‘The View’: Whoopi Goldberg Apologizes for Using Slur

Whoopi Goldberg has found herself in hot water due to her comments on a recent episode of The View. USA Today reported that Goldberg issued an apology after she used a Romani slur during a discussion of President Donald Trump’s legal battles. As The View fans know, this isn’t the first time that Goldberg has had to apologize for what she’s said on the talk show, as she was previously suspended from the program due to her comments about the Holocaust. 

Goldberg’s comments came during Wednesday’s episode when she and the co-hosts were talking about the legal battle between Trump and Stormy Daniels. While referring to the former president’s base, Goldberg used a slur associated with the Romani people. She said that Trump’s base includes “people who still believe that he got (expletive) somehow in the election.” The word that she used has typically been used to describe someone who has been “cheated in some way” and ties back to the derogatory Romani term, “gypsy,” according to Mary-Frances Winters of The Inclusion Solution. Hours after the episode aired, Goldberg issued an apology for using the word via The View‘s official Twitter account. 

“When you’re a certain age, you use words that you know from when you were a kid or you remember saying, and that’s what I did today,” Goldberg said in a video message. “And I shouldn’t have.” She continued, “I should have thought about it a little longer before I said it, but I didn’t. I should have said ‘cheated,’ and I used another word and I’m really, really sorry.”

As previously mentioned, Goldberg was under fire around the same time last year. In February 2022, she was suspended for two weeks from The View after she said on-air that the Holocaust wasn’t “about race.” Goldberg later offered an apology on Twitter and wrote that she stood “corrected.” She then offered her “sincerest apologies” to “the Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. I’m sorry for the hurt I have caused.”

The Oscar winner further opened up about the controversy on a subsequent broadcast, telling the audience that she “misspoke” and “said something that I feel a responsibility for not leaving unexamined.” Goldberg added that the Holocaust “is indeed about race,” adding, “words matter and mine are no exception. I regret my comments and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people, as they know and y’all know, because I’ve always done that.”