Oprah surely wants her brand new show “Oprah’s Next Chapter” (airing on her OWN network) to become a big hit like her previous TV offering, but her methods of promotion have landed the global icon in hot water.

Grammy night just happened to be the night that Oprah’s new show premiered. How does a media princess get people to flip the channel? By tweeting to her 9.2 million+ followers, of course. So on Sunday night, Oprah tweeted this:

Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box

and later…

Commercial Grammy people..u can turn to OWN

Apparently, that’s a big no-no, and her actions drew the ire of the Nielsen company whose job it is to provide accurate, unbiased TV ratings information. Nielsen’s policy strictly forbids networks from reaching out to Nielsen participants – for obvious reasons. This could create inaccurate testing results. The company released this statement about Oprah’s tweet:

In accordance with our policies and procedures, Nielsen is reviewing this incident with our clients and we may withhold, breakout and/or make a note in the ratings. We take any violation of our policy seriously and will work with clients to resolve the situation.

Oprah later removed the tweet and apologized:

I removed the tweet at the request of Nielsen. I intended no harm and apologize for the reference.

It wasn’t just Nielsen who chastised Oprah for her tweet. Her followers got on her case as well, calling her “desperate” and “unethical.” Although Oprah has deleted the original tweet, her responses to people’s criticism are still there: