Former first lady Michelle Obama, who has a net worth repordedly near or above $70 million, opened up about a place she evidently doesn’t want to spend her money.
And her answer is raising some serious eye brows.
During an appearance on The “Storehouse & Friends” podcast, hosted by Tamira Chapman, which is a self-described conversation series focusing on lifestyle, faith, and personal growth, offering encouragement and practical advice for women navigating life’s challenges, Michelle Obama highlighted the strange topic of shopping habits and race.
The now viral clip of Obama reads that “Michelle Obama says she is mindful to try to avoid white-owned brands…”
Roll the clip —
Michelle Obama says she is mindful to try to avoid white-owned brands and others also should be pic.twitter.com/5MqY5gaxUv
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 19, 2026
Obama does not explicitly state that she WON’T shop at white-owned businesses, essentially guilting consumers to consider the race of business owners when making purchases, making her comments more eye raising than necessary.
During her time as first lady and beyond, she has worn and promoted Black designers and brands, such as wearing a Bychari necklace to the 2020 Democratic National Convention and wearing a design by Sergio Hudson to the 2021 Biden Inauguration, according to reports.
Obama’s shocking comments immediately went viral, with many conservative pundits chiming in on the double standard the former first lady evoked.
Conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly discussed the ramifications of Obama’s comments yesterday, saying the Michelle Obama was purposely sensationalizing race.
Take a listen —
Fellow conservative podcaster and commentator Michael Knowles also discussed Obama’s comments on yesterday’s “The Michael Knowles Show.”
Below is a transcript of Knowles assessment of Obama’s comments and what she’s really trying to say:
And in defense of Michelle Obama — and I don’t generally defend her — that’s not literally what she said.
She said that if she sees a black-owned brand and she likes their stuff, she’ll choose that brand. But she stops herself. She doesn’t say, “and I won’t buy from anyone else.” She doesn’t say, “I only do it because it’s black-owned.”
But here’s the problem: she injects race into the decision. She’s saying, “If I like their stuff, and if it’s black-owned, then I especially want to buy it.” And when she says, “If you have the money to buy Chanel, you have the money to buy everybody,” she very carefully stops short of finishing the sentence. She doesn’t say “black-owned brands.” She says “everybody.”
What she’s doing is trying to privilege the black-owned brand while avoiding the explicit consequence of that choice. She wants to be a racial identitarian when it comes to the positive act of buying — of supporting a business — but she doesn’t want to be a racial identitarian when it comes to the negative act of not shopping somewhere else.
She never says, “Don’t shop at white brands.” Instead, she says you need to shop at black brands, and everybody needs to shop at black brands — but maybe not less at white brands.
It’s a kind of gobbledygook. And that’s why, ultimately, I think the viral description is basically fair, even if it’s not perfectly precise.
Whether or not Michelle Obama intended to make her comments about race, it’s hard to argue that her insight was misguided.