Oprah on Running for President: ‘Thank You, but No Thank You’
By Rachel Yang LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) –
As the media mogul made her way onto the stage at Monday’s Ambassadors for Humanity Gala, a woman in the audience shouted, “Oprah for president.”
Winfrey laughed, before responding, “Thank you, but no thank you.”
The CEO of OWN appeared at the gala benefiting the USC Shoah Foundation at the Beverly Hilton to talk about Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, the gala’s co-chairs, as well as the night’s honorees, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson.
Winfrey read the names of the 11 victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. She then honored the foundation’s mission to provide testimonies from survivors of the Holocaust and other atrocities, which she said shine a light on the current “darkness upon the face of our Earth.”
“Racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, tribalism, they’re all alive, but do nothing for our humankind,” Winfrey said. She said the night’s event honored those who embody “tolerance, understanding, a sense of mutual respect for each and every being on Earth.”
Spielberg presented the ambassadors for humanity award to Hanks and Wilson.
“[Tom and Rita] are helping to solve some of today’s greatest riddles, like ‘Where is the commonality and conversation, where’s that gone? How do we connect when we don’t understand each other?’” Spielberg said. “[Tom] has elevated friendliness to a kind of superpower, with all his performances, he’s built a dossier, a defense brief for the human spirit.”
Hanks thanked the World War II veterans in attendance, including Glenn L. Felner, who helped liberate Nazi concentration camps. He also recognized the students in attendance from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School from Parkland, Fla., who have since mobilized as activists against gun violence.
Hanks said, “It’s young men, young Americans who see an injustice, who have experienced a horror, and understand that it’s going to have to take a single drop joined together with a multitude of others to form a sea of justice and freedom.”
