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“Oprah Fired Me For Talking About Jesus”

The ReadyWriter

Jo Baldwin, is an ordained minister who preaches at two churches every Sunday, in addition to being a tenured professor at Mississippi Valley State and Oprah Winfrey’s first cousin.

Oprah knew that Ms. Baldwin was a deeply religious woman when she hired her to be her speechwriter shortly after the enormously popular Oprah Winfrey Show debuted. Later she promoted Baldwin to VP of her company Harpo Inc, according to Gawker.com.

“When I received my PhD in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Oprah asked me where I was going to work,” said Jo Baldwin in the summer of 2010. “I said I would be applying for a position at Ebony magazine as a copy editor. Oprah said she did not like Linda Johnson Rice [owner of Ebony] and I should come to work for her instead. So I did.”

“I was to work for her for three years, but she fired me without notice after two years… I heard from someone later that she got rid of me because she got tired of me talking about Jesus all the time… Oprah preferred the teachings of Shirley MacLaine’s books, such as Dancing in the Light and Out on a Limb, which Oprah made me read but I didn’t think much of.”

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Published by The ReadyWriter

Writer, Published Author, CEO of ReadyWriter Production Company and YouTube podcast Radio Host.

61 thoughts on ““Oprah Fired Me For Talking About Jesus””

  1. Ok…I love Jesus too but I don’t talk Him all the time in my place of employment. We as Christians, have to respect that other may not have the same beliefs as we do. Too much of anything that is not job related can get one fired from a job.

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    1. I’m with NICOLE.

      You may love Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha, Jehovah, Ghandi or whoever else all day long, but you can’t be spending all day at your job talking to any and everybody about it. You never know who may be offended by you constantly throwing your Christianity in their face or who may not share your beliefs.

      I’m sure she got a warning once or twice before they just up and fired her though, come on.

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      1. I definitely believe you can not be talking about Jesus all day long at work because it may offend some people, BUT there is something about Jo Baldwin’s story that I believe as well.

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    2. People can talk about Jesus all they want to that is there right. No one can make anyone listen if they dont want to. I can block out anything I dont want to hear.

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  2. “Oprah Winfrey’s first cousin”
    __________________

    Says it all! She seen that check that Okra cut for her “sister” and now she done caught some feelings. Okra been penny pinchin and nickel’n dimin’ ol cuz since conception of her hired start date. Now that “sister” done came in and in one day and a quick Google search of Ancestry dot com did she get what ol “cuz” hasn’t been able to get/do in a lifetime and now she sick about it! She thought she was next in line for that empire! NOT!

    See why you can’t fuck with family!

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  4. 🙂 The Christian side of me is offended but I also wonder if there are other factors in her firing.

    I feel for Oprah, but I also know money brings out the worse in people who feel they are entitled to your help. Maybe that’s why she is distancing herself from her family

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    1. Wealth has not only brought “family” out of the wood work, but it has also created monsters out of those who possess it! Sometimes Oprah can get on my nerve with all that she’s gone through. I swear, every sad story that comes across her show, she’s experienced it! DAYUM, OPRAH!

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    1. That’s probably not the ONLY reason she got fired…. Its always 3 sides to a story…
      _____________________________________________

      But Oprah so wealthy…she already owns 2 of those sides

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  6. That’s probably not the ONLY reason she got fired…. Its always 3 sides to a story…
    _______________________________________________
    But Oprah so wealthy…she already owns 2 of those sides

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    1. I also wonder if there are other factors in her firing.
      —————————————————————–

      I also know money brings out the worse in people who feel they are entitled to your help. Maybe that’s why she is distancing herself from her family

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      1. I also know money brings out the worse in people who feel they are entitled to your help. Maybe that’s why she is distancing herself from her family
        —————————————————————–

        EXACTLY! I don’t think the talk of Jesus was a factor. I think she probably said “JESUS gone bless/favor me with your money after you gone” talk is what did it.

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    1. maybe Oprah fired her because her work SUCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      —————————————————

      That’s a good one NY LUX!!!!

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    2. Anyone who has ever worked in any human resource capacity will tell you, the reason people were fired and the reason people CHOOSE TO BELIEVE they were fired are rarely the same story. Plus, people who talk about Jesus all the time are annoying and usually turn out to be less than Christ-like themselves. That said, I really doubt Jesus speech is why this chick got fired.

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  10. sooo u heard from someone that was the reason u got fired. oh ok. thought there was some evidence to back this story up

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    1. It says she heard that she was fired for talking about jesus so basically its he said she said shit.. Please lady move on ..

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      1. Yall know Oprah the devil
        ~~~~~~~~~
        I don’t think she’s the devil. LOL. I don’t think she believes in GOD but in a Spiritual Power, so who would want to listen to someone talk about Jesus daily.

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  12. She was hired and fired before I was born…it’s been years, let it go.
    Why is she bringing it up now more than 20years later anyway????

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      1. Not to mention she says Oprah made her read something, please you are a grown ass woman she didnt make you read anything. Wow… some people are ridiculous was this even worth a post.. must be a slow day
        —————————————————————-
        RIGHT!!! She’s a grown azz collegiate woman with a PhD…

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      2. CRY ME A RIVER!!!!!

        I HEARD FROM SOMEONE ELSE?!?!?!

        C’MON NOW YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS-JUST MESSY AS ALL GET OUT!

        SERIOUSLY BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT!

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    2. it’s been years, let it go.
      Why is she bringing it up now more than 20years later anyway????
      ____________________________________________

      right, i thought the article was gonna say she worked for her for like 15 years then fired her, but she worked for her for 2 years back in the 80s?

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      1. Oprah must have some kind of 20-year confidentiality agreement or something because this is the second person from her past to come out with news older than my oldest child. No one cares at this point.

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      2. MMM HMMM thats what I said… I reckon there is about 6 or 7 more distant relatives laying in the cut waiting to get they chance to shine. They just going down the list.

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    4. Not to mention she says Oprah made her read something, please you are a grown ass woman she didnt make you read anything. Wow… some people are ridiculous was this even worth a post.. must be a slow day

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  13. So far this is just hearsay . She doesn’t even know why she was fired, and before releasing a statement, wouldn’t she want to find out???

    …… And I can’t see Oprah saying “I don’t like her, come work for me”….

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      3. I like this new reply feature…NO MORE scrolling up and down 6,5986.5 post to remember what he said/she said.

        GOOD JOB TRABELL *smacks you on the tush

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      9. What kinda snazzy shit is going on up in hea!

        reply buttons and whatnot

        Gawn BQ! *snaps*

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  14. If someone wants to talk about Jesus they can do it. No one can sit up here and tell someone what they can or cannot do. Just like I cannot tell another person what to do about their belief. Yes I personally will speak my mind when needed, but I am not going to go overboard with it either.

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  16. 😦

    *^OFF-TOPIC:
    WHAT DO YOU THINK OF KIM KARDASHIAN’S NEW SINGLE? 🙂 I SEE IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, ANYONE COULD SING IF THEY WANTED TO.

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    2. 🙂 I didnt get a chance nor do I want to hear it either. But the blogs I have been looking through have been laughing so hard. I am taking that as a sign they didnt like it.

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  17. It’s Oprah, ppl who want to know when she farts (not me, not a Oprah fan). LOL, I can see Oprah saying she doesn’t like Linda Johnson, wouldn’t she have been Oprah’s competition back in the day?

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  19. 20 years later she comes out—-CHILD PLEASE

    I wanted to be on Oprah’s Favorite show and was never picked can I write a book about that.

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  21. So let me get this straight. Oprah was so annoyed by this woman’s Jesus talk that she let her work there two years before firing her?

    GTFOOHWTS!!!

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  22. All things that are lawful are not expedient. I love Jesus too but I can’t talk about him all day at my job. She was at work just live your life the right way you won’t have to yell out the name Jesus all the time people will see the difference in you and come to you.

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