Oprah Winfrey says she believes she has been given a lesson on social media etiquette by no less than Jesus Christ Himself.
The 62-year-old media tycoon pointed this out during the Q&A in Los Angeles, California, last week, according to Entertainment Weekly. "And it's the same lesson. So Jesus, I hear you. You don't have to tell me again."
Winfrey was commenting on the criticisms she received after she posted a post-election tweet showing a photo of President-elect Donald Trump meeting President Barack Obama at the White House. "Everybody take a deep breath!" she wrote, adding the hashtag #HopeLives.
She said she wrote the message to express her unexpected delight upon seeing Trump and Obama together talking amiably, which gave her a renewed sense of optimism.
"I couldn't breathe after the election. I was expecting tension, awkwardness, and strain," she said. "So when I saw them sitting together, I actually took a picture of the screen that said 'President-elect Trump honored to meet Obama.' And President Obama was being so gracious, and I heard Donald Trump say, 'He's a good man.' I heard Donald Trump say, 'I'm going to be seeking his counsel.' I literally went [deep breath], I can breathe now," Winfrey said.
But despite her positive intentions for sharing the message, she drew criticism from some of her Twitter followers.
One fan wrote, "Oprah How can we?? Racist assaults on Day 1." Another accused Winfrey of being a "racist." Another pleaded, "Oprah please do not normalize this man. Minority children are already being targeted."
One follower commented, "Oprah.. Your class privilege is showing." Another asked, "How when we elected a Draft Dodger and Woman Hater?"
One fan twitted, "You are too intelligent to believe that. With all due respect."
Winfrey acknowledged her fans' criticism.
"My mistake, and this is what I know to be true: you can never talk about everybody. Even in your arguments with your husband and your children," she said.
"Don't talk about what you should do, what you ought to do — you can only speak for yourself. So what I should have said was, 'I just took a breath.' What I said was, 'Everybody take a breath — #HopeLives.'"
What Winfrey said about her learning a lesson from Jesus might not surprise some of her followers since she has previously spoken about how much God has influenced her career.
"Church was our entertainment, church was our comfort, church was our sanctuary, and being with church people was how we served our community," Winfrey said in the video clip for her "Belief" series last year, according to The Christian Post.
"The hours and hours and hours and hours and hours that I spent in that little white church by the red dirt road in Kosciusko, Mississippi, formed the interior meaning for my life. Actually, as I've often said, it's how my broadcasting career began, speaking in front of the church."
