NBC Deleted A Controversial Tweet About Oprah Amid People Calling For Her To Run For President
"Nothing but respect for OUR future president"
The Golden Globes happened on Sunday night, and there were really two big themes: Hollywood's reckoning with widespread sexual impropriety and Oprah's speech about it after accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
The night began with host Seth Meyers jokingly discouraging Oprah from running for president in his opening monologue.
"Oprah Winfrey is receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award tonight. What a tremendous honor, for Cecil B. DeMille. And Oprah, while I have you, in 2011 I told some jokes about our current president at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — jokes about how he was unqualified to be president — and some have said that night convinced him to run. So if that’s true, I just want to say: Oprah, you will never be president! You do not have what it takes!"
(NBC is an investor in BuzzFeed.)
Then, later, Oprah gave her award acceptance speech — and people online actually started calling for her to run for president in 2020.
I could definitely get behind @Oprah as the first woman President of the United States #Oprah
Oprah 2020, obviously
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Wait maybe @Oprah really should run for president
Her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, even told the LA Times, “She would absolutely do it."
NBC published this tweet during the show:
And by the next morning, the network was facing criticism for it, especially from the right and pro-Trump media.
In case anyone had any doubts about where the media stands this should take care of it. The bias against… https://t.co/AMgFzrlinj
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Many argued it was why Trump calls the mainstream media — which reports stories critical of him — "fake news."
NBC promotes #Oprah for President then people wonder why Trump calls the media Fake News. How can a News organizati… https://t.co/Oq5KfbtguT
Typical NBC Liberal media blaming someone for else for their post! NBC = Never Been Correct! Oprah knew about Harv… https://t.co/EfYuIr6Gju
Some called it an "endorsement."
NBC Deletes Tweet Endorsing Oprah as "OUR President" https://t.co/bWOYb5eSdY
NBC deleted the original tweet, blaming it on a "third party agency" that was using the account during the Golden Globes.
Yesterday a tweet about the Golden Globes and Oprah Winfrey was sent by a third party agency for NBC Entertainment… https://t.co/yQefYd0XSC
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Then they reportedly deleted the clarification tweet.
NBC deleted then reposted this apology for their Oprah tweet https://t.co/OG7SZsVo0i
Then they reposted the clarification, which said the original "OUR future president" was posted in response to Meyers' joke — and not Oprah's speech, when the 2020 talk really took off.
Yesterday a tweet about the Golden Globes and Oprah Winfrey was sent by a third party agency for NBC Entertainment… https://t.co/yQefYd0XSC
BuzzFeed News reached out to NBC for comment.
And remember, NBC is the network that made Trump mega-famous for running 15 seasons of The Apprentice.
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Ryan C. Brooks is a politics reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New York.
Contact Ryan C. Brooks at ryan.brooks@buzzfeed.com.
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