Hoop de Whoopi: It is hard to believe that ‘The View’ could hire worse

If you are still on the fence about whether you should listen to the opinions of celebrities before making decisions about the future of your nation, here’s another tidbit of wisdom from Hollywood.

It seems “The View’s” newest mouthpiece of stupidity has dropped a gem.

Whoopi Goldberg, who recently replaced lightning rod Rosie O’Donnell, said on her first day that the world should go a little easier on accused dogfighter and now reformed Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

The reason, she said, is that in Vick’s culture, where he is from, there is not as much of a stigma against this sort of behavior, that he just did not realize the enormity of the violation.

So, where is Michael Vick from where dogfighting would seem like just another amusement and where he would be bewildered by the all the fuss about a few dogs?

You guessed it, the South.

Now, in case that made you so mad you could spit, you should know that she also qualified the statement — adding that the same is true for cockfighting in Puerto Rico.

She also explained that had Michael Vick been from New York City, it would be a different story — obviously, he would have known better.

Wham, insults to two races, two regions and a whole U.S. territory in her first 15 minutes of real talking on her new television gig.

It seemed almost impossible to believe that anyone could be as ill-informed and ridiculous as Rosie O’Donnell. After all, this is the woman who professed the belief that President George W. Bush planned Sept. 11, 2001, just to make sure he had an edge at election time.

But Whoopi seems to have managed to keep the tradition of stupidity on “The View” alive and well.

While this latest idiocy would normally be simply dismissed as yet another excuse to laugh, it points to the reason that some Americans become livid with a celebrity who thinks that simply because he or she has the spotlight, he or she is qualified to pontificate on every issue and to demand attention and respect for his or her views.

The truth is, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks is right. We do just want her and her other Hollywood blowhard friends to “shut up and sing” — at least on stage.

And Whoopi Goldberg is free to have any view she wants, as long as she allows others to have that same right. So, if that is true, she is probably organizing a boycott against herself even as we speak for inappropriate remarks. Expect an apology soon.

Published in Editorials on September 5, 2007 11:47 AM