Whoopi Goldberg's Biggest Celebrity Feuds
Let's be honest, when you appear on "The View," you have to be prepared to be outspoken and not afraid to rustle a few feathers. One person who knows that better than anyone? Whoopi Goldberg. In September 2007, Goldberg took over from Rosie O'Donnell as the "The View"'s moderator and co-host, and, well, she's not been afraid to call quite a few people out since then — even if that was never her intention. "I don't [talk s*** about people]. I try not to. If I'm going to fight you, I'm not going to fight you in public. You and I are going to fight in my house or in your house. And also, I know a lot of people, so I don't want to talk about them on the show. Or any show that I'm on," she admitted to Vulture in 2020.
But there's no doubting this is one star that always sticks to her guns, no matter how people may take it. She probably said it best herself to Essence in May 2021 when she admitted, "[Controversy] isn't going to stop me from doing what I think is right or want to do."
But just who has this confident star exchanged some tough words with over the years? Buckle up, because we're taking a look back over some of her most infamous feuds.
On the outs with Oprah Winfrey
It turns out Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg had a feud lasting years, only, they also didn't at the same time. Allow us to explain. Winfrey admitted on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2010 that she believed Goldberg had a problem with her ever since they appeared together in "The Color Purple" in the 1980s. The two admitted they both thought the other one was upset, which led to them not speaking for years. Neither was really sure why, and both found the whole thing pretty bizarre.
Goldberg approached Winfrey after running into her at Tyler Perry's house (now that's a dinner party we'd like to be invited to!) and asked if she'd done something to upset her. Goldberg made the first move and pulled Winfrey aside to ask the question, which resulted in the two admitting they both believed the feud rumors because the media kept repeating them. "[I] don't say much of everything, and when I do say it, I say it out where everybody can hear it," Goldberg explained, making it clear Winfrey would have heard from her if she had an issue with her.
The twosome's paths crossed again in 2016 after Goldberg was mistaken for Winfrey in a viral tweet. Winfrey's bestie Gayle King shared a snap of her looking shocked on Instagram and noted in the caption that they have a lot of love for Goldberg, but pointed out the two most certainly do not look alike.
A View into drama
It's pretty common knowledge that the ladies on "The View" have some polarizing views, often on the opposite end of the spectrum to one another, and that was probably never clearer that between outspoken Democrat Whoopi Goldberg and her infamous feud with Republican Meghan McCain. Anyone who watched the ABC daytime show will know that they didn't exactly see eye to eye multiple times, with their differing political views often serving as the catalyst. They butted heads so many times that fans even made compilation videos of their heated exchanges!
One of their most infamous dramas came in June 2021 though, when they fell out over Donald Trump (who else?). Goldberg claimed she hadn't seen Trump apologize before, causing McCain to interrupt her, via Radar. "With all due respect, I don't care if he's apologizing. He just embarrassed himself. And you don't like Trump," McCain butted in, not letting Goldberg finish her sentence, to which the "Sister Act" star retorted, "I don't care that you don't care. Just hear what I'm saying." McCain refused, responding, "I don't care that you don't care, Whoopi! So we're even," as Goldberg said, "Well then good, Meghan, then you can be how you always are." McCain got the last word in though, saying, "Be how you always are!"
McCain addressed their drama with Vanity Fair in October 2021, claiming Goldberg and Joy Behar both scapegoated her on the show because she's a Republican.
A reignited feud with Bill Maher
Another public feud for Whoop Goldberg came in the form of political commentator Bill Maher. This one appeared to begin when "The View" co-host called Maher out on the ABC daytime show for his thoughts on the Black national anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Maher had made it clear he didn't think the song should be played alongside "The Star Spangled Banner" on "Real Time With Bill Maher," something that rubbed Whoopi Goldberg up the wrong way, per Decider. "Just so you know, Bill, 'Lift Every Voice' has always been considered the Black anthem. Maybe other people don't know that," she hit back on "The View," adding, "You cannot say this is happening because people are woke. I've never been asleep. In the culture that I've seen, we are fighting because there's a big gap." That only inspired Maher to share his opinion further, and he made the topic a big talking point on "Real Time With Bill Maher" later that week.
But things didn't end there. The feud reignited in January 2022, when Goldberg criticized Maher on "The View" again over his comments regarding COVID-19 precautions (via People). On "Real Time with Bill Maher," Maher said he was done following restrictions such as mask wearing, something Goldberg didn't agree with. She claimed Maher was being insensitive to those who'd lost loved ones and pointed out many, including children, couldn't get vaccinated. "How dare you be so flippant, man?" she asked, claiming Maher was gambling with people's lives.
Not cozy with Rosie
Rosie O'Donnell hasn't held back when it comes to her feud with Whoopi Goldberg. O'Donnell has spoken pretty frankly about what's really going on here, admitting that drama started brewing between them when they both worked together on "The View" (see, we told you that show would bring a feud or two to your door!)
Speaking on "The Howard Stern Show" in April 2020, O'Donnell admitted she hadn't been asked back to "The View" since she left in 2015, telling the radio host, "You know, Whoopi really didn't like me." O'Donnell claimed things took a sour turn while working together when she took the opportunity to cut to a commercial because she thought that Goldberg, who the signal was meant for, had not seen the countdown from the crew. "That was the first day and then there was trouble from then on," she said.
That was all after journalist Ramin Setoode claimed in his 2019 book "Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of The View," that O'Donnell had told him, "Whoopi Goldberg was as mean as anyone has ever been on television to me, personally — while I was sitting there," adding, "The worst experience I've ever had on live television was interacting with her." Speaking about the controversial book and O'Donnell's less-than-complimentary words about her, Goldberg simply said on "Watch What Happens Live" that year, "That's okay." Shade? You decide!
No royalist
It turns out Whoopi Goldberg is no fan of the royal family, and that kind of started a feud with the whole of the U.K. This "The Crown"-worthy drama all began in March 2022 when Whoopi suggested on "The View" that the royals needed to apologize for their colonial past after Prince William spoke about his family's history with slavery during a state visit to Jamaica with Kate Middleton.
"Let us not forget when we talk about what needs to happen, all the folks that need to apologize," Whoopi said on the ABC show, per Radar, before addressing William's dad Prince Charles' trip to Barbados shortly before. "I suspect Charles, when he was in Barbados, had some idea because he went on and apologized as he was releasing the hold that Britain has," she said. "So, perhaps someone is listening, and it's the new group of folks — I don't know if it's Charles, William, but one of them."
Unsurprisingly, the royals never publicly responded, but the suggestion sparked a keyboard feud with plenty of royalists on social media. "I call on Whoopi Goldberg to research her history properly in full and stop being a complete idiot," one person tweeted, while another wrote, "@WhoopiGoldberg asking the [royal family] to apologize for slavery makes you look like the most under educated out there right? Slavery wasn't invented by the royal family it existed since the dawn of man." Others, however, made it clear they had Goldberg's back.
Slamming the South Carolina Senator
Whoopi Goldberg also found herself taking on a politician in March 2022 when she slammed South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham after he asked Supreme Court Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown about her faith. This all went down when Graham interrogated Brown over the treatment of the likes of conservative justices such as Amy Coney Barrett, before Newsweek reported that he then asked Brown to rate the strength of her religious beliefs out of 10. That didn't sit well with Goldberg, who made her feelings about Graham very clear on (where else?) "The View" that week.
Goldberg didn't hold back either (well, did you really expect her to?), telling Graham through the TV screen, per Raw Story, "Lindsey Graham, you should be ashamed of yourself. None of this came up the last three times. The last three times this woman came before you. You were fine with her. Suddenly now you don't know what you are doing. The last time you voted for her, now you're walking."
Graham doesn't appear to have responded to the slam, at least publicly, though we're guessing these two haven't made it onto one another's Christmas card lists...
Whoopi Goldberg took on Jeanine Pirro
Anyone who classifies themselves as a fan of "The View" will more than likely remember that infamous drama between Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro. The two got involved in what can only be described as a screaming match on the show back in 2019 when things got seriously heated, seemingly escalating after Pirro accused Goldberg of having "Trump Derangement Syndrome," per Radar. Things only got more dramatic from there and, as you may remember, Goldberg went as far as to kick Piro off the show, saying, "Say goodbye! Goodbye! I'm done!" as the two also pointed fingers at one another and Whoopi ripped up her cue cards.
But don't think things ended there, oh no. Pirro later accused Goldberg of spitting on her, something Goldberg denied, per The Wrap. Goldberg also accused Pirro of not telling the full story about what really happened behind the scenes after she spoke about the incident on Fox News confirming that she did in fact tell Pirro to "get the f*** out" but did not spit on her. "I did not intimidate her, no one chased her out of here saying 'get out,' but she did leave here cursing at the people who book the show, she cursed at the guys who do the security for the show," she claimed.
Drama with a doctor
Another famous face feeling the wrath of Whoopi Goldberg is none other than Dr. Oz, after the two fell out over Oz's run for senate. Despite the TV doctor appearing on "The View" multiple times over the years (and Goldberg returning the favor on his show), Goldberg didn't waste much time calling him out on the ABC show after he had a change in career. Goldberg suggested Oz's personality had changed for the worse since he ditched his show and turned his attention to politics to run for the U.S. senate, hinting he potentially wasn't so interested in helping people.
Dr. Oz went on to hit back at those claims in December 2021, discussing what the co-hosts had said about him during a private lunch as he seemed surprised they didn't have the nicest thing to say. "I got skewed on 'The View,'" he told attendees, per Radar, noting, "I've done that show thousands of times. These people know me well, they have been to my house, I've helped them, they have helped me back." He also suggested his political affiliation may have had something to do with how the ladies turned on him, admitting his theory that "they were so angry and so shocked I was Republican they couldn't hold themselves back."
Things got thorny with Bella Thorne
Another of Whoopi's most infamous dramas came in 2019 when she spoke out on "The View" after Bella Thorne had some compromising photos showing her in various states of undress leak online. It was actually the star herself who posted them on the web after revealing that a hacker had threatened to release them (via The Sun).
That's when Goldberg threw in her two cents — seemingly without a lot of sympathy for Thorne. Goldberg claimed on "The View," "Once you take that picture it goes into the cloud and it's available to any hacker who wants them. And if you don't know that in 2019, that this is an issue, I'm sorry, your age does not — you don't get to do that."
But, understandably, Thorne wasn't too happy with Goldberg's take on the incident. "Shame on you," Thorne hit back at her fellow actor in a series of emotional Instagram Stories, per CNN. "I don't really wanna go on 'The View' anymore because I don't really want to be beaten down by a bunch of older women for my body and my sexuality." Plenty of celebs had Thorne's back, as she shared some of the messages she received via social media and got support from the likes of Zendaya and Lucy Hale, per People. One thing's for sure though, Whoopi Goldberg isn't afraid to speak her mind!