Is Oprah Biased? Host Won't Interview Palin

Sept. 5, 2008 — -- She may have let Tom Cruise jump all over her couch, but Oprah Winfrey says that Sarah Palin can't even sit on it.

At least not until after the presidential election, that is.

Responding to media reports first publicized on Matt Drudge's "The Drudge Report" claiming there was turmoil at Winfrey's Harpo Studios about whether to book the GOP vice presidential nominee on the popular talk show, Winfrey's camp said today that while she has nothing against Palin, the veep hopeful won't appear on the show anytime soon.

"The item in today's 'Drudge Report' is categorically untrue," Winfrey said in a written statement provided to ABCNews.com. "There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show.

"At the beginning of the 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," Winfrey wrote.

"I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over."

But Winfrey, who publicly endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama in May 2008, is being widely criticized by some fans of the show who say she's being unfair and biased.

"She's being two-faced," said Dr. Cindy Grossman-Green, a pediatrician and Oprah fan from outside Philadelphia. "She initially had Obama on her show, but now that she's decided [to support him], she won't have any other political candidates on."

Grossman-Green is referring to the two times Obama appeared on Winfrey's show prior to announcing his plans to run for the presidency, once in January 2005 and, more recently, in October 2006.

Some Winfrey fans say that Obama's appearance on the show at all -- regardless of the timing and his political aspirations during his visits -- are irrelevant and that Winfrey's decision to blacklist Palin from her show could very well backfire.

"I don't think most people even care about the timing [of when Obama went on the show]," Grossman-Green said. "They just know Winfrey is pro-Obama and that she had him on.