Social media buzzes about an anticlimactic Armstrong interview

While the disgraced cyclist admitted to doping, little else transpired from his one-in-one with the queen of talk, Oprah Winfrey. Social media, however, kept the conversation going.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

Finally, the truth came out in a very scripted, overly hyped interview that aired Thursday night on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network.

If you didn’t watch Lance Armstrong’s interview with Winfrey or couldn’t find it on satellite or cable, note that it reached its peak in the first two minutes when she asked him straight out about doping and lying. He admitted to all of the above, each time with a “yes.”

The rest of the interview? Anticlimactic.

Winfrey and the fledging OWN did a great job of touting the interview, complete with a countdown ticker and full-page ads in newspapers across the country telling people where they could tune in.

As the interview shifted to the details of what Armstrong did and when, the punch was gone. Armstrong kept the conversation tame and confusing by throwing out dates and giving non-answers with what were planned duck-and-dodge messages.

As with most TV events, the interview was enhanced by following along on Twitter. No single, real hashtag developed for the interview, but robust conversation could be found with the witty #Doprah tag.

Some of the more common Twitter responses included:

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.