Whoopi Goldberg hits back at haters who want to ‘take “The View” off’ TV over politics: ‘We don’t tell you what to think’

Goldberg advocated for the Hot Topics table’s right to express their opinions — often to the chagrin of conservative viewers.

ABC

Whoopi Goldberg on ‘The View’

Whoopi Goldberg? Leaving The View? Anyone who thinks that’s a possibility is, frankly, in danger, girl.

The EGOT-winning actress responded to the talk show’s conservative haters — many of whom flood social media with daily wishes for the show to be canceled — during an impassioned speech on Thursday’s episode, after the panel discussed California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, recently engaging with political opponents and voicing his opposition to trans women playing women’s sports.

“People assume that we believe whatever they believe that we believe,” Goldberg said, wrapping up the chat about reaching out to those with differing views. “People believe that they know everything I think and believe. They don’t. One of the ways you learn what people believe is to hear them talk.”

Goldberg then turned her focus to the show’s critics.

“One of the things people would love to see, people always say, ‘You should take The View off television.’ You know why? Because we give you an opportunity. We don’t tell you what to think, we say, ‘This is what I think,’” Goldberg continued. “When we do that, that is how you have the dialogue. It’s not personal, you know?”

She added that “it becomes an awful thing when people become personal about you or your family,” calling that kind of “name-calling” the “difference” between other discourse and what happens at The View table.

“We don’t do that here. Other people do it to us and would like to think that that’s what we’re doing to them. But we’re not,” Goldberg said.

Still, The View regularly makes headlines for its cohost clashes — some of which have become particularly heated among the current cast.

ABC

‘The View’ cohosts

In June 2023, Republican panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin engaged in a vicious back-and-forth with Sunny Hostin over disagreements about Donald Trump, for whom Griffin worked at the White House in 2019. Griffin became visibly annoyed when Hostin continued with her thought.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

“Well, Sunny likes to make it personal with me,” Griffin said, later calling the development a “disgrace” before the show went to a commercial. “Are you going to give me a chance to answer? I mean, this is absurd. This is not what this show is about. This is Barbara Walters’ legacy, let a woman speak!”

Former cohost Meghan McCain has also called her colleagues “crazy old people.”

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.