Whoopi Goldberg Misfires in Attack on Article About Black Oscar Winners

By Marc Schneider Posted Feb 14th 2011 03:36PM

Whoopi Goldberg used her bully pulpit on 'The View' on Monday to blast The New York Times and two of its marquee writers for what she believed was a disrespectful article about race and the Academy Awards. "I'm embarrassed to tell you it hurt me terribly," the actress said in a segment focusing on a piece written by Manohla Dargis and A. O. Scott that listed several black Oscar winners dating back to 1940, but didn't include Goldberg.

"When you win an Academy Award, that's part of what you've done, your legacy. I will always be Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg," she said during her lengthy rant, referring to her best supporting actress win for 'Ghost.' "This is not hidden information. And to these two critics, the head critics of The New York Times. It's hard to not take it personally."

The article, titled 'Hollywood's Whiteout,' apparently riled Goldberg up because it seemed to list all of the black Americans who have won an Oscar. A closer look, however, proved otherwise. The authors write that nine years ago, when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won their historic Oscars:

"Real change seemed to have come to movies or at least the Academy, which had given statuettes to a total of seven black actors in the previous 73 years."

The article then notes that after Washington and Berry came a string of Oscar wins for Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Hudson and Mo'Nique.

It was presumably this passage, along with mentions of Sidney Poitier and Hattie McDaniel, that caused Goldberg to believe she had been forgotten. "People in Somalia know. People in China know," she said on 'The View.' "I know it's hard to believe, but I'm a worldwide person who's known."

But if a correction is what she desires, Goldberg will be waiting a very, very long time. PopEater reached out to the Times, and a source at the newspaper clarified that Goldberg won her Oscar for 1990's 'Ghost,' more than a decade before the time period that the authors were focusing on. In the article, Dargis and Scott were discussing race and the cinematic representation of people of color since 2002, when Berry and Washington were triumphant.

Later on Monday, the Times released a statement that tweaks Goldberg without naming her:

"The error lies with those who are reading the story incorrectly. The point of the piece was not to name every black actor or actress who has been awarded an Oscar, it was to draw a comparison between the number who won prior to 2002 (the year Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won) and those who have won since. And the story states very clearly that in 73 years, prior to 2002, only seven black actors/actresses won Oscars."

Also not mentioned in the article were Louis Gossett, Jr. (1982) and Cuba Gooding, Jr. (1996).

This year's Oscars have raised ire because there are no persons of color nominated in the acting categories.

Goldberg has not responded to requests to clarify her comments on 'The View,' which included some pretty pointed attacks on the journalists and the newspaper.

"I don't know what to say about what you've done. It's just, well, I can say, is that you're sloppy in your work and you're supposed to be better than this," she said. "This is The New York Times, not some bozo newspaper from Hoochi-Coochie land. This is The New York Times. I just, you know, it hurts."

► Read the New York Times article here.

Did Whoopi Overreact? Tell Us on Facebook

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=982743&pid=982742&uts=1297717076

http://www.popeater.com/mm_track/popeater/tv/?s_channel=us.tvpop&s_account=aolpopeater,aolsvc&omni=1&ke=1

http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf

Whoopi!!!

Whoopi Goldberg leaves the Big Apple Apple store after getting her laptop repaired on Feb. 9. More Pics of the Star >>

DISCIULLO/bauergriffinonline.com

Whoopi Goldberg Snapshots

NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 10: Actress Whoopi Goldberg leaves the Lincoln Center Apple Store on February 10, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)

Whoopi Goldberg Snapshots

NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 10: Actress Whoopi Goldberg leaves the Lincoln Center Apple Store on February 10, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Ray Tamarra/Getty Images)

Whoopi Goldberg Snapshots

©BAUER-GRIFFIN.COM Whoopi Goldberg leaves the Apple store after getting her laptop repaired. NON-EXCLUSIVE February 9, 2011 Job: 110210X3 New York, New York www.bauergriffin.com www.bauergriffinonline.com

Whoopi Goldberg Snapshots

©BAUER-GRIFFIN.COM ***NO CANADA RIGHTS*** Whoopi Goldberg shops along Lincoln Road with friends, including a stop at Gap. NON-EXCLUSIVE January 15, 2011 Job: 110115X4 Miami, Florida www.bauergriffin.com www.bauergriffinonline.com

Whoopi Goldberg Snapshots

Tags: Oscars, the view, whoopi goldberg

Comments

(807)

Monday 14 February

By rker321

Highest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

By your post, I guess that you must be a person of color.

By D

Lowest Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

yeah you go, usually its a white that does that

By Lisa

I agree with you 100 percent...it gets really old hearing it all of the time!

By sallie

stfu

By nthrndut

Andy, that's a typical racist remark from a person of no color.
I'm white, and I don't think I'm better than "people of color". We all have a chance to be decent people, you haven't figured that out yet.

By mrkoe

Low Ranked Vote down Vote up Report this

I didn't know Rush Limbaugh is a person of color

Tuesday 15 February

By son

High Rank Vote down Vote up Report this

i thought they were back to calling themselves "Niggas", at least that is what i hear them calling each other when they are around other blacks. they perpetuate the N-word.

By Wsprsweetly

Andy, there could have been human error on both sides...you really don't know. The reference to "color" was unnecessary. Really. It was. Right or wrong...you didn't need to say that.

By cashmanisking

I hope it was intentional. It's great to see that loud mouth was slapped around - particularly by a couple of her fellow libertards.

By TFrantz

Agree!

By Jim

I used to think she was funny, but she's been nothing but a pompous annoyance for the last several years. Get over yourself Whoopi. Your so ready to jump down people's throats for not having the same "views" you do, that you didn't even correctly read the article.

By RJ

I also don't think she is funny anymore. She seems to jump on anyone that has different opinion and constantly plays the race card.

By Robbie

Whoopie is really good for the view. She is usually neutral and keeps everyone at the table focused where they should be. Ok, she made a mistake but it was not written clearly for me either.

By Tiff

The article is still incorrect because it states that only 7 Black actors have won Academy Awards in the past 73 years, when in fact the number is higher.

By joe

Good thing you are not a talk show host... the article did not say 7 from the beginning till now. It said 7 in a specific time period. If you were to do any research at all you would see it has been more than 73 years since the first. Congratulations! Now you sort of know how Whoopi feels...

By Sophie-1

It's a good thing you aren't an editor, JOE. You might want to take another look at that article and tell us which one of the twelve winners named other than Hattie McDaniel could possibly have won their trophy pre-1938. Cuba? Mo'nique? The quoted article says that SEVEN black actors have won in the last 73 years and this article lists TWELVE winners, only one of whom was acting 73 years ago, so you do the math.

By mbmichini

why does the race matter??? the award is given for ACHIEVEMENT!!!!
that is how Whoopi earned hers lest she forget

By Wheeler

To Sophie-1
You need to read the actual article. It says 7 African Americans had won the Academy Award prior to Halle and Denze's wins.
Joe is correct.

By Dan

Sophie, you're so off that I wouldn't even know where to begin. Joe is right, and you are dumb. That's all you need to know.

By OBigRondog

OK, so I guess we'll have affirmative action on the awards now too?

Page 3 of 41