NBC on Monday deleted a tweet from its account calling Oprah Winfrey “OUR future president,” saying it was sent by a “third party agency” during the network’s Golden Globes broadcast.
“It is in reference to a joke made during the monologue and not meant to be a political statement. We have since removed the tweet,” NBC tweeted.
After Golden Globes host Seth Meyers jokingly forbade Winfrey from running for president, noting he did the same with Donald Trump in 2011, the network tweeted “Nothing but respect for OUR future president” to its 1.77 million followers, along with an image of Winfrey.
A short time later, social media responded with confusion and disapproval for the tweet.
Later in the broadcast, Winfrey received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award and delivered an emotional speech about survivors of sexual harassment.
“For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up!” Winfrey said, leading to a standing ovation.
Her remarks prompted speculation she may run for president in 2020, though Winfrey said after the show she doesn’t plan to launch a campaign.