Oprah Winfrey is being slammed for claiming that white privilege is an "advantage," by Sen. Ted Cruz, who is accusing the Black billionaire media giant of spreading "utter, racist BS."
“Billionaire Oprah lectures the rest of us: ‘You still have your whiteness. That's what the term "white privilege" is. It means that whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter,’” the Texas Republican posted on Twitter Wednesday, along with a link to a story from the conservative outlet The Blaze. “What utter, racist BS."
The senator's comments were in response to comments Winfrey made in her new AppleTV+ program, "The Oprah Conversation" during an episode featuring former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho, now the host of the web series "Uncomfortable Conversation with a Black Man."
In the segment, Winfrey contended that white people have a "leg up," even if they are "not as powerful as the system of white people — the caste system that’s been put in place — but they still, no matter where they are on the rung, or the ladder of success, they still have their whiteness."
She added that "you still have your whiteness. That’s what the term ‘white privilege’ is. It means that whiteness still gives you an advantage, no matter."
Acho said he tells his white friends that if they allow their children to be sheltered, they will "live their whole white life, and at 26, 27, they'll end up being a part of the problem" and that white people "run America."
Several other conservatives also slammed Winfrey for talking about white privilege, given her wealth. Cruz was not the only conservative who knocked Winfrey for discussing white privilege as a billionaire.
"And now why is Oprah, maybe the richest black woman in the world, trying to shame white people as privileged? Miss Winfrey, you are the personification of WHITE PRIVILEGE!" Irene Armendariz-Jackson, a Texas congressional candidate, tweeted.
Conservative media head Todd Starnes tweeted that he prays "for the day that America becomes a nation where someone like Oprah will be able to become a billionaire.”
Celebrity journalist Perez Hilton, however, defended Winfrey, responding to Cruz that his tweet "is the definition of white privilege."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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