Whoopi Goldberg Forced To Apologize On ‘The View’ After Making Joke About Lindsey Graham

Whoopi Goldberg has generated a lot of controversy on The View this year. Goldberg was suspended from the show in February after making insensitive comments about the holocaust. However, she recently chafed at criticism over a joke she cracked about Senator Lindsey Graham while on television, saying that perhaps she should resign “if this is what it’s coming to!”

During a conversation regarding abortion rights and marriage equality with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on The View on Thursday, September 22, Goldberg made a joke about Lindsey that she later apologised for.

Graham’s recent proposal for a nationwide ban on abortion was mentioned by the press secretary, who noted that such a bill would create a precedent for other concerns. “It’s not just abortion. It’s going to be on marriage. It’s going to be on contraception. It’s going to be on our privacy,” she stated, prior to pointing out that the South Carolina senator had made contradictory remarks before putting out the bill.

“Senator Graham had said—maybe about a month ago, early August—that he believes when it comes to marriage, when it comes to abortion, it’s for states to decide. So, Senator Graham, what changed?”

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Whoopi replied to the question while making a joke about Graham. “Maybe he’s getting married. Do it quick, because I know people are fooling around with our marriage rights,” she said. 

Although the co-host didn’t directly comment on the senator’s sexuality, several people took the remark as such. Whoopi was criticized of “dabbling in homophobic bigotry” by Nicholas Fondacaro, an editor for the Media Research Center and the conservative news source Newsbusters, on Twitter.

“This plays to the smear that Graham is closeted.” 

When the programme resumed following a commercial break Whoopi clarified that she wasn’t making a serious comment.  “I was doing what I do as a comic. Sometimes I make jokes,” she said.

“I just got a whole conversation about people misunderstanding the joke. I mean, okay. I should probably never do this show again if this is what it’s coming to. It was a joke, guys.”

Whoopi has also criticised the Republican senator in the past. After having previously voted to confirm her for the D.C. Court of Appeals, Whoopi stated that he should be “ashamed” when he questioned Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings. Stay tuned to Thirsty for more updates.

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