Since the Democratic National Convention is feeling more like the Oscars — with buzzy speeches and starry celebrity appearances — it makes sense that Hollywood icon Oprah Winfrey would take to the stage for her own scene-stealing moment.
Winfrey’s 10-minute speech at the convention saw her make an appeal to undecided voters and offer her full endorsement of Kamala Harris, marking the first time she has ever appeared at a political convention. The wide-ranging speech was rousing enough to make me wonder if she’d start giving out free cars (like her old daytime TV days), but Winfrey kept the focus mostly on the GOP and Donald Trump.
“America is an ongoing project that requires commitment,” Winfrey said to thousands of delegates in Chicago, “and every once in a while it requires standing up to life’s bullies.” While she didn’t mention any high-profile Republican by name (it’s a safe bet that the “nonsense”-talking bully in question is Trump), Winfrey did address VP candidate JD Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments in an analogy about unity and shared values.
“When a house is on fire, we don’t ask whose house it is,” Winfrey said. “If the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we will try to get that cat out too.” It was one of many jabs leveled at the GOP presidential ticket by DNC speakers (one of which involved an anatomical gag), but Winfrey also invoked more respectable politicians, too. Quoting late congressman and activist John Lewis, Winfrey reminded us that “no matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we are all in the same boat now.”
“[Lewis] knew that the work is not done, the work will never be done, because freedom is not free.” Elsewhere, Winfrey also made mention of the New Orleans Four, a group of school students who were part of the first two desegregated classrooms in 1960. Those groundbreaking six-year-olds paved the way for Harris who, nine years later, “became part of the second integrated class” at her school in California, Winfrey recalled.
Later, Winfrey stressed the importance of reproductive rights — a major election issue — saying that a lack of autonomy over “how you choose to bring your children into this world” means there is “no American dream.” The speech was met with widespread praise from everyone except Megyn Kelly, even though no one asked her opinion in the first place.
“Oprah thought she was better than she was,” Kelly wrote on X, prompting swift retorts from users who clarified that Winfrey “on her worst day ever is 100% better than you on your best day.” Winfrey is one of multiple celebrities to have weighed in on the DNC, with Sean Astin, Mark Hamill and Billy Baldwin each contributing to the convention mania in some capacity.
Word is still out on whether any audience members received a free car, but perhaps Winfrey’s iconic quote is now repurposed to “you get an inspirational speech! You get an inspirational speech!”.