Harris and Oprah hold star-studded event to discuss hot-button issues
Vice President Harris and media mogul Oprah Winfrey sat down for an event in Michigan to discuss issues ranging from immigration to the economy, reproductive rights and gun violence prevention.
The event, which took place on a set reminiscent of Winfrey’s former talk show, included 400 people in the audience and others who joined virtually, including celebrities Ben Stiller, Jennifer Lopez, Bryan Cranston, Chris Rock, Tracee Ellis Ross, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep.
The vice president and Winfrey discussed reproductive rights issues. They included Hadley Duvall, the Kentucky woman who was raped by her stepfather and impregnated at 12 years old, and the family of Amber Thurman, the 28-year-old Georgia mother who died after not receiving care.
Duvall spoke at the Democratic National Convention and recently was featured in a Harris campaign ad, telling her story about having reproductive freedom before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Thurman’s death was reported earlier this week by ProPublica, which published that it was “preventable,” but she didn’t receive care because of the state’s restrictive abortion law.
“This story is a story that is sadly not the only story of what has been happening since these bans have taken place,” Harris said. “In state after state, including yours, these abortion bans have been passed that criminalize health care providers.”
Winfrey asked, “Even when a mother’s life is in danger?”
“Here’s the problem with that. Is she on death’s door because you actually decide to give her help? Is that what we’re saying? Harris said. “Literally, a doctor or nurse has to say; she might die any minute, better give her now care because otherwise, I may go to prison for life in some cases.”
During a segment on gun violence prevention, a survivor of the Georgia school shooting, Natalie, shared her story of being in class when she was shot twice. The Apalachee High School shooting occurred earlier this month when Colt Gray, a 14-year-old student, opened fire and killed four people.
“I think for far too long on the issue of gun violence, some people have been pushing a really false choice to say you’re either in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away. I’m in favor of the Second Amendment, and I’m in favor of assault weapons bans, universal background checks, red flag laws,” Harris said.
When Winfrey questioned Harris about owning a gun, which the vice president has publicly said she does, she responded, “If somebody breaks into my house, they’re getting shot. I probably should not have said that. My staff will deal with that later.”
Other voters and advocates were included to speak about top issues, starting with a voter who asked about Harris’s plan for fixing the immigration system. Harris brought up the border deal, which was negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators and failed when former President Trump came out in opposition, saying she would sign it into law if it passed Congress.
A couple then asked about Harris’s plans for improving the economy, to which the vice president mentioned her plan to combat price gouging and to help first-time home buyers and small business entrepreneurs, taking a jap at her political rival.
“We have so many entrepreneurs in our country who have great ideas, incredible work ethic, but not necessarily access to capital because not everybody, like my opponent, was handed $400 million on a silver plate that he filed bankruptcy six times on,” Harris said, referring to Trump who famously started his business ventures with a $1 million loan from his father.
The event also included representatives from grassroots organizations like cat ladies for Kamala, train lovers for Harris-Walz, chefs for Kamala, Republicans for Harris, Swifties for Kamla, Black women for Harris, White Dudes for Harris, Win with Black Men, white women for Harris, South Asians for Harris, among others.
“This is America,” Harris said. “This movement that is about reminding each other that we have so much more in common than what separates us is so critically important.”
Just before Harris came out on stage, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took the stage, followed by Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.
Additionally, the celebrities who joined virtually praised the vice president throughout the event.
“I’ve always been a fan of Kamala… I’ve been writing her a check for a long time, and I want to bring my daughters to the White House to meet this Black woman president,” Rock said. “I think she would make a great president, and I’m just, I’m ready to turn the page, man. All of the hate and negativity, it’s got to stop.”
Stiller also shared that he felt like he went from “a stop Trump mode into a go Kamala mode,” and people were starting to really hear what she was about.
He added, “My daughter, her reproductive rights are incredibly important.”
Roberts noted that she’s a mother of two children who can vote for the first time in this election.
“I get to travel internationally a lot, and I want people to say oh, ‘you’re American!’ and not, ‘Oh, how’s it going over there.’ You know? I want to get back to that,” the actress said.
Meanwhile, Ross rebuked Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) without mentioning him by name.
“As a 52-year-old childless woman, I want to say to the people who think that a woman’s worth is measured in her baby count—I mean, shout out to all the amazing mothers—but the childless woman has been mothering the world and elevating culture as aunts, godmothers, teachers, mentors, sisters, friends… you do not need to push out a baby to help push humanity forward,” she said.
Vance, during his 2021 Senate run, lamented to then-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson that he thought Democrats were promoting an “anti-family” agenda led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
He mentioned Harris at the time and has since said that Democrats are intentionally misrepresenting his past comment.
“Hello, President Harris,” Streep said during the event, smiling.
“47 days,” Harris said.
“I think you’re going to win; I’m sure you’re going to win. But what happens when you win, and he doesn’t accept it? And you know there’s going to be this long slog of shenanigans,” Streep said, referring to Trump.
“The lawyers are working, it’s very important that we all speak to our friends and our neighbors about misinformation… it is important that we stand up for the integrity of poll workers and people who are working on election day,” Harris said. “We ask people to be alert about mis and disinformation and we ask them, do not be afraid to vote.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election. He has challenged the results in court, which rejected those claims for lack of standing or evidence, and the Supreme Court rejected various election challenges.
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