[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]
So, in these 20 years, I've had a couple of ugly cry
breakdown moments on the air.
But never in the history of doing this show have I
had a breakdown afterwards.
That is, until my interview with Sidney Poitier was over.
I had watched Sidney Poitier when the Academy
Award as a 10-year-old girl.
And I thought, if he could do that, I wonder what I could
do so he was, and has been, and is
an enormous role model for me.
So after 40 years of dreaming about him, thinking about him,
Sidney Poitier was finally here, right in front of my face.
Take a look.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
You speak a lot about being the outsider.
What was that like for you during that time,
being the only black man on the majority of the sets,
being the only black man carrying that--
Look.
--and all that that meant.
I thought it unfair.
I mean, I knew that this color was my color,
but I had no idea that it was a condemnation of me,
it was going to stand in the way of my
expressing myself in life as a human being.
So when I had to face it, I decided
that those who thought of me in such negative terms,
I was going to lay down a challenge.
No, I am not going to try to be as good as you.
I'm going to set my bar higher, and I will be better.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDS]
So after that interview I went into the control room
and I sobbed and cried, because I felt I was not good enough
for Sidney.
I felt like I didn't ask any questions
that I should have asked.
I felt like I was out of my body,
I felt like I had on a schmata dress.
I hated myself.
I felt like he would never know that I was a smart person
with a brain in my head, because I didn't
even remember what I said.
Then Sidney Poitier called me.
Sidney call me, and when he called me,
he said, "I was feeling the same."
And I was like, oh my God.
He felt the same as I felt.
[AUDIENCE SCREAMING]
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]
No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]
Oh, no!
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]
Oh, no!
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
OK.
I'm shaking.
Oh, I'm shaking.
I'm shaking, I'm shaking.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
I wrote something for your anniversary,
and I came to read it to you.
OK.
If that's OK.
All right.
- Do you want me to stand here? - Yes.
OK.
[AUDIENCE LAUGHING]
The element of genius.
Indeed, does genius how a shape or form?
If we cannot spotted by size or shape, then how do
we know we're in its presence?
Might we have been privileged to witness moments of genius
in Oprah Winfrey's vision over these past 20 years?
During which, genius or something akin to it
inspired millions of our fellow Americans
to stand tall in their personal lives
and reach beyond their limits.
That genius is echoing still in the hearts and minds
of the many who were encouraged to nurture but goodness
in themselves, and ready themselves to take
the reins of their lives into their own hands,
and hold them firmly and have a say
in what direction their journey through life should take.
In these past 20 years America's media industry,
as extraordinary as it was, would have been considerably
less vibrant without the genius of Oprah Winfrey
or something akin to it.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]
Thank you.
[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]
As an audience, you have seen her vision on your screens.
As a friend I have seen it in action.
For 20 years, it has remained something to behold.
Congratulations, Oprah, from all of us for those past 20 years,
and for the light you brought that shines so gently
on those who need it most.
[AUDIENCE CHEERING]