Jay to Oprah: 'This Whole Thing Was a Huge Mess'

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 27th 2010 04:00PM

Jay Leno had two options for spilling his guts about the mess at NBC: A) cry it out with Barbara Walters, or B) pay a visit to Oprah Winfrey. He chose wisely.

Winfrey sat down with the late-night host earlier this week, and though the interview doesn't air until Thursday, a small portion of it has been leaked to build up interest in the much-anticipated segment. Mind you, it's a pretty bland exchange between the pair, but it does tell us that Leno will be playing the victim.

While chatting about Conan O'Brien, the man Leno has deposed with his return to his former gig, Winfrey asks the following:

Winfrey: Have you talked to Conan in person?
Leno: I haven't talked to him through all this. No. I haven't.
Winfrey: Did you want to pick up the phone?
Leno: Yeah, but it didn't seem appropriate.
Winfrey: Why?
Leno: I don't know. I think it -- let things cool down and maybe we'll talk, you know.
Winfrey: Were any of the things that he said about you hurtful?
Leno: No. They were jokes. And that's okay. I mean --
Winfrey: So jokes don't hurt you.
Leno: It's what we do, you know? You can't -- it's like being a fighter and say when you got punched in the head, did it hurt? Well, yeah. But you're a fighter. That's what you do.

EOnline.com has the clip:

In an official promo for the episode, Leno's voice is used only once. Following a barrage of questions from Winfrey, he is heard uttering the obvious: "this whole thing was a huge mess."

Tags: jay leno, oprah winfrey

Comments

(34)

Thursday 28 January

By Mary-Jo

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The way Oprah treated Jay was horrific.....with no respect. Jay did nothing wrong yet was constantly on the defense thanks to Oprah's interrogation. I have lost all respect for her!

By crackedgramm

Conan, will be missed bymany. I use to like Leno but no more.He has hurt to mny people over this. He never gave his new show a chance.

By KATHY

The TONIGHT SHOW will never be the same after Johhny.....he was the show...I can't stand Jay, never could....and Conan isn't much better.....It's Dave Letterman for me.....Dave is funny, he has good guests and he's not a moron like Leno.....

By xopher

Conan got bad ratings because Jay got bad ratings. Conan never had the luxury of having award winning crime dramas leading into the late local news which leads to the Tonight Show. Jay is a ***hole. I will not watch his show anymore and I will lobby to my friends to do the same.

By Thel

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Blame NBC for the initial screw-up when they literally forced Jay out of the Tonight show so they could keep Conan on the payroll. They would have been smarter to leave Jay where he was and let Conan go to another network. His ratings were lousy. Only picked up at the end so people could hear the barbs being exchanged. Conan isn't funny in my book ... never was!

So don't blame Jay ... go ahead an pitty poor Conan, but blame stupid NBC suits for this whole thing.

By MariJane

Toss them both... Hire Seinfeld..!!

By ian roy

I like them but its hard to feel sorry for people that make that much money

By Alice

Can you imagine what Jay was thinking while sitting there with that fat thing? My husband and I have met Jay at car shows and know he doesn't like Obama type people but of course has to put on a show since he is a business man. Many people cannot understand how a person like Oprah is still in business but then again, she can afford to pay people to watch her.

By mark turner

It almost makes me want to cry in sympathy, these two rich Liberals whining. They really oughta retire, and let some other Liberal whinebag make some o' that money. The Air O-merica staff are all outta jobs.

By consumerswhoknow

I think they should have gotten rid of the local news and kept Leno and Conan--who watches local news anyway?

By Ray

jay is great but since the writer strike his jokes haven't been that good and i lost interest so maybe the network should cut there pay they need better jokes

By RL

Blah blah blah Jay. hey NBC why not put in a new 30 minute show at 11:30 aand move the Tonight Show to 12 now and see how "Mister" does.

By Kent

We have to remember one thing. The driving force behind shifting Jay back after local news were the affiliates. They didn't like the idea from the start, and many saw their late local news slide in ratings, going from first to second or second to third.

The Boston affiliate didn't want to air Jay at 10ET, and NBC threatened to find a new Boston affiliate, unless it went along with the schedule.

Saturday 30 January

By INrr33

I happen to know Jay Leno peraonally. He is one of the nicest and most considerate guys I've ever met. You can say what you want about 'body language' but the fact of the matter is he's an honest & caring man. He and Conan are/were nothing but employees of NBC. NBC is the one who called the shots. Conan and Jay were both dancing on a string. NBC created this mess and Conan and Jay are both paying the price. Conan is out and Jay is made to look like the bad guy. Not fair. As for Letterman, he's a sorehead. He was behind Jay in the ratings and that made him mad. Furthermore his behavior is less than sterling! He has no right to point the finger at anyone! Think about it.

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