Come on Whoopi, the US may not be fun but you're hardly in danger of being flogged
Whoopsi Goldberg. When will she learn that acting and activism are two very different skill sets? I'm not sure we want more of the former from her but we want absolutely none of the latter.
Her latest toweringly stupid prime-time pronouncement is that for black people, living in the US is as bad as living in Iran.
Appearing on The View, a topical panel show, Oscar winner Goldberg was enraged when her co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin stated, perfectly reasonably, that 'it's very different to live in the United States in 2025 than it is to live in Iran'.
'Not if you're black,' snapped Goldberg, who then proceeded to shout the other woman down, wildly claiming time and again that the prevailing culture in the democratic US is in lockstep with the systematic oppression imposed by the Iranian theocracy.
We know you're a lefty. We know you hate Trump. But really?
'Let's just remember, too, the Iranians literally throw gay people off of buildings. They don't adhere to basic human rights,' pointed out Griffin, an Arab-American.
This cut no ice with Goldberg, who by now had clambered onto her bandwagon and refused to concede a single point as it would represent an unthinkable climbdown.
'Let's not do that,' she countered crossly, 'because if we start with that, we have been known in this country to tie gay folks to the car.'
Her false equivalence was as ugly as it was ignorant. Call me a bigot, but conflating state-sanctioned execution with illegal acts of murderous criminality is mortifying, stupid and dangerous.
In a new report presented to the Geneva-based Human Rights Council on Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that Iran was executing people at 'an alarming rate'. At least 975 people received capital punishment in 2024, an increase on the estimated 834 in 2023 and the highest rate of executions since 2015.
Flogging, torture and amputation are accepted forms of punishment in a country where the security forces act with impunity and women are 'disappeared' for refusing to wear the 'correct' veil.
But Goldberg, who is worth an estimated £45 million, appeared to have no intention of listening – or allowing the audience to hear – any point of view other than her own.
Even when Griffin pointed to the actress's clothing and argued that in Iran she wouldn't be allowed to walk around with her hair and legs showing, Goldberg predictably dragged the debate – such as it was – back to her specialist subject of race relations in the US.
A worthy topic – but this was a programme focusing on Iran. 'Nobody wants to diminish the very real problems we have in our country,' responded Griffin carefully (to her credit, she didn't just reach over and turn off Goldberg's mic). 'But there are places far darker than our country.'
She's right. But Goldberg wasn't interested. Her empathy doesn't appear to extend beyond her home turf. Or beyond colour.
In 2022, she was suspended from the selfsame show for 'wrong and hurtful comments' after she asserted the annihilation of six million Jews in the Holocaust wasn't about race because 'these are two white groups of people'.
Wow. You'd think Goldberg might have learnt something – anything. But no. She inhabits a myopic world of privilege in which her opinions are the only opinions – and if you're not with her, you are against her.
The sorry truth is that now Hollywood no longer comes calling, she's plying her trade as a TV loudmouth.
She doesn't need the money, but she clearly craves the attention – a deluded egotistical actress clinging to the excruciating belief that she's still the star of the show.
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