Whoopi Goldberg is walking back a culturally-insensitive remark she made during a discussion on “The View” Wednesday. Whoopi Goldberg has apologized for using a word considered an ethnic slur on episode of ABC’s “The View.”
During a conversation on the broadcast discussing former President Donald Trump, Goldberg remarked that some of his supporters believe “he got ‘gy—-d’ somehow in the election” — a term for cheating that perpetuates a negative stereotype about the Romani people.
Goldberg said she was sorry in a video posted after the show.
“When you’re a certain age, you use words that you know from when you were a kid or you remember saying, and that’s what I did today. And I shouldn’t have.”
Goldberg said
The actress continued, “I should have thought about it a little longer before I said it, but I didn’t, and I should have said ‘cheated,’ and I used another word, and I’m really, really sorry.”
In the episode, Whoopi used the word “gypped” while discussing the Daniels case, mentioning, “People who still believe that he got, you know, gypped somehow in the election.” The term is considered derogatory toward people of Romani heritage.
This wasn’t the first time Whoopi apologised for using controversial comments. Back in 2022, she issued another formal apology and was suspended from aThe View’ after making controversial comments about the Jewish people and the Holocaust in response to a local school board banning the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman.
Goldberg’s apology for Wednesday’s remarks elicited a variety of responses on social media.
“Well, I learned something today! Thanks for this teaching moment. I won’t say this in the future!” wrote one user, while another said, “[People] use that word all the time.. How is that offensive?”
Other users acknowledged the word’s harm, but still defended Goldberg, with one user writing, “She’s said lots of horrible things, but I have to defend her here. Most people don’t know the etymology of the word … and almost no one who uses it means to offend the Roma people. Now that we know, we can stop using it, but I’ll give her a pass.”
