By Lauren Sarner
Published Sep. 15, 2023, 12:50 p.m. ET
Whoopi Goldberg has ignited a lot of controversies during her time co-hosting “The View.”
The comedian and EGOT-winning actress has been a co-host of the buzzy talk show since 2007.
During that time, she’s had tiffs with co-hosts, made bizarre remarks about the Holocaust and domestic violence, had plenty of awkward exchanges and gotten suspended from the show.
Here’s a rundown of her controversies.
On the Jan. 31, 2022 episode of “The View,” while discussing a Tennessee school district’s ban of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus,” about a Holocaust survivor, Goldberg argued that the genocide – which killed over 6 million Jewish people – was “not about race,” but about “man’s inhumanity to man.”
Other co-hosts disagreed. “Well, it’s about white supremacy. That’s what it’s about,” political strategist Ana Navarro resplied. “It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.”
But Goldberg doubled down. “But these are two groups of white people,” she said.
Joy Behar noted that the Nazis considered the Jewish people to be a different race.
Liora Rez, executive director of watchdog group StopAntisemitism, called Goldberg’s comments “reprehensible.”
Goldberg’s remarks were slammed, and led to a two-week suspension from the show.
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“While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,” ABC News president Kim Godwin stated at the time.
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Whoopi Goldberg got suspended for remarks about the Holocaust in 2022.
You Tube/Entertainment Tonight
Asking inappropriate questions
Goldberg has faced backlash from fans after asking inappropriate questions – such as an incident on Thursday where she randomly asked her co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin if she was pregnant.
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“No,” yelled the former White House Director of Strategic Communications. “Oh my God.”
After the awkward exchange, the show dissolved into chaos. Audience members screamed while Goldberg’s co-hosts asked, “Why would you say that?”
“This is so wrong. Whoopi is a mess,” an outraged viewer posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Even if she were pregnant, she would have forced her to announce with that question. She could ask during break or before the start of the show. Such a disgusting behavior.”
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Alyssa Farah Griffin was shocked by Whoopi Goldberg’s invasive question.
You Tube/Entertainment Tonight
Defending using blackface
Goldberg dated Ted Danson in 1993. During that time, Danson came out in blackface during her Friar’s Club Roast in 1993. According to the Associated Press’ coverage at the time, multiple people got offended and left.
His racist jokes were reportedly at Goldberg’s suggestion. Although this incident came before Goldberg’s time on “The View,” the topic of blackface has come up without much condemnation from Goldberg.
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When Ted Danson infamously used blackface in the early 1990s, that was reportedly at Goldberg’s suggestion.
You Tube/Entertainment Tonight
Appearing to justify domestic abuse
In 2014, when NFL player Ray Rice had a domestic violence scandal – in which he was caught on camera abusing his wife, Janay Palmer – Goldberg commented, “Don’t be surprised if you hit a man, he hits you back,” adding that she knew she would “catch a lot of hell” for that remark.
“If you make the choice as a woman who is 4’3″ and you decide to hit a guy who is 6 foot tall and you’re the last thing you want he wants to deal with that day and he hits you back, you cannot be surprised,” she said.
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Whoopi Goldberg with Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin.
ABC/The View
Defending Bill Cosby
In July 2015, Goldberg defended Bill Cosby and declared him “innocent until proven guilty” when there were multiple accusations of sexual assault against the comedian. Former “The View” co-host Rosie O’Donnell has since revealed that she and Goldberg clashed about Cosby.
“You know, Bill Cosby was a big topic and I wanted to discuss Bill Cosby and Whoopi did not,” O’Donnell said on “Now What? With Brooke Shields.”
Cosby was accused by more than 60 women of sexual assault. In 2018, he was convicted of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004, but was released just three years later due to a technicality.
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Whoopi Goldberg has landed in hot water many times.
Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
Using an ethnic slur
In a March 2023 episode, Golberg used a derogatory term for Romani travelers. During a discussion about Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels, Goldberg referenced “people who still believe that he got gy—d somehow in the election.”
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An hour after the episode aired, she apologized online.
“You know, when you’re a certain age you use the words that you know from when you were a kid or you remember saying, and that’s what I did today — and I shouldn’t have,” Goldberg said in a video tweeted by the show’s official account.
She continued: “I should have thought about it a little longer before I said it and I didn’t. I should have said ‘cheated’ and I used another word and I’m really, really sorry.”
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Whoopi Goldberg with Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Keke Palmer.
ABC via Getty Images
Defending the Academy after the Will Smith Oscars slap
When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face during the live Oscars broadcast in 2022, the Academy was widely criticized for not removing Smith from the ceremony.
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Goldberg defended the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s choice.
“Picture, well OK, so they come back from break,” she said. “Now, if he’s in some sort of state and he’s struggling and you’re trying to get him out the door and it’s still on camera. Listen, we work a live show every day and stuff happens and it comes out your mouth, or you do something stupid, and you gotta sit there and deal with it.”
FILED UNDER ABC , TELEVISION , THE VIEW , WHOOPI GOLDBERG , 9/15/23