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The website BlackCommentator.com blasted the “Down Low” episode as “an hour of disinformation, stereotyping and hucksterism” (September 8, 2005, Issue 149). Writer Bruce Dixon stated, “ Oprah and her guest, J.L. King, the author of what became, thanks to exposure on Oprah's TV show and web site, a best selling book, did incalculable and lasting damage to the battle for HIV-AIDS prevention, treatment, and understanding of the epidemic in the African American community.”

Dixon noted that Winfrey lent King ill-deserved credibility by giving him a forum. “Mr. King isn't selling public health advice–-he's selling public hysteria, and thanks to his exposure on the Oprah show, King now makes a good living off it.”

One of the other guests, Phil Wilson (Director of the Black AIDS Institute) made an effort to contextualize the “down low” as one of the myriad forms of sexual dishonesty that puts everyone at risk in the face of the AIDS epidemic. "It's not unique to black men. It's basically men who have sex with men or women who don't disclose, and it's been going on forever. The issue is we live in a more dangerous time.”

But according to BlackCommentator.com, Wilson “only got a handful of words in edgewise in the final moments of the infamous ‘down low' show.” Wilson's comments took a backseat to King's salacious tips on how a woman might determine if her boyfriend or husband is himself “on the down low.” As a result, the lingering message of the show was that African American men having sex with other men is suspicious, risky business.

On the Oprah episode, “Terry McMillan Confronts Her Gay Ex-Husband,” (air date November 9, 2005) Winfrey invited best-selling author Terry McMillan on the show to confront her ex-husband Jonathan Plummer about his recent confession of his homosexuality. McMillan struck literary gold with her novel How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1996), which was largely based on her relationship with Plummer.

McMillan described her shock and feelings of betrayal when Plummer came out to her, while Plummer explained that he had only recently discovered that he was gay and admitted to having sexual relations with other men as his marriage was ending.

On his website KeithBoykin.com, co-host of the BET TV talk show "My Two Cents” and author of One More River to Cross: Black and Gay in America (1996) and Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America (2005) Keith Boykin wrote about the “McMillan” episode, and noted, “… for every sort of breakthrough moment on the show, there were plenty of blame-filled moments of misinformation about homosexuality and gay men.”

Boykin admits disappointment with both Winfrey and McMillan for questioning Plummer's assertion that he didn't realize he might be gay until he was 21 years old, and for their “attempt to connect AIDS and homosexuality in the discussion” He faults Winfrey for her attempt to get Plummer—but not McMillan—to apologize to for hurtful public comments about the divorce.

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