Oprah for President! Stars urge run after rallying cry
...but she’ll have to ditch old pal Harvey
HeleN Mirren nodded towards Oprah Winfrey and said: ‘That’s called leadership.’
The Oscar-winner was referring to the electrifying speech Oprah had given when she received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement honour at the Golden Globe Awards.
‘A new day is on the horizon!’ Oprah declared towards the end of the eightminute speech that, according to Mirren, ‘shook the world’.
The New Yorker magazine reflected a common view when it said it was ‘the kind of speech we used to hear from the person running the country’.
Proving that Oprah’s rallying cry for social change and inspiration for young girls made waves far beyond the confines of the Beverly Hilton, social media was flooded with calls insisting the 63-year- old actress and talk show host run for president in 2020.
The hashtag #oprah2020 was soon trending in the US and around the world.
Meryl Streep – co-founder of the Time’s Up campaign that saw the stars turn out in black for Sunday’s ceremony to protest against sexual harassment and abuse – was adamant that she wanted Oprah to run.
‘I don’t think she had any intention [of declaring herself]. But now she doesn’t have a choice,’ she told the Washington Post. She added that the speech, which seized on the importance of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements standing up to gender inequality, had ‘launched a rocket’.
However, not everyone was impressed with Oprah’s performance. Many on social media pointed to her past friendship with Harvey Weinstein – demonstrated in cosy displays at previous awards ceremonies – whose alleged predatory behaviour sparked the Hollywood anti-harassment movement.
In her speech, which drew cheers from the audience – and, in the case of actresses lily James and laura Dern, tears – Oprah said: ‘For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those [brutally powerful] men, but their time is up .Their time is up.’
She concluded: ‘I want all the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon. And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women ... and some pretty phenomenal men fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, “Me too” again.’
Her words sparked the second standing ovation in her honour. Gary Oldman, who won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, had even remained standing between the two. Nicole Kidman said later she would play the speech for her daughters, while Mirren declared that clips would find their way around the world. ‘Imagine every little girl and teenager listening and watching that. The hope and inspiration it would give them,’ she told the Mail. Oprah’s partner of 31 years, Steadman Graham, said he too believed she could, perhaps, be a candidate for the Democrats in 2020, adding: ‘It’s up to the people. She would absolutely do it.’
Questioned backstage, Oprah exclaimed ‘I don’t, I don’t’. But when asked last March if she harboured any aspirations following Donald Trump’s success, she acknowledged the idea had been on her mind. In a nod to Trump’s ineptitude, she said: ‘I thought, “Oh gee, I don’t have the experience, I don’t know enough”. And now I’m thinking, “Oh. Oh!”’