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The View in Review

With Meghan McCain Gone, Whoopi Goldberg Is More Engaged Than She's Been in Years

For the first time in a long time, Whoopi eagerly chimed in on Hot Topics and gabbed with her fellow co-hosts.
posted by Claire Spellberg Lustig
Wednesday 9/8/2021 at 11:59AM EDT
  • After years of complacency, is Whoopi Goldberg finally embracing her role on The View again? (Photo: ABC)
    After years of complacency, is Whoopi Goldberg finally embracing her role on The View again? (Photo: ABC)

    For the past few years, Whoopi Goldberg's primary role on The View has been reacting to (and reining in) Meghan McCain, a responsibility that appeared to quickly wear on her. On Wednesday, however, viewers were reunited with the old Whoopi as the show's longtime moderator eagerly participated in Hot Topics discussions and engaged with her co-hosts on the biggest news stories of the day. It's no exaggeration to say that this morning was the most Goldberg has talked in years, a shift that can easily be attributed to the departure of McCain, The View's conservative, sucks-all-the-air-out-of-the-room former co-host.

    Goldberg's uncharacteristically chatty morning kicked off with a discussion about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's promise to "eliminate all rapists" and his defense of the state's new abortion ban, which does not provide exceptions for cases of rape or incest. After introducing the Hot Topic to viewers, Goldberg made her feelings clear with a single question: "Are any of these men qualified to write a law when they are this freaking clueless about a woman's body?"

    Typically, Goldberg's contribution to the discussion stops there, but after everyone else had a chance to chime in, she doubled down with a passionate monologue about the need for legislation that ensures safe abortions. "Here's the deal. Abortion did not come around for religious reasons. The reason abortion came about is because people got tired of tripping over women in bathrooms with hangars in their body!" she said. "This was always supposed to be about safe and clean."

    "This idea of being punished because men are pissed, I think, that women, for the last 30 years, have not been listening. You haven't been listening, women!" joked Goldberg. "You've not been cleaving the way people want you to cleave — they want you to do what you're supposed to do!"

    After the commercial break, Goldberg got a rare second wind while discussing the ethics of doctors turning away unvaccinated patients. "I get agitated because there are 7-year-olds who can't get the vaccine. There are people who cannot get the vaccine and y'all are fooling around, 'Well, it's my right,'" said the moderator. "Okay, well, I don't care when it comes to killing little kids. And if you're under seven — under 12 now — I have to hope that whoever you come into contact with doesn't kill you because they're busy protecting themselves."

    "If you really feel like that, then don't put a seatbelt on your kid. Then don't ask for things that you think are going to make you feel better. Because this is the most basic thing in the world: we are our families' keepers," continued Goldberg. "If you can't see that we are trying to protect each other, this is not going to end. We're going to keep doing this and doing this and doing this. So, you've got to make a decision. If you can't get it, I understand. But if you're fooling around because you're not sure, I have no sympathy for you because you're endangering to too many other people."

    Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.

    TOPICS: The View, ABC, Meghan McCain, Whoopi Goldberg


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