Odds slashed on Oprah Winfrey presidential bid after electrifying Golden Globes speech
Oprah Winfrey’s odds of becoming the next US president have been slashed dramatically after an electrifying Golden Globes speech and reports she is considering a run.
The 63-year-old talk-show host drew repeated standing ovations from Hollywood stars in an emotional speech that tackled the industry’s sexual harassment scandal head-on.
Winfrey, herself the victim of child abuse, delivered a nine-minute monologue that ended envisioning a “new day” where people will no longer be sexually harassed.
Speculation that the speech could mark the start of a bid for the 2020 presidency went into overdrive when friends suggested she was considering a campaign.
Stedman Graham, her long term partner, said it was “up to the people” but “she would absolutely do it”, while CNN quoted two friends saying she was "actively thinking” about it.
A White House spokesman said: "We welcome the challenge, whether it be Oprah Winfrey or anybody else. We welcome all comers."
The spokesman said he did not know whether Mr Trump saw the Golden Globes speech.
The suggestion of Oprah's candidacy dominated US news broadcasters on Monday morning as commentators considered the possibility of a Winfrey-Trump race for the White House in 2020.
It would pit two of the country’s best known TV stars against each other – and, in the eyes of critics, complete the blurring of the line between politics and entertainment.
Winfrey is a prominent supporter of the Democratic Party, having campaigned for Barack Obama and endorsed Hillary Clinton in previous presidential races.
She rose to fame through The Oprah Winfrey Show, a talk show where her emotive interview style often elicited confessions from celebrity guests.
As a child, Winfrey was repeatedly sexually abused by family members and considered suicide – something she later spoke about publicly.
Receiving the Cecil B. DeMille award at the Globes ceremony on Sunday, Winfrey used her acceptance speech to praise the “Me Too” campaign that called out sexual harassment.
“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,” she said.
“They're the women whose names we'll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in restaurants and they're in academia, engineering, medicine, and science.”
Golden Globes 2018 | Oprah Winfrey’s speech in full
Winfrey concluded by saying that “even during our darkest nights” it was possible to “maintain hope for a brighter morning”.
She finished: “So 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 … [a] time when nobody ever has to say ‘me too’ again”.
The speech, far more political than the average awards acceptance, did not mention Donald Trump but included a defence of the press and its “insatiable dedication” to finding truth.
It triggered a wave of calls for Winfrey to run for the White House on social media and saw her odds of being the next president slashed.
Bookmakers PaddyPower put her at 10/1 to win the 2020 election – equal to other Democratic front-runners such as Joe Biden, the former vice president, and Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator. Ladbrokes cut their odds for Winfrey to 33/1.
Winfrey ruled out a presidential bid last June, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “I will never run for public office. That’s a pretty definitive thing.”
However by Monday afternoon, Winfrey’s camp had not played down the speculation. Gayle King, Winfrey’s best friend, said: “I thought that speech was incredible. I got goose bumps.”
In an early morning tweet, Mr Trump said that “African American unemployment is the lowest ever recorded in our country”, adding that the Democrats “did nothing for you but get your vote!” It was unclear whether the message was a response to the speculation.
