‘It Was a Mascara Runnin’ Kinda Day’: Oprah Winfrey, Confession, Celebrity and the Formation of Trust

Abstract

In his book Dude, Where’s My Country? (2003), Michael Moore posits that should Oprah Winfrey stand against George W. Bush in the 2004 election she would win by a landslide. He claims that she would succeed because Oprah is a real person. This is an interesting claim to make about an individual who is only really known through her screen persona. And yet Moore claims that he is perfectly serious. He argues that Winfrey would beat Bush ‘hands down’ because ‘America loves her and her enormous personal wealth means that she can’t be bought’ (Moore, 2003, p. 27).¹