BEVERLY
HILLS, CA - JANUARY 07: Oprah
Winfrey poses with the Cecil B.
DeMille Award in the press room
during The 75th Annual Golden Globe
Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel
on January 7, 2018 in Beverly Hills,
California. (Photo by Kevin
Winter/Getty Images)
Oprah
for
president?
Winfrey
fans
urge
White
House
run
after #MeToo
speech
Nichola
Groom
Reuters
LOS
ANGELES
(Reuters)
- Oprah
Winfrey
fans lit
up
Twitter
on
Monday
with
calls
for her
to run
for U.S.
president
after
the
entertainment
star
gave an
inspiring
“new
day”
speech
at an
awards
show in
support
of those
who have
exposed
sexual
misconduct
in
Hollywood
and
beyond.
A
surge of
tweets
carrying
“#Oprahforpresident”
and
“#Oprah2020”
hashtags
followed
her
speech
at the
Golden
Globes,
where
Winfrey
became
the
first
black
woman to
receive
a
lifetime
achievement
award on
Sunday.
Winfrey,
an
actress,
movie
and
television
producer,
and
chief
executive
of her
OWN
cable
channel,
is
actively
thinking
about a
run, CNN
reported
on
Monday,
citing
two of
her
close
friends.
CNN did
not name
the
friends,
who it
said had
spoken
on
condition
of
anonymity.
At
least
one
emphasized
that
Winfrey
had made
no firm
decision
on a
run.
Sunday’s
award
ceremony
honored
Winfrey,
63, as a
role
model
for
women
and a
person
who has
promoted
strong
female
characters.
“In
a 9
minute
speech,
@Oprah
was more
presidential
than the
current
occupant
of the
White
House
has been
for an
entire
year,”
wrote
Khary
Penebaker,
a member
of the
Democratic
National
Committee,
on
Twitter,
referring
to
Republican
President
Donald
Trump.
“That
speech
was
everything.
#timesup
#oprahforpresident,”
tweeted
Boston
television
personality
Cassy
Arsenault
in one
of many
calls
for
Winfrey
to run
in the
next
U.S.
presidential
election,
in
November
2020.
Trump
also
powered
his
successful
2016
campaign
on the
back of
his
celebrity
reputation
from
reality
TV show
“The
Apprentice,”
as well
as
long-cultivated
attention
in New
York
newspapers.
In
recent
years,
Winfrey
has lent
her star
power to
endorse
Democratic
presidential
candidates:
Barack
Obama
when he
was
seeking
to
become
the
first
black
U.S.
president
in 2008
and
Hillary
Clinton
in her
campaign
against
Trump in
2016.
In
the
past,
Winfrey
has said
she is
not
interested
in
running
for
president,
for
example
saying
in a CBS
interview
in
October
when
asked
about
the 2020
presidential
election
that,
“There
will be
no
running
for
office
of any
kind for
me.”
However,
the Los
Angeles
Times
quoted
Stedman
Graham,
Winfrey’s
longtime
partner
in
business
and
life, as
saying
on
Sunday
that
“It’s up
to the
people
... She
would
absolutely
do it.”
The
awards
show,
Hollywood’s
first
leading
up to
the
Oscars,
was
dominated
by a
scandal
that has
seen
dozens
of
powerful
men in
U.S.
entertainment,
politics
and the
media
accused
of
sexual
abuse or
harassment.
Winfrey,
who
along
with
most of
the
show’s
other
women
attendees
wore a
black
gown to
show
support
for
victims
of
sexual
misconduct,
was the
first
black
woman to
receive
the
annual
Cecil B.
DeMille
award,
joining
the
likes of
Meryl
Streep,
Steven
Spielberg,
Barbra
Streisand
and
Sophia
Loren.
‘NEW
DAY’ FOR
GIRLS
AND
WOMEN
Winfrey
used her
speech
to
praise
women
who have
shared
their
stories
of
sexual
harassment
and
abuse,
and to
declare
that “a
new day
is on
the
horizon”
for
girls
and
women.
“When
that new
day
finally
dawns it
will be
because
of a lot
of
magnificent
women,
many of
whom are
in this
room
tonight,
and some
pretty
phenomenal
men,
fighting
hard to
make
sure
they
become
leaders
that
take us
to the
time
where
nobody
has to
say ‘me
too’
again,”
Winfrey
said,
referring
to the #MeToo
social
media
movement
raising
awareness
about
sexual
harassment.
Winfrey
was
raised
in
poverty
by a
single
mother
and went
on to
host the
top-rated
talk
show
“The
Oprah
Winfrey
Show”
for 25
years
before
ending
it in
2011.
“I
want to
express
gratitude
to all
the
women
who have
endured
years of
abuse
and
assault
because
they,
like my
mother,
had
children
to feed
and
bills to
pay and
dreams
to
pursue.”
She
produced
and
acted in
the 2014
civil
rights
movie
“Selma,”
and
2017’s
“The
Immortal
Life of
Henrietta
Lacks”
and was
Oscar
nominated
in 1986
for her
role in
“The
Color
Purple,”
which
she
later
helped
finance
as
Broadway
musical.
Even
after
ending
her
daily
talk
show,
her
influence
on
popular
culture
remains
strong.
Forbes
last
year
estimated
her net
worth at
$3
billion
and
placed
her
third on
its list
of the
America’s
richest
self-made
women.