Whoopi Goldberg was forced Thursday to dismiss a marriage joke she aired about Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
In a clumsy apology Thursday from The View, Goldberg suggested she may have to quit the show, which she has co-hosted since 2007, after receiving apparent backlash from ABC bigwigs for “joking” that Graham was getting married .
Her comment came during a call with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, in which Jean-Pierre criticized the South Carolina senator for calling for a statewide ban on abortions after 15 weeks.
“We’ve got Lindsey Graham, Senator Graham and others and other Republican Party leaders saying, and they’re saying that very clearly, folks, we have to listen to them, they want a national ban on abortion,” the White House press secretary said the co-hosts of The View.
She added: “Senator Graham had said about a month ago, in early August, that he believes when it comes to marriage, when it comes to abortion, it’s up to the states.
“So, Senator Graham, what’s changed?” Jean-Pierre asked, to which Goldberg said dryly, “Well, maybe he’s getting married.”
Her woke co-host Joy Behar then said she doubted that was the case, while the audience laughed and cheered.
Goldberg, 66, then continued, “Make it quick because I know people are messing around with our marriage rights, whoever, wherever you’re standing, you know.”
Whoopi Goldberg, 66, was forced to clumsily apologize on air for a “joke” she made about Sen Lindsey Graham’s marriage
Liberals have suspected for years that Graham, a lifelong bachelor, might be secretly gay. The senator is pictured here discussing the introduction of the law protecting painful unborn children from late-term abortions last week
The comment comes after years of liberals hinting that the lifelong bachelor might be secretly gay, with comedians including Bill Maher, Jon Steward and Patti Lupone making rude remarks or implied references to his sexual orientation over the years.
Such conversations are also common on Twitter and other social media sites.
But when the show came back from a commercial break, Goldberg seemed nervous, her face wrinkled as she told audiences she had to “make it clear that I’m doing what I’m doing as a comic.
“Sometimes I joke, and it was a joke,” she said. ‘Nothing more than that.’
She then seemed to suggest that the producers talk to her during the break, saying: “I’ve just had a whole conversation about people mistaking the joke.
“I mean, ok,” Goldberg continued while her companions laughed. “I should probably never do that show again, if it comes down to it.
“It was a joke, guys, you know,” she concluded.
Goldberg doubled down on the fact that it was a joke after a commercial break
Her comments came after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre asked what had changed to get the South Carolina senator to change his stance on abortion bans
This is just the latest apology the show’s co-hosts have had to make in recent years.
In fact, Goldberg was suspended for two weeks earlier this year after claiming the Holocaust is “not about race.”
“It’s white people doing it to white people, so you’re all fighting each other, but…” she said in February.
She later continued, “Let’s be honest. The Holocaust is not about race. It’s not about race. It’s not about race. It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man. It’s all about this.’
Just hours later, after a quick backlash, Goldberg tweeted an apology.
“On today’s show, I said that the Holocaust is not about race, it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.” I should have said it’s about both,” she said.
As Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League shared, “The Holocaust was about the Nazis’ systematic annihilation of the Jewish people—whom they considered an inferior race.”
‘I stand corrected.
“The Jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never falter. I’m sorry for the pain I caused.’
Goldberg previously had to apologize that the Holocaust was not about race
More recently, Sunny Hostin has come under fire for attacking former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, branding her a “chameleon” for implying that the former ambassador does not use her first name, Nimrata, to address Republican voters .
She was soon branded a “racist” on Twitter, with many noting that Nikki is Haley’s middle name – and Hostin doesn’t use her first name either.
In the afternoon, Haley herself decided to comment on the matter.
“Thanks for your concern @Sunny,” the former South Carolina governor tweeted, claiming, “It’s racist of you to judge my name.
“Nikki is an Indian name and it’s on my birth certificate – and I’m proud of that,” she wrote. “Sad is the hypocrisy of the left towards conservative minorities.”
“By the way, last time I checked Sunny isn’t your maiden name…” Haley added in her tweet to Hostin, whose maiden name is Asunción Cummings Hostin.