Oprah Sympathizes With Paula Deen, Calls Whole Situation ‘Sad’

Fun fact: Oprah Winfrey and Paula Deen are friends. They have been ever since Big O interviewed the comfort chef for Oprah’s Next Chapter in March 2012.

Another fun fact: Oprah Winfrey is African-American! So in light of Paula Deen’s recent racism controversies how does Oprah reconcile her friendship with the butter queen with her perspective as a black woman in America?

“In the very first days I tried to reach her, and then I decided to stay out of it as I saw it blowing up,” the 59-year-old told Entertainment Tonight. “In time she will be fine. For me, it all just felt kind of sad.”

Echoing similar comments regarding the Trayvon Martin case, Oprah sees a tremendous opportunity to have a “real conversation” about racism in today’s society… but only after recent racially-charged controversies see the “dust settle.”

She also admitted that doesn’t often confront overt racism in her own life (recent events notwithstanding).

“Nobody in their right mind is going to call me the N-word. You know, you see those fools on Twitter sometime say ridiculous things. But nobody in their right mind is going to do that to my face, because true racism is being able to have power over somebody else,” Winfrey said.

“So that doesn’t happen to me that way.”

She also seemed reluctant to brand instances of discrimination.

“It shows up for me if I’m in a boardroom or situations where I’m the only woman or I’m the only African-American person within a hundred mile radius. I can see in the energy of the people there, they don’t sense that I should be holding one of those seats. I can sense that. But I can never tell, ‘Is it racism? Is it sexism?'”

When asked for comment on Paula Deen a week ago, Oprah declared, “She is not the first white lady to use the N-word! Good lord!”

Are you surprised that Oprah is sort of defending Paula Deen?

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