As the Americans were mobbed at the airport in Sydney by camera crews disappointed to learn Oprah herself wouldn’t arrive until Tuesday, a newspaper headline screamed “Why Are We Paying For Rich People?”
The visit’s been billed as a boon to Australia’s tourism as the talk show star does a series of shows from the country and sends her audience on a tour of the Great Barrier Reef, the Tasmanian Wilderness and the country’s beaches. But some wonder if it’s worth the cost. Here’s a columnist in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Last I heard, Oprah Winfrey was earning around $220 million a year although one report puts that at $300 million. There is even a website where you can watch her income ticking over. The counter
spins like a roulette wheel. This talk-show baby is seriously rich even by oil-soaked American zillionaire standards.She arrives in Australia this week so explain again to me why Aussie taxpayers are chipping in towards her bills.
But forget about all that. Some Americans–including a woman who told reporters at the airport in Sydney she’d “never even won a goldfish” before–have landed a pretty sweet vacation. (And in case you were wondering if U.S. reporters ask the most inane questions on Earth, be assured it’s a global problem. One reporter asks a guy getting off the Oprah flight, “have you seen a kangaroo before?” Sigh.) Watch it, from the Herald: