Whoopi Goldberg is going viral with a surprising story she shared on The View. As she and her colleagues were talking about a Missouri teacher who went recently viral for using the N-word multiple times in his classroom, Goldberg said she once dared the late Barbara Walters, who created The View in 1997, to use the racial slur. “We used to have this conversation every couple of months on this show because Barbara would pose that same question: ‘Well, why can’t I say it?'” the 67-year-old EGOT winner said. “I said, ‘Well, go ahead and do it. See what happens.'”
The View co-host Sunny Hostin chimed in, saying no person of any race should be allowed to use the N-word. “A lot of folks in the African American community believe that by using it, they’re reclaiming that word. I don’t have that belief,” she said. “My belief is that it should not be used because it’s a racial slur, by anyone.”
In 2011, Walters received backlash when she said the N-word while discussing a controversial story involving Rick Perry, who was the governor of Texas at the time. According to a report from The Washington Post published that same year, Perry’s family had named their hunting camp “N****rhead.” When Walters repeated the offensive name on-air, she faced backlash from former The View co-host Sherri Shepherd, Decider reported. “I heard you say it, and it was fine. You said it a different way,” she said to Goldberg at the time of airing before going on to condemn Walters. “When I heard you say it, I didn’t like the way you said it. I know, it’s a semantics thing. But there’s something that goes through my body.”
Walters was seemingly offended by Shepherd’s comment. “It’s because I’m white that I shouldn’t use the word?” she responded. “So, no white person should use that word? I’m repeating what was on the rock.”
Goldberg once again made it clear that there are consequences when non-Black people utter the N-word. “Whenever people who are not Black say this to me, ‘Why can’t I say it?’ I always say, ‘Go ahead. You know, I might not punch you out, but somebody else might,” she said. “But, that’s up to you to find out. If you’re not interested in finding out what happens if you do say it, I suggest you don’t say it and just keep moving on with other things.”
