September 3, 2007 -- IT sounds like the kind of spat Oprah can smooth out before the first commercial - but it's too close to home for that now.

Oprah Winfrey's longtime director has been put on a leave of absence from the show after he was arrested last week for allegedly roughing up his ex-wife.

Joseph Terry spent a night in a Chicago jail after his ex-wife told cops that she had been hurt in a "physical confrontation" with Terry, 57, at her home, according to reports.

The two have been divorced for 20 years, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Pauline Terry, the ex-wife, says he pulled her arm and her hair during the brawl.

Because of his overnight jail stay, Terry, who has directed Oprah's show for eight years, missed the taping last Wednesday of the only new episode the talk-show Queen has made in August. It was a special on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Terry's lawyer called the arrest "a very big misunderstanding and not a criminal case . . . We are quite confident this case will be resolved favorably."

A spokesperson for Oprah said Terry is "on a mutually agreed-upon leave of absence that began Wednesday."


http://www.nypost.com/seven/09032007/tv/oprah_director_jailed.htm

Mutually agreed upon leave of absence.


Why can't they just say "he's fired" like normal people?

;)

Because it does not sound professional and they don't want him to look bad. LOL. That is my theory.