Ever since her legendary speech after accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2017 Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey has found herself at the center of rumors about the TV mogul running for president of the United States in 2020. People reportedly close to Oprah have shared mixed views on the credibility of the speculation, some saying she’s all in and others claiming she wouldn’t dare. Now, Oprah herself has debunked any truth in the rumor for now.
PEOPLE reports that, while live-taping an episode of her podcast Super Soul Sunday with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oprah made it clear that she had no plans of running for office. When Miranda, another fan favorite to try out government work, said that he wasn’t going into politics, Winfrey said, “I’m not either.”
Lin-Manuel: …. I’m not running for president
Oprah: I’M NOT EITHER *stares at crowd*
Lin-Manuel: I’d argue that being Oprah is a more powerful position than president #SuperSoulConversations pic.twitter.com/UQIWNNgRWs— Sylvia Obell (@SylviaObell) February 7, 2018
Emphasizing why I’m sort of glad Oprah isn’t running for office, Miranda replied to her confession, “I’d argue that being Oprah is a more powerful position that president.”
Um, yes.
It’s probably a good thing that Oprah isn’t aiming for the White House, because then she definitely wouldn’t have the time for hosting events similar to the Super Soul Sunday conversation. Held at New York’s Apollo Theater, the live taping on Wednesday also included Oprah’s discussions with Salma Hayek, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Jordan Peele and Yara Shahidi. A taping of the conversations will air on Oprah’s network OWN on Tuesday, Feb. 27.
Keep doing you, Oprah. You definitely don’t need the prestige of presidential office to be amazing.