'Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over,' Winfrey says in statement.
By Jocelyn Vena
Oprah Winfrey
Photo: Steve Granitz/ WireImage
Oprah Winfrey has reportedly denied a Drudge Report item that claims the talk-show host was considering having Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin on her show.
Winfrey issued a statement saying: "The item in today's Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show," according to TMZ.
"At the beginning of this presidential campaign, when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates," the statement continued. "I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over."
The Drudge item quoted an Oprah "insider" as saying: "Half of her staff really wants Sarah Palin on. Oprah's Web site is getting tons of requests to put her on, but Oprah and a couple of her top people are adamantly against it because of Obama."
Winfrey is a longtime Obama supporter who has campaigned for him. He has appeared twice on her show — in January 2005 and October 2006 — before he announced his candidacy for president.
The Republican National Convention, which featured addresses from Palin on Wednesday night, closed with candidate John McCain's address on Thursday night. Amid many stories in the past week about Palin, her daughter Bristol's pregnancy and Bristol's boyfriend Levi Johnston, late Thursday night the rock band Heart, whose song "Barracuda" was used during the convention in a nod to Palin's old nickname, leading the band to reportedly issue a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign.
"The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission," says a statement from Heart's camp, according to TMZ.com. "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored."