After Oprah Spotted This Student's Cracked Phone, She Had an Epic Surprise

McKenzie Jean-Philippe
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Photo credit: Kevin Mazur
Photo credit: Kevin Mazur

From Oprah Magazine

  • In early October, Oprah visited Morehouse College, donating $13 million towards her Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program.

  • During the visit, she was captured in a viral video with a student after pointing out his "cracked phone."

  • In the time since, Oprah gifted him a brand new iPhone because "we can't have you out here viewing the world thru a cracked screen."

Oprah may have donated $13 million to Morehouse College, but that was by no means the end of her generosity at the historic Atlanta school.

Earlier this month, Lady O visited the HBCU in honor of the 30th Anniversary of her Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program. In addition to her multi-million dollar gift, the mogul spoke to a group of students, held a Q&A session, and was gifted an a capella serenade and brand new portrait.

But there was another Morehouse moment that caught the internet's attention that day. It was when freshman, Olufemi Yessoufou, posted a hilarious video to his social media accounts. In the clip, you see Yessoufou and a friend taking a video selfie with the O of O. But somehow, she manages to (lovingly) shade the 18-year-old's phone.

As the students says, "Hey Oprah!" she responds: "Hey, that's me. That's me in your cracked phone."

View this post on Instagram

Today I was blessed with the opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with @Oprah Winfrey. After the assembly, my brother @zcs_5 and I caught her car and had another conversation with her. We hope to see her again soon and thank her for making this possible. #oprah #morehousecollege @morehouse1867

A post shared by 🐇 (@kxng.olu) on Oct 7, 2019 at 7:59pm PDT

This of course resulted in tweets like the following:

Yessoufou gave OprahMag.com a bit more of a backstory on that now-viral video. He originally tried to snap a photo with Lady O during the school's Q&A session, but wasn't able to. And unwilling to give up because "I knew my mom would want a picture of me with Oprah," later on he and a friend waited for her car to drive by as she was leaving the campus.

"We ran and we started waving and she opened the windows and put her hands out and she said, 'I love you guys, thank you so much' and she was waving," Yessoufou says. "And then there was a red light and they started slowing down, so we sprinted to her car and the windows were still open."

And though the engineering major can't quite remember how he got that "cracked" phone that the O of O eventually pointed out, it's now a thing of the past. Days later, Yessoufou was contacted by a member of Oprah's team who asked for his information. He was then sent a brand new phone from the billionaire. And of course, he shared a snap of the present on Twitter.

The new smart phone came complete with a note that read:

Dear Olufemi,

We can't have you out here viewing the world thru a cracked screen or a cracked cover. The new camera you're gonna love for sure!

Oprah

"I'm actually writing her a thank you letter," he told us. "I've been trying to find someone who has nice handwriting, and I finally did."

The attention he's recieved has resulted in jokes from family and friends that he's "Oprah's Son."

"Or they'll say, 'That's not an actual phone that's an Oprah phone,'" he told us.

So if Yessoufou had another chance to speak with her in person? Not only would he thank her, but he says he'd spread the word about a new project he and fellow Morehouse students are working on called "Adopt a House."

View this post on Instagram

For starters, we would like to thank Ms. Oprah Winfrey and her team for her generosity in both her gift to the Oprah Winfrey Scholars program and her gift to our brother Olufemi Yessoufou. Yes, she replaced his broken cell phone! Given this platform, we would like to introduce a project we, brothers of Morehouse, have been working on. It’s called Adopt A House. This is an idea we came up with to gain support from corporations and/ individuals to “adopt” their own piece of Morehouse by investing in the renovation and retrofitting process for on-campus facilities. All jokes aside, we are grateful for the day we were blessed with the opportunity to have that genuine conversation with Ms. Winfrey regarding our initiative. What you saw was her willingness to engage and have genuine fun and playful banter with us. What wasn’t seen was her sincere love for Morehouse’s mission and her Interest in our Adopt A House plan. Following our conversation, Ms. Winfrey lauded our plan and helped guide us to the next steps we need to follow as we aim to bring our plans to fruition. Again thank you so much, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, we genuinely appreciate your kindness and support! @oprah @oprahmagazine @morehouse1867 #morehouse

A post shared by 🐇 (@kxng.olu) on Oct 19, 2019 at 6:32pm PDT

"This is an idea we came up with to gain support from corporations and individuals to 'adopt' their own piece of Morehouse by investing in the renovation and retrofitting process for on-campus facilities," Yessoufou wrote in an Instagram caption.

The school is currently struggling financially due to students' unpaid tuition and related fees, along with student loans owed by graduates. In May, billionaire Robert F. Smith announced he'll pay-off the graduating class of 2019's debt.

"[With the video] what you saw was her willingness to engage and have genuine fun and playful banter with us," Yessoufou continued. "What wasn’t seen was her sincere love for Morehouse’s mission and her interest in our Adopt A House plan. Following our conversation, Ms. Winfrey lauded our plan and helped guide us to the next steps we need to follow as we aim to bring our plans to fruition. Again thank you so much, Ms. Oprah Winfrey, we genuinely appreciate your kindness and support!"

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