Ted Johnson
Oprah Winfrey opened an in-person and online event for Kamala Harris by speaking to a series of celebrity supporters, including Chris Rock, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep.
The livestreamed Unite for America event, from Farmington Hills, MI, featured Oprah in a studio talk show setting, with 400 Harris supporters in person surrounded by screens with the Zoomed in faces of thousands of other supporters.
Harris was scheduled to also appear at the gathering, sitting down for a Q&A with Winfrey in the studio as she campaigns in the swing state.
The event was a combination organizing effort and informercial. Winfrey said that the Harris campaign was “a unifying force unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time.”
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Introducing Rock, Winfrey did an impression of him. He joked about Harris, “I remember writing her a check when she was district attorney, get out of a parking ticket or something.” He added, “I want to bring my daughters to the White House to meet this Black woman president.”
The event was inspired by a flurry of online Zoom fundraising and organizing events that were set up very soon after Harris announced her candidacy, starting with a Black Women for Harris event that drew 47,000 participants. That led to other events, like White Dudes for Harris, Rural Americans for Harris, Swifties for Harris.
Also appearing at the event: Ben Stiller, Tracee Ellis Ross and Bryan Cranston, along with Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI).
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