“It didn’t occur to me that there would be a backlash.”
After the episode aired on April 30, 1997, Winfrey was on the receiving end of vitriol-fueled letters and phone calls. “It always turns to race. I got all of the, ‘N—–, go back to Africa. Who do you think you are?’” she said of the venom hurled her way, noting that she had never experienced anything like it before.
