As if we couldn’t love Oprah Winfrey any more, she’s heading back to the stage for a brand-new talk show on an incredibly important topic.
The Oprah Conversation will address racial justice, and features Winfrey engaging in discussion about impactful and relevant topics with leaders from around the world.
The series is set to premiere on July 30 on AppleTV+, and will begin with an interview with How to Be an Antiracist author Ibram X. Kendi. During their conversation, Winfrey and Kendi are set to speak with white readers about their efforts to confront systemic racism.
The first episode will be followed by a special two-part interview with writer of Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, Emmanuel Acho on August 7.
In part one, Acho will speak to Winfrey about his web series and take questions from white viewers. And in part two of the interview, Acho and Winfrey will dive deeper into their raw, unfiltered discussions about race in response to bold questions from white and LatinX guests. Future episodes of The Oprah Conversation will also feature Equal Justice Initiative founder Bryan Stevenson, whose memoir was the basis for the film Just Mercy.
Ahead of the television series, Winfrey took to Instagram to write:
“I’ve been talking about racism on TV now for over 35 years, but I don’t recall a moment quite like this one. And just like many of you, I’ve been talking with friends and I noticed the same questions kept coming up: Is this the moment that will finally change our country? Will people recognise systemic racism for the problem and evil that it is? Where do we go from here?”
For Winfrey, this isn’t her first series with Apple. The Oprah Conversation follows her two previous shows, Oprah’s Book Club and Oprah Talks COVID-19, which are a part of her multi-year deal with Apple that she signed in 2018. According to said agreement, fans can expect “everything from film, TV, applications, books and other content that could easily be distributed on Apple’s all-encompassing platform”.
The Oprah Conversation will be available to stream for free on AppleTV+ on Friday, July 31 at 9 a.m. AEST.
