Culture

People Want Oprah To Run For President After Her Extraordinary Golden Globes Speech

Oprah 2020.

by Sam Langford  8 January 2018
oprah golden globes

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Content warning: this article contains mentions of sexual assault

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Oprah just gave a speech at the Golden Globes that is, hands down, the best moment of 2018 so far. I’d say the best moment of 2018 full stop, but this speech delivered that rare and precious thing: hope that it’s actually going to be better.

The speech was so good that the standing ovation began halfway through. Every successive line had more people on their feet applauding. It led Roxane Gay to tweet “our president is giving her state of the union”, a sentiment that gained thousands of retweets in minutes.

So what did Oprah say that was so powerful? She was there to accept the 2018 Cecil B. DeMille Award, an honorary Golden Globe award given for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”. She began her speech by talking about former DeMille winner Sidney Poitier, and the impact his first Oscar win had on her as a child.

“I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that,” she said. “I tried many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone tired from cleaning other people’s houses.”

“It is not lost on me that, at this moment, there is some little girl watching as I become the first black woman to be given the same award. It is an honor and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of them.”

She then wasted no time in turning to the #TimesUp campaign to send sexual harassment and assault, which has taken centre stage at the Golden Globes today.

“What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have,” Oprah said. “And I’m especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories.”

She then moved to acknowledge and thank those whose stories and names we don’t know — “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.”

And on that note, Oprah wanted to use her platform to share the story of a woman whose name we may not know, but should. She told the audience about Recy Taylor — a black woman who was abducted and sexually assaulted by a group of white men in 1944. Her attackers were never brought to justice, and Taylor herself died on December 30th.

As Oprah put it, Taylor deserves to be remembered, because “she lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men.”

“For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men,” Oprah said to a standing ovation. “But their time is up. Their time is up.”

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“I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon!” she concluded. “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.”

From the response, it sounds like the people want Oprah to be one of those leaders. Sure, the stuff about her running for President was largely sparked by a joke Seth Meyers made in his opening monologue, but there’s no reason it should just be a joke. #Oprah2020.

And to anyone who says this appreciation is overblown, here’s Roxane Gay again to shut you down:

You can watch Oprah’s entire speech here. Have tissues on hand.