Oprah Winfrey Fires Back at Racist Robocall Targeting Stacey Abrams

Julyssa Lopez
Updated
'Jesus don’t like ugly. And we know what to do about that. Vote,' she said in an Instagram video.

Oprah Winfrey has taken the midterm cycle into her own hands this year, rolling up her sleeves and knocking on doors to get voters to the polls. She surprised some lucky Georgians earlier in the week by canvassing for Stacey Abrams, who could become America's first black female governor if she beats out Republican candidate Brian Kemp.

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However, just after Winfrey gave Abrams a boost, a racist robocall went out to voters in Georgia. In the recording, a male voice pretends to be Winfrey and makes several racial slurs. But Winfrey quickly responded: She went on Instagram and clapped back, letting the world know that nothing was going to stop her from encouraging people to make their voices heard.

“I heard people making racist robocalls in my name against Stacey Abrams, who I am 100 percent for in Georgia,” she said. “I just want to say: Jesus don’t like ugly. And we know what to do about that. Vote.”

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In the video, Winfrey wears a shirt with bright letters that spell the word vote. She captioned the post, "The antidote to Hate... VOTE your love!"

The call seems to have been funded by theroadtopower.com, a white supremacist group that recently also targeted Florida candidate Andrew Gillum. In it, the Oprah impersonator refers to Abrams as a "poor man's Aunt Jemima" and says she will trick white women "especially fat ones" to vote for her. A recording of the call was posted widely on social media and lambasted for its offensive, racist language. It has also been condemned by several politicians and celebrities.

Still, the call wasn't going to get in Winfrey way. She's still making sure voters know how important turnout is, especially because today is Election Day. Winfrey has been such a powerful organizer that many people believed she could be a candidate in 2020. While she's said she won't be running, she's shown she still a forced to be reckoned with in the political arena.

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