A fan left billionaire TV mogul Oprah Winfrey absolutely floored when he said he couldn’t afford a gift worth more than $100 for his mom for Christmas, sparking a massive online controversy.
In an undated TikTok video that’s now going viral, a fan asked Oprah what he should get for his mom for Christmas, adding that his mother “is not doing well.” Right off the bat, Winfrey suggested a jewelry box she’d featured on her show’s Favorite Things segment.
“A wonderful thing is that jewelery box that I had on Favorite Things. A beautiful red jewelery box with a little…”
The fan interrupts that the item is “a little too expensive for me.”
“It’s really not, it’s like $100 and something dollars,” Winfrey responds.
“A little lower in my price budget,” the man asks.
A shocked Winfrey then replies, “Lower than $100?”
The man asks for a more sentimental gift idea, to which Winfrey suggests he make her a “beautiful card” that lists the top 10 things he loves about his mom.
Winfrey’s seeming inability to comprehend why someone would have a budget of less than $100 sparked a flurry of comments, with some people blasting the billionaire for being out-of-touch with ordinary people who have to live within their much more meager means.
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“Oprah said I’m not even gonna try to give you a suggestion for $50. Here you go free from your heart,” one user joked.
““She was SHOOK that $100 was too expensive. ‘Do they even make things that cost less than $100?’” another mocked.
“She said it’s either $100 or nothing,” a third chimed in.
But other commenters had sympathy, saying a $100 gift isn’t an outlandish suggestion.
“I think Oprah handled this and answered this very well,” one person defended.
“Bless her heart, she was trying to help,” another said.
To be completely honest, I can see this one going either way. On the one hand, depending on your situation and the size of your Christmas list, many people might not consider $100 an extravagant price tag for a Christmas gift for Mom.
On the other hand, thanks to 7%-plus inflation in Joe Biden's economy, $100 is a little more difficult to come by these days - not that a liberal billionaire would know it.