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Oprah Winfrey gives up O Magazine cover for first time in Breonna Taylor tribute

This is the first time in 20 years that Oprah doesn’t appear on the cover

Clémence Michallon
New York City
Thursday 30 July 2020 16:27 BST
A demonstrator holds a sign with the image of Breonna Taylor during a protest in Denver, Colorado on 3 June 2020.
A demonstrator holds a sign with the image of Breonna Taylor during a protest in Denver, Colorado on 3 June 2020.

Oprah Winfrey has given up the cover of her eponymous magazine for the first time in 20 years, choosing to feature Breonna Taylor instead.

O, The Oprah Magazine usually features the TV host on all of its covers.

The latest cover, however, is a portrait of Taylor designed by Alexis Franklin, a 24-year-old digital artist.

Taylor was fatally shot in March this year after police officers entered her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, using a no-knock warrant as part of a narcotics raid. No drugs were found and the search warrant was related to a suspect who did not live on the premises.

Along with the cover, Winfrey devotes an essay to Taylor in the magazine, writing in part: “She was just like me. She was just like you. And like everyone who dies unexpectedly, she had plans. Plans for a future filled with responsibility and work and friends and laughter.”

Winfrey recounts meeting with Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer, and highlights the fact that one of the officers involved in the shooting has been dismissed, while “the other two officers still have their jobs”.

“Breonna Taylor was 26 years old. Breonna Taylor loved cars and treated her 2019 Dodge Charger like a trusted friend,” Winfrey adds.

“Breonna Taylor loved chicken any way you could cook it. Breonna Taylor put hot sauce on everything, especially eggs. Breonna Taylor appreciated every kind of music and the dances that went along. Breonna Taylor treated all her friends like besties. Breonna Taylor was a force in the life of her 20-year-old sister.

“Breonna Taylor felt meaning and purpose in her work as an emergency room technician. Breonna Taylor was saving to buy a house. Breonna Taylor had plans. Breonna Taylor had dreams. They all died with her the night five bullets shattered her body and her future.”

Winfrey ends her essay with: “I cry for justice in her name.”

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