Oprah packs Kamala Harris event with A-listers including Jennifer Lopez, Meryl Streep and Bryan Cranston and highlights 'preventable' abortion death and school shooting victim
Oprah Winfrey hosted an event for Vice President Kamala Harris. A number of Hollywood celebrities joined the special via Zoom
By Nikki Schwab
Daily Mail
Sep 19, 2024
Oprah Winfrey (right) packed her Thursday night event with Vice President Kamala Harris (left) with Hollywood stars joining the conversation over Zoom
Oprah Winfrey recreated her popular talk show for one night only to assist Vice President Kamala Harris in winning the White House.
Winfrey kicked off the hour-and-a-half long livestream by introducing a who's who of Hollywood A-listers including Bryan Cranston, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Jennifer Lopez, Tracee Ellis Ross, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep who Zoomed into the call.
'I am smiling from ear to ear Oprah,' Breaking Bad's Cranston said. 'I have never felt this much joy and optimism in a campaign in a long time.'
But with Winfrey at the helm of the production, there were some tear-jerking moments too - including introducing the mother of the first woman who died a preventable abortion-related death since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Winfrey also featured an interview with a family whose daughter was twice shot, and survived, during the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia earlier this month.
Sitting in the studio audience in the swing state of Michigan, Winfrey introduced Shanette, the mother of Amber Nicole Thurman, who died in August 2022 after doctors failed to operate on her for 20 hours.
ProPublica published a report this week telling Thurman's story and naming her as the first 'preventable' death since the Dobbs decision.
Thurman had taken abortion pills but hadn't expelled fetal tissue from her body, creating an infection and leaving her in need of a common procedure called a dilation and curettage.
But that procedure was now a felony in Georgia.
'Initially, I did not want the public to know my pain. I wanted to go through in silence. But I realized that it was selfish,' Shanette said. 'I want you all to know that Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a family, a strong family, and we would have done whatever to get my baby, our baby, the help that she needed.'
Shanette recalled that when ProPublica's Kavitha Surana first approached her, she pushed the journalist away, but she recalled Surana saying, 'People around the world need to know that this was preventable.'
'You're looking at a mother that is broken,' Shanette told the audience Thursday night as she fought back tears.
Oprah Winfrey brought in Shanette (left), the mother of Amber Nicole Thurman, and sisters C.J. (center) and Andrika (right). Thuman's 2022 death was classified as the first 'preventable' abortion-related death since the end of Roe v. Wade
Vice President Kamala Harris listens to 15-year-old Natalie Griffith and her parents talk about the horror they experienced when Griffith was shot twice during the Apalachee High School shooting in Georgia earlier this month
Thurman's sisters hammered the healthcare professionals for not acting faster to save their sister's life.
'We trusted them to take care of her and they just let her die becauase of some stupid abortion ban,' Thurman's sister C.J. said.
Winfrey then asked Harris to react.
'I'm just so sorry,' the vice president said. 'And the courage that you all have shown is extraordinary, because also, you just learned about how it is that she died.'
Winfrey explained that the family just recently learned the full story of Thurman's abortion gone awry.
'And Amber's mom shared with me that the word over and over again in her mind is "preventable - preventable," that word keeps coming to her,' Harris said.
The Democratic nominee blamed her rival, former President Donald Trump, for appointing three anti-abortion Supreme Court justices who intended to overrule Roe v. Wade.
Harris also said that exceptions for when the 'life of the mother is in danger' are problematic, because of how that could be legally defined.
'Here's the problem with that, here's the problem with that - so she on death's door before you decide to give her help?' Harris asked.
Winfrey also had teen rape survivor Hadley Duvall address the crowd.
Actress Meryl Streep could be seen among the droves of Zoom participants during Oprah Winfrey's event Thursday night with Democratic presidential hopeful Vice President Kamala Harris
Duvall, who was continually raped by her stepfather, appears in a Harris-Walz campaign ad, blasting Trump for appointing the justices who took her federal right to an abortion away.
'Hadley, you've just been so remarkable,' Harris gushed.
'And the idea that, these same legislators who would be saying criminalize healthcare providers are also saying that after a person's body has been violated that they have no right to make a decision about what happens to their body next,' Harris continued. 'That's immoral.'
Winfrey then expressed her own view on the matter.
'I just don't believe that those legislators, that the government has the right to be in your womb,' the talk show icon said.
Winfrey also spoke out aggressively against gun violence - and the sheer number of school shootings in the U.S.
'This is not normal and this is not right,' the talk show host said.
Winfrey invited 15-year-old Natalie Griffith and her parents to share what happened at Apalachee High School, where Griffith was shot on her shoulder and her wrist by 14-year-old Colt Gray earlier this month.
'Look, I think for far too long on the issue of gun violence some people have been pushing a really false choice,' Harris said. 'To suggest you're either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone's guns away.'
Harris said she's in favor of the Second Amendment but also backed an assault weapons ban, red flag laws and other gun control measures.
Winfrey called it 'powerful' at last week's debate when Harris brought up the fact that both she and VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are gun owners.
'If someone breaks in my house, they're getting shot,' Harris said laughing.
'Probably should not have said that,' she said. 'But my staff will deal with that later.'
A giddy Meryl Streep referred to the vice president as 'President Harris' but then asked what would happen if former President Donald Trump refused to, again, concede the election to the Democrat
Throughout the night, Winfrey tossed to the celebrities.
'Hello President Harris,' said Streep with a giggle. 'From my mouth to God's ear.'
Streep then asked Harris what happens if Trump refuses to concede the election again.
'More Americans than we may realize who voted for Trump before have decided that January 6 was a bridge too far,' Harris said.
She added that the 'other piece' is that 'the lawyers are working.
'It's very important that we speak to our friends and neighbors about misinformation,' she went on, also encouraging supporters to 'stand up for the integrity of poll workers.'
Harris also pleaded: 'Do not be afraid to vote.'
'I think there is also something quite insidious about these attacks on the electorate in these various forms that are intended to convince people that their vote won't matter,' the VP said.
She reassured the crowd, including Streep, 'we are going to have a good Election Day.'
Oprah Winfrey (right) had Michigan's popular Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (left) warm up the crowd with her Thursday night as she took over a soundstage in Oakland County to essentially recreate her popular daytime talk show
Tracee Ellis Ross was on hand to defend childless women after Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance called Democrats 'childless cat ladies' and suggested people with children should get a bigger share of the vote
Ross, an actress and comedian, said she was on hand to defend childless women, after Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, called Democrats 'childless cat ladies' and suggested people with children should get a bigger share of the vote.
'As a 52-year-old childless woman, I want to say to the people who think that a woman's worth is measured in her baby count' that childless women have been 'mothering the world and elevating culture,' Ross said.
'You do not have to push out a baby to push humanity foward,' Ross said.
Ahead of the event, the Harris-Walz campaign said that nearly 200,000 people had signed up to watch.
Winfrey took over a soundstage in Oakland County, Michigan for filming, inviting Michigan's popular Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to rile up the crowd.
The longtime talk show host explained that the idea for the event came from the Zoom calls different groups took part in immediately after Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee - starting with 'Win With Black Women.'
Winfrey said members of all sorts of groups were tuning in Thursday night - including 'Swifties for Harris' and even 'Train Lovers for Harris.'
'I didn't know there were train lovers,' Winfrey mused, apparently unfamiliar with President Joe Biden's deep appreciate for Amtrak.
Winfrey noted that 'Republicans for Harris' were part of the crowd. 'Love that group even more,' Winfrey commented.
The self-described independent first stepped into politics by backing President Barack Obama's campaign in 2008.
She endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 but didn't hit the campaign trail for her.
Winfrey has been super involved this cycle, first speaking at the Democratic National Convention and then hosting the event Thursday night.
The talk show host started the evening by having people ask questions of Harris about the economy.
Harris mentioned plans to provide $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers and bring back the child tax credit, before Winfrey kicked off the more dramatic and star-studded portions of the evening.
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