Randi Rhodes Blasts Oprah For Going 'Blacker Than Obama'

'TOTALLY MAYA ANGELOU'

Libtalker Rhodes Unleashes Angry Anti- Oprah Tirade







In a stunning and unusual outburst, Air America libtalker Randi Rhodes spent a substantial portion of Tuesday's show lambasting Oprah Winfrey, accusing her of "phoniness" on behalf of Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Slamming her for using a "black preacher" voice during an event on behalf of Obama, Rhodes unleashed the kind of tirade that would get just any about any conservative talker fired, were they crazy enough to try it.

Later, when callers who appeared to be African- American took Randi to task, she didn't give them an inch, attacking them for defending Oprah's "acting on the stump".

Below are several lengthy excerpts from her show, as well as a YouTube audio / video presentation:

RHODES (HOUR ONE, SEGMENT TWO): Anyone who underestimates the power of the Oprah is stupid, stupid. But she went totally Maya Angelou yesterday, without the scarfs and the hats, but totally Maya Angelou.

She was blacker then Obama yesterday. Do you know what I mean? Let em tell you something. Everyone who watches Oprah, are the whitest people in the world. Yes even the black folk. Even the black men who watch Oprah are white women while they watch Oprah. We all know what we are talking about.

The only time Oprah gets blacks is when she does the ugly cry. Do you know what I mean? But even when she introduces John Travolta, she is whiter then I am. She Ja John Travoltaaaaaaaaa. Ehh she's like a ah ah ah ah ah freaking ah ah ah World Wrestling Federation thing. You know what I mean.

She's like eh she's so unbelievably white, I just think she ca ca, so why didn't she go be her authentic self? Which is what she is always telling me to be. Be my authentic self.

I'm like, yes Oprah, you're right. She totally showed up as her mentor yesterday, who is Maya Angelou. She was le ah ah, I I I couldn't, why is she turning up the blackness a notch or two or three for these appearances? Her appeal is that she's her authentic Oprah. That's why we love her.


RHODES (HOUR ONE, SEGMENT THREE): The truth of the matter is Oprah Oprah Oprah always always always preaches, 'be your authentic self.' And everyday she is on that television show

CALLER: inaudible in background...

RHODES: Oh give me a break. There's a reverse racism problem here. Here's the problem, no no here's the problem ...caller again inaudible...

RHODES: Oh, you know what you don't understand is that Oprah was acting on that stump. For some strange reason, when a black person is white et et um, speaks um what you call white, or just speaks well, you call it white. I don't understand why you say that. I don't understand why you do that. I don't understand why people actually say that. I really don't understand it. However, Oprah speaks a certain way every single solitary day.

Either that's a fake person that I'm watching every single solitary day, or I was watching a fake person stump for Obama. My only question was, which Oprah was the right Oprah? Don't tell me it's versatility. That woman is on stage accepting awards. That woman is on stage doing a show. She interviewed Barack Obama. None of this happened. But she got up on his.

It's like when Hillary when Hillary does it. Hillary does it too. Hillary goes to a black church and Hillary acts. And she changes, (mocking Hillary voice) 'I will not grow weary on this.'

I don't know what that is. I find it disingenuous and not authentic. To tell you the truth, I don't think Oprah needs to do that. The authentic Oprah is the Oprah everybody loves. So, the only question is, why was she acting?








RHODES (HOUR TWO SEGMENT ONE): When Hillary Clinton goes down south and goes to a black church and she starts speaking like Miss Sofia, from ut The Color Purple. Ut people start going, why is she talking like that? Oh, I don't hear the argument, she's versatile. I don't hear that.

I hear, she is phonying up her speech pattern to appeal immediately to the audience in front of her.

But I can't even undertstand why Oprah did speak like a black preacher, in Iowa. Where, if you had the entire black population of Iowa in a room, it still probably would not make a crowd.


RHODES (HOUR TWO SEGMENT TWO): We have had lots and lots of shows on white racism. There's some black racism too, against white people pointing out that when somebody changes the way they speak, their not being authentic when they choose to present themselves for twenty-years as one way, and then show up for a political speech and present themselves in a completely different way, people will call up and yell at me.

That's because you don't like white people saying that. That's racism too. And it's racism against me. And I don't like it. It hurts me as much as it hurts you.


RHODES (HOUR THREE SEGMENT TWO): And when Hillary, she goes to a black church, and she starts saying, 'I don't feel no ways tired', is that because she is black too?

CALLER: Hillary is acting.


RHODES (HOUR THREE SEGMENT TWO): Al Gore does it too. Al Gore does it. Hillary Clinton does it. It's called pandering. It's pandering. Oh, this is crazy!

Aside from the bizarre and unexpected nature of Randi's comments today, can you imagine the kind of firestorm that would erupt if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly or anyone else on the right were to make some of these statements? How long would they last on the air before a full- scale Media Matters/ Soros-led advertiser boycott would be underway?

To be fair, Rush Limbaugh has taken Oprah to task this week, as have many others on the right. But some of Randi's language is by far more blunt and direct than anything we've heard from her conservative counterparts.

Does anyone believe for a moment that Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and other so- called civil rights activists will be picketing outside Air America's studios? Will the mainstream media seize upon Randi's racial remarks as examples of liberal racism? Hell, no.

But what are her motivations here? Initially, your Radio Equalizer assumed she did this to help Hillary with the "progressive" crowd, but she also attacks Clinton enough that it doesn't seem probable. She even goes after Gore, but it was probably to insulate herself from the racism charges coming from callers.

Could it be Rhodes was merely having a honest and candid program, one where she felt no need to serve the interests of Democrats? Is this how "progressives" truly feel?


While the partisan hypocrisy is clear, there's a curious side effect: Randi (perhaps accidentally) hosted a rare example of entertaining and compelling liberal talk radio. It's as though she suddenly decided to break free of the anal- retentive, NPR- inspired libtalk "rules" and do something interesting for a change. If Air America had set out to do this kind of show three years ago, it would have been much more successful.

At the same time, few conservative hosts would be able to survive after utilizing this kind of blunt rhetoric.


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