Oprah Winfrey has responded to claims that she exploited Henrietta Lacks by making an HBO movie about her life.
The late Lacks’ son, Lawrence, believes Oprah and HBO should pay the family for using his mother’s story.
However, Oprah — who both executive produced and starred in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” — says that she’s not on the hook.
“Do I think the Lacks family should have been paid for all of those cells by all the millions of drug companies in the world who have used those cells…of course they should have,” she told Page Six at the premiere hosted by HBO CEO Richard Plepler, “Do I think that its now my responsibility or HBO to compensate for that, no. It was our job to bring the story to light and it is a shame that they were never compensated. But I will tell you this, Deborah [Henrietta’s youngest daughter] to her dying day never cared about the money she just cared about her mother and her story being told.”
What do you think? Should HBO pay up?
