Oprah Winfrey Reiterates She Has No Plans to Launch a 2020 Presidential Campaign
Rumors that Oprah Winfrey could be launching a 2020 presidential campaign keep on emerging, leading the talk show host and actress to reiterate that she had no plans of going into politics.
Last September, Winfrey hosted an episode of "60 Minutes" where they gathered 14 people from Michigan who did and did not vote for United States President Donald Trump. This Sunday, she will be hosting another episode as a follow-up where she will be talking to the same group of people about politics.
As a lead-up to the upcoming show, Winfrey was interviewed for "60 Minutes Overtime" by Ann Silvio and was asked about her take on politics and the undying rumblings of her supposed presidential bid.
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Winfrey said she was "humbled" that there were people who claimed she could be one of those who could lead "the free world," but like last time, she denied having plans of entering politics and said: "It's just not in my spirit. It's not in my DNA."
"If God actually wanted me to run, wouldn't God kinda tell me? And I haven't heard that," Winfrey added in the same interview.
Meanwhile, Winfrey confirmed that several "wealthy men" had been calling her to convince her to run for president and promising they would fund her campaign. And while she sounded very certain during the interview that she was not running for president, she also implied that she was sometimes drawn to ponder on it.
"I had a lot of wealthy men calling, telling me that they would run my campaign and raise $1 billion for me," Winfrey said. "I think that when you have that many people whose opinions you value coming at you, it's worthy of thinking about."
The rumors of Winfrey's presidential bid started when she delivered a powerful speech when she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 75th Golden Globe Awards. At the event, she praised the victims of sexual harassment who had finally gotten the courage to speak up and also talked about racial and class equality. Shortly after, the online world made #Oprah2020 trending.
However, in the same "60 Minutes Overtime" interview, Winfrey said she was "just trying to give a good speech" and did not expect it to lead to rumors of her alleged political run. She said: "I was looking for a way to express what was going on in this moment in terms of gender and class and race. I cared about landing that speech in the room."
