(Special to The Root) -- Oprah Winfrey has hit a new low. In an effort to garner ratings for her fledgling OWN network, the self-made billionaire and queen of multimedia platforms is going to interview the Kardashian clan on her Oprah's Next Chapter program, as if they're the Waltons.

We're talking about a group of people who have created nothing and have contributed nothing to the betterment of society or mankind. According to Winfrey, the purpose of OWN was to "create messages that fill you up and bring you to new levels of awareness about yourself, ourselves, and our world; our potential ... "

So, um, how exactly does a two-hour interview with the Kardashian clan fit into that paradigm?

Two years ago, when OWN launched, I wrote on The Root that I was disappointed in the programming the network was offering. Now, not only am I disappointed, but I am literally sickened by this news. We have a saying in the black community: "When you know better, you do better."

By her actions, Winfrey is showing everyone who ever trusted her taste and admired her accomplishments that she has lost her moral compass and will do anything to gain ratings.

At this point, Winfrey might as well come out and say she favors the legalization of pornography and prostitution. Lest anyone forget: Kim Kardashian's fame is rooted in her notoriety.

She made a sex tape with R&B singer William "Ray J" Norwood, unintended for the public, in 2007. But as is often the case in these types of scenarios, the tape was leaked and went viral on the Internet. Vivid Entertainment, a porn distributor, purchased it from an unknown third party, but the matter was eventually settled in a California Superior Court in Los Angeles, with Kardashian receiving a share of the profits as compensation for invasion of her privacy.

In a statement made to People.com at the time, Kardashian said that its public release was hurtful to her and her family. After enduring that type of unwanted attention, most people would have quietly retreated from the public spotlight. But not Kardashian. The paparazzi, and other media outlets, clung to her like gum to the bottom of a shoe, and sadly for the rest of us, she has become embedded in our collective consciousness. And there's no indication that her 15 minutes are coming to an end anytime soon.