The question isn't will Oprah Winfrey run for president, but when.
Electrified by her speech onstage at an unusually politicized Golden Globes, celebrities in the audience and fans watching from home were so ready to vote Oprah into the White House that a hashtag quickly gained momentum: #Oprah2020.
Holding court in the VIP row of tables up front, Winfrey sat with Gayle King and "Wrinkle in Time" director Ava DuVernay, their seats turned toward the stage, where word of the Internet campaign reached her.
"I tried to tell her!" DuVernay said, smiling.
"The internet is saying Oprah for president in 2020," The Times told Winfrey. What does Oprah say?
"I say, I'm just glad I got through the speech!" she said, smiling as she referred to her Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award acceptance speech. Winfrey was the first black woman to win the honor. "I thought a lot about it. I wanted this to be a meaningful moment."
Winfrey's speech, crafted in the spirit of the evening and delivered with a stirring and unimpeachable passion, rallied others to continue speaking up and out against injustice and referenced Sidney Poitier, Rosa Parks, Recy Taylor and the #TimesUp movement.
And it was almost cut short.
Earlier in the evening, Winfrey had been asked to trim her speech by three minutes. "I thought, 'I don't know how I can.'"
But about that 2020 ticket ...
Will Oprah consider a run for POTUS? She paused, cracking a sly smile. "Okaay!"
