Oprah Winfrey

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Sandra Garcia-Myers

The far-reaching impact of the show was also demonstrated the same year when Winfrey expressed her personal opinion on eating beef in a discussion of England's "Mad Cow Disease." Predictably, beef sales fell off a bit and a cattleman's association in Texas hauled her into court for defamation. After a two-month trial, she was vindicated but no one would ever again doubt the pervasive influence of her show.