Why Oprah Winfrey Is No Longer Using the Word 'Diversity'

— -- Oprah Winfrey and movie director Ava DuVernay tackled sensitive topics in this week's issue of the Hollywood Reporter, saying they're more focused on "inclusion" than "diversity."

DuVernay told the publication that she's become weary of the term "diversity."

"We aren't sitting around talking about diversity, just like we aren't sitting around talking about being black or being women. We're just being that," she said.

DuVernay, who will direct "A Wrinkle In Time," has become the first African-American woman to direct a live-action film with a budget exceeding $100 million.

Winfrey, who's working with DuVernay on the upcoming OWN series "Queen Sugar," said she's on board with DuVernay.

"I used to use the word 'diversity' all the time," she said. "'We want more diverse stories, more diverse characters.' Now I really eliminated it from my vocabulary because I've learned from [DuVernay] 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," she continued.

Of course, the leading ladies also feel that it's their responsibility to help bring on that inclusive narrative.

"You see integration of Black Lives Matter from the beginning of [Queen Sugar] because it is literally black lives having meaning and mattering in the everyday," DuVernay explained. "With the Black Lives Matter movement, a lot of the focus is on the protest and dissent. I'm hoping to dismantle the public notion — for folks outside of the community — of what Black Lives Matter means. It's really about saying that black lives matter, that humanity is the same when you go inside people's homes."

Added Winfrey: "Everybody gets caught up in the slogan and the hashtag and the protest. What we're trying to do is get you to feel it."