Yesterday, we reported that billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey had spoken out to slam white privilege this week, claiming that “whiteness gives you an advantage no matter what.” Now, this has come back to bite her in a big way.
Oprah made the controversial comments about race during the latest episode of her Apple TV+ series, “The Oprah Conversation.” There, she was joined by former NFL star and racial activist Emmanuel Acho for a segment calling on non-black viewers to ask tough questions about white privilege and race.
“Not all white people have power,” one guest argued, according to The New York Post. “There’s plenty of poor, working-class white people. But I think that when we group all of white people together and we don’t recognize the fact that there’s a lot of white people that struggle, and it’s a different struggle as you mentioned because they’re not streaming upstream let’s call it …”
“I think that if we’re gonna come together and really attack racism and the inequities that are in this country and are in this world, that it’s important not to group all white people,” the person added.
Oprah, however, was not having any of it.
“There are white people who are not as powerful as the system of white people — the caste system that’s been put in place,” she said. “But they still, no matter where they are on the rung or ladder of success, they still have their whiteness.”
Not stopping there, Oprah went on to claim that white people have a “leg up.”
“You still have your whiteness. That’s what the term ‘white privilege’ is. It means that whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter,” she said.
This has since come back to bite Oprah, however, as it’s been pointing out that the only person who seems to have a “leg up” on everyone is her. She was quickly called out for having a net worth of $2.6 billion, according to Forbes, a fact that makes her far more “privileged” than the average white person is.
“And now why is Oprah, maybe the richest black woman in the world, trying to shame white people as privileged? Miss Winfrey, you are the personification of WHITE PRIVILEGE!,” tweeted Irene Armendariz-Jackson, a Republican congressional candidate from Texas.
Conservative columnist Wayne Depree added, “Billionaire Oprah is now shaming white people for all their ‘easy success’ in life.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) called the conversation “utter BS,” while second amendment activist JT Lewis questioned, “How did Oprah make 2.6 billion dollars if America is so racist?”
Oprah did not respond when asked for her comment on the backlash she has received.
This piece was written by PopZette Staff on August 5, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
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