Jayson Blair Resurfaces, Bitches To Oprah

Jayson Blair was fired from the New York Times in disgrace over a vast plagiarism scandal several years back. He recently popped up on Oprah: Where Are They Now? to construct a set of excuses whereby he was no longer just lazy work stealing bastard. Blair mentioned how he was suffering from mental and drug problems while not doing his job at the Times, and was even suicidal after getting caught. He is now twisting his self-serving behavior into some supposed triumph over bipolar disorder, skillfully promoting his business in which he coaches people with mental issues. Some of his typical reflection mixed with a healthy dose of self pity:

“When I first was called on it, my initial reaction was to try and defend myself, at the same time, I wanted … the sense of relief, and I wanted it to be over. And then, I just hit a point where, for the first time in my life, I’m thinking about ways to kill myself.”

Suicide seems like the appropriate reaction to being busted cheating at work. I thought Where Are They Now shows were supposed to focus on the goofy neighbor character from Who’s The Boss or the bass vocalist from Rockapella, not people known for delivering death blows to modern print journalism. I had totally forgotten about this guy before Oprah gave him this soapbox. Now I’m stuck with the knowledge that both Blair and Oprah still exist and are doing fine. How fair is that when so many good people are dead.