Oprah Winfrey famously gave away exactly two hundred and seventy-six Pontiac G6 sedans to her screaming studio audience in 2004 during a legendary television broadcast that birthed a thousand internet memes.

A closer look

Oprah Winfrey famously gave away exactly two hundred and seventy-six Pontiac G6 sedans to her screaming studio audience in 2004 during a legendary television broadcast that birthed a thousand internet memes. What she conveniently forgot to clearly mention was that the massive prize came with a crippling tax burden of roughly seven thousand dollars per vehicle, completely devastating the finances of the average working-class fans sitting in the crowd. It is the ultimate lesson in the absolute toxicity of daytime television philanthropy, where getting a free car from a billionaire effectively means you have to take out a second mortgage on your house just to afford the gift tax!