Will Oprah Run? Speculation Runs Rampant Following Fiery Golden Globes Speech

Members of the talk queen's inner circle are reportedly pushing her to consider a run for the White House.

Is Oprah Winfrey really considering a run for president?  

That's the question on the minds of many Americans after her electrifying Golden Globes speech Sunday night.  

Oprah delivered the powerful and widely praised remarks as she accepted the Cecil. B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. She's the first African-American woman to be honored with the distinction. 

Moments after her emphatic speech, the hashtag #Oprah2020 began trending. 

Brian Stelter, the host of CNN's Reliable Sources, discussed her chances of running for leader of the free world with Inside Edition.

“For several months now, some of Winfrey’s friends have been encouraging her to run for office, urging her to take this idea seriously," he said.  "I am told by two of those friends that she is actively thinking about running."

Just three months ago, Oprah squashed any prospect of running for president in 2020, telling longtime friend Gayle King, “There will be no running for office of any kind for me.”

Since then, things may have changed. 

Oprah's longtime partner, Stedman Graham, confirmed the story, telling the Los Angeles Times: "It's up to the people. She would absolutely do it."

"Oprah for president" seemed to be a theme during last night's show, beginning with the event's host, former Saturday Night Live star Seth Meyers.  
  
"In 2011, I told some jokes about our current president at the White House Correspondent's Dinner,” he said. “Jokes about how he was unqualified to be president. Some have said that night convinced him to run. So if that's true, I just want to say: Oprah, you will never be president! You do not have what it takes!"

NBC, which aired the Globes, tweeted moments later: "Nothing but respect for our future president.”

As a result of that social media post, the network is under fire.

It began with Donald Trump, Jr., who tweeted: “In case anyone had any doubts about where the media stands, this should take care of it. The bias against @realdonaldtrump is now so obvious they have simply given up hiding it.” 

On Monday, NBC attempted to clear the air. 

“Yesterday a tweet about the Golden Globes and Oprah Winfrey was sent by a third party agency for NBC Entertainment in real time during the broadcast. It is in reference to a joke made during the monologue and not meant to be a political statement. We have since removed the tweet,” they said in a statement. 

Hours before Oprah's impassioned speech, Inside Edition caught up with her best friend and CBS This Morning co-anchor Gayle King.  

“I have seen the speech and it is very good,” King said. “She's been working on it all week, and even in the car on the way up here, she's tweaking it to the very last minute... She's always figuring out a way to tweak it and kick it up a notch.  And I just think it's very interesting the timing of what is going on in the country, it's the time.” 

Oprah was working on her impassioned speech just hours before the big show and posted video on Instagram. 

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