QUEEN OPRAH WINFREY Reigned Supreme At The 2018 Golden Globes As She Accepted The Cecil B. Demille Award!
No surprise that Oprah Winfrey knows how to give a speech, as she did last night at the Golden Globes.
The media mogul ― who holds many titles, including actress, TV host, producer, author and philanthropist ― became the first black woman to receive the Cecil B. DeMille award during Sunday’s ceremony. During her acceptance speech, Winfrey recalled sitting on her the floor in her childhood home watching Sidney Poitier become the first black person to win an Oscar.
“I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that. And 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,” she recalled. “In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B. DeMille award right here at the Golden Globe awards and it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award.”
She also spoke about the power of the press in revealing corruption and injustices, then shifted the focus to the biggest topic of the evening: sexual harassment.
“What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool that we all have, and I’m especially proud of all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their stories,” she said.
“I want, tonight, to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like mother, had children to feed and dreams to pursue,” she continued. “They’re the women whose names we’ll never know.”
Winfrey pointed to Recy Taylor, a black woman from Alabama who was abducted while walking home from church and raped by six white men in 1944, when she was 24 years old. Taylor’s case, which was investigated by Rosa Parks, never went to trial and she never received justice. Taylor died 10 days prior to the Golden Globes at age 97.
“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 dared to speak their truth to the power of those men, but their time is up,” she said, as the audience cheered.
Winfrey sent a message to those girls watching her accept the award and called for them to usher in a safer future free of sexual harassment.
“I want all the girls watching here and now to know that a new day is on the horizon!” she said. “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.”
This is Winfrey’s first time receiving an award at the Golden Globes, though she was nominated for her role in “The Color Purple” in 1986 and again in 2008 as producer on the Best Motion Picture, Drama contender “The Great Debaters.”
Each year, the Cecil B. DeMille award recognizes an individual for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.” Winfrey’s long-lasting career, community engagement and impactful influence reflect why the media mogul is deserving of this award.
Winfrey first gained widespread notoriety with her popular local morning talk show, which propelled her to hosting her groundbreaking syndicated show “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” She hosted that program for 25 years.
HERE’S THE SPEECH IN FULL!
Video Courtesy of Pop & Sports HQ
Here’s the entire transcript:
“Thank you, Reese. In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history:” The winner is Sidney Poitier.” Up to the stage came the most elegant man I ever remembered. His tie was white, his skin was black—and he was being celebrated. I’d never seen a black man being celebrated like that. 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. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation in Sidney’s performance in Lilies of the Field: “Amen, amen, amen, amen.”
In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B. DeMille award right here at the Golden Globes and it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award. It is an honor—it is an honor and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of them and also with the incredible men and women who have inspired me, who challenged me, who sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible. Dennis Swanson who took a chance on me for A.M. Chicago. Saw me on the show and said to Steven Spielberg, she’s Sophia in ‘The Color Purple.’ Gayle who’s been a friend and Stedman who’s been my rock.
I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. We know the press is under siege these days. We also know it’s the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice. To—to tyrants and victims, and secrets and lies. I want to say that I value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this: what I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. 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. Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell, and this year we became the story.
But it’s not just a story affecting the entertainment industry. It’s one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace. So 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. 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. They’re part of the world of tech and politics and business. They’re our athletes in the Olympics and they’re our soldiers in the military.
And there’s someone else, Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know, too. In 1944, Recy Taylor was a young wife and mother walking home from a church service she’d attended in Abbeville, Alabama, when she was abducted by six armed white men, raped, and left blindfolded by the side of the road coming home from church. They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her story was reported to the NAACP where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice. But justice wasn’t an option in the era of Jim Crow. The men who tried to destroy her were never persecuted. Recy Taylor died ten days ago, just shy of her 98th birthday. 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. But their time is up. Their time is up.
Their time is up. And I just hope—I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth, like the truth of so many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now tormented, goes marching on. It was somewhere in Rosa Parks’ heart almost 11 years later, when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery, and it’s here with every woman who chooses to say, “Me too.” And every man—every man who chooses to listen.
In my career, what I’ve always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film, is to say something about how men and women really behave. To say how we experience shame, how we love and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere, and how we overcome. I’ve interviewed and portrayed people who’ve withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. 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 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.”
In film, she’s prioritized giving black stories a platform and telling them in meaningful, multifaceted ways. She landed her first acting role in 1985′s “The Color Purple.” She went on to star in and/or produce culturally significant features including “Beloved,” “Lee Daniel’s The Butler,” “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” “Selma” and “The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks.”
Winfrey will also be starring in Ava DuVernay’s forthcoming “A Wrinkle In Time,” which premieres in March.
CONGRATS LADY O'!
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