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Whoopi Goldberg Under Fire For Despicable Comment About White People

Photo of Carmine Sabia Carmine SabiaJanuary 31, 2023
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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.

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Whoopi Goldberg, the actress, comedian, and host of the ABC talk show “The View,” is no stranger to making controversial comments on the show and her most recent was abhorrent in the eyes of many.

“Peaceful protests continued nationwide after Friday’s release of police footage showing officers savagely beating Tyre Nichols in Memphis. So far, five cops have been charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping,” said to begin the show.

“I asked this question way too many times at this table, but you know, when will the brutality finally lead to some police reform from the ground up? Because clearly, it doesn’t matter if it’s a white policeman or a black policeman. It is the problem with the policing itself. It seems things don’t make sense to people unless it’s somebody they can feel or they can recognize,” she said.

“Do we need to see white people also get beat before anybody will do anything?” the host said before quickly putting her comments into context.

“I’m not suggesting that. So don’t write us and tell me what a racist I am. I’m just asking, is that what people have to see in order to wake up and realize this affects us all?” she said.

Cohost Sunny Hosting chimed in and said she has not watched the video.

“I haven’t been able to watch the video because I’ve seen so many. As a mother of a black son who is 6’2″ and 20 years old, my worst nightmare is what is probably on that video,” she said.

The response on Twitter was quick and furious.

“Whoopi Goldberg is racist towards white people,” Act For America founder and chair Brigitte Gabriel said.

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“Whoopi Goldberg just shamefully said on The View that “we need to see white people also get beaten before anybody will do anything” about the police. ABC needs to fire Whoopi immediately,” another Twitter user said.

“Whoopi Goldberg called for violence against white people on The View. If Whoopi were anything but black she’d have been fired by now. The same for if she’d have targeted any other group besides whites,” another said.

“Who’s gonna tell #WhoopiGoldberg more White people are killed by police every year than Blacks? BTW, most who die at the hands of police are armed and/or in the commission of a crime. Guess they don’t learn that in the ivory tower,” talk show host Joe Pagliarulo said.

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“#WhoopiGoldberg just disgracefully said on The View that ‘white people need to get beaten to death’ before anything is done about the police. She said it rhetorically then said, ‘I’m not suggesting that happen’ – How does that make it okay,” another Twitter user said.

“I’ve never been a fan of @ABC’s @TheView but I’m really bothered by the fact that Whoopi Goldberg is now calling for innocent white people to be beaten to death by police officers. Is it time to end the show or at least fire Whoopi for her racist hate?” another said.

“Imagine anyone else suggesting violence against any other race! Yeah, there would be outrage for days. So why is it ok for Whoopi to spread such hate?: another said.

It is not the first time in the past two months that Goldberg has been accused of bigotry.

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Goldberg has had to apologize again for comments she made about the Holocaust. As she was promoting her new movie “Till,” about a young black child who was viciously murdered by a gang of white men in 1955, she was asked by a reporter about the comments she made on the show.

Earlier this year, Goldberg was suspended from “The View” for claiming the Holocaust was not about race. She apologized for the comments but in a new interview with the U.K. paper The Sunday Times, it appears her apology may not have been sincere.

“Remember who they were killing first. They were not killing racial; they were killing physical. They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision,” the actress said.

Journalist Janice Turner explained to Goldberg, whose real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson, that there were race laws the Nazis created against Jews and said that “Nazis saw Jews as a race.”

“Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them? They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?” she said.

“It doesn’t change the fact that you could not tell a Jew on a street,” she said. “You could find me. You couldn’t find them.”

“But you would have thought that I’d taken a big old stinky dump on the table, butt naked,” she said, in reference to her comments that got her suspended from “The View.”

“My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race,’” she said.

But a representative for Goldberg sent a press release that showed the host apologizing for the comments.

“Recently while doing press in London, I was asked about my comments from earlier this year. I tried to convey to the reporter what I had said and why, and attempted to recount that time. It was never my intention to appear as if I was doubling down on hurtful comments, especially after talking with and hearing people like rabbis and old and new friends weighing in,” she said.

“I believe that the Holocaust was about race, and I am still as sorry now as I was then that I upset, hurt and angered people,” she continued. “My sincere apologies again, especially to everyone who thought this was a fresh rehash of the subject. I promise it was not. In this time of rising antisemitism, I want to be very clear when I say that I always stood with the Jewish people and always will. My support for them has not wavered and never will,” she said.

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Photo of Carmine Sabia Carmine SabiaJanuary 31, 2023