Oprah explains why she backed away from Apple TV+ sexual assault doc

Oprah Apple TV+ (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Oprah resigned as executive producer of the documentary two weeks ago.
The documentary was to air on Apple TV+, but that isn't happening now.
She has explained why she stepped away from the project.

Oprah Winfrey has explained why she took the decision to back away from a documentary centered on the alleged sexual assault in the music industry. Specifically media figure Russell Summons. According to Oprah, it was all a case of wanting to make sure the facts were 100% accurate.

Speaking to CBS, Oprah said that she raised concerns about the accuracy of some of the documentary but was shot down

Winfrey explained it was "a hard decision" to step away from the film because she knew it could look like she was caving to pressure from Simmons, but that before he pressured her, she had expressed concerns to the filmmakers."I had said to them, 'Houston, I think we have a problem here' because new information had come forward," she said.Winfrey said she thought they needed to pull out of the Sundance Film Festival, where the documentary is expected to premier on January 25, and if they couldn't, she would take her name off.

Oprah went on to say that she didn't want to put her name to something that she did not have creative control over. And given her misgivings about the documentary she decided that it was best to step away. That also means that it won't be part of the Apple TV+ lineup, too.

"I don't care about awards — I just care about getting it right, and I think there's some inconsistencies in the stories that we need to look at," Winfrey said. "I wanted the context of the story to be broadened, I wanted more women brought into the story."

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.