Queen Latifah Explains Why She Has No Interest In Being The Next Oprah

Queen Latifah (real name Dana Owens) is gearing up to take over daytime talk TV. This fall, the  43-year-old is set to premiere ‘The Queen Latifah Show’, airing on CBS, in September. With backings by Jada Pinkett Smith (who is the Executive Producer of the show), viewers already have a high expectation of what she’ll be bringing to the table. Recently, she and Jada held a media session, previewing the show. While chatting with the audience she made clear that she’s not trying to feel Oprah Winfrey’s footsteps:

People have often asked me do I want to be the next Oprah. There is no such thing. Oprah is Oprah. And she’s still being Oprah if anyone hadn’t noticed. Obviously there are great things she accomplished and I would love to be able to accomplish some of those things. But what I bring to television is me. I’m Queen Latifah. I had a different life story and different path that I’ve traveled.

Jada also chimed in, explaining that Latifah will give TV what’s it missing:

She’s very funny, she’s very witty, she’s very intelligent and she has a lot of heart, I think what we’re missing [in daytime] today is heart. So Latifah, to me, when we did the research on her – across the board from [age] 3 to 80, people love her; women, men, kids.

As is traditional, Latifah will be getting some help from her celebrity friends with appearances.Alicia Keys has participated in early tests runs of the show and ‘The Butler‘s’ Lenny Kravitz designed the set. She has also extended invitations to President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama. The show premieres on September 16.

[EURWeb]