Whoopi Goldberg on The View stormed off the set, accompanied by Joy Behar, when both women were upset at a remark against Muslims made by guest Bill O’Reilly, as shown at TMZ. The ladies later returned to the set after Bill O’Reilly apologized. As a guest of On the Record with host Greta Van Susteren, Whoopi told Greta that she walked off the set because she was “going to cuss him out and you can’t do that.”
Whoopi Goldberg on The View stormed off the set because Bill O’Reilly said Muslims were responsible for 9/11
Bill O’Reilly is against the building of the mosque near Ground Zero and says that seventy percent of Americans feel the same way. He said that Muslims were responsible for 9/11, and he did not make a distinction that the Muslims he was referring to were Muslim extremists until he was forced to apologize. Whoopi Goldberg, on On the Record, claims O’Reilly did it on purpose. “You have to be careful; you have to be thoughtful, and he wasn’t thoughtful, and he knew he wasn’t thoughtful.”
Whether Bill O’Reilly made the statement against all Muslims on purpose or whether he made a mistake and neglected to say Muslim extremists, was it professional for Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to storm off the set? Said The View host Barbara Walters, “I want to say something to all of you. You have just seen what should not happen. We should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking off stage. I love my colleagues, but that should not have happened.
When TV personalities act like children, does it give a show a bad name?
One of the things that is happening in TV talk shows is that people talk over each, scream at each other and in the case of Whoopi Goldberg on The View, storm off the set. Is this acting like adults or is it acting like children? If Bill O’Reilly, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar had discussed the issue like cool, calm and collected adults, perhaps none of this would have happened.
When Bill O’Reilly said Muslims are responsible for 9/11, the response should have been – “You mean Muslim extremists, right?” Then we could have more accurately determined whether Bill O’Reilly truly means all Muslims or just Muslim extremists. Instead, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar storm off the set, and Bill O’Reilly is forced to apologize, making it unclear as to how he really feels.
“If something offends you to the point where you can’t have a civil conversation with them, get out of the way,” says Goldberg. But that wasn’t some private cocktail party. These are TV talk show personalities that should be able to have conversations with each other in order to educate and benefit the public. If you can’t do that, perhaps you’re in the wrong job?
Sources:
‘View’ Stars Fight with Bill O’Reilly … Storm Off Set, TMZ
Whoopi Gives Her ‘View’ on the O’Reilly Walkout, Her New Projects | On the Record, On The Record
