Oprah Discusses Time’s Up With Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon, Tracee Ellis Ross, and More — Watch
A week after her show-stopping Golden Globes speech, Oprah Winfrey was back on TV this morning to talk about one of the other most notable presences at the ceremony: Time’s Up. She was joined by Reese Witherspoon, America Ferrera, Natalie Portman, Kathleen Kennedy, Shonda Rhimes, and Tracee Ellis Ross on CBS Sunday Morning to discuss the initiative, whose legal defense fund just received a $1.5 million donation in Michelle Williams’ name following the controversy over Mark Wahlberg’s salary for “All the Money in the World” reshoots.
More than 300 women are taking part in Time’s Up, which led Winfrey to an obvious question: Does it have a leader?
“Who is the head of the group? And is it an organization? A movement?” Winfrey asked. “Black-ish” star Tracee Ellis Ross responded, “At this moment it’s a campaign. And we’re all sort of workers among workers and women among women, sort of rolling up our sleeves and doing whatever sort of comes to the forefront.”
Ross also touched on the fact that she still finds it difficult to speak up about these issues. “The thing that’s always surprising to me: I am a strong, outspoken, powerful woman, and there are places and ways and times that I am even afraid to speak up. There are environments that we all work in that support a culture of harassment or a culture of any of those things.”
Time’s Up isn’t just concerned with Hollywood, but rather female workers in nearly every other industry who have faced sexual harassment and worse. “You know, we have public voices,” Witherspoon said. “We have resources. But women who are workers in this country have nothing to gain in certain instances by coming forward. But we want to help.”
Witherspoon also quoted Elie Wiesel: “Silence helps the tormentors; it doesn’t help the tormented. And neutrality helps the oppressors.” Watch their discussion below.
