The Oprah Strikes Back?

I heard on the radio today that Oprah-protege Rachael Ray was overheard at an LA restaurant talking smack about her patron. This leads me not to a discussion about Rachael Ray (which apparently is a whole other blog), but rather a question about Oprah: Can you bite the lucrative hand that feeds you, or are you finished without the gravy-train of constant promotion? Does Oprah's Death-Star like Empire control the universe, or can you cross her and still live to cook another meal on Tatooine? What happened to that James Frey guy, anyway?