Whoopi Goldberg Defends Senator's Racial Remarks about Barack Obama

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 11th 2010 05:44PM

'The View' got heated when Whoopi Goldberg defended Nevada Senator Harry Reid's racial remarks about President Barack Obama. Reid was accused of saying Obama would be a good presidential candidate even though he's African American -- using a word considered outdated to describe the president. "Negro is not a bad word. There are a lot of worse things he could have said," Goldberg says. The argument between the 'View' gals gets so heated that most of Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd's comments are censored. Watch:

The heated 'View' argument stems from allegations made in a new book 'Game Change.' Authors John Heilemann and Mark Halperin claim, "He [Reid] was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.'"

"Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination," they write.

In a statement to CNN, Reid said, "I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words."

"I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments. I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama's legislative agenda," the senator said.

Tags: elisabeth hasselbeck, ElisabethHasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd, SherriShepherd, the view, TheView, whoopi goldberg, WhoopiGoldberg

Comments

(122)

Monday 11 January

By ralphpal

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I dont believe that Whoppie would of said anything even if it was a republican. Most of the time shes not like that. Im disappointed in the republicans for bringing this up. Its about time we stop killing people because maybe someone got offened. I expected better from the republicans. I think this is what killing America. If its my party thats okay but if its the other one watch out.

By Andi

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

Obviously you weren't around in 2002 when a Rebub made a racist remark & Harry Reid led the witch hunt until the Rebub resigned. This is karma!

By john

Yes, you are right, there would of been nothing said if the "Republi-KLAN" could of held back and not tried to use this for political gain.

By Charles

I am a 55 year old white male and I had no idea that the word Negro was offensive. I have heard it used all my life. I thought that is what the black race was called. I never would have dreamed there would be this kind of uproar over the word. I have heard Denzel Washington use it in his movies.

By Ms Bee

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

I agree with you Charles. I am a 62 year old black female. This is much to do about nothing...

By Bert W.

Charles,negro is not an offensive word.I am a 70 year old black man and it does not bother me to be called negro.

Vote down Vote up Report this

Yes, there is nothing wrong with the word "negro".

By Maricia12

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

I agree with you Charles. Those of us who are old enough to remember, know that the word Negro was absolutely correct in identifying a black person. I also remember when "colored" was considered respectful, then along came black and then Afro American. Most of us were confused as to what to call that race of people. It seemed that any of the before mentioned words were offensive to someone. What is the big deal about the phrase "Negro dalect"? Actually it is called "ebonics". More blacks seem to talk like that than don't. One of the things that drew people to Obama was the fact that he was a very articulate speaker. We want our leaders to be and speak as if they are educated and there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting that, regardless of their race. It is no different than wanting people who can speak proper English to answer our business phones or be able to write a decent letter. I have black friends who describe other blacks by their skin tone "light skinned, dark skinned". This is just a bunch of BS blown up by the GOP to discredit Reid. Just read the hate blogs on here. They blame Reid, Pelosi, and Obama for every ill in the world. They will stop at nothing to assassinate the character of every Liberal or Democrat they can, all in a ploy to get back into the White House in 2012. If you have ever heard Rush Limbaugh's rants on his radio program, then you would have heard some real racial slurs aimed at Obama when he was running for President. Reid's language may be outdated but he was only saying what many people were thinking. Blacks who pride themselves on speaking properly may have been offended somewhat but if they are honest they know exactly what he meant.

By dave

Shut up Whoopi!!! Who are you??

As my people would. Shut up ya dumb shvartza.

Tuesday 12 January

By tlragland1980

I understand why Whoopi Takes the stand that she does on this. In my opinion, it matters not what party he supports, he spoke some truth. He is Not to blame for the way our country is! Our President is a wonderful speaker. We shouldn't wear our emotions on our sleeve. There is a lesson in what he said. There is a time and place for "ebonics". Alot of the world would find much better opportunities by simply speaking correctly when it is necessary. That is my opinion and that how I have felt even before this foolishness was released. We need to get over the small stuff and deal with ourselves.

By wolf

Whoopi is one ugly nappy headed negro.

By ShiningStar

to werewolf

Your mama is a ugly, stringy haired, trailer trash.

By frank

Whoopee is one load of trash with a knowledge the square root of Zero. Typical of the media support for ignorant democrats.

By Daryl

I agree with whoppie, Negro is just a word and if it offends you then I'd say your the one with the problem..I mean is cracker or redneck and the like a taboo word for blacks to use? No, they say it on national television on a regular basis and no one bats an eye at it. Grow up black folks! I understand blacks need that "advantage", like affirmative action and hiring quotas that they always seek by playing the race card. I mean, would you want the nation your a minority population in to wake up to the fact that they are supporting about 80%-90% (Obama claimed 90% of blacks will be on foodstamps in their life) of your peoples population by the way of welfare checks and food stamps(not talking unemployment for the temporary unemployed here folks) by the way that was only second to health and human services of our nation in federal spending in 2009. I know I wouldn't want them to start saying "Hey, WTF is your problem" support yourself for once! Could get real ugly real quick!

On a lighter Note: What you all should find really laughable is that the NAACP and other so called civil rights groups apparently are mad and say Avatar the movie is racist! Their hypocrisy will never end!

To Andy see thats what im am talking about. You wrote that because it happened to Trent Lott ( which i thought he said something worse but i also dont think he really meant what he said ) that it should happen to Harry Reid. Like i said this is what is destroying America. My party is right and your party is wrong also an eye for and eye. It should be we are going to defend your right to say what you want and not nit-pick at everything to talk about until so nobody has a brain anymore

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. You can't say it's not alright for someone to make a racist remark and then tell someone else, oh, it's ok, you apologised. The other guy apoligized, why wasn't that enough for him? Obama was buddy buddy with that racist preacher and he got a pass on that. When did he apoligize for sitting in his church for years and years listening to his racist rants? He didn't!

The difference is that Trent Lott was defending a bigot and segregationist politician by the name of Jesse Helms. Mr Reid was actually trying to praise Mr Obama. There is a difference and try reading the text before you start vomiting the crap.

By Amy

is there ONE day some politician or someone is not bringing up the race card? good grief! I know about the hypocrisy of the Democratic Party. For 8 years I had to hear about the whining and crying about how the Republicans are racist/only care about Wall Street/oil/the rich/blah blah blah. And now what are the Democrats doing? the EXACT SAME THING! there is no difference between Democrats or Republicans. They BOTH are hypocrites. and Harry Reid is a jackass, and I hope he gets voted out of office.

Thursday 14 January

By Michelle Fortune

I think Harry Reid had no malintention.

Page 2 of 7