Oprah Winfrey becomes the first black woman to be honoured with the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille award at the Golden Globes 2018. She gave a rousing speech at the awards night which was dominated with celebrities speaking about the sexual harassment against women in the entertainment industry and beyond.
Oprah began the speech by pointing out that she’s the first black woman to receive the honour.
“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. 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”.
Oprah followed it by addressing the rampant sexual harassment and abuse the women have endured over the years.
“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. 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. They’re the women whose names we’ll never know. 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”.
And Oprah ended her speech by saying that “a new day is on the horizon”.
“I want all the girls watching here and 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 an interaction after the awards night, Oprah reiterated the point about how this deep-rooted misogyny “transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace”.
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