Oprah Winfrey embroiled in vote-rigging scandal

MELBOURNE - Oprah Winfrey, known for reporting others’ scandals, is now embroiled in a vote-rigging scandal in her search for the next great TV star.

The talk-show queen’s website is accused of fixing results against a disabled contestant in a competition to find the next great TV star.

People are contending for a chance at their own show on Oprah’s new TV network - and the front-runners are an African-American female named Dr Phyllis and a young disabled man, Zach Anner.

Anner’s video entry is touching and funny, and at last look had racked up an impressive 4,942,500 votes, but that still places him second to Phyllis, who has 5,070,848 votes.

However, voters on Winfrey’s website claim Anner’s vote total has been decreasing while Phyllis’s has been increasing exponentially.

They have claimed that Anner had been leading before Phyllis suddenly accrued 300,000 votes and overtook Anner in the matter of 20 minutes.

“I voted for Zach and he did not get one! WHY? I think something is wrong with the voting system as my vote did not get counted. WE LOVE YOU ZACH!” the Herald Sun quoted one unhappy Anner fan as saying.

“My votes aren’t showing up either. But they do whenever I vote on anyone else’s,” wrote another fan.

However, not everyone is against Oprah-bashing, as one supporter wrote: “The Oprah I know is such an overwhelmingly compassionate person, standing for the benefits, enlightenment and humanity brought to us.”

“Oprah would never let (that happen to) someone as talented and inspired as Zach. In addition, she would never let the opportunity pass to give a wheelchair-fixed person an audience,” added the fan. (ANI)