US Airways Flight Lands In Philly After Mid-Air Bomb Threat; Oprah Takes On First Movie Role In 15 Years
BALDWIN: We have an update for you on this plane here that landed from Ireland in Philadelphia just about an hour and a half ago. We told you some sort of threat was called in, apparently to the FAA, while this thing was in the air. Here's what we now know. This is from Susan Candiotti's sources, the chief inspector Philadelphia police. We know that a phone threat was made, being described as, quote, unquote, an "explosive threat" that the plane would blow up. The single call was made when the flight was just about an hour outside of Philadelphia. That was the final destination for the aircraft. The plane, as you can see, landed safely. All 171 passengers plus the eight crew members are now off the plane. The passengers have been taken to a terminal. Carry-on bags have been checked. They've been cleared. The checked luggage is now just about done being rechecked. All passengers are being questioned by the FBI. This is in Terminal A of the airport, Terminal A East. And, as they are cleared, they will be free to go. This is what we've hearing as far as this threat that was called to in the FAA from the US Air flight 777, according to a government official. And now to Oprah. Oprah is talking about her very first movie role in 15 years. She plays the wife of "The Butler," an African-American man who served seven presidents. Take a look.</s>OPRAH WINFREY, ACTRESS, "THE BUTLER": I don't know how many stories you're going to hear because they done swore him to some kind of secret code.</s>BALDWIN: Oprah sat down for a one-on-one with CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner and explained how film director Lee Daniels convinced her to take on this challenging role.</s>WINFREY: I was going through Building OWN and thank goodness we were on the other side. At least headed in the right direction for that. And I said to Lee, this is the absolute worst time you could ask me to do anything, Lee. And, you know, he just would not take no for an answer. I think that one of the reasons why there's so much still lingering prejudice and racism is because we don't get to see people as ourselves. And so this was an opportunity, I thought, to let the world feel the heart of "The Butler," the heart of this period that really was a defining period in the lives of many black people, but also our nation.</s>BALDWIN: Well, our correspondent who's sitting across from the Oprah Winfrey, Nischelle Turner, I bet you were pinching yourself sitting across from her. I mean, obviously, the role seems to mean a lot for her.</s>NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it definitely does, Brooke. One of the things she said to me that was so profound, she quoted from a Maya Angelou poem called "Our Grandmothers," and she said one of the lines in that poem was "I enter as one, but I stand as ten thousand." And that's kind of what this role meant to her because she said her mother was a maid. Her grandmother was a maid. Her great-grandmother was a slave. So she comes from a long line of domestics, and she says she stands on their shoulders. So she wanted to do something that celebrated their legacy. But, you know, it still took a lot of persistence from director Lee Daniels to get her to say yes to this role. But, ultimately, she says, look, it was the message of the film that convinced her. And she told me that she hopes this film, Lee Daniels' "The Butler," helps keep the conversations about race, about race relations and the valuation of life, all those conversations that we're having today, she hopes that this film keeps those going.</s>BALDWIN: What did she say in terms of present day, in terms of racial issues that clearly still plague our society in 2013?</s>TURNER: You know, it was interesting. I put the question right to her. Does Oprah Winfrey still experience racism? And you know, not even Oprah, who's changed the face of television, she's created her own network, she's running an empire, apparently is immune to racism. She says she does experience it in a different way. Just kind of look what she told me.</s>WINFREY: Nobody's going to call up -- come up to me and call me the "N"-word unless they're on Twitter and I can't find them, the Twitter thugs, so I've learned to leave the Twitter thugs alone unless it's something ridiculous. Nobody's going to do it. But I experience racism in ways that you experience when you have reached a level where people can't call you to your face. I experience it through people's expectations and lack thereof. I use it to my advantage. It's a wonderful thing when people count you out because they think you can't do something. It's a wonderful thing. I always say this. There's a poem by Maya Angelou called "Our Grandmothers." There's a line in there that says, "When I walk into the room, I come as one, but I stand as 10,000." So when I walk into the room and I'm the only one standing in there, I'm the only one, doesn't bother me a bit.</s>TURNER: You know, the interesting thing, Brooke, she was talking about that poem, I was saying, this is something I don't know if it made me naive or makes me optimistic. I didn't expect her to say she still experienced racism. I wanted her to say she's past that.</s>BALDWIN: The Twitter thugs, she says.</s>TURNER: Oh, the Twitter thugs.</s>BALDWIN: Nischelle Turner with the Oprah Winfrey, thank you for sharing, my friend. Appreciate it.</s>TURNER: Sure.</s>BALDWIN: Coming up, 425 million reasons to stick around, the Powerball jackpot is climbing, the drawing hours away. One state has sold by far the most winning tickets. We reveal that state, next.