Or was she thinking? Or can she think any more? To be fair, having to be on “The View” and deal with that panel of idiots might drive anyone crazy. Still, this was a gratuitous, self-inflicted wound, and there will be consequences. Good.
Goldberg celebrated her 69th birthday on “The View” this week, and told her fellow panelists and viewers that her order for several dozen Charlotte Russe cup cakes at an unnamed bakery was initially refused because, she surmised, they objected to her politics. Goldberg didn’t mention the name of the bakery, taking defamation off the table, particularly since the Staten Island bakery in question, Holtermann’s, a 146-year-old institution in Great Kills on Staten Island, went on the offensive. The owner denied refusing the pre-order because of politics, explaining that she was dealing with a broken boiler and couldn’t commit to the large advance order.
At a press conference today, Jill Holtermann was joined by Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella, who said that Goldberg “besmirched and defamed” Holtermann’s Bakery, causing an “unwarranted controversy” and was “making stuff up to suit [her] needs.”
Fossella assured everyone that Holtermann’s explanation that the bake shop didn’t take Goldberg’s pre-order because they weren’t sure when the kitchen would be up and running effectively was true. The bakery was eventually able to fill the order, and its signature cupcakes were devoured by the ladies of “The View.”
Staten Island Councilman David Carr also spoke in defense of the bakery, saying he wanted “to send a message to the person who decided she was too important for a boiler breakdown.” “She had to have her pastries and if it wasn’t coming to her, it must have been someone else’s fault. It must have been a directed insult to her,” he said.
Indeed, this certainly has the stench of a “Do you know who I am?” episode about it. It also smacks of projection. It is largely progressives who have been taking revenge on conservatives, MAGA cap wearers and Republicans. If people were inclined to discriminate against Hollywood celebrities for leftist politics, none of them would get served anywhere. Whoopi is also assuming that the staff at Holtermann’s knew who she was. If they were not regular View viewers and haven’t seen the “Color Purple” actress lately, they could easily fail to identify her. (Whoopi has not been looking her best these days. At all.)
This is the worst kind of punching down, and assumed privilege squared. A has-been actress can’t get her cupcakes, so she concocts a reason that vilifies a small business.
After humiliating itself during the Presidential campaign and after the election, “The View” doesn’t need this. I’m betting that ABC orders Goldberg to apologize.
Ethics Alarms 
I think the Julie Principle applies here. Whoopi Goldberg is simply a stupid person – and I say that without malice. Is just that, bless her heart, she was never gifted with an overabundance of brains. You can’t ask her to understand how a broken boiler might impact a bakery, or the ethical duty not to take on commitments without confidence you can fulfill them. You might as well ask turnip greens to do your taxes.
DaveL
What I take from this is not stupidity but a carefully crafted dig at an another to create the illusion she was being victimized. A stupid person would have named the bakery but instead she had the presence of mind to create a plausible defense by not naming them directly. She knew exactly what she was doing.
If only it was confined to Whoopi and her ilk. Even before Grievance Politics became a tool of the left, ordinary everyday Americans were becoming ridiculously self-absorbed when it came to happenstance that prevented getting what they wanted when it was wanted. You would be amazed at what people take personally these days.
Any more???
What Was Whoopi Thinking?
Doesn’t that blog title make the assumption that Whoopi actually thinks instead of reacting based on her emotional bias, bigotry, and racism. After seeing the in-your-face knee-jerk reactions of emotional bias, bigotry, and racism over the last few years from Whoopi, I would never make the assumption that Whoopi thinks much about anything she says. Whoopi is a famous black woman, and as such she doesn’t have to “think” about anything, whatever comes out of her arrogant self-centered, snowflaking, woke mouth is to be considered absolute fact and if you disagree then you’re a racist misogynist, period. We, the little people, are simply supposed to bow to the obvious superiority of Whoopi who is the keeper of all knowledge that is good and wise.
Yes, I honestly think Whoopi is a piece of crap human being, a bigot, a closet racist, a true believer in the progressive left’s ideological shift towards totalitarianism, and a very public representative of progressive wokeness.
Whoopi isn’t stupid. She’s uneducated, and she is hostage to rationalizations and fallacies, but I always found her to be the smartest woman on “The View” after Barbara Walters left. But she’s in two bubbles, the Hollywood kneejerk bubble, and the black reflex Democrats and anti-white racist bubble of her generation. She’s made it clear that she’d rather be acting than stuck on “The View,” so she’s bitter as well.
Jack wrote, “Whoopi isn’t stupid. She’s uneducated, and she is hostage to rationalizations and fallacies”
I don’t disagree with any of that, but I still think she has shown me that she is “a piece of crap human being, a bigot, a closet racist, a true believer in the progressive left’s ideological shift towards totalitarianism, and a very public representative of progressive wokeness”.
Jack wrote, “I always found her to be the smartest woman on “The View” after Barbara Walters left”
That’s a really, really low bar. Walter’s intellect was far beyond any of the regulars left on “The View”. I have a decent level of respect for Walters and her career, I can’t say the same for Whoopi. Whoopi intentionally put herself in the position she’s in.
Jack wrote, “But she’s in two bubbles, the Hollywood kneejerk bubble, and the black reflex Democrats and anti-white racist bubble of her generation.”
It’s a choice to be in those bubbles.
Jack wrote, “She’s made it clear that she’d rather be acting than stuck on “The View,” so she’s bitter as well.”
Yup, choices have consequences and narcissistic self promotion has consequences that she might not like, tough! In my opinion, she’s not a good enough actress to shed the public persona she’s promoted over the years. She chose to ride the wake of talk show stardom. She’s put herself in a position that she couldn’t believably play anyone to the public other than herself, I think she has permanently pigeonholed herself.
I have a really low opinion of Whoopi.
“I have a really low opinion of Whoopi.“
She’s earned it.
PWS
That’s rather like having the strongest right hook in your kindergarten class.
“That’s rather like having the strongest right hook in your kindergarten class.“
Or Ernie being the toughest Muppet on Sesame Street.
PWS
Looks like the bakery is suing her. Do you think they have a case?
I saw some commenters saying there ws only one bakery in the area that made that desert, so it was easy to figure out which one she was referring to. I don’t know if that’s enough to open her to defamation.
I believe they’d also have to prove damages, which would be difficult if thus kerfuffle didn’t actually hurt their business.
Jonathan Turley just wrote a column on this episode and he thinks she can be sued successfully. Even if it turns out there are minimal actual damages, she should still be liable for punitive damages. The intent was obviously there to damage the business.
I’ll always defer to Turley on speech matters. It still seems to me that for defamation to be found when someone doesn’t mention her target by name will be a tough chore, and maybe a dangerous precedent.
This reminds me of a story that Michelle Obama told. Obama said she was in a grocery store and a small, elderly white lady asked her if she could get something off the top shelf for her. Obama used that as an example of the racism that permeates American society. Obama explained that the only reason the woman could have possibly asked her to help is because the woman assumed Obama was an employee because she is black. Obama never once stopped to think that people ask strangers for help all the time and that she (Michelle Obama) is TALL. I think this is a perfect example of the narcissism and race-focus of such people.
When I am out and about, I walk with a cane. I am very encouraged by the consideration and help people offer me. It is heartwarming and what we might have called common decency in an earlier era.
If that is not a trait Michelle Obama possesses, perhaps she shouldn’t be out in public. It is, after all, part of what binds us together as a society.