Inspiring Oprah: Abuse ‘Time’s Up’
OPRAH WINFREY brought down the house at Sunday night’s Golden Globe Awards with an emotional acceptance speech that put powerful abusive men on notice.
The longtime talk show host, producer and actress got the crowd to their feet with an inspiring monologue that included mentions of justice activist Recy Taylor and the just-launched Time’s Up initiative.
“What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have,” she said.
“I want tonight 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. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know.”
Winfrey, the first black woman to win the Cecil B. DeMille award, dedicated much of her time in the spotlight to Taylor, an African-American justice activist who died on Dec. 28, three days shy of her 98th birthday.
Taylor (photo) was just 24 when she was abducted and brutally raped at gunpoint by six white men while walking home from church in Alabama in 1944.
She reported the horrific incident to police, and famed civil rights activist Rosa Parks was put on the case by the NAACP, though her attackers were never indicted.
Winfrey tied Taylor’s story to Time’s Up, the anti-sexual harassment initiative more than 300 Hollywood women launched last month.
“(Taylor) lived too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men,” Winfrey said.
“For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up.”
Time’s Up, also backed by stars like Reese Witherspoon, Shonda Rhimes and Natalie Portman, was the driving force in encouraging Golden Globes attendees to dress in black as a means of protesting sexual harassment.
Winfrey, 63, came full circle in relating tales of childhood dreams, kicking off her speech with a memory of watching Sidney Poitier win an Oscar in 1964 and the swell of inspiration that came from seeing a black man celebrated in the spotlight. In wrapping up, she gave a shoutout to all the little girls watching with pride, just as did decades ago.
“It is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award,” Winfrey said.
“I want all the girls watching here 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, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, 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,” she said.