Oprah Winfrey surprise speaker at DNC: ‘Decency and respect are on the ballot’

(CHICAGO) — Oprah Winfrey, making a surprise appearance, called on Americans to choose “joy” and “common sense over nonsense” during a rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night.

“What we’re going to do is elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States,” she said after taking the stage to one of the loudest receptions of the night.

Oprah laid out the 2024 election as a series of choices voters have to make, and singled out independents and undecided voters — while noting that she herself is a registered independent.

“More than anything, you know, this is true, that decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024, and just plain common sense,” she said. “Common sense tells you that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can give us decency and respect.”

She urged voters to further choose “optimism over cynicism,” “common sense over nonsense” and “the sweet promise of tomorrow over the bitter return to yesterday.”

“We won’t go back. We won’t be set back, pushed back, bullied back, kicked back. We’re not going back!” she said, as the crowd chanted, “We’re not going back!”

Toward the end of her fired-up remarks, Oprah told the crowd, “Let us choose truth, let us choose honor and let us choose joy!” — emphasizing the word joy, a common theme for Harris and the convention.

“Because that’s the best of America. But more than anything else, let us choose freedom. Why? Because that’s the best of America. We’re all Americans. And together, let’s all choose Kamala Harris,” she said, saying the name “Kamala Harris” in her signature bellow.

The first time Oprah put her legacy brand behind a political candidate was with Barack Obama in 2008.

“That was some epic fire,” she said of the Obamas speeches last night, taking inspiration from Michelle Obama’s call on the crowd to “do something!”

Oprah did not mention Donald Trump by name but appeared to reference the former president and his running mate JD Vance.

“America is an ongoing project,” she said. “It requires commitment. It requires being open to the hard work and the hard work of democracy, and every now and then, it requires standing up to life’s bullies.”

She then brought up Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments to cheers.

“Despite what some would have you think we are not so different from our neighbors,” she said. “When a house is on fire, we don’t ask about a homeowner’s race or religion. We don’t wonder who their partner is or how they voted. No, 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.”

Oprah gave tribute to Tessie Prevost Williams, who died earlier this year. Williams was one of four Black girls who helped integrate New Orleans public schools in 1960.

She then tied Williams to Harris, saying Williams “paved the way for another young girl who, nine years later, became part of the second class to integrate the public schools in Berkeley, California.”

Harris famously reflected on her experience as a child being bused to school each day. During a spar with President Joe Biden on the debate stage on busing, Harris told him: “That little girl was me.”