When the cameras panned over from Oprah Winfrey calling out “childless cat ladies” at the Democratic national convention, they landed on an unsuspecting woman who nodded along to Winfrey’s words and prompted plenty of reactions online – and a response from the woman herself.
During Winfrey’s speech on Wednesday, the cameras awkwardly cut to the audience member Teresa Woorman, a delegate from district 16 in Maryland.
I’m screaming at the DNC cutting to this random woman when Oprah made a “childless cat lady” comment. taking a page from Wendy Williams’ cameraman lol pic.twitter.com/uzBV6f0luN
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) August 22, 2024
Woorman took her moment in the limelight in stride, writing on X: “Damn right this childless cat lady is 100% disgusted by JD Vance in general and 100% behind @KamalaHarris and @GovTimWalz! Also I may be childless but I do hope that’s not a permanent condition, thanks!
“Also – funny enough I recently got appointed to a legislative seat” she added. “And I got sworn in to the Maryland House of Delegates last week and I referred to myself as a childless cat lady during my remarks. But I’m in good company, @taylorswift13 @Oprah.”
As mentioned in Woorman’s missives, Winfrey’s “cat lady” comment was in reference to earlier comments made by Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee and an Ohio senator.
Vance has received backlash in recent days after a resurfaced clip from 2021 emerged in which he is seen saying that the US is run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable”.
During the speech on Wednesday night, Winfrey took a swipe at Vance’s comments, and said: “When a house is on fire, we don’t ask whose house it is,” adding that “if the place happens to belong to a childless cat lady, well, we try to get that cat out too”.
The cut to Woorman has since been celebrated and joked about by watchers and commenters online.
“That poor woman who the camera panned to and stayed on for seconds too long when Oprah mentioned ‘childless cat ladies’ … gurl I see you and I am so sorry but I cackled,” one X user said.
“Shady cameraman!” another person said.
“They didn’t have to do this I need an interview with her,” a third person said.
Woorman did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.