Whoopi Goldberg, 69, aired out her frustrations with producers of “The View” live on-air during a recent episode of the ABC daytime talk show.
Goldberg, Sunny Hostin, and their fellow panelists have spent weeks discussing President Donald Trump’s puzzling actions and statements.
Trump, 79, sparked outrage after claiming he didn’t know convicted Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao — the same man he personally pardoned while in office, despite being the person in power who approved the crypto billionaire’s release.
“The Trump family has made about $1.8 billion, profited off of this government, and he said that Joe Biden didn’t know who he was pardoning using an autopen,” Hostin, 57, said to her co-hosts.
Focusing on the Republican president, Hostin then asked, “How come he don’t know who this guy is?” Goldberg jokingly responded, “Because he used an autopen.”
Trump has repeatedly mocked former President Joe Biden for supposedly using an autopen as a way of accusing his Democratic predecessor of not actually running his administration.
That trolling included Trump hanging a photo of an autopen-signed Biden autograph instead of a headshot of the 46th POTUS in the newly installed White House Presidential Walk of Fame.
Goldberg’s autopen one-liner eventually led to Hostin interrupting the EGOT winner later in the segment after producers slipped her a note for Whoopi to read to the audience.
“What the hell? What?” Goldberg asked when handed the blue card by Hostin. She then read the correction, “We don’t know if Trump used an autopen to pardon.”
The visibly annoyed “Sister Act” star subsequently shouted, “It was a joke!” She proceeded to rip up the note before saying, “The hardest thing about this job now is no one understands nuance.”
“You know when you hear a joke, when somebody is fooling around, when they’re not saying something specific. Especially on this show!” Whoopi exclaimed. “I’m very specific when I’m when I’m pointing stuff out. When I’m making jokes, you know, when I’m making jokes. This is ridiculous.”
Goldberg’s defiant response to being fact-checked on her own show garnered mixed reactions online. Fans of the New York City-raised comedian were thrilled, while her detractors seethed.
“Tear it up, Whoopi,” one person on YouTube wrote. Another comment read, “The reaction from Whoopi when she was given the stupid note from ABC was warranted.”
In contrast, many Page Six readers sided against Goldberg. One commenter called for the television veteran to lose her job by posting, “The next note should be you’re fired.”
“They are afraid of being sued. That is why she read that. ‘The View’ is like ‘SNL.’ Way overdue to be cancelled,” a second Goldberg faultfinder suggested.
Additionally, Goldberg was accused of hiding her animosity toward Trump in humor when a commenter stated, “Yeah, ok, Whoopi, sure it was a joke. More like a jab.”
Goldberg and Trump have been engaged in a long-term public rivalry, extending back to at least 2011, five years before the real estate mogul won the 2016 presidential election.
At the time, Goldberg blasted “The Apprentice” star when he appeared on “The View” as a guest. Their heated dispute was over Trump promoting the fake birtherism conspiracy against then-President Barack Obama.
The Whoopi versus Donald feud continued to play out in the 2024 campaign. Trump referred to his fellow New Yorker’s comedy as “filthy, dirty, disgusting” while speaking to a rally of his voters in Pennsylvania.
Goldberg and “The View” team fired back at Trump by having Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty” song playing as the hosts walked onto the set for an episode of the show. Whoopi also verbally clapped back at the Queens native.
More recently, Trump’s oldest son had words for Goldberg. On Oct. 15, Donald Trump Jr., 47, called on the ABC network to release behind-the-scenes footage from his appearance on “The View” in 2019 that he claims shows Whoopi cursing at the live crowd during a commercial break.
However, an anonymous source in the TV industry pushed back on Don Jr.’s allegations about Goldberg in a statement to The Daily Mail. The insider insisted those accusations do not “ring true.”
