Musician Seal isn’t buying that Oprah Winfrey is a champion of women.
Days after the media mogul’s powerful speech at the Golden Globes proclaimed “time is up” for men in power who silence women, Seal published a fiery post on Instagram Wednesday that included two photos of Winfrey with the disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, whose alleged serial sex crimes sparked the #MeToo movement and a cascade of accusations of abuse, harassment and assault against powerful men.
Superimposed on the photos in Seal’s post are the words: “When you have been part of the problem for decades but suddenly they all think you are the solution.”
His caption alleges Winfrey knew about Weinstein’s sexual misconduct. “Oh I forgot, that’s right.....you’d heard the rumours but you had no idea he was actually serially assaulting young stary-eyed [sic] actresses who in turn had no idea what they were getting into. My bad.”
The post ends with the hashtag #SanctimoniousHollywood.
A Winfrey rep didn’t immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Winfrey’s rousing Golden Globes speech on Sunday assured young girls that a “new day is on the horizon” when no one will be a victim of sexual abuse, and pointed to Hollywood’s Time’s Up initiative combatting workplace sexual harassment. The stirring address prompted speculation she might run for president in 2020.
“The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah said Winfrey would be the “perfect opponent” for President Donald Trump because “she’s everything that he’s not.”
Others are skeptical of another celebrity running for the presidency.
“Oprah is beyond doubt a magnificent orator,” “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane tweeted on Tuesday. “But the idea of a reality show star running against a talk show host is troublingly dystopian. We don’t want to create a world where dedicated public service careers become undesirable and impractical in the face of raw celebrity.”