During the Fourth of July weekend, media maven Oprah Winfrey threw a surprise party to honor her father who is sick, People reports.
Winfrey assembled the closest family and friends of Vernon Winfrey to honor his life, and posted a video of the festivities on her Instagram.
Winfrey informed her followers she was taking a moment to celebrate her father while he is still alive and can enjoy the outpouring of love, according to Entertainment Tonight.
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“So, we’ve been planning a backyard barbecue that’s actually more than a backyard barbecue, it’s for Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day,” she said as she stood in front of a sign that read, “Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day.”
“Because my father is ill and so we wanted to be able to have all of his friends come and celebrate him while he is able to receive the joy, so that’s what we’re doing, receiving the joy,” she added. “He doesn’t even know that this is for him. He thinks it’s a Fourth of July thing, he doesn’t even know it’s for him.”
Gayle King followed Winfrey along as she showcased the food for the party, including fried chicken, burgers and brisket. At the end of the video, King showed a glimpse of Vernon.
“My dad’s a barber so we put him in the barber chair,” Oprah said to the camera.
The Oscar-nominated television host captioned the footage, writing, “Giving my father his ‘flowers’ while he’s still well enough to smell them.”
“Happy 4th of July as you gather with your family and friends. Remember to celebrate each other,” she added.
In June 2021, Oprah talked about her father with People to promote the OWN special titled Honoring Our Kings, Celebrating Black Fatherhood.
“I had a father who took responsibility for me, even though he knew I could have been somebody else’s child,” she told People.
“My mother and father never married,” she continued. “They had sex one time. He gets a letter after I’m born saying, ‘Send money. You have a daughter.’ And the reason he did, he said, is because it could have been him. And the responsibility that he took for me, not just a responsibility but care and love and direction and support as a young teenage girl, is the thing that made the difference in me being who I am now or somebody you would have never, ever heard of.”
“I saw that over and over again in my father’s barbershop. Men would come in, hardworking men, doing everything they could in their lives to support their families, working sometimes two and three jobs to do that,” she said. “So that’s the story I know of Black fathers — the ones I grew up with and the man I know. The narrative of the absentee father, it’s not accurate that that is the only picture. That’s what I want to say.”
