Whoopi Goldberg: Your most controversial statements

Actress and presenter Whoopi Goldberg (66) shook his head on her talk show “The View” with the statement that the Holocaust was not about race. The Oscar winner has since apologized and retracted her false statement. But it’s not the first time Goldberg has publicly shared problematic views.

Defense for Mel Gibson

In 2010, Goldberg stood by Mel Gibson (66) when he was in court with his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. In an audio recording, a hate speech could be heard in which Gibson racially abused his daughter’s mother. Goldberg then defended her friend against the accusation of racism on “The View”. “I know Mel and I know he’s not a racist,” Goldberg said. Nevertheless, she condemned his actions: “I think he’s an asshole”.

“If a woman hits you, you have the right to hit back”

In 2014, she said on her talk show that men have the right to hit women if they hit them first. “That’s the thing, if someone hits you, you have the right – I know a lot of people are raised differently – but if a woman hits you, I think you have the right to hit back,” she said on the talk show . And then also defended the NFL player Ray Rice (35), who had knocked his wife unconscious. “If you, as a woman who’s 5’1″, make the choice to hit a 6’1″ guy and you’re the last thing he wants to deal with that day and he hits back, you can Don’t be surprised,” Goldberg said.

Bill Cosby: presumed innocent to the end

Goldberg also stood by Bill Cosby (84) long after the first allegations of rape. For months she remained true to the presumption of innocence. Even as court records showed, the actor himself confessed to drugging women in 2005.

Quarrelsome humor

A performance that Goldberg had with her then-boyfriend Ted Danson (74) at the Friars Club in 1993 was much longer ago. Danson had come on stage with his face painted black and lips white, making jokes about Goldberg’s character and repeatedly using the N-word. Talk show host Montel Williams (65) left the show after seven minutes with his crying wife. Even New York Mayor David Dinkins (1927-2020) said he was ashamed of Whoopi and, above all, relieved when it was over. Goldberg stood before the shocked audience and said, ‘I don’t care if you guys don’t like it. I like it!’

Goldberg got into trouble in 2004 for a joke about President Bush (75). At the Democratic National Convention, she said on stage, “I like Bush, but someone is damaging Bush’s reputation. We should leave Bush where he belongs…” Pointing to her genitals, she concluded, “… .and not the White House.” The joke was at her expense: According to her own statement, she was then unable to work for five years.