Oprah Banned Me (I think)

So, the Rachael Ray video I posted on Thanksgiving was pulled from YouTube. Apparently, Chicago's EIP Group thought I was using the material without permission. Granted, I just edited bits of Rachael's 2nd episode of her talkshow into a comical piece. I didn't add anything or say anything directly negative about Rachael or Oprah (nor was I intending to).

I suppose having the link to my blog at the beginning might have irritated the lawyers, but I searched for "EIP Group" and found similar posts from bloggers saying that their basic videos were pulled by EIP Group (one was just a clip of Faith Hill and her husband Tim McGraw singing on Oprah).

It's kind of hard to believe that Oprah would have lawyers scouring the Internet, looking to remove any and all uses of her likeness-- especially on YouTube where so many media companies are finally realizing the benefits.

It's not like I made the "Oprah for President" Web site (like one guy really did) and started making t-shirts, buttons, bags, etc. with her face on them. Hmm...

I wonder if I had left Oprah out, would my video would still be available? The Faith Hill/Tim McGraw blogger claims there are "no" videos of Oprah on YouTube, or if there are they get pulled very quickly.

I have been able to find some videos from the Oprah show, but they usually don't reference Oprah in the video title or the description (for example, yesterday I watched the crazy wacko Anne Heche and her interview with Ellen on Oprah but searching for "anne heche").

I'm glad all of the crazy things that have been happening on The View seem to show up on YouTube since I can't--in good conscience--actually watch or record that show. Don't take them away!

And I had some big plans for future videos! We'll see what happens...