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Oprah Winfrey 'canceled' as chat with Dolly Parton 'dragging' mental health resurfaces

Oprah Winfrey is drawing flak after a 2003 interview with Dolly Parton led Twitter to deduce the talk show host

Acclaimed talk show host and anchor Oprah Winfrey is getting severe flak on social media after a decades-old video of her interviewing country music legend Dolly Parton resurfaced. The video sees a much younger Winfrey and Parton engaging in a candid heart-to-heart where the host asks the singer about possible work she has gotten done on her face and body to stay young. Things escalate really quickly when Parton evades the question at first and later admits she has gotten work done, but Winfrey springs her with a "huge depression" that the singer had gone through in her 40s. This has prompted social media to cancel Winfrey, dubbing her a "hater". 

The timing of this cancelation comes in the wake of her highly talked about tell-all interview with Meghan Markle making the rounds on social media. The interview saw Meghan allege racism within the royal family and lack of action towards incessant bullying from the British media. It was brought up once again by controversial British TV host Piers Morgan's wife Celia Walden, as she called Meghan "impudent" and "vulgar" for making those claims. Winfrey, who was excluded from the narrative, however, finds herself buzzing on social media as snippets from the Parton interview go viral.

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Split in two parts, the interview sees Winfrey ask Parton, "How are you defying age, Dolly? What you doing?" Parton laughs it off, saying "Oh I don't know, I'm a cartoon so I just look the same all the time. The same thing, I just put mine on." But Winfrey persists, "No, but you've been open about that you've had some work done — some tucks and pulls and sucks." That's when Parton admits, "Yes, I have. And I'll have some more when I need 'em." The audience erupts in laughter as Parton continues about her enviable assets which she quips are her "weapons of mass distraction."

The singer then admits, "I just do whatever I need to do, and I wear a lot of makeup and a lot of wigs..." when Winfrey cuts her off and dumps the topic of her mental health on her. "When you hit your 40s I heard you went into a huge depression. Did you?," asks Winfrey. But Parton plays it off like a pro, as she tells Winfrey, "That one comes cause of 40." Parton explains, "I really had a lot of problems at the time, a lot of female problems, with hormones [sic]" — presumably talking about menopause and its symptoms. Parton continues with how she came right back from her depression and continued working like a pro after getting the right kind of help. But social media is fixated on how Winfrey continued pressing the topic, especially with a mention of Parton growing up "poor".

This has led social media to consider canceling Winfrey. "i feel like oprah wanted her to be embarrassed but ms dolly said “nope”," said the user who had originally posted a video of the interview. Another chimed in: "I went searching for the rest. why did oprah drag dollys mental health into it." More people tweeted, "Growing up and finding out Oprah was a high key hater and messy miss kinda threw me." Another remarked: "Oops, @Oprah`s racism`s showing."

There was also ample support for the way Parton handled the questions. "Dolly’s brilliant the way she responded to those questions. Straightforward, lighthearted, & adorable. She makes Oprah looks bad for asking idiotic questions." Another wrote: "And Dolly remained unbothered, Oprah was weird for that." Some users declared: "I don’t like Oprah! Dig deep you’ll see she’s not who you think she is! That woman is bad news." Another claimed: "Turned off Oprah years ago. She’s an arrogant bigot."