Washington Journos Toast Kitty Kelley

Famed investigative biographer, Kitty Kelley, celebrated her book release at a party on Friday evening at the home of Daniel and Marina Ein. The book, Oprah: A Biography, was released on April 13th by Crown Publishers.

The event was well-attended by DC media types, business power-players and the political elite. Kelley made her rounds and spoke with guests prior to giving a thank you and toast in which she described Oprah as “the most powerful, influential person on the planet.” Kelley expressed admiration and only kind remarks about her “determined subject.” She continued by saying Oprah is “revered and idolized” throughout the world and ended with “long may she reign.”

However, this same level of admiration for Oprah was not as evident from party goers. Guests at the event traded examples of Oprah’s alleged spins, lies, and her legal and illegal indulgences discovered via Kelley’s book. A common topic among press types was the media’s blackballing of Kelley and her book because of Oprah’s intimidation factor. One guest was overheard asking a group “why hasn’t anyone in the media covered Oprah’s control of the message?” The consensus was that Oprah was likely “puppeteering” an underground PR initiative.

Spotted by FishbowlDC were The Daily Caller’s Moira Bagley, Politico’s Kiki Ryan, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and wife, WaPo’s Mary Anne Akers, Washington Life’s Kevin Chaffee and Donna Shor, NY Times’ Helene Cooper, Georgetown Dish’s Beth Solomon, Roll Call’s Tory Newmyer, The Daily Beast’s Lee Aitken and Mark Paustenbauch.

This post was contributed by Glenn Ballard for FishbowlDC.

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