American host and television producer, Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey’s First Time on 'Ellen'
[Aired: February 22, 2007] The legendary Oprah Winfrey stops by 'Ellen' for the very first time. SUBSCRIBE: ...
About Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has expanded her podcast, "The Oprah Podcast," as part of a multi-year deal with Amazon, with two new episodes dropping weekly starting July 21, 2026. She told CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King that she changed her mind about taking on more work because she loves "the intimacy and the ability to have just immediate connection with your guests" in the podcast format. Winfrey described author Alan Levi, who wrote "Theo of Golden," as the best guest she has ever had, noting that he was "the only person who actually went and shook hands with every single member of the crew afterwards and wanted to hear their story." In a conversation with Keke Palmer, Winfrey discussed her past relationships, stating that "all of the bad relationships were my best teachers" and that if someone is in a relationship where they are "taking a lot of stuff," it is about what that person lacks in self-value. She also reflected on her career in a Vanity Fair interview, revisiting moments such as the car giveaway, her role in "The Color Purple," and the show's mission to let people know "that you're not alone, but that we all belong to each other."
Transcript (124 segments)
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Ellen DeGeneres0:00
I don't know. You lost something.
O
Oprah Winfrey0:03
An earring fell. It's okay.
E
Ellen DeGeneres0:04
An earring. That's all right. We'll get it. She's got more. It's all right. We'll get it.
This to me, I've wanted you on the show obviously for so long, and this is the first time I did your show. I don't know if I talked to you about this since then, but I literally thought, and I had done Carson and I had done a bunch of things, I was wearing a mic and I thought it was going to pick up my heartbeat. I was so excited to be on your show that I was scared to death that the heartbeat would come through, you know, boom boom boom boom as I walked out.
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Oprah Winfrey0:33
But may I just say, you're doing such a great job. I feel like the mother of all talk shows, but you are doing such a marvelous job.
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Ellen DeGeneres0:40
No, thank you. Thank you.
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Oprah Winfrey0:41
I'm so proud of you. So proud of you.
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Ellen DeGeneres0:43
Thank you.
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Oprah Winfrey0:46
So proud of you.
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Ellen DeGeneres0:47
I aspire to...
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Oprah Winfrey0:51
You have fun every day and you keep it clean.
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Ellen DeGeneres0:53
Yeah. Yeah, I do. You know, and it's a challenge, as you know. I mean, you've done it for so long to keep it fresh every single day. It's a lot of stuff. But when I was on your show, I was so impressed and I wanted to show my appreciation. And I remember you asked me like, 'What is the first thing you spent money on when you start making money?' and you said that you love really nice towels?
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Oprah Winfrey1:12
Towels. Yes.
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Ellen DeGeneres1:13
So, I...
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Oprah Winfrey1:14
You sent me some for Christmas. Do you remember?
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Ellen DeGeneres1:16
Yes, of course. Okay. But I sent, because I couldn't believe towels were, you know, and I probably sent you like a $50 towel.
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Oprah Winfrey1:23
No, you sent me exactly two bath sheets and two regulars.
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Ellen DeGeneres1:27
Yes. Yes. I sent... How lame is that that I couldn't afford a whole set, so I sent two towels.
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Oprah Winfrey1:34
Two towels. Very appreciated. Very appreciated.
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Ellen DeGeneres1:38
That's good. And but I just, that just meant so much to me that, you know, I was on your show.
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Oprah Winfrey1:42
So what did you start spending money on?
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Ellen DeGeneres1:44
Uh, then, well, now I like cars a lot.
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Oprah Winfrey1:48
Cars are nice and I like real estate a lot.
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Ellen DeGeneres1:50
Real estate's good. Yeah, we're neighbors.
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Oprah Winfrey1:52
We're neighbors.
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Ellen DeGeneres1:53
Yeah. And um, you know how I knew you were neighbors? Stedman was at the deli at the corner deli, and because we live about two blocks from the deli, and he said he ran into you and Porsche there. Yeah. And he was there buying some bread or something.
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Oprah Winfrey2:08
He was there, was a long long line and he's so tall so you know it looked like he was... Yeah. He's eating. He was only buying a brownie that big and he was already eating it. And I thought, Oprah cooked for him. What's wrong with you?
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Ellen DeGeneres2:24
Why don't you come?
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Oprah Winfrey2:24
Actually, I do, but at that particular deli they do a thing called pumpkin bread that, you know, I'm not good with the bakery stuff.
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Ellen DeGeneres2:30
Oh yeah, he loved it. He said he goes there just for that.
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Oprah Winfrey2:32
Just for that.
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Ellen DeGeneres2:33
And then he hit on me. And then I said, 'Don't you know?' But anyway...
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Oprah Winfrey2:42
Oh, God.
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Ellen DeGeneres2:43
But yeah, you do cook, right?
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Oprah Winfrey2:44
I do cook. I cook for him. That's really the only time I cook. Like yesterday, I made, I said to him, because we're sitting up there in Santa Barbara, I said, 'You're the only person eating grits and fried fish right now for breakfast.' Yeah.
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Ellen DeGeneres2:56
The only person. You know, when I first went to the Santa Barbara market looking for grits, they didn't know what I was even talking about. You know, not the place to get grits.
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Oprah Winfrey3:04
And we're both from the South. I know grits. Grits. We have a lot in common. I want to give you though, in case I get locked out, my house keys if you could keep them.
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Ellen DeGeneres3:12
Yeah.
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Oprah Winfrey3:13
And if you ever need to get in if I'm not in town, this is to my liquor cabinet right here.
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Ellen DeGeneres3:20
Thank you. I will be happy to check on anything any time. Are the dogs there?
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Oprah Winfrey3:23
The dogs, two dogs and three cats. They're there and full time. So...
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Ellen DeGeneres3:27
Anytime, you know, because I have five dogs. Yeah. Maybe they could come over and play and have a play date.
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Oprah Winfrey3:31
And play dates.
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Ellen DeGeneres3:32
Ours go out three days a week on hikes with...
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Oprah Winfrey3:34
Do you go up to that canyon? Do you do the canyon?
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Ellen DeGeneres3:36
Oh, I don't. They go by someone takes them. But I have done that hike. It's a lovely hike.
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Oprah Winfrey3:42
That's a lovely hike. Do you do that?
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Ellen DeGeneres3:44
That's what we do. That's what we do in that town. We hike. Yeah, I've done it several times, actually. Yeah.
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Oprah Winfrey3:48
I haven't seen you. I've heard that you're around, but I haven't seen you.
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Ellen DeGeneres3:51
The same thing about you. People tell me wherever I go, they say you were there two days earlier.
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Oprah Winfrey3:55
Yeah. Yeah.
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Ellen DeGeneres3:56
Oh, I got to wait longer. All right. So, um, I have a suggestion for you. Okay. And you can take it or leave it. It's really just a suggestion. Every month, congratulations, you're on your magazine every month. And so, I think that's a lot of work. It's just too much work.
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Oprah Winfrey4:12
Well, what about if it's... Oh, it's Ellen. Like, get on and like me and you. Elevator etiquette, some tips for different things.
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Ellen DeGeneres4:25
All right. And then...
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Oprah Winfrey4:27
That is kind of cute.
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Ellen DeGeneres4:28
Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Do you like my dogs? Aren't they cute, though?
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Oprah Winfrey4:31
They're adorable dogs. They're cuter than ours, so we're not going to put mine on. Okay.
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Ellen DeGeneres4:35
And then... Oh, no. She didn't.
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Oprah Winfrey4:42
That's to sell a bunch, you know.
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Ellen DeGeneres4:44
Speaking of that, was it Women's Wear Daily? I saw you all dialed up.
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Oprah Winfrey4:50
Yeah, Women's Wear Daily.
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Ellen DeGeneres4:52
It just came out. It's very... Have you showed that to the folks?
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Oprah Winfrey4:56
They've seen some of it. I don't know if these folks have seen it. I'll show it to...
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Ellen DeGeneres4:59
Oh my gosh. You should see them.
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Oprah Winfrey5:00
I'll show it to... I think it comes out here next week or something like that.
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Ellen DeGeneres5:07
Wow.
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Oprah Winfrey5:08
Yeah.
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Ellen DeGeneres5:09
Look at that.
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Oprah Winfrey5:11
That's what I'm talking about.
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Ellen DeGeneres5:13
Yeah.
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Oprah Winfrey5:14
Who is that?
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Ellen DeGeneres5:15
Yeah. I don't know.
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Oprah Winfrey5:18
I had clothes on though. It looks like I'm naked, but I did have clothes on.
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Ellen DeGeneres5:21
Have you ever smoked an eye like that in real life?
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Oprah Winfrey5:23
No. My mother, we sent her the pictures, like we sent her, what do you call it? Through the internet. Yeah. I don't know. And she's like, 'What about those raccoon eyes? Who did that to you?' And I said, 'Mother.' And she goes, 'Well, I'm sure in color it'll look fine.' I said, 'No, it's supposed to be in black and white.' She doesn't understand.
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Ellen DeGeneres5:41
I thought all glammed up.
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Oprah Winfrey5:42
But anyway, these are suggestions. You don't have to. And the keys, I got your rock to hide them under. All right. We're going to take a break. We'll be back with Oprah. Some more Oprah.
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Ellen DeGeneres5:51
It's not like I haven't had boyfriends, you know, just because I don't happen to have a boyfriend right now, you know? It's just I'm choosy. What's wrong with me? If I wasn't choosy, I'd be Mrs. Larry Gladstone, wife of my eighth grade boyfriend.
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Oprah Winfrey6:03
There is nothing wrong with being choosy, Ellen.
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Ellen DeGeneres6:05
Right. Exactly. And it's not like I'm looking for perfection, you know. I just want somebody special, somebody, you know, that I click with.
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Oprah Winfrey6:13
And obviously, you didn't click with Richard. Has there ever been anyone you felt you clicked with? And what was his name?
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Ellen DeGeneres6:25
Susan.
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Oprah Winfrey6:33
I remember that.
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Ellen DeGeneres6:35
It seems so... Doesn't it seem like forever?
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Oprah Winfrey6:39
It does.
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Ellen DeGeneres6:39
I have not seen that since that night.
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Oprah Winfrey6:42
I haven't either.
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Ellen DeGeneres6:43
Really?
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Oprah Winfrey6:43
I haven't either. And it was such a huge important time in my life. And you were who I wanted to play.
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Ellen DeGeneres6:50
Yeah. It was you and, it's sad to say that Maya Angelou was my second choice, but she was really... Yeah. Seriously, it was you or Maya? And you said yes, you would do it. I couldn't believe it.
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Oprah Winfrey6:59
So, you didn't have to even ask Maya.
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Ellen DeGeneres7:00
No, I didn't. And now she knows that she was second choice, which is...
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Oprah Winfrey7:05
It's okay. But it's okay. What were you thinking at that time when that show came out? Did you get a lot of heat for that?
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Ellen DeGeneres7:12
Oh god. Yeah. I mean, you know, at first it was a celebration. At first it was really great and then afterwards it was like, you know, I got a lot of heat for that. I got more heat than I've ever gotten to participate in that.
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Oprah Winfrey7:23
Yes, I did. And did you think you'd get that?
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Ellen DeGeneres7:25
No, I really didn't. Yeah. But it was okay because it was, you know, I did it for you and I did it because I believed that I should have done it. So, it didn't really bother me. A lot of people though, I got more hate mail for that than I've gotten for anything.
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Oprah Winfrey7:40
Wow.
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Ellen DeGeneres7:41
She just said she got more hate mail for that than anything that she's done at that time. Since then, I've gotten more pissed people off since then.
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Oprah Winfrey7:48
But at the time, you know, which was really shocking to me. Why would you write hate mail for that?
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Ellen DeGeneres7:53
That's crazy. Yeah.
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Oprah Winfrey7:54
Well, I thank you for doing it and I'm sorry you got grief for it, but I think it was an important thing for ultimately looking back.
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Ellen DeGeneres8:00
Yeah. Absolutely. And when you look back, isn't it always interesting to look back at hair?
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Oprah Winfrey8:04
Yeah.
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Ellen DeGeneres8:04
For me, it's hair.
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Oprah Winfrey8:05
Oh, God. It's all...
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Ellen DeGeneres8:06
For me, it's hair. And I never know what size I'm going to be when a tape comes up. You know, when we roll back a tape, I'm like, 'Oh god, I hope I'm not 200. I hope I'm not over 200 lb.' So, yeah.
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Oprah Winfrey8:17
I have that same thing. And I've only been doing this four years and my hair and my everything has changed drastically. You always look so cute and fresh.
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Ellen DeGeneres8:24
Oh, well, thank you.
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Oprah Winfrey8:25
Yes, you do.
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Ellen DeGeneres8:26
Thank you.
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Oprah Winfrey8:29
So, we talk about the road trip with Gayle. Hey.
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Ellen DeGeneres8:37
Now, did you really...
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Oprah Winfrey8:41
I have never said anything other than that was really hard for me to do that. I bet. I was out on the road for 11 days. It was not fun for me. I mean, if those of you who watched it, for we're going to run it again this summer consecutively, the whole road trip. And I have to tell you, it was hard. It was really hard. 11 days her singing. I mean, oh my god. You know, and the thing about it is it's okay in the beginning because I was prepared for it in the beginning. If you're in the car for eight hours and the person doesn't stop singing...
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Ellen DeGeneres9:09
Yeah.
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Oprah Winfrey9:09
That gets to be a little annoying.
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Ellen DeGeneres9:11
Well, it seemed like she was trying to annoy you. It seemed like it's not...
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Oprah Winfrey9:14
No, she really wasn't.
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Ellen DeGeneres9:14
No...
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Oprah Winfrey9:15
She just did.
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Ellen DeGeneres9:16
Oh...
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Oprah Winfrey9:17
She really wasn't trying. She just did. But she knew that you were annoyed by it, but she didn't care.
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Ellen DeGeneres9:22
Yeah.
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Oprah Winfrey9:22
She really didn't care. And that took... She was saying, 'Well, I was trying.' And there was one point we're driving through Amish country and she loves rap music. I don't. Right. And she is singing all the rap songs turned up. We're like those people with the music turned up as loud as it can go. Driving through the Amish country with the people on their horses turning going, 'Yeah.' Black people in the house. That's what she's doing. Black people in the house. That's what she's singing going down the road.
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Ellen DeGeneres9:50
Well, at least they didn't know who you were. It was Amish country. They don't watch TV. They couldn't be mad at you or anything like that. All right, we're taking another break. We'll be back with Oprah.