LTE: Oprah is most powerful

Some of your readers might not browse the Chronicle’s Page A2 “Newsmakers” section as regularly as I do, but one item in the Thursday edition should have caught everybody’s eye. The lead article proclaimed that Angelina Jolie was “the world’s most powerful celebrity,” and had “dethroned Oprah Winfrey,” according to Forbes magazine. Now, I don’t know who Forbes consulted for this tidbit, but two things stuck out to call that judgment into question. Angelina made one-tenth as much as Oprah last year, $27 million to Oprah’s $275 million. And Oprah embraced Barack Obama’s candidacy early and arguably got him elected. By whatever measures you use, Oprah is the world’s most powerful celebrity, and until Angelina is grossing into eight figures and electing presidents, I’ll be hard pressed to believe otherwise.

PETE SMITH
Cypress

 

http://www.chron.com/default/article/Letters-Playing-the-blame-game-1721273.php