By Elaine Furst For Dog Files
Just days before he was to make his appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Michael Vick abruptly decided to cancel.
It now appears that there may have been multiple reasons behind Vick’s last minute decision.
A major concern for Vick may have been that Winfrey’s producers were reaching out to the current owners of Vick’s former dogs about appearing on her show.
One of those current owners is Richard Hunter, a Dallas journalist who tried to confront Vick at a pre-Super Bowl party in Dallas where the quarterback was being given a key to the city. Hunter, who wanted Vick to see a picture of the dog he adopted but was stopped by Vick’s associates, said the dog owners were aggressive in their desire to be on the show.
Don Halcombe, a spokesman for Winfrey, did confirm Thursday that families who adopted Vick’s dogs wanted to appear on the Vick/Oprah show.
“Yes, they reached out to us and we spoke with them and several other groups. We were still in planning stages for the show so can’t confirm if they would have been part of the final episode,” Halcombe said.
It also seems that plain old indecision might have made Vick change his mind.
Howard Eskin, sports host at 610 WIP, claims Vick couldn’t decide whether or not to go on the show and asked his team, the Philadelphia Eagles for advice. Apparently they told him that if he has reservations, “you can not go on with Oprah Winfrey. It’s still your call, your choice, you make a decision. But if you’re not sure of it, just tell them you can’t do it, and that’s basically what happened,” Eskin said.
Winfrey, who found out the interview was cancelled via an email from her producer, told The Hollywood Reporter that she and her producers had been “working for months” on the Vick interview, and already pre-taped segments with Vick.
The Vick show was scheduled to air on February 24.
Meanwhile, next season, Vick will be receiving an estimated $16 million to $20 million for a one-year deal with the Eagles.
If Mr. Vick is sorry for what he did, he should use some of the millions he makes to help out the thousands of cats and dogs that are in dire need of help.
A few hundred thousand would help the Dogs Deserve Better organization purchase his old house where the dog fighting occurred, which they intend to open a dog shelter if they are able to raise the funds. I can think of no better way to start earnestly making amends than this.
Didn’t the Eagles learn anything from last year? Well it’s like flushing money down the toilet. But it makes sense , ’cause Vick is a piece of shit.
I would really wonder, if Hector has that kind of hostilty towards that asshole Vick still!!!!I ,agreed that man should put some of his cash towards helping the dogs he hurt….But he is just one of the dog fights that got caught, there are so many more out there that we can help stop the cruel things they do to these dogs……I wrote this for Betty Boop my little pitt bull..
Brenda, You gave me a better idea for Vicks money. It should be put towards finding the rest of these dog fighting bastards and finish them all off for good. Vick should have offered this from the very begining, along with that he should be putting money toward educating people about Pitt Bulls. There are still idiots out there that believe that Pitts are dangerous. Its not the dog it’s the owner. People who saved Vicks dogs are a perfect example of that.
He is a coward, plain and simple. Cowards dont step up, they run away.
Whatever his reasons were or are, if he gets to appear and be heard, then so should the voices speaking for the dogs that survived him, period. After what happened w/ the whole Hector thing, what all those people did to prepare for going on her show, to have her bail on them last minute, this is just Karma for Oprah.
You’re either a Vick fan or your not but regardless, saying he has changed after what he did w/o proper treatment and therapy is far fetched. You don’t slam a dog into a rocky ground repeatedly and watch as she bleeds to death, yelping and crying for help w/o knowing what you’re doing is brutal. You don’t drown and electrocute a dog w/ your own 2 hands if you don’t have sociopathic tendencies. You don’t do jail time for Racketeering when you maliciously fought & murdered dogs for profit and then expect the fact knowing public to “forgive you” because the time wasn’t done for what YOU had done. He never did one day in jail for dog fighting and if you are reading this and that is your “comeback line” forget it because it’s false and records among records (court documents) state that repeatedly. Besides the dog fighting, he brutally KILLED these dogs w/ his bare hands in ways most people couldn’t even wrap their brains around, ways beyond what I have already stated. That and that alone are why I will never forgive him, just like I’ll never forgive any other animal abuser/murderer.
A felony is a felony, a life is a life and a celebrity…well…their expendable.
When his dogs’ and their rescuers get their spot on her show, then I’ll be ok w/ Vick getting his. Plain and Simple. And when his fans actually are exposed to the truths they’ll see what we see. It may not change their views of Vick, but it will educate them on the lies being told to cover up what he did and what he really did his jail time for. At least that is my hope. I don’t care if you like Vick, I only care that you know the truth.
The only reason that a-hole was ever sorry was because he got caught..not because he had a consience or even a shred of anything good in his heart. I hate that he got his career back and I’ll never wish well for him or any team he plays for. He wasn’t punsihed in my opinion. He’s a cruel,cold blooded freak who didn’t need the money the fights were probably bringing in…he just wanted the blood, the suffering, the cries of agony. What does that say about a person. Such a horrible man. Oprah’s show would have been a good one. Spineless coward. I’m so glad on the other hand that so many of those dogs have loving families now. Thank God for good souls like them.
I am glad it was canceled and am ashamed at Oprah for even entertaining the idea of giving that man the spotlight…for whatever reason. He does no deserve the opportunity to be publisized. He is an immoral piece of crap that deserves to be locked up in a prison not plastered on everyones TV trying to save what little face he thinks he has left.
Let’s pummel michael vick with dog poop… I would loooove to be the crazy animal activist to do that. He better hope he doesn’t come to houston…
So he was scared of a few people saying mean things to him? Whoa there tough guy guess it’s not so easy when your victims have voices. I hope Karma is a b!tch to you tenfold.
AREN’T THERE BETTER PEOPLE FOR OPRAH TO INTERVIEW?? I NO LONGER WATCH THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES BECAUSE OF VICK AND ALSO BECAUSE ALL THE TEAM OWNERS REALLY CARE ABOUT IS MONEY…THAT’S WHY HE’S WITH THEM AND MAKES THE BIG BUCKS THAT HE REALLY DOES NOT DESERVE!! YES HE SHOULD BE SHARING THAT MONEY WITH ALL OF THE NO KILL SHELTERS THROUGH OUT THE NATION FOR THEY ARE ALL STRUGGLING AND DESPERATELY IN NEED OF HELP!! BUT HAVE NO FEAR PEOPLE….VICK WILL PAY FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE…ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!! .
Michael Vick could have avoided jail time. He could have just stayed silent. It was his word against people who already had issues with the law, he could have stuck it out. Instead, he stood up and admitted the crime. He had done terrible things. He did the time. His dogs were either put down or given to people after rehab. Those people have been on talk shows and the news. They’ve had their say. His life is about his future now, not his past. He will make alot of money as a quarterback. All football players do – it’s not a career that they will have until they are 65 – they have to make the money while they are young. He made a mistake, noone can deny that, and he doesn’t deny it. If he weren’t famous, there wouldn’t have been much in the news about it, so why try to crucify him? It appears he’s being judged still. Worry about the wrongs you people have done, and what you have to do or can do to rectify them, instead of someone elses. Michael Vick has paid for what he did, and that’s that. I will be a fan of his until he’s done with football – he is one of the best quarterbacks I’ve ever watched, and I will continue to watch him whatever team he plays for. I have always had dogs, I’ve always loved dogs, but in the end giving personifications to animals won’t hold up, and they are animals, not other humans.
A mistake? You call what Vick did a mistake? A mistake is when you forget to take the trash to the curb. A mistake is when you leave the lasagna in the oven too long and it burns. It is not a mistake when you torture lived beings with your bare hands. Good Lord, talk about denial!
He admitted what?? Believe me, if you think that Michael Vick could have possibly avoided jail time and didn’t, you are even less intelligent than your post makes you sound. And while he DID do some time, you seem to be forgetting the tax evasion charges he skipped out on and the two failed urine tests he failed while on probation. I could go into the entire organized crime charges he should have gotten, but I think you get my drift.
“His dogs were either put down or given to people after rehab.” Uhm…NO! Some of his dogs are still being rehabbed. Those people have been on tv, they have had their say…what does that have to do about anything at all? Because they want the world to know what a amoral piece of crap he is? Well, then yes..they did…and they should continue doing that, too! And he shouldn’t get to write that behavior off, like he got a parking ticket. If I recall correctly, Michael promised to speak to people about the heinous crime of dog fighting. What, has he spoken to 10 groups in the last 2 year? WoW! Hope he doesn’t wear himself out!! He IS being judged, still…so am I, so are you! Mike doesn’t get to supercede the same life experiences the rest of us do…he’s not God! I love when his supporters use such terms as ‘crucify’ when referring to him. He is FAR from being crucified. He’s the only person I know who can go out and buy his girlfriend a $680,000.00 car while having an active BANKRUPTCY action pending!! How does that work? Michael Vick HAS NOT paid for what he did…he never will. When will his supporters gain the intelligence to understand that this goes FAR BEYOND dog fighting?? When will they begin to realize that it has to do with a culture of violence and depravation that is infiltrating every aspect of our lives? When will they understand that when our President condones such violent, sociopathic behavior, that it will be emulated by our youth in our streets? Go ahead, enjoy watching Mike tossing a ball. Perhaps while you are glued to the game, one of his proteges, who also believe he is a hero, will rob your house to get money to bet on THEIR dogs in the fighting ring!!! Make no mistake, Jill, that is definately NOT ‘that’….not even close!!
………wonder if Vic really wrote that comment above…………Life is precious even to a dog. How dare we call them ‘beasts’ in a derogatory manner when we have black holes like Vic walking around. If he didn’t go to jail some of those who for whatever reason have ‘forgiven” him, wouldn’t have. It was the only move he could make to salvage his career and a small portion of his ‘reputation’. Oprah ‘could’ have made him squirm…I would have enjoyed seeing him sweat..God knows he enjoyed watching those dogs bleed…..again, and again, and again.
Michae Vick and his heinious crimes have just come to my attention – I read the stories with increduality! Why is he being given the key to a city? Why is he being hailed as a hero? Was be going to make a nice wad of cash by appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show? If he is genuinly sorry for his past crimes why does he not wish to speak to to the kind people who are now giving his dogs the love and care they deserve? Of course he is not sorry!! He is an evil person, anyone that can dish out abuse in the way that he has, not realising it was wrong at the time (!?) is clearly not capable of any decent thoughts – he was in it for the money and he cared not one iota about the suffering he caused and any pretence he is now making about being a reformed character is just that – Pretence! He should never be allowed anywhere near another animal or a child.
Hurting dogs like that is not a mistake!!!!! Michael Vick is now a swear word in our house hold!!
oprah whats wrong with u lady ?i know u a doglover u a friggen billonaire y u stoop that low wanting this bastard on ur show ? nobody wanne hear what he has to say!I NEVER LIKE U ANY WAY UOLD HACK