Tag Archives: Whoopi Goldberg

entertainment news

Whoopi deserves grace

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Whoopi Goldberg has stepped in it, which she does on occasion. Her gaffe this time constituted a serious misunderstanding of world history.

So, because of her mistake, ABC-TV has taken her off “The View,” the popular daytime talk show she co-hosts, for two weeks. The network wants her to reflect on what she said on the air this past week.

What did she say? She said the Holocaust was not a race-related crime against humanity. Hmm. Let’s ponder that for a brief moment.

The Holocaust was launched against European Jews because Adolf Hitler said that Jews constituted an “inferior race” of people. Got that? Thus, the genocide resulted in the murder of 6 million Jews before and during World War II.

Goldberg apparently doesn’t see the Holocaust in racial terms. She is an African American woman who sees the issue on the basis of what people with black skin have endured. She called the Holocaust an “evil” act immediately after declaring it wasn’t a racial crime.

I am not going to toss stones at Whoopi Goldberg. I do not want her banned from TV. She has apologized sincerely for the offense others have taken from her statement. I accept her apology. I just hope Jewish Americans do as well.

I see her statement as an utterance that required a lot more nuance and understanding of historical fact about what could be considered human history’s greatest criminal act. Hitler’s own comments tell me he committed a heinous race-based act.

johnkanelis_92@hotmail.com

entertainment news

Whoopi vs. The Judge

I didn’t watch Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro plunge daggers into each other’s backs in real time. I caught up with it later.

I am filled with a couple of thoughts I want to share.

First, Goldberg has established herself on “The View,” a network TV show she co-hosts, as an ardent, vehement and feverish opponent of Donald J. Trump. Accordingly, Pirro — a former New York judge — has staked out her role on Fox News as an equally ardent, vehement and feverish supporter of the president.

“The View” invited Pirro on the show to discuss, I presume, the state of affairs regarding the president.

Didn’t anyone on the show — or on Pirro’s staff, for that matter — anticipate that these two foes/enemies would end their confrontation in such a heated manner? Had it occurred to anyone, they might have thought better of inviting this kind of rage to present itself … on daytime television!

Check it out here.

Goldberg should be ashamed of herself for treating a guest on the show in the manner that she did. However, I won’t join the right-wing media campaign to persuade ABC-TV to fire Goldberg and/or cancel “The View.”

But if there was any demonstration of the state of our political discourse these days, it revealed itself on a talk show that over the years has been a breeding ground for the co-hosts and their guests to vent their visceral anger at each other in ways that give “political debate” a bad name.

Let’s settle down.

State news

Texas ag commissioner needs to go

Why is it that the only time we hear Sid Miller’s name mentioned in the news is when he says or does something outrageous?

Miller, a Republican, is the Texas agriculture commissioner. He’s a buffoon and a loudmouth who cannot control his impulse to make an ass of himself.

His latest bout of assery involves a picture he posted — and then removed — of TV talk show co-host and actor Whoopi Goldberg wearing a t-shirt depicting Donald Trump shooting himself in the head.

Except that the picture was doctored. Goldberg wasn’t wearing such a shirt. That didn’t stop Miller from committing this idiotic act.

So he took the post down? Too late, dude. The damage gets done immediately on social media. You can’t unhonk a horn, as an old friend used to say. You put something out there on Facebook, or Twitter or any social media platform and it becomes part of the public domain … boom! Just like that!

The Texas Tribune reported: Todd Smith, Miller’s campaign spokesman, told the Austin American-Statesman that neither he nor Miller knew if the doctored photo was real before it was posted to Facebook. 

“We post hundreds of things a week. We put stuff out there. We’re like Fox News. We report, we let people decide,” Smith told the Statesman.

They “report”? Did he really say that? No, you foment idiocy, which bears no resemblance to reporting events accurately.

This guy is no stranger to public buffoonery. He once went to Amarillo and ate a meal at a trendy downtown restaurant, OHMS. He didn’t like the steak he ordered and made a big show of his displeasure. Then, as with the Goldberg t-shirt episode, revealed a penchant for acting stupidly that Miller is all too capable of exhibiting.

Oh, how I hope Miller — who’s running against Democrat Kim Olson of Weatherford — gets thumped this fall when he stands for re-election. The guy embarrasses me.