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Since ending her globally acclaimed talk show in 2011 after 25 years, many of us wondered what Oprah would do next. She dropped the SuperSoul Conversation podcast and hosted SuperSoul Sundays, but she hadn’t gone back to what we know and love her for, being a talk show host.
The good news is that Oprah is back! Sort of. We know she signed a multi-year deal with Apple TV back in 2018. And last year Oprah announced a series she would be doing with Prince Harry on mental health that was supposed to release sometime this year. The first installment has been a series on Covid-19 and its impact on America. This week, Oprah announced on Twitter that she will host an Apple Tv+ series called Conversations with Oprah, with a focus on race and racism in America. I am here for it! The first episode features guest Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, the author of How to Be an Antiracist. The Hollywood Reporter gives some more insight into the series:
The Oprah Conversation will kick off Thursday on the tech giant’s streaming platform with an episode titled “How to Be an Antiracist.” Abram X. Kendi, author of the book with the same title, will be Winfrey’s guest.
The series will feature Oprah Winfrey engaging in discussion about impactful and relevant topics with thought leaders from around the world. The Oprah Conversation grows from Winfrey’s multi-year content partnership with Apple, which has thus far yielded Oprah’s Book Club and Oprah Talks COVID-19 for TV+.
Episodes will be filmed remotely and feature audience engagement. In the first episode, Winfrey and Kendi will speak with White readers who have confronted their racist beliefs. Following the episode featuring Kendi, Winfrey will speak with athlete and activist Emmanuel Acho (Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man) in a two-part interview that will discuss his web series and take questions from viewers.
Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson, whose story and memoir inspired the film Just Mercy, will also be a guest on a future episode.
Oprah was a staple in my childhood. Much of the transformational work I have gone through has been because of the amazing people she has interviewed like Brene Brown and Gary Zukav. And I recently discovered Emanuel Acho’s Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man series on Youtube and it is quite insightful.
I know that racism is a sensitive topic and it can feel like everyone is shouting at each other without listening. Oprah’s compassionate no-nonsense approach is palatable enough that people who may normally deny or avoid the subject will actually listen. With the daily images showing BIPOC experiencing brutality and secret police assaulting protesters, I think Oprah will definitely be able to bring humanity to the conversation.
Despite not ever getting a car from Oprah, she will always be one of my favorite talk show hosts. She is willing to do the work to investigate topics and her brand is top-notch. Her roster of expert guests can hopefully bring innovative perspectives to a centuries-old problem.
It’s time to bring humanity back to the conversation. Tune in to my new show #TheOprahConversation, where I’ll be joined by fascinating guests to have conversations that unite us—not divide us. Watch 7/30 on @AppleTV. pic.twitter.com/CJu7QLUIJW
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) July 27, 2020
I think this will be very good. Oprah obviously still has a lot of influence and I think she can reach some of the older white women who used to watch her every day and who think that because they don’t use racial slurs, they aren’t racist.
Funny you should mention Brene Brown. I just discovered her through her show on Netflix this week and then watched her Ted Talk on vulenrability. Good stuff..
I have no understanding of Apple TV. Where can us poor people watch this show?
I think Apple TV is another streaming service but I may be wrong.
It’s kind of confusing, IMO. Apple TV is an actual device that you can use to stream or download movies/tv shows/etc (for a price) – not unlike a Firestick or Fire TV. It’s also an app on my iPhone so I can watch anything I have purchased on Apple TV on my iPhone. Apple TV PLUS is the streaming service and I think its $5/month (we have it for free bc my husband got a new iPhone last winter, so we get a year for free.) That has all the original content (nothing included in that 5 dollars is NOT from Apple, so in that regard its different from Prime, where you have some original Amazon Prime offerings, some movies and tv shows that are included that are not from amazon, and others you have to pay to watch.)
We haven’t watched that much on Apple plus just because I forget about it, but we did watch See with Jason Momoa and that was….interesting. We also just watched Greyhound with Tom Hanks and that was REALLY good, I recommend that. There are definitely no budget issues with the shows and movies they are creating, lol.
I look forward to this. I grew up watching Oprah’s show and really enjoyed her style of interviewing guests and how well produced her shows were. I hope it does well and reach those not in the choir. Sometimes I feel like the people who are having these conversations are already all on the same page. It’s important to find a way to reach those who need a change of perspective and if Oprah can’t do that, we really are in trouble.
After the whole Nick Cannon stuff and the realisation that there are SO many who agree with him… Race relations were already staggeringly complex but I was a bit naive about the views of people like Nick, and how wide spread they were.. I dunno, I have focused on BLM yet feeling really hopeless about true equality ever happening. I look forward to oprahs show, very much.
@Atti it’s really shocking me also. I’ve always dismissed people like Cannon but unfortunately he’s not alone in those sentiments. Why so many humans are so determined to hate others for things out of their control is something I will never understand. What makes this all so complicated is that ignorance crosses all race and ethnicity and so many are victims and perpetrators at the same time. We are sometimes locked in our own suffering and unable to feel what others are going through and they only feel their pain unable to understand what another person is suffering. The human condition.
Glad to hear someone else feeling kinda the same thing.. I’ve tried to engage with Cannons supporters, and its so scary. They dont see that they are talking exactly like white supremacists. And no black celebrities have spoken up against Cannon. Unless you count Terry, but he talked about black supremacy before Cannon revealed he was one. Its sad. Then I saw that new Indian dating show where they all want a light skinned woman and dark skinned men and I just feel demotivated by it all. Its JUST a short phase I’m sure, a moment for my mind to be more educated. But it feels kind hopeless. Any voices that will speak about love and equality these days has my eager eyes and ears.
Even though I strongly believe that it is NOT black women’s work to educate the world about racism, I don’t think there’s a better person to help people talk about it than Oprah. She’s always known exactly how to guide conversations so that white people can “get it.” She has a communication gift that is sorely lacking in mainstream media right now. I just hope we’re not too fractured already.
Agreed. Its not black womens job. But Oprah does have a gift from heaven when it comes to this stuff. And, my guess is, a passion.
Will not be getting Apple TV so that I may watch this.