Oprah’s post-scandal school celebration

Courtney Hazlett The Scoop

Oprah Winfrey capped off a difficult semester at her Oprah Winfrey Academy for Girls by hosting and attending a celebratory dinner at the school in South Africa.

This is the first major celebration since the news of the school’s abuse scandal, which led to the investigation and arrest of a dorm matron. That’s why many are billing the dinner as a “post-scandal celebration,” but a source close to the festivities says it would be more accurate to call the event a “holiday celebration” and “end of year party.”

Oprah donned traditional African garb and was welcomed with cheers and applause by the students at her party. The 12-year-old girl who triggered the investigation and her father were also in attendance. Oprah, who has made three prior trips to the country since the scandal broke, met privately with the father and young girl earlier this week, using the occasion to publicly praise the girl before her peers.

Madonna in hot water over dyed sheep
News that Madonna angered the animal-rights community by dyeing sheep blue, pink, yellow and green for a Vogue photo shoot set the blogosphere ablaze. Although the Material Girl can be rightly accused of crossing many lines, this is one instance where her accusers should be the ones who are red in the face.

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For starters, the shoot in question happened more than two years ago. “This was for the August 2005 issue of Vogue,” says a source close to the shoot. “The sheep pictures ran everywhere then, and everyone was charmed by it.”

Charmed by sheep that appear to be on the wrong end of a Crayola experiment? “It was a very human thing,” the source explains. “Dye wasn’t even used and it wasn’t even dye per se. It was a vegetable powder dusting that is safe even to eat.”

The reason for the resurgence of the pictures is that they appear in the new book “Vogue Living: Houses, Gardens, People.” It would appear that we care a little more about dyed sheep now than we did two years ago. Green is universal, as they say.

Kylie’s new tour
Aussie pop star Kylie Minogue announced a new European tour that would be “totally different” from her previous performances. The “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” singer released her new album, “X,” this week and her tour is due to begin in Paris on May 6 and end in London in July. Minogue posted on her Web site that “the sounds on ‘X’ is affording me an opportunity to explore and develop a new live show that will be fresh, exhilarating and innovative.”

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