Fox’s Laura Ingraham accuses Oprah of ‘broad-brush race-baiting’

Fox News host Laura Ingraham took aim at Oprah Winfrey on Thursday over Winfrey’s decision to campaign for Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate running in a razor-thin race for governor of Georgia.

In a segment on “The Ingraham Angle,” the Fox host accused Winfrey of “race-baiting” by bringing up Georgia’s racist history of lynching in a campaign speech for Abrams, the first black woman nominated for governor by a major political party.

{mosads}”I’m here today because of the men and because of the women who were lynched, who were humiliated, who were discriminated against, who were suppressed, who were repressed and oppressed, for the right, for the equality at the polls,” Winfrey told an audience at an Abrams campaign event this week. 

“And I want you to know that their blood has seeped into my DNA and I refuse to let their sacrifices be in vain,” she added.

Ingraham said Winfrey was wrong to bring up that history, arguing that in doing so, she tied Republican governor candidate Brian Kemp to the actions of the past.

“Gotta hand it to Oprah, she’s a great speaker, but I kinda liked her better when she was giving away Toyotas and refrigerators,” Ingraham said, referring to Winfrey’s famous giveaways on her daytime talk show.

“To try to tie the candidacy of Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp to the scourge of racism, even lynchings? Come on, Oprah. It’s dehumanizing, it’s completely baseless, it’s totally cruel,” Ingraham added. “And I say this, to Oprah Winfrey: How is this living our best life now? This kind of broad-brush race-baiting desensitizes us to the real racists out there.”

Abrams lead Kemp by 1 point in a poll of the race released this week, with less than seven days to go before voters head to the polls.