Apparently, some members of Oprah's core audience are extremely upset and angry with her strong support of Senator
Barack Obama's quest for the presidency. The message boards at
Oprah's website are buzzing with negative criticism directed at the talk show diva as well as the presidential candidate.
Just taking a quick peek at the message boards, Oprah is being accused of everything from "being a traitor" to "pushing
Obama down our throats." A number of the original message threads and the follow-up comments are borderline offensive or flat-out racist. Charges of playing up to the black race, affirmative action favoritism, and unfounded accusations of
Obama of being a radical
Muslim or terrorist were just a small sample.
Oprah is an extremely intelligent and savvy woman, I'm sure she anticipated the negative backlash, but I have to wonder even more about the realities of a black man winning the presidency in the United States. Oprah's audience is primarily white middle America, who seemed perfectly happy when Oprah was just hawking books, movies, and other mass produced products. Yet, when she puts her name, money, and media clout behind a black man for president, she's a traitor or a sell-out?
I am not
naive either, I too expected some backlash for Oprah and
Obama, but I can’t help but wonder if her same core audience would have been so upset if she had put the same efforts behind Hilary Clinton? I also wonder about the same folks that profess so much love for Oprah, but can spit out racist comments about
Obama without batting an eye.
Per Forbes magazine, Oprah Winfrey donated 50 million dollars last year. That's nearly 20% of the 275 million she earned in 2007. Oprah supported projects ranging from her girls school in South Africa to rebuilding efforts in the cities damaged by Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Oprah might get on your damn nerves from time to time, but people need to shut the hell up and deal with it. There's no better philanthropist in Hollywood!
