Fact check: Trump tells two false stories about Oprah Winfrey, including one he’s been repeating for 11 years

Former President Donald Trump told two fictional stories about Oprah Winfrey on Saturday – one of them new, another he has been telling for at least 11 years.

Trump’s claims about Winfrey are both trivial. But they are the latest on a long list of recent examples of the Republican presidential nominee delivering vivid but imaginary tales as he again seeks the nation’s highest office.

The end of Winfrey’s television show

Winfrey endorsed Trump’s opponent in the presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, at the Democratic National Convention in August. Winfrey hosted a live streamed virtual campaign rally for Harris in Michigan on Thursday.

Ad Feedback

In a social media post late Saturday night, Trump wrote, “A long time ago, Oprah Winfrey asked me to do her last Network Television Show. The final week of her show was a big deal, and it was my honor, with my family, to do it.” He went on to criticize Harris and say that when he watched Winfrey’s event with her, “I couldn’t help but think this isn’t the real Oprah.”

Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. He did not appear on the last episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2011, nor even in the star-studded final week of the show. Rather, Trump appeared on the show about three-and-a-half months before it ended. 

Winfrey’s show concluded on May 25, 2011. Trump and his family appeared in the episode that aired on February 7, 2011.

Trying to exaggerate his past importance to Winfrey, who has supported Trump’s Democratic opponents in each of the last three presidential elections, Trump falsely boasted at least four times during his presidency that he was on her popular show in its final week. CNN fact-checked the claim in October 2020 – and noted Trump had been making it since at least 2013.

The actual final week of the show featured a star-studded arena tribute to Winfrey – which included prominent celebrities such as Michael Jordan, Will Smith, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Beyoncé, but not Trump – and appearances by memorable non-entertainer guests from past episodes. The very last episode starred Winfrey alone.

Winfrey’s McDonald’s comment

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Harris is lying about having once worked at McDonald’s. (The Harris campaign says she worked at a restaurant in California during a summer when she was in college in the 1980s.)

At a campaign rally in North Carolina earlier on Saturday, Trump said: “And didn’t Oprah ask her about her time at McDonald’s? And she just sort of didn’t want to answer that one. ‘Let me not talk about that.’ Oprah said, ‘You work at McDonald’s, that’s great.’ You know, Oprah didn’t hear the end result; she never worked there. So Kamala just sort of hid under the desk, along with every other answer she gave.”

Facts First: Trump’s claim that Harris dodged a question from Winfrey about working at McDonald’s is false. In reality, Winfrey never even asked Harris about working at McDonald’s. Rather, Winfrey passingly mentioned the McDonald’s job during her introduction of Harris – before the vice president walked onstage for their conversation.

This was Winfrey’s only mention of McDonald’s at the event: “In no other country on this Earth could her story unfold the way it has. From a child of immigrants to big sister to McDonald’s worker – there is hope for y’all – district attorney, a wife and ‘Momala’ to senator to vice president. Please welcome Kamala Harris.”

Harris walked out to applause, hugged Winfrey, and they began their conversation on non-McDonald’s subjects.