Recently, Oprah Winfrey – the queen of American television and one of the most influential figures in the United States – has officially responded to the wave of harsh criticism from the public about her being accused of “blocking the road” to prevent people from using the private road across her property in Maui, Hawaii while thousands of people were urgently evacuated after the tsunami disaster.
According to information from BBC News, after the strong earthquake caused a large tsunami that directly affected the coastal area of Maui, a series of public roads were paralyzed, causing traffic chaos. In that context, some local people tried to access the private road across Oprah Winfrey’s land – the only shortcut that was still clear to the highlands. However, they accused the security guards in the area of rejecting them because “this is private property that cannot be trespassed”.
In the face of outrage from the online community and the media, Oprah could not hide her anger and officially spoke out in a video that went viral on social media. She affirmed:
“All that land is my legal property. I don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why I own it. But when everything is in chaos, does anyone ask me if I am safe? Or do I have to worry about hundreds of people trying to break through the gate just because they think they have the right?”
Oprah continued to add that she had no intention of stopping people, but the security system of the land could not arbitrarily open the gate without direct instructions from her or the authorities. She also emphasized that as soon as she learned of the seriousness of the situation, she allowed the gate to be opened, and even coordinated with relief groups to distribute hundreds of meals, clean water and necessities to surrounding households.
However, her response did not appease the wave of criticism. Thousands of comments on social media have suggested that owning too much land and roads in important areas like Maui has put residents at a disadvantage when natural disasters strike. One resident wrote: “When life and death are only a road away, no one cares whose land it is. They just want to live.”
However, many people have spoken out to defend Oprah, saying that she is being used as a “scapegoat” in a catastrophic event that no one could have prepared for. Many people cited her previous major charitable activities in Hawaii and asserted: “She is not heartless. But she is also human, she cannot save the entire island at once.”
The Hawaiian government has yet to make an official comment on the incident involving Oprah’s private road. Meanwhile, rescue forces are continuing to evacuate isolated areas and support affected residents.
The incident has once again raised big questions about the land ownership of the super-rich in areas prone to natural disasters, and whether individual rights can prevail over public life in times of life and death. For Oprah, whether right or wrong, this is clearly a public storm like she has never faced before.
