Tagged: Hollywood Foreign Press Association
Oprah’s Brilliant Master Class
No doubt you’ve seen or heard Oprah Winfrey’s powerhouse speech to accept the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the 75th Golden Globe ceremony on Sunday. No doubt it was delivered with confidence and passion.

CREDIT: Paul Drinkwater/NBC. Courtesy Variety
But I have another question–did you return to read the speech?
Do yourself a favor. Read it. Note how she expertly joined concepts that would otherwise seem to be a jumbled, disjointed laundry list of subjects in lesser hands. In one speech–and, at about nine minutes, one relatively short speech–Winfrey covered lots of ground.
Courtesy NBC
She shared a snapshot of her childhood, paid homage to Sidney Poitier, acknowledged the fact that she is the first African American woman to win the award, thanked the people who supported her, defended the essential role of the media, told the story Recy Taylor and Rosa Parks’ role to pursue justice for Ms. Taylor and declared #timesup, weaving seemingly disparate ideas into a tapestry of history, heartbreak–and hope.
It was a tall order. And Winfrey delivered.
Examine the passages more closely: