Colonial era: Whoopi Goldberg demands royal apology

Actress and presenter Whoopi Goldberg (66) “The View” has taken the British royal family through the wringer. The Oscar winner criticized the royals’ involvement in the colonial era and slavery. Britain has “oppressed India for years,” Goldberg said in an interview with her colleagues. “Let’s not forget that all these people need to apologize.”

The background to the discussion is the protests during the Caribbean trip by Prince William (39) and Duchess Kate (40). Hundreds of demonstrators in Belize and Jamaica had demanded reparations and an apology for slavery on the occasion of the royal visit. Activists in Jamaica pushed for Queen Elizabeth II (95) to be deposed as head of state in the Caribbean state, as recently happened in Barbados.

Prince William spoke about “disgusting” slavery in speech

Goldberg’s “The View” colleague Sunny Hostin (53) added: “The British call the trip the charm offensive and they have to. The British, especially the royals, very, very rarely talk about their history of slavery. They rarely talk about how they got their wealth: on the backs of black people.” Whoopi Goldberg noted that Prince Charles (73) acknowledged the “atrocities of slavery” in a speech in Barbados at the end of 2021. The Caribbean state separated from the British crown on November 30th to mark its independence day and was declared a republic.

In a speech in Jamaica on Wednesday, Prince William also commented on slavery: He described it as “disgusting” and expressed his “deep sadness”. However, neither he nor his father made an official apology.