Whoopi Goldberg’s Suspension Splits ABC News and “The View” – The Hollywood Reporter
When ABC News president Kim Godwin suspended Whoopi Goldberg from See Tuesday night, group messages between ABC employees began to fly.
Two sources inside ABC News said The Hollywood Reporter they felt that, following Goldberg’s comments about the Jews and Monday’s Massacre, the network needed to act. Indeed, Godwin’s memo to employees Tuesday explaining the suspension was linked to those concerns.
“Just last week, I noted that the culture at ABC News is one of direction, kindness, inclusion, respect, and transparency. Whoopi’s comments do not align with those values,” Godwin wrote, adding that “words matter and we must be aware of the impact of our words. ”
During her Wednesday morning editorial call, Godwin further elaborated on that thought with employees, telling them she “leaders with her conscience.”
Godwin has made ABC’s cultural change a priority since joining last year, and Goldberg’s comments had to be addressed to align with that goal.
But within the ABC, and among media commentators, the view that action needs to be taken is not widely shared. Another ABC source said that they felt Goldberg’s sincere apology was sufficient, especially considering her initial remarks weren’t out of hate.
It is a view that has been shared elsewhere, including by Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who appeared on Tuesday view to discuss Goldberg’s comments.
“Extremely grateful @WhoopiGoldberg invited me to join @TheView today for an important discussion on the importance of Holocaust education,” Greenblatt tweeted Tuesday. “Whoopi has been a longtime ally of the Jewish community and @ADL and her apology is very welcome.”
On MSNBC Wednesday morning, Morning Joe presenter Joe Scarborough was surprised.
“She made a terrible mistake. We all make terrible mistakes,” he said. “Who is so weak at ABC? Is anyone so weak that they can’t understand when someone made a mistake, apologize for the mistake, and take all the corrective actions that can be taken for that mistake, and they’re still suspended for two week? “
Meanwhile, the former view Co-host Meghan McCain weighed in at Daily mailwrote in a column that she believes some kind of action is warranted while adding that she feels there is an “unequal standard” for liberals and conservatives.
“There is a double, triple and even quadruple standard if you are conservative. If this isn’t a big deal for ABC News today, it’s going to be a bigger problem,” McCain wrote. “People are becoming less and less tolerant of overpaid celebrities who, with all their access to their own education, use their platforms to spew bigotry. And in my experience working in television, bad things that are said casually behind the scenes always have a way of coming out when the camera is on.”
One of the ABC sources noted that See , to a large extent, depends on the host having a “hot moment” for the news, and it has long been a controversial magnet (McCain would be a frequent target of criticism). quoted for comments she made on the show). And with fierce debates and divergent opinions being a big part of the show’s secrecy, they speculate that this won’t be the last time the show has faced derogatory comments. or lack of information.
