Whoopi Goldberg slammed cancel culture and said the “truth doesn’t seem to matter” these days during an appearance at Edinburgh TV Festival.
Goldberg also said she wasn’t canceled in 2004 over alleged joke about President George W. Bush. “No. I would describe that situation as a lot of people covering their backsides, because the joke was never about him,” the 65-year-old co-host of “The View” explained during the Tuesday interview, Variety magazine reported. (RELATED: ‘It’s No Different Than McCarthyism’: Jon Lovitz Torches ‘Cancel Culture’)
“But no one ever stood up and said, ‘Hey, here’s what actually happened,'” she added. “And they put it in the newspaper. And you notice, they’d never seen what I exactly said, or what I said at all. But all somebody has to do is say you said it.”
“I feel like the truth doesn’t seem to matter as much these days,” Whoopi Goldberg said https://t.co/fGKZzEbCMi
— Variety (@Variety) August 25, 2021
“I feel like the truth doesn’t seem to matter as much these days,” she added. “Because there is cancel culture, people will call or text and say ‘I’m not buying your product. This is who you have talking about your product, me and my five million followers — if you keep her — we’re not going to buy your car, or we’re not going to buy your shampoo or we’re not going to buy your toothbrush or we’re not going to buy your Pampers.” (RELATED: Katt Williams Shuts Down Idea Of ‘Cancel Culture,’ Says Comedians Worried About It Should Find New Gig)
The outlet noted, after the alleged incident, the actress was out of work for five years before Barbara Walters contacted her about joining “The View.”
Goldberg added her voice to a list of celebrities who have called out cancel culture, the most recent being comedian David Spade who said cancel culture creates a “tough world” for humor.
“It’s very tricky,” Spade shared. “You used to have to say anything to go as far as you could, to push the envelope, to get attention, and people would be like, ‘I like this guy. He’s pushing it.’ And in comedy clubs, audiences really appreciate that … Now you say the one wrong move and you’re canceled.”
“It’s a very tough world out there,” he added. “I think all the comedians have gotten together, in a way, to say we just have to keep doing what we were doing, and the people that come to the shows will appreciate it. But you get an outsider that comes in and goes, ‘I was so offended.'”
“If the intent is to do it as a joke or a spin on something, and it is mean to people, but you’re just making fun of that, I don’t think that’s horrible,” the former “Saturday Night Live” star continued. “I’ve been in the business doing it for 20 years, so I hope comics are allowed to be comics. I really hope so.”