Goldberg and O'Donnell yell at each other as they can't agree about whether First Lady Michelle Obama being mistaken for the help is racist or not.
- Dec 19, 2014
AceShowbiz - Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell had a screaming match in the latest episode of "The View". On Thursday, December 18, they talked about First Lady Michelle Obama who revealed she was mistaken for somebody who might work at Target and they discussed whether it's racism or not.
Guest co-host Laverne Cox thought "what's really deep is that folks who are living in this country cannot recognize the President and First Lady. It's more of a commentary on how educated about who our leaders are in some ways."
When Goldberg argued that the situation is not necessarily racist but instead ignorant, O'Donnell, co-host Rosie Perez and Cox disagreed. "Yes, it is racist when black folks are followed around stores," the "Orange is the New Black" star said.
"You need to know what real racism is," Goldberg said. "Racism is when someone comes up to you and says, 'I hope you f***king die. That's racism." She added, "I've been black for 60 years. For me, stupidity, there are dumb folks who just say dumb stuff because they're not looking or paying attention to the person they're talking to which is why people could walk up to Obama and not look up at him and see that it's the president."
Perez responded, "But that's the conscious racism!" The Puerto Rican actress then shared her own experience, "When my sister Carmen and I were in San Antonio-we were in an exclusive hotel, we're in exclusive VIP lounge, there are millions of people, right? We walk in and they asked my sister Carmen to clean the table."
O'Donnell agreed with Perez, but Goldberg insisted, "I just see it as stupid," and things got heated between O'Donnell and Goldberg. "I'm a gay American whose been called an [expletive]," O'Donnell said, claiming that she knows what racism is. "I have a black kid I raised Whoopi! I have a kid in my house!"
"That is not the same thing," Goldberg said. O'Donnell hit back, "You don't have to be black to know what racism is," and Goldberg responded, "Yes, you do." Before things turned nastier, Goldberg concluded the segment by saying, "America is not just a racist country, because there are white people who get it. That is why I will not accept the blanket statement that America is racist."
She added, "So we agree to disagree as we always do because this is called what... 'The View'."
