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'People Were Confused': Oprah Winfrey Talks About 'You Get A Car' Giveaway Moment And Her Iconic Evergreen Meme
Oprah Winfrey reflects on the intentional execution of the iconic 'You Get a Car' giveaway moment and shares her thoughts on the enduring meme it spawned
Twenty years down the road, Oprah Winfrey is spilling the beans on one of the most epic moments from her beloved daytime talk show that's now etched in the annals of internet history as a timeless meme.
Chatting with PEOPLE for their 50th-anniversary extravaganza, the unstoppable force that is Oprah, at a sprightly 70, walks us through that iconic car giveaway moment step by step: "Picture this: I'm there, I'm like, 'Hey guys, please, no shakey-shakey with the boxes,' 'cause I knew if they rattled them, they might feel the keys moving around."
The queen of all things media elaborates, "So there we are, everyone's on edge, boxes in hand, and boom! They all pop open simultaneously. People start peeking at their neighbors like, 'Whoa, they got one!' Then it hits them, 'Wait, I got one too!' So what's a gal to do? I'm like, 'You get a car, you get a car, everybody gets a car!' 'Cause, let's face it, folks were a tad bewildered."
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Initially, the mastermind behind The Color Purple had a plan: just the lucky dozen would drive home in style. But then, in a stroke of empathy and generosity, Oprah had an epiphany. Realizing the transformative power a car could wield in someone's life, she flipped the script. Instead of a select few, the entire audience found themselves in for a sweet surprise, each car dressed to impress with a snazzy red ribbon.
“We got to make it meaningful because by the time we gave away the cars, I was already operating with my producers with the philosophy that we do nothing that is not intentional,” she explains.
That legendary segment, ringing in at a whopping $7 million, was a once-in-a-lifetime television extravaganza. But oh, the internet! It's turned Oprah's jubilant moment into a digital relic, forever enshrined in the halls of reaction images. Social media enthusiasts just can't get enough of that clip—Oprah, arms wide, brimming with excitement.
Reflecting on the big day, the sage behind What I Know for Sure remembers her fashion dilemma. Despite her bestie Gayle King's initial doubts, Oprah was dead set on rocking her ravishing red Celine suit.
“I was like, 'I'm going to wear the red suit because the red suit matches the red bows.' And that was the best decision. That red suit. It has carried us through a couple of decades now,” Winfrey says.
The Inside Story of Oprah's Iconic 'You Get a Car!' Moment
King, the brains behind the giveaway, spilled the beans to PEOPLE's Pop Cultured back in 2022, recounting how a chance meeting with a Pontiac bigwig sparked the magic of the "You get a car!" moment.
“I said, 'I'll take your card and pass it along to her team.' And I couldn't get to the phone fast enough. And then from there, then the question became, how do we execute it?" King, 69, said.
On the big day, the ever-supportive CBS Mornings host jetted in to witness the spectacle firsthand, noting Oprah's contagious excitement.
"That was one of the happiest days of my life," Winfrey said during the 2022 Pop Cultured episode. "It delights me, it makes me so happy, to see other people be happy and to be able to do that. That's one of the great joys of my life."
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