Racist robo-call targets Oprah and Stacey Abrams in Georgia

A robocall has targeted Oprah Winfrey and Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams. This prompted Winfrey to respond to the call’s racist motives.

Oprah Winfrey took to her Instagram to react to a robocall that’s been circulating online. In the automated phone call, Oprah’s voice is impersonated and used to hurl profane and derogatory language against Georgia’s gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Winfrey.

THE OFFENSIVE CALL

The call begins with the voice introducing itself as “the magical negro, Oprah Winfrey” and proceeds by mimicking the media mogul in asking people “to make my fellow negress, Stacey Abrams the governor of Georgia.” It labels Abrams “a poor man’s Aunt Jemima” and alludes to Winfrey as a media influencer tricking fat, white women to vote.

The one-minute call being made to Georgians was produced by the website Road To Power. The site known to be run by white supremacists and anti-semitics was also responsible for a racist attack against Florida candidate Andrew Gillum.

OPRAH'S RESPONSE

In response to the offensive call, Winfrey posted a video on Monday. She condemned the racist call and affirmed her support of Abrams while encouraging people to vote.

“I heard people were making racist robocalls in my name, against Stacy Abrams, who I am 100% for in Georgia. I just want to say, Jesus don’t like ugly. And we know what to do about that: Vote.”

The television star captioned her clip,

“The antidote to Hate... VOTE your love!”

ABRAMS' RESPONSE

Abrams spoke about the calls on Good Morning America the same day and expressed her worry over her opponent Brian Kemp’s history of voter suppression.

“What I’m concerned about is that his overarching architecture of voter suppression, of ostracization, of demeaning and dehumanizing people, that that can cause people to think that their votes don’t count, which is why we’ve been so aggressive about telling people the best antidote to his antics is to actually turn out and engage.”

Kemp has denied his involvement in the robocalls but Abrams believes his denouncement came too late.

“I think it’s a little late for him to repudiate racist remarks given that he’s stood with someone wearing an anti-Islam T-shirt. He refused to denounce the same man earlier who accused black veterans of not being people who support our country.”

YES TO CAMPAIGNING, NO TO POLITICS

Meanwhile, Winfrey has been busy going door to door campaigning for Abrams. A recent video showed the OWN founder shocking Georgia residents by appearing on their doorstep.

Winfrey has been very outspoken about her views towards candidates she supports though she firmly denied having any intentions of running for a position. Earlier this year, she explained why it was impossible for her to enter politics.

"In that political structure — all the non-truths, the [expletive], the [expletive], the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on — I feel like I could not exist. I would not be able to do it. It's not a clean business. It would kill me."

Winfrey adds that it would take “a divine intervention from God” for her to be convinced to run.