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Oprah Winfrey befriended Paula
Deen in early 2012 and even
spent a night at Deen's Georgia
home, where she conducted a
wide-ranging interview.
Over a year later, in a deposition
for a lawsuit, Deen admitted
using racial slurs in the past, a
revelation that rankled many,
including her friend.
Until now, Winfrey had remained
silent on her friend's
controversy, but addressed it
this week during a sit-down of
her own for her new film The
Butler.
"In the very first days I tried to
reach her and then I decided to
stay out of it as I saw it blowing
up," Winfrey told ET this week.
"In time she will be fine."
"For me, it all just felt kind of
sad."
Oprah's feelings on the n-word
are very clear, but she believes
people need to let the "dust
settle" before they can have a
"real conversation" about race.
She says she is well aware of
racism today, even if she's
reached the point where at
times it's less overt than for
other women who are
minorities.
"You know, you see those fools
on Twitter sometime say
ridiculous things," Winfrey says.
"Nobody in their right mind is
going to call me the N-word."
"But nobody in their right mind
is going to do that to my face,
because true racism is being
able to have power over
somebody else," Winfrey
explains.
"So that doesn't happen to me
that way."
"It shows up for me if I'm in a
boardroom or situations where
I'm the only woman or I'm the
only African American person
within a hundred mile radius."
"I can see in the energy of the
people, they don't sense that I
should be holding one of those
seats. I can sense that. But I can
never tell, 'Is it racism? Is it
sexism?'"
When asked to comment about
Deen during another interview
with Extra , the 59-year-old
laughed and struck a lighter tone
than she did with ET.
"Oh my god! I don't have
anything to do with Paula Deen ,"
she insisted.
"She is not the first white lady to
use the N-word! Good lord!"
