Oprah Winfrey is currently in the U.K. to promote Lee Daniels’ The Butler and in an interview with the BBC, the former talk show host talked about how racism still has a role in American society. She also said that Americans disrespect President Barack Obama because he is an African-American.
According to TheGrio, during the interview, the media mogul suggested that for some older Americans, racism is just a part of their lives. “There are still generations of people, older people, who are born and bred and marinated in it, in that prejudice and racism, and they just have to die,” she told interviewer Will Gompertz.
Later in the interview, Winfrey agrees that many do not respect Obama and the office he currently holds. “Yeah, I think there’s a level of disrespect for the office that occurs,” she said, notes Mediate. “And that occurs in some cases, and maybe even many cases, because he’s African-American.”
Winfrey did say that the country is getting better with race relations, but noted that racism is still an issue. She also praised The Butler, 12 Years A Slave and the play The Scottsboro Boys for allowing people to see “where the root of the problem started.”
You can watch Winfrey’s interview below.
image: screenshot