CHICAGO: US talk show host Oprah Winfrey made a surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday, calling on her fellow independent voters to vote for “joy”.
In an electrifying address to the US political party convention, Winfrey said: “We are so fired up we can’t wait to leave here and do something”.
“And what we’re going to do is elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States. And let us choose joy!” Winfrey said, a day after former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle addressed the DNC.
“Let us choose common sense over nonsense,” said the 70-year-old television personality to applause from the thousands of attendees at the United Center in Chicago - home of her globally acclaimed morning talk show.
“America is an ongoing project that requires commitment... and every once in a while it requires standing up to life’s bullies.”
“So I’m calling on all you independents and all you undecideds. You know this is true. You know I’m telling you the truth, that values and character matter most of all,” she said.
Winfrey recounted her experiences witnessing racism, sexism and income inequality in the United States, adding that she had at times been on the receiving end of it.
She took a jibe at remarks by Republican Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, J.D. Vance, who singled out Harris when he called Democrats a “bunch of childless cat ladies with miserable lives.”
Harris has two stepchildren and the comments have sparked accusations that father-of-three Vance represents a backward Republican mindset.
“When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about the homeowner’s race or religion... We just try to do the best we can to save them. And if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too,” Winfrey said.
“Let us choose common sense over nonsense. Common sense tells us Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can give us decency and respect,” she told the convention, where she was one of the warm-up acts to Walz’s address, alongside musicians Stevie Wonder and John Legend.
“Very soon, we’re going to be teaching our daughters and sons about how this child of an Indian mother and a Jamaican father - two idealistic, energetic - how this child grew up to become the 47th President of the United States,” she said.
“That is the best of America.”
Harris is due to give her speech when she accepts the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday.
