Whoopi Goldberg rips up co-host note on The View after Donald Trump autopen joke
Whoopi Goldberg has torn up a note handed to her by her co-host during a live taping of The View, moments after making a sarcastic remark about US President Donald Trump.
The exchange followed a heated segment in which Goldberg and her co-hosts criticised Mr Trump’s recent 60 Minutes interview, where he denied knowing anything about the pardon of Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.
“How come you don’t know who this guy is?” asked co-host Sunny Hostin.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Because he used an autopen,” Goldberg quipped, suggesting Mr Trump may have signed off on the pardon without direct involvement.
Later in the show, as the hosts moved the discussion along to another point, Hostin handed a note to Goldberg, urging her to clarify the statement.
“What the hell? What?” Goldberg said, reading the note. “We don’t know if Trump used an autopen to pardon; it was a joke!”
“We don’t know if Trump used an autopen,” Hostin, a legal expert, responded.
Goldberg grew visibly frustrated over the request for clarification. “Oh, come on!” she said, before ripping the note to shreds.
Turning to the audience, she added, “The hardest thing about this job now is no one understands nuance.”
“You know, when you hear a joke, when somebody is fooling around, when they’re not saying something specific. Especially on this show.
“I’m very specific when I’m pointing stuff out. When I’m making jokes, you know when I’m making jokes. This is ridiculous,” she said, directing her final comment toward Hostin.
The moment comes amid growing scrutiny of how television hosts handle political satire involving Mr Trump.
Jimmy Kimmel was recently suspended from ABC following remarks about the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, triggering backlash from the Trump Administration.
Kimmel’s suspension sparked outrage across the entertainment industry, with fellow hosts Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Jimmy Fallon accusing the Administration of censorship.
Colbert’s own show was cancelled earlier this year, a move widely seen as politically motivated.
