The women of ABC’s hit show The View are known for being outspoken. While that often leads to some meaningful discussions, it can sometimes become problematic. Several weeks ago, Whoopi Goldberg made headlines when she claimed on the show that the Holocaust was not about race. Goldberg quickly apologized — acknowledging that the Holocaust was in fact racially motivated — but the damage had been done. Kim Godwin, the President of ABC, announced that Goldberg would be suspended for two weeks.
Well, two weeks have come and gone, and Whoopi Goldberg returned to her seat at the table on February 14. Right as the show kicked off, Goldberg greeted the audience and acknowledged her absence. She also spoke about what happened. Goldberg said:
“Well, hello, hello, hello and welcome to ‘The View.’ And yes, I am back… And I missed you all, too. I’ve got to tell you, there’s something kind of marvelous about being on a show like this, because we are ‘The View’ and this is what we do. And sometimes we don’t do it as delicately as we could… But it’s five minutes to get in important information about topics. And that’s what we try to do every day. And I want to thank everybody who reached out while I was away.”
“And I’m telling you, people reached out from places that made me go, ‘Wait, wait, what? Really? OK!’ And it was amazing and I listened to everything everybody had to say and I was very grateful, and I hope it keeps all the important conversations happening because we’re going to keep having tough conversations. And in part, because this is what we have been hired to do. And it’s not always pretty, as I said, and it’s not always as other people would like to hear, but it is an honor to sit at this table and be able to have these conversations because they’re important. They’re important to us as a nation, and to us more so as a human entity. So, happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! And we’re going to get started, because that’s what we do.”
Goldberg’s suspension was met with a lot of controversy. There were many who felt that she should be fired because they believed that Disney and ABC had fired other people — like The Mandalorian‘s Gina Carano — who supported Donald Trump and were against vaccine mandates. Others felt that she apologized and should not have been suspended at all. ABC has stood by its actions and said that the suspension was handed out as the Company stands with its Jewish colleagues and the Jewish community.
Do you think that Whoopi Goldberg should have come back to The View? Or should she have been fired?