--- title: Oprah Doesn't Use the Word Diversity Anymore description: Oprah Winfrey revealed that she no longer uses the word "diversity," thanks to Ava DuVernay; she opts to use the word, "inclusion" instead. canonical: https://time.com/4455910/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-diversity/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-17T17:58:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:35.757Z og:title: Why Oprah Eliminated the Word 'Diversity' From Her Vocabulary og:description: And why she's using "inclusion" instead og:url: https://time.com/4455910/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-diversity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8cf02b9466f85c2/6988a2aca988ca38286b91b8/ava-duvernay-oprah-winfrey-diversity-inclusion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 2016 Essence Festival - Day 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Oprah Eliminated the Word 'Diversity' From Her Vocabulary twitter:description: And why she's using "inclusion" instead twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8cf02b9466f85c2/6988a2aca988ca38286b91b8/ava-duvernay-oprah-winfrey-diversity-inclusion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Why Oprah Winfrey Eliminated the Term 'Diversity' From Her Vocabulary, Thanks to Ava DuVernay > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 17, 2016 5:58 PM UTC  Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey attend the 2016 Essence Festival - Day 2 at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 1, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/WireImage) Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey attend the 2016 Essence Festival - Day 2 at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 1, 2016 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/WireImage) Bennett Raglin—WireImage  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Aug 17, 2016 5:58 PM UTC [Oprah Winfrey](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2066367%5F2066369%5F2066094,00.html) and [Ava DuVernay](http://time.com/3656065/selma-ava-duvernay-david-oyelowo/) are undeniably trailblazers in the world of entertainment, [ascending as black women](http://motto.time.com/4438223/ava-duvernay-100-million-film/) in an industry dominated by [white men](http://time.com/money/4207416/hollywood-wage-gap/), and they recently discussed [Hollywood’s glaring diversity issues](http://time.com/4192594/hollywood-diversity-problem-oscars-academy-awards/). During a joint interview with [_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-black-920196)about DuVernay’s upcoming TV show with Winfrey’s OWN network, _Queen Sugar_, both women addressed what the lack of inclusion for people of color, specifically women, means for their industry and the world at large. “Forward-thinking people and allies of this cause within the industry have the common sense to know that this is systemic,” said DuVernay. “There needs to be more done than applauding one or two people who make it through your door.” DuVernay also advocates for dropping the word “diversity” when talking about the lack of people of color in the industry, choosing instead to use the word, “inclusion,” a term that her friend Winfrey has also begun using in lieu of “diversity.” The distinction, DuVernay explains, is important to her because to her, it reinforces the idea of casting a token person of color to “diversify” a project and does not signify actual change. In a 2015 [_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/magazine/has-diversity-lost-its-meaning.html) column, writer Anna Holmes characterized diversity as “a box to check off” in the context of representation in the media, and quoted DuVernay’s _ELLE_ Women in Hollywood awards [speech](http://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a31310/ava-duvernay-diversity-and-self-care/) in the service of her argument. At the ceremony, DuVernay closed her speech by criticizing the disconnect she feels with the word diversity, saying it “just feels like medicine.” “I used to use the word ‘diversity’ all the time,” Winfrey disclosed. “‘We want more diverse stories, more diverse characters …’ Now I really eliminated it from my vocabulary because I’ve learned from her that the word that most articulates what we’re looking for is what we want to be: included. It’s to have a seat at the table where the decisions are being made.” For DuVernay, the struggle for inclusion is integral to the freedom to create without the mission to ensure that the industry is diverse. “I’m interested in seeing artists whom I respect who are very focused on the Black Lives Matter moment, bringing that into storytelling in a way that really amplifies the beauty and the humanity of people of color, and does it without having to wave a big sign that says, ‘This is what we’re doing.'” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4455910/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-diversity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4455910/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-diversity/"},"headline":"Here's Why Oprah Winfrey Eliminated the Term 'Diversity' From Her Vocabulary, Thanks to Ava DuVernay","datePublished":"2016-08-17T17:58:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:35.757Z","description":"And why she's using \"inclusion\" instead","url":"https://time.com/4455910/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-diversity/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Television","Oprah Winfrey","ava duvernay"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8cf02b9466f85c2/6988a2aca988ca38286b91b8/ava-duvernay-oprah-winfrey-diversity-inclusion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8cf02b9466f85c2/6988a2aca988ca38286b91b8/ava-duvernay-oprah-winfrey-diversity-inclusion.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 Essence Festival - Day 2","caption":"2016 Essence Festival - Day 2","creditText":"Bennett Raglin—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4455910/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-diversity/","name":"Here's Why Oprah Winfrey Eliminated the Term 'Diversity' From Her Vocabulary, Thanks to Ava DuVernay"}}]}] ```