ran nationally from 1986 to 2011, right into a media and enterprise empire. She is value $2.5 billion, based on Forbes journal.
The case is Harpo Inc v Jackson et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-06787.